Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 222

Liu Xiaochun saw Zhao Tiegang come in and said in a boisterous manner, "Oh, my brother-in-law is here. Come on, come on..."

Liu Xiaochun stopped midway through his sentence.

Normally, Zhao Tiegang should be invited to sit inside, but it's better not to let him sit here.

To avoid embarrassment.

Liu Xiaochun is a simple-minded and straightforward person. Apart from his tendency to boast, he has almost no major flaws.

Liu Xiaochun jumped out of the car and changed his address, saying, "Second brother-in-law, what brings you here? My second sister is here... She said she wouldn't let you in if you came."

In fact, Zhang Cuilan never said that. Liu Xiaochun only said it because he was afraid of embarrassment and that his family was too poor to be looked down upon by Zhao Tiegang.

Zhang Cuilan seemed to have a premonition that someone was coming. She got up from under the tattered bedding, walked to the door, and looked out through the crack in the door.

Zhao Tiegang?

Zhang Cuilan glared angrily: This good-for-nothing! A piece of trash! What's the point of him being here?!

Before Zhang Cuilan could speak, her younger sister Zhang Cuimei's voice came from inside: "Second sister, I heard a noise in the courtyard. Is someone coming?"

Zhang Cuilan then came to her senses and went back into the inner room, saying, "Zhao Tiegang is here."

Inside the house, a woman sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a little boy of about one year old in her arms. She was comforting the child when she heard Zhang Cuilan's words and said, "Second brother-in-law is here? He's here to pick you up, isn't he..."

Zhang Cuimei dared not say anything too profound.

In the Zhang family, Zhang Cuilan's eldest sister is the oldest, already in her forties. Zhang Cuilan is the second oldest.

Zhang Cuilan is over thirty years old this year, even older than Zhao Da'e's mother. Zhang Cuilan is not only older than Zhao Tiegang, but also older than Zhao Tiesheng.

She is considered an older single woman.

In this day and age, older single women usually have some very unusual stories.

Zhang Cuilan was already twenty-six or twenty-seven years old when she got married.

At this age, in this era, especially in remote rural areas of northern China like Dongtaizi Village, many women of this age already have children old enough to run errands.

Take Cheng Jinxiang, for example. She's only 27 years old this year, and her daughter, Zhao Dage, is already quite mature. Meanwhile, Zhang Cuilan, who is the same age, wasn't married at that time.

Zhang Cuilan is not a son, so her not getting married is certainly not due to the common problem of not being able to afford a wife.

Instead, Zhang Cuilan's mother died early, and her eldest sister married young, leaving behind several younger brothers and sisters. If Zhang Cuilan had married, these younger brothers and sisters, who were only around ten years old, would have had no one to take care of them. Relying on Zhang Cuilan's father alone would surely have led to the starvation of all the younger brothers and sisters.

Zhang Cuilan was exceptionally kind to her younger siblings.

As mentioned earlier, the Zhang family was exceptionally poor. Compared to the Zhang family's current situation, the Zhao family was quite well-off back then.

There was truly no food in Zhang Cuilan's home.

They had to steal everything they ate...

Or, we should try other methods.

Therefore, Zhang Cuilan truly sacrificed everything for the Zhang family to raise her younger sisters.

Later, Zhang Cuilan reformed herself and got married, and no one mentioned her past anymore.

But whether Zhang Cuilan was good or bad by nature, her third sister, Zhang Cuimei, would not say, nor dare to say, anything about her.

Zhang Cuilan couldn't stay in her hometown, and her reasons were quite clear. It was because she couldn't stand the gossip and rumors circulating there.

Rumors circulated that Zhang Cuilan had an affair with the village chief, had an ambiguous relationship with the village accountant, had an unclear relationship with the village butcher, and some even said that Zhang Cuilan had an ambiguous relationship with certain people in the supply and marketing cooperative.

Based on this situation, Zhang Cuilan went to stay at her third sister Zhang Cuimei's house.

Zhang Cuimei's mother died early, and she was basically raised by Zhang Cuilan alone. She has a deep affection for her second sister, Zhang Cuilan. Even though her current home is quite dilapidated, with a small house, young children, and nowhere else to live, she would never dare to tell Zhang Cuilan, "Don't stay here."

Firstly, there were emotional factors, and secondly, Zhang Cuilan had a rather bad temper and personality.

Zhang Cuimei would never dare to say that Zhang Cuilan could stay as long as she wanted.

Hearing Zhang Cuimei speak, Zhang Cuilan raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"What? You're looking down on your second sister?"

Zhang Cuimei quickly lowered her head: "No, I meant it seems like your second brother-in-law is coming to take you back. Don't be confused, second sister. Please don't go back. Old Zhao's family hasn't built a house, they're dirt poor, going back will only bring suffering."

