“I don’t want to! I don’t want to! I mean it!”

As soon as Jiang Rui stepped into the courtyard, she heard tearful cries coming from the house.

She placed the basket on her back down.
Half of the basket was filled with dandelions and plantain herbs.
Since she plucked them from the mountains during dawn, dew was still clinging to those wild herbs.
She poured them on an empty space in the courtyard and used her hands to spread them out.
After the sun dries the wild herbs, she will feed them to the rabbits.

The argument in the house went on while Jiang Rui stood up and brushed some loose grass away from her clothes.
She picked two siberian cockleburs from the bottom hem of her pants and threw them casually near a wall.
After she washed herself clean with some water from a vat, she walked to the kitchen.

On the stove, the flickering flame lapped at the remaining burning red charcoal.
She lifted the lid of the pot, revealing the rice porridge with golden pumpkin that has been boiled to a mush.
She crouched under the stove and used the wood ash to cover the charcoal completely to extinguish the fire.

She could still hear someone crying in the living room through the thin walls.
However, the sound is much softer than before as if the person is tired from crying or backing down from the fight.

After waiting for the perfect moment, she called at the top of her voice, “Mother, breakfast is ready.
Shall we eat now?”

“You should bring your father and A’qiang their share first.
They are excavating the land beside the river today to build a canal.” Wang Tonghua replied from the adjoining room.
Her voice came closer and closer.
Before she ended her sentence, she already reached the kitchen with a glum face.

“Aye, okay.” Jiang Rui took a few bowls from the cabinet and filled two large bowls to the brim with pumpkin porridge.

This reduced the pumpkin porridge in the pot by half, exposing the two eggs on the bottom.
She took the eggs out and put them in a basin filled with cold water.
When the eggs cooled, she cut one of them into half and placed one halves on each large bowl of porridge.

Wang Tonghua’s furrowed eyebrows relaxed a little when she saw that Jiang Rui was deftly doing her chores.
She sighed resignedly, “Why is Baozhen so obstinate…”

“She is still young.” Jiang Rui smiled at her, before putting the breakfast into a wicker basket.

Wang Tonghua nagged, “She is already seventeen.
How is that young? Your father pampered her too much.
Just because she wanted to study, he supported her education for so many years.
She is too ambitious now! Earlier, she kept pestering me to let her go to university.
She wanted to live a better life in the city.
Does she think it’s easy to get into a university and live in the city? If it’s that simple, why hasn’t anyone in our commune succeeded in the city? We should keep our feet on the ground.”

Jiang Rui listened to her silently while she lined the other four small bowls on the stove.
She ladled out the pumpkin porridge and left it to cool.
She sliced the other egg into two and put each halves on two of the three small bowls.

Regardless, Wang Tonghua did not need any response from her.
She continued, “How could she be dissatisfied with the Zhao family? The only thing that’s on her mind is leaving our village.
I think that all the studying has muddled her mind.
What’s so good about the city? She would rather forsake her parents for that!”

Seeing that Wang Tonghua was about to get mad again, Jiang Rui spoke softly as she cut the preserved vegetables into pieces, “The teachers at school said Baozhen excels in her studies.
In the future, she will definitely make you proud.”

She managed to appease Wang Tonghua’s anger with a single sentence.

When it came to her life, she was not cherished as a daughter in this lifetime.
Moreover, she married an ordinary man.
Even though she was clearly the most beautiful woman amongst her friends, she felt inferior to them.
The only thing that gave her a sense of achievement was giving birth to a son and two daughters who are brilliant and filial.

Leaving aside her eldest son, every member of Xishan Production Brigade knew that the eldest daughter of the Du family was hardworking, gentle, and great at doing house chores and farming.
On the other hand, the younger daughter was a bright girl who is currently studying in the commune.
Her excellent results could put most male students to shame.
It was also worth mentioning that the two sisters were extremely good-looking.
They were lille two flowers that bloomed on the same branch.
Even though the young men in the brigade might not talk about them at all, they were secretly attracted to the Du sisters.

Recalling the report card that her youngest daughter brought home, Wang Tonghua’s heart was swayed.
Although she kept finding fault with the city out of anger, everyone knew deep down that living in the city was the better choice.

Opportunity knocks but once.
She did not want to miss the chance to marry her daughter into a great family.
Many young ladies were interested in the sons of the Zhao family.
When the Zhao family came to visit her the other day, Wang Tonghua was on cloud nine.

However, the large city was also as tempting to her.
If her youngest daughter could become the first university student in the Xishan Production Brigade, people will be impressed!

Both options are equally enticing to Wang Tonghua.

“Girl, do you think that we can believe the teachers from the commune? Can Baozhen really enter the university?”

J

点击屏幕以使用高级工具 提示:您可以使用左右键盘键在章节之间浏览。

You'll Also Like