Chapter 174: Hit the Jackpot

Chapter 174: Chapter 174: Hit the Jackpot

It was obvious they had really come to blows.

The moment the door opened, Wei Guilan said, "I’m bringing Li Tian back to sleep."

"Your brother bought this for the boy. I brought it over."

Li Yuan reached out and took the items with an awkward laugh.

His fingertips brushed the edge of the plastic bag.

He paused for half a second before taking the whole bag.

Wei Guilan then added, "Get some rest. The New Year is just around the corner."

She didn’t mention the fight, but her meaning was clear: Settle down and stop causing trouble.

Li Yuan nodded without a word.

He looked down at the bag of snacks in his hand, his fingers tightening around the handle.

Wei Guilan turned and left.

As soon as she was gone, Li Tian scampered into the house, ran up to Wu Xixi, and proudly emptied his pockets of all the treats.

"Grandma gave me these! She has so much good stuff!"

Wu Xixi, exhausted and panting from her tirade of scolding and hitting, couldn’t even be bothered to lift her eyelids.

Li Yuan placed the snacks on the table and patted Li Tian on the head.

"Pace yourself. Don’t stuff them all in your mouth at once."

With that, he turned and went into the kitchen to boil some water.

The moment he left, Wu Xixi lunged for the table, her hand reaching for the milk candies.

She unwrapped one and tossed it into her mouth.

As soon as the sweetness hit, half her anger melted away.

That was just how she was.

She couldn’t resist taking advantage of any small gain. No matter how insignificant, even if it was just a single piece of candy, getting her hands on it would brighten her mood.

Before the candy had even dissolved, she reached out to grab the bag of cookies.

She yanked the bag askew, and the seal tore open with a RIIIP!

Li Tian blocked her.

"Grandma said these are for me! You’re not allowed to touch them!"

He stepped between the table and Wu Xixi.

Furious, Wu Xixi raised her hand and slapped his arm.

"I’m your mother! Do I need to fill out an application to eat your cookies?"

Her hand came down with a whoosh, striking the sleeve of Li Tian’s cotton-padded jacket.

Li Tian flinched back, clutching the bag tightly.

"No, no! You eat too much!"

With that, he turned tail and ran, hugging the entire bag of cookies to his chest as he fled.

Wu Xixi was speechless.

Part of her thought the boy was clever, while another part was a bit stunned.

’But on second thought, it’s good that he’s smart!’

She lifted her gaze toward the inner room.

She could hear the rustling of Li Tian unwrapping a package on the kang bed.

Mulling it over, her mood improved.

She plopped down at the table and contentedly chewed on her milk candy.

When Li Hanchen entered, he first helped Song Yao lie down in the warm bed, then turned to boil water on the stove.

Once the water boiled, he brought over a warm basin and had Song Yao wash up properly.

After Song Yao finished, he quickly washed up himself.

The two of them then snuggled into bed side-by-side, blew out the lamp, and went to sleep.

After extinguishing the oil lamp, he fumbled in the darkness to pull the corner of the quilt over, tucking Song Yao in securely.

Song Yao leaned against Li Hanchen’s chest, her eyelids heavy with sleep.

Once she was fast asleep, Li Hanchen leaned down and gently brushed his lips against her forehead.

The next morning, Li Hanchen’s internal clock was as precise as ever.

He woke up while the sky was still pitch-black.

Song Yao was still dreaming, her small face buried in the crook of his arm.

There wasn’t a sliver of light outside, so he simply lay on his back without moving.

Only when the window began to glow a faint grey did he lift the covers and get out of bed.

He had just finished buttoning his cotton-padded jacket when Wei Guilan entered the courtyard, carrying two bulging cloth sacks.

"You left in such a hurry yesterday, I forgot to give you the rice and flour!"

Li Hanchen waved his hand dismissively.

"It’s okay, we still have some at home."

Wei Guilan set the sacks on the table.

"How can you eat something that’s been sitting for months? This is freshly milled wheat flour and this year’s newly harvested brown rice. It’ll keep you full!"

Thinking of the baby in Song Yao’s belly, Li Hanchen nodded and accepted.

"Alright. Then we’ll bring the old rice and flour we have over to your place before we leave."

"Deal!"

Wei Guilan agreed readily.

