“How dare you not go!” Old Madam Zhang chided.
The next day, everyone in the Zhang family, except Old Man Zhang, headed to the countryside. Zhang Qian did not want to go at first, but Old Madam Zhang said that if he did not go, she would not let him divorce Li Gui. Old Madam Zhang also knew that her husband was a person who did not care about anything. If she brought Zhang Wei and Zhang Chao along tomorrow, coupled with the injured Zhang Cong, she would not look imposing at all. Therefore, Zhang Qian must go with them.
“Grandma, can you not bring me to my mother!” Zhang Wei cried and pulled her back. Zhang Qian pulled the boy over and kicked him.
“Shut up! Are you trying to embarrass me!” There were many people on the street and they looked over when they heard Zhang Wei crying, making Zhang Qian very frustrated. When he got kicked, Zhang Wei did not dare to make a sound even though he was in so much pain that he wanted to cry. He was afraid that if he annoyed Zhang Qian, he would be beaten up again. His younger brother, Zhang Chao, did not dare to cry when he saw his brother being beaten up and followed behind Old Madam Zhang obediently.
Even if Li Gui could earn 180 dollars a month, Zhang Qian did not want to be with Li Gui anymore. He was determined to get a divorce.
After the ruckus created by Zhang Cong yesterday, Li Gui did not dare to go out on the streets to buy groceries, afraid that she would be seen by any Zhang family member. It would not be worth it to get beaten up.
Qiao Mei also did not bring the children up the mountain to pick mushrooms today. She predicted that Zhang Cong would bring his family over to seek justice today. There was going to be a lot of drama today.
When it was almost time for lunch, Qiao Mei called Auntie Dong, Auntie Wang, and the other older women over to her house for a chat. Not long after, they heard a commotion and saw a big group of people making their way over.
“Wow, who are these people?”
“There are so many people!”
“Why are there both adults and children!”
“Sister, if this is your man, then you’ve really had a hard time these past few years.”
Everyone lamented about how difficult it had been for Li Gui all these years and felt really bad for her. They were all women and naturally understood how much Li Gui had suffered for her children all these years. Therefore, everyone spoke up for Li Gui.
Auntie Zhou, who was previously quite close to Li Gui, said, “Back then, Li Gui did not want to marry him, but Li Gui’s mother, Old Madam Li, is not someone to be trifled with. During that time, Li Gui was one of the most beautiful women in the village. Otherwise, Qiao Mei would not be so beautiful! Later on, the man was very generous with the betrothal gifts, so Li Gui’s mother forced her to get married in order to save money for Li Gui’s younger brother to get married.”
Back then, the brothers of the Li family wanted to take over the assets and money that belonged to Li Gui and Qiao Yue. Li Gui felt that her brothers would definitely not take care of Qiao Mei, so she decided to entrust Qiao Mei to Qiao Zhuang’s family, along with her own house and the savings she had accumulated over the years. She did not expect Qiao Zhuang to be so heartless as to bully Qiao Mei and not give her food. If Qiao Qiang had not returned in time, Qiao Mei might have died long ago.
“Ah…”
“What a thing to happen!”
“Li Gui, your mother is too…”
Everyone now understood that it had not been not easy for Li Gui. It was not as if she did not leave anything for Qiao Mei, but it was fate that had been playing tricks on people. They could only blame those black-hearted people.
“Eh? Li Gui, why hasn’t your mother come over recently? Isn’t she moving to our village? Why isn’t there any news,” one of the aunties asked.
“It’s probably because she knows that Qiao Mei is here to back Li Gui up, so she doesn’t dare to come,” Auntie Dong said.
“Hahahahahaha!”
As they chatted, they watched the Zhang family members getting closer and closer. At this moment, no one in the village dared to mention bean sprouts. Previously, they could supply 2,000 catties of bean sprouts but now, they could barely make up 15 catties a day even if they collected from house to house. No one was earning any money, and they had made a lot of losses.
In the past, when each household could earn one dollar a day, it meant 30 dollars a month and they were all overjoyed. However, because they had once earned 10 dollars in the past, it made the one or two dollars they made now hardly worth mentioning.
Everyone was feeling frustrated when Zhang Cong came running into trouble and it made everyone want to teach him a lesson.