Zhang Cuilan nodded, "Of course. I won't go back. I've had enough of that good-for-nothing Zhao Tiegang. He has no skills whatsoever. All he does all day is drink."

Of course, Zhao Tiegang had originally attended high school. He was a top student and had a very good chance of getting into university. But then he inexplicably saw his second brother, Zhao Tiesheng, get married, and he panicked. He thought that if his second brother was getting married, the family still had to support his younger sister's education, and then there was his own schooling, wouldn't he end up a bachelor even if he got into university?

So that he could get married and have children.

Zhao Tiegang stopped going to school.

At the time, this was big news in Dongtaizi Village.

To this day, no one knows exactly what happened back then; perhaps only Zhao Tiegang knows.

Whether it was an impulsive desire to get married, something that happened at school, or the hopelessness of getting into university, we don't know.

Anyway, after dropping out of school, Zhao Tiegang started drinking heavily all the time, which meant that almost no decent woman would marry him.

and so……

Sometimes even Zhao Da'e from his past life thought: Zhao Tiegang and Zhang Cuilan were a match made in heaven... good-for-nothings.

One has a bad reputation and can't get married. The other is an alcoholic who's been drinking all the time since he was not even twenty. The two of them coming together is a perfect match for each other; let's hope they don't break them up and cause trouble for others.

Zhang Cuimei, however, thought Zhao Tiegang was alright, at least better than Liu Xiaochun: "I think my second brother-in-law is pretty good, better than my husband. My husband only earns five hundred yuan a month, haha. When you ask him for money, he doesn't give you a single penny. Besides bringing back some coal, I really don't know where his money goes!!!"

A fleeting, almost imperceptible, coldness crossed Zhang Cuilan's eyes before returning to normal: "Maybe when I married you, my family was facing a famine, or even a famine."

"Impossible," Zhang Cuimei denied. "My dowry only amounted to eight hundred. I didn't prepare anything for the house or anything else."

“At least you can eat well and drink well. You eat rice and flour all day long. What kind of life do you think I have? At most, you have no money to spend, but my family is starving.” Zhang Cuilan began to complain: “My family doesn’t even have a courtyard wall. The two brothers squeeze into one courtyard. If Zhao Tiegang were to move out in the future, we would have nothing. Not even a doghouse.”

Zhang Cuimei thought for a moment and said, "I live in a place that's worse than a doghouse."

While Zhang Cuilan and her sister were complaining to each other, Zhao Tiegang and Liu Xiaochun were bragging to each other.

Liu Xiaochun drove the car outside and pointed to the coal pile, saying, "Second brother-in-law, I'll get you some coal in a bit, and you can burn it when you get home. This stuff is good, much better than wood, it burns longer. Wood burns for a while and then it's gone. This coal can burn all night without the fire going out. If you add a fire at night, the kang (heated brick bed) will still be warm by dawn."

“This thing is too expensive, I can’t afford it,” Zhao Tiegang said.

Liu Xiaochun waved his hand: "Brother-in-law, what are you saying? What's mine is yours. This didn't cost money. You burn as much as you want, and I'll give you the same amount."

Zhao Tiegang was immediately delighted: "Then I can't just burn your coal for nothing. I have a big tree in my backyard, and I think your house will need some repairs next year..."

After all, Liu Xiaochun's house is about to collapse...

In case of a heavy snowfall, step firmly. Don't let Zhang Cuilan get buried alive inside...

“I’m planning to build a house, I’m thinking of building a two-story house…” Liu Xiaochun said, “I like the small two-story houses in the city. But as you know, my dad won’t allow it, he just won’t let me, otherwise I would have built a new house long ago.”

Zhao Tiegang was speechless: What a load of bull!

Zhao Tiegang really wanted to go to the east room and ask Liu Xiaochun's parents: "Which of you is preventing Liu Xiaochun from building a new house?!" Tell them...

Zhao Tiegang thought to himself, but said aloud, "Hmm. You'll have to talk to your old folks about this. Old people get confused. Building a second floor would be so nice."

"That's for sure, they just won't listen to me," Liu Xiaochun said with a sigh.

“Me too.” Zhao Tiegang also looked distressed. “I’ve been saying for a long time that our house needs to be rebuilt. But my parents won’t allow it. No matter what I say, they insist that they’ve lived in this old house for decades and have developed an attachment to it. If I tear it down and build a new one, they’ll disown me. What am I supposed to do?”

Liu Xiaochun patted Zhao Tiegang on the shoulder: "Second brother-in-law, don't worry. He's getting old, we have to be considerate of him."

"Mhm." Zhao Tiegang nodded.

What if they don't give way?

Otherwise, if I really get to tear it down, what am I supposed to do with the yarn I'm going to use to knit a house...?

