On the road from Yong County to Wu County, two cars were speeding along the bumpy gravel road.
Inside the car, Ye Lingyun gazed out the window with a worried expression, her mood somewhat low and filled with concern.
Just moments ago, she had met Li Xiaoyan, the younger sister-in-law of her close friend Liu Juanjuan, and learned from her about Liu Juanjuan’s recent situation.
According to Li Xiaoyan, Liu Juanjuan is her second sister-in-law. Originally, the couple had both held steady jobs—one at a cotton mill and the other quarrying stone at a mine outside the city. Together, their monthly income totaled over 80 yuan, and they lived a comfortable life.
However, eight years ago, Liu Juanjuan became disabled due to an injury and could no longer work in the city. To save on food costs, she took her four children back to their hometown in Wuxian County to farm the land.
Although life wasn’t as comfortable as before, thanks to Li Xiaoyan’s second brother’s wages from the quarry, they were still better off than most families.
But misfortune always strikes where it hurts most, and misfortune always finds those who are already struggling. Five years ago, Li Xiaoyan’s second older brother had an accident at work; his legs were crushed by a falling rock, resulting in comminuted fractures.
Although he was saved, he was left with severe disabilities and essentially lost his ability to work.
Although the quarry paid a substantial settlement, most of it went toward hospital bills.
Now that both husband and wife were disabled and had to support four children, life remained a struggle, even with their parents’ help.
Upon learning of such a major tragedy in her best friend’s family, the joy of reuniting with Qiao Chunfang was significantly dampened.
After chatting for a while at the factory, Ye Lingyun and Qiao Chunfang decided to go to Wuxian to visit Liu Juanjuan.
Learning that Ye Lingyun was a close friend of her sister-in-law and had come specifically to visit Second Sister-in-Law Liu Juanjuan, Li Xiaoyan immediately offered to show them the way when Ye Lingyun asked for the address of their hometown.
Factory Director Yang, not wanting to miss an opportunity to make a good impression, immediately offered to grant Li Xiaoyan time off and decided to drive her back himself.
Since they had offered so generously, Ye Lingyun and the others naturally didn’t refuse, and that’s how this trip to Wuxian came about!
Shortly after leaving the county town, the cars entered the rugged, potholed mountainous terrain.
Even though both of their vehicles were Jeeps with excellent off-road capabilities, the constant jolting still made it feel like riding a roller coaster.
Fortunately, Li Xiaoyan had mentioned this when they set out, so everyone was mentally prepared, and no one complained.
After driving along the mountain roads for over half an hour, they finally crossed a large mountain and arrived at a mountain village.
The village was called Wangli Village. The entire settlement was built in a small basin, and looking down from the rim, the whole village lay spread out before them.
The village wasn’t large; at a glance, there were roughly three or four hundred households.
Although it was only twenty or thirty li from Yong County’s county seat, because it was in the mountains, its economic development lagged significantly behind.
This was evident from the style of the houses in the village; in such a large settlement, not a single brick-and-tile house was to be seen—only low, mud-brick dwellings.
Apart from looking a bit poor, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the place; in fact, it even had a sort of utopian feel to it.
After the car reached the village entrance, guided by Li Xiaoyan, it pulled up in front of a low, dilapidated courtyard.
After getting out of the car, Li Xiaoyan said to Ye Lingyun, “Sister Ye, this is my second older brother’s house!”
With that, Li Xiaoyan pushed open the wooden gate at the entrance and led Ye Lingyun and Jiang Xue into the courtyard.
Li Yi, Zhang Ziqiang, and several colleagues from the cotton mill didn’t rush inside. Instead, they first unloaded the rice, flour, cooking oil, and over ten pounds of pork they’d bought for the trip from the car before entering the courtyard.
As for Li Xiaoyan and the others, the moment they entered the courtyard, Li Xiaoyan called out loudly, “Second Brother, Second Sister-in-law, are you home?”
Her voice quickly alerted the people inside!
Immediately afterward, a woman wearing a headscarf emerged from the house.
Liu Juanjuan was taken aback when she saw her younger sister-in-law. Just as she was about to speak, she noticed the large group following her and grew even more puzzled.