"Got enough firewood?"

"Enough! I’ll gather some more during the day anyway."

"Oh, right. Xiao Ying told me yesterday that Song Yao said to save the cured meat for New Year’s Eve dinner, so I won’t force any more on you."

"Yes, we have plenty. It’s enough!"

"I’m heading back then."

"Okay, take care!"

Song Yao and her husband had brought a lot of things with them on this trip back to the village.

With Wei Guilan also there to manage and look after things, life was going very smoothly.

Wu Xixi, on the other hand, wanted to find fault, but she was too petty.

Her first reaction upon seeing someone else’s good fortune was to try and get a piece of it for herself.

These past two days, she had been eyeing Wei Guilan’s sheepskin coat, her words dripping with envy.

"Mom, you’re actually wearing it? How can you bear to wear something so precious?"

But Wei Guilan refused to indulge her.

The very next day, she put it on at the crack of dawn.

The coat was a dark red, but dark or not, it was still red!

The villagers wore nothing but grey or earthy yellow year-round, so a sudden splash of red stood out.

Sure enough, the Li Family’s third aunt crowded around the moment she saw it.

"Well now! This is... Who bought this for you?"

Wei Guilan beamed, the corners of her eyes crinkling with joy.

"My second son’s wife paid for it. One hundred and eighty yuan!"

"One hundred and eighty?!"

Everyone gasped in unison.

To put it in perspective, someone in the next hamlet had just managed to scrape together that exact amount for a bride price.

Just gathering that stack of crumpled banknotes had exhausted an entire family’s savings for three years.

Third Aunt squatted at the courtyard entrance, staring and blinking at the new coat Wei Guilan was wearing.

"Li Hanchen’s wife is so generous!"

Third Aunt said, reaching out to feel it. As her palm brushed against the soft fur, she sighed.

"This material... they keep it locked behind the counter at the supply co-op in the city and won’t even let you touch it."

"Generous is one thing, but I heard her own father was personally summoned back to the city by a top leader from above!"

The man speaking tapped his cigarette against his knuckle, ash falling into the cracks in the dirt.

"Two jeeps showed up that day. The drivers were even in military uniforms."

"Huh? So what does her dad do, exactly? How big of an area is he in charge of?"

The question came from Woodworker Xiao, who was planing a strip of elm wood.

Wei Guilan honestly couldn’t answer that.

She hugged the coat a little tighter, her lips parting and closing before she finally just shook her head.

"We haven’t had a chance to ask for details yet."

She spread her hands.

The Shanghai brand watch on her wrist caught the light.

Another person leaned in and pinched the sleeve.

"Someone who’d spend over a hundred yuan on a coat... you think her father is just some small fry?"

Wei Guilan couldn’t hold it in anymore and said, "At first, I thought to myself, ’I toil in the fields all day, how could I be worthy of wearing such a precious piece of clothing?’ I was thinking of saving it for Song Yao’s biological mother, so as not to waste such a fine thing."

But Song Yao shook her head. "That’s not her style."

She wouldn’t even bother to wear a coat that cost one hundred and eighty yuan? What more needed to be asked?

Everyone immediately came to a conclusion in their minds.

’This biological mother is definitely no ordinary official.’

Widow Shen deliberately slowed her pace as she walked by.

After overhearing a few snippets of gossip, she turned and took a different path.

Accountant Wang, who was squatting by the wall fixing a radio, heard them and cranked the tuning knob all the way, drowning out the rest of the conversation with a HISS of static.

Though the villagers said nothing, they felt even more envious inside. They all started praising Wei Guilan.

"You’ve really hit the jackpot!"

"Landing such a good daughter-in-law, you’ll be enjoying a blessed life from now on!"

Thanks to Wei Guilan spreading the word, whenever Song Yao sat in the courtyard sunning herself, anyone who passed by the gate—acquaintance or not—would immediately start showering her with praise.

"Just as expected of an official’s daughter, so generous!"

"She’s so poised and treats people so warmly!"

"It must be the good fortune of her family’s home that nurtures such good people. You can tell she’s so agreeable!"

The last comment came from Granny Liu.

She was carrying a basket filled with freshly picked wild vegetables, their leaves still dripping with water.

Then she turned her head and muttered under her breath.