The two were bragging, and Zhang Cuilan inside felt nauseous listening to them: "Girl, is Zhao Tiegang even speaking human language? He's building a house? The two of us combined don't even have five hundred yuan. Build a house, my foot!"

Zhang Cuimei also looked distressed: "Who says otherwise? I don't have a penny in my pocket. And I'm still building the house..."

Ugh…

The two sisters fell silent.

There was a long silence.

After bragging for a while, Zhao Tiegang felt it was time to get down to business: "Third Uncle, I was thinking of going to see your second sister, but she won't come out. That old woman, really, I came to pick her up, but she won't come out. She's really asking for a beating."

Liu Xiaochun sighed: "Second brother-in-law, don't be angry. Although this old woman deserves a beating, we have to be magnanimous and not hit her, but pamper her. As for my wife, I don't hit her often either, I just loosen her up every now and then."

Zhao Tiegang seemed to have found a kindred spirit and said, "I probably won't be able to pick anyone up today. But it's not that I can't pick up Zhang Cuilan, it's just that I'm too lazy to beat her up. Third Uncle, I'm giving you face, otherwise I'd go and beat Zhang Cuilan to a pulp right now."

"Then I have to stop you. Second brother-in-law, you can't be impulsive. Impulsiveness is the devil!!!" Liu Xiaochun said, "Today is not a good day. I checked the almanac. Today is not suitable for beating your wife. How about I join you in beating your wife?"

……

Inside the room, Zhang Cuilan and Zhang Cuimei's faces turned a deep purplish-red.

"What the hell?"

"what!"

"Pah! That piece of trash Zhao Tiegang wants to hit me? He'll be waiting for me when I get back. I'll beat him into a eunuch!"

"Pah! Last time Liu Xiaochun tried to touch me, I beat him up and I still have a wound on his head. He's just bragging!"

……

Zhao Tiegang had met Liu Xiaochun a few times, but not many. He had come to give gifts and exchanged pleasantries when Liu Xiaochun married Zhang Cuimei, and again when Zhang Cuimei gave birth and the baby turned one month old. But this was truly the first time they had talked so much.

Although Zhao Tiegang felt that beating his wife was a rather unreliable idea, he secretly enjoyed it. Seeing that he and Liu Xiaochun had talked for a long time without Zhang Cuilan coming out, Zhao Tiegang was actually somewhat disheartened.

Zhao Tiegang was somewhat upset that he hadn't even seen his wife when he came to call her back to her parents' home for the first time.

So he said to Liu Xiaochun, "Uncle-in-law, why don't you call your second sister out so I can meet her?"

Liu Xiaochun and Zhao Tiegang were having a good chat. After Zhao Tiegang finished bragging about his request, Liu Xiaochun felt embarrassed to admit that he couldn't do it, so he said, "I'll ask my second sister and see what she thinks."

So Liu Xiaochun went inside. Zhang Cuimei glared at him coldly, and Zhang Cuilan didn't even bother to look at him. He felt somewhat awkward: "Second sister, my second brother-in-law is here..."

Zhang Cuilan said, "Understood. Tell him to go back to where he came from."

"understood."

Liu Xiaochun then came out again.

Once inside the courtyard, Zhao Tiegang stepped forward and asked, "What did you say?"

Liu Xiaochun said with a smile, "My second sister said that your clothes today are not very good. It's not appropriate to wear this to pick someone up. You should wear red."

"Red clothes?" Zhao Tiegang was stunned. He didn't have any red clothes. Besides, what kind of logic is it for a man to wear red clothes?

"I bought some red underwear and stuff during my zodiac year, but I didn't wear it today. Should I wear that next time?"

Liu Xiaochun nodded meaningfully: "That's right. You have to believe what your second sister says. There are many rules about welcoming people. You have to choose the right day, and there are even rules about whether to step in with your left or right leg first."

Zhang Cuilan was indeed quite superstitious; she had more than ten spirit tablets in her home and would burn incense and paper money during festivals. She hoped the spirits would accompany her in seeking unearned wealth…

So when Liu Xiaochun said that Zhang Cuilan thought the clothes were wrong, Zhao Tiegang believed him.

After all, Zhao Tiegang knew that even if he couldn't pick her up today, he could explain to Zhao Tingxu that the clothes she was wearing were wrong.

“Then, let’s come again next time. It was my oversight. I’ll find a fortune teller next time to calculate the auspicious date and stuff. That will make things easier,” Zhao Tiegang said, then looked at the east room: “Should I say a few words to your parents?”

Liu Xiaochun refused outright: "No, no. Second brother-in-law, don't be so polite. We're all family, why bother with all that emptying of the shop? Next time, choose a good day and dress appropriately before you come."

Zhao Tiegang nodded, thinking to himself that he really should go and check on the incense later.