“Xiaoyan, who are these people…”
Just as she spoke, Liu Juanjuan spotted Jiang Xue and blurted out, “Wanwan… No, you’re not Wanwan—you’re too young…”
Ye Lingyun immediately stepped forward and said, “Sister Juanjuan, I am Wanwan. This is my daughter!”
“You…”
Liu Juanjuan stared at Ye Lingyun for a long moment before finally making the connection between the slightly gaunt, well-dressed woman before her and the beautiful girl from the capital she remembered.
“You really are Wanwan! We haven’t seen each other in over twenty years—what brings you here?”
Li Xiaoyan immediately chimed in, “Second Sister-in-Law, Sister Ye came here specifically to see you. Quick, please invite her inside!”
“Look at me… Come on in!” Liu Juanjuan said hurriedly.
The group followed Liu Juanjuan inside, but upon entering, they were all stunned by the dilapidated state of the room.
The room was dilapidated and worn, poorly lit, and extremely damp; moreover, a pungent stench of urine and feces filled the air.
Worse still, despite the freezing weather, the stove wasn’t even lit, leaving the entire house as cold as an ice cellar.
“The place is a bit messy—please don’t mind!”
Just as everyone was staring in astonishment, a voice called out from the inner room: “Juanzi, who’s here?”
Hearing the voice, Liu Juanjuan hurriedly replied, “It’s Xiaoyan, and some friends of mine from the cotton mill!”
“Then you go entertain the guests. I’m not coming out!”
“Okay!”
Then Liu Juanjuan turned to Ye Lingyun and said, “Wanwan, my husband has been injured—he has no feeling below the waist, so he can’t come out!”
“It’s okay. I’ve heard all about it from Xiaoyan!”
Ye Lingyun sighed and said, “I never imagined so much had happened in your family. It’s just a shame I was so sick myself a few years back—I couldn’t help you at all!”
Liu Juanjuan, however, remained quite optimistic. She smiled and said, “Actually, things aren’t too bad. With Xiaoyan and my in-laws helping out, aside from the fact that life is a bit inconvenient for the two of us, everything else is manageable!”
“You, you’re always so optimistic and upbeat!” said Ye Lingyun.
“What else can I do? A day spent crying is just as long as a day spent laughing—why choose to spend it crying?” Liu Juanjuan said with a smile.
Just then, Li Yi and the others walked in carrying all sorts of things.
Seeing them carrying bags of white flour and rice, with some holding bottles of cooking oil and meat, Liu Juanjuan’s expression shifted slightly.
She knew this must have been bought by her good friend—after all, her sister-in-law gave them a third of her monthly salary every month. With two children to raise on her own, her sister-in-law was barely making ends meet; she certainly didn’t have any extra money to buy rice or meat!
“Wanwan, did you buy this? What are you doing…”
Before she could finish, Ye Lingyun interjected, “Today is my very first time visiting your home. I couldn’t possibly show up empty-handed. Besides, it’s nothing expensive!”
Jiang Xue chimed in, “Aunt Juan, my mother has wanted to visit you for ages. She came all the way from Beijing just to have a good chat with you, so please don’t be so formal!”
Liu Juanjuan looked at Jiang Xue and said with a touch of emotion, “Wanwan, your daughter really looks just like you did when you were young!”
“She really does!” Ye Lingyun said with a smile.
“How old is she? Is she married yet?”
“She’s 21, and she’s married!”
Then Jiang Xue pointed to Li Yi beside her and said, “This is my husband. His name is Li Yi!”
Liu Juanjuan looked at Li Yi, then smiled and said, “He’s a handsome young man. The lad’s a lucky one!”
“Thank you for the compliment, Aunt Fang!”
Then Li Yi added, “Mom, you and Aunt Fang keep chatting. I’ve got some things in the car—I’ll be right back!”
“Alright!”
With that, Li Yi led Zhang Ziqiang toward the front gate.
However, as soon as they reached the gate, they saw a slender figure standing by the car…
……….
PS: There will be one more chapter before midnight. I’ve been busy with my professional certification lately, so updates haven’t been very timely. Please bear with me!