1977: It all started with a wrong love

Chapter 28 Motivating my brother-in-law

Renhe Village.

It was late at night, in the old house of the Lu family. The oil lamp was still on in the house, and the whole family of the Lu family was also holding a family meeting.

However, the atmosphere of the family meeting was completely different from that of the Zhong family in Beijing.

Men, women, old and young in the Lu family all took off their shoes and got on the kang. They sat in a row against the wall at the head of the hot kang.

Of course, the women and children of the Lu family were sitting in a row on the kang and in the warm quilts.

The three grown men, Lu's father, Lu Yifan, and Xu Erhe, were either sitting or standing, guarding the kang.

The one standing in front of the kang with a sullen look on his face and being scolded was naturally my brother-in-law Xu Erhe.

The one who scolded him was his eldest sister Lu Dalian, who was sitting cross-legged in front of the table on the kang, helping Lu's mother sew shoe soles by the light of an oil lamp, while muttering angrily from time to time.

"Mr. Xu, let me make it clear to you that I really don't plan to live with you this time..."

"You're so cold to the hearts of the three of us..."

"Just take you for example. Even though you're idle outside on weekdays, I haven't asked too much of you, right..."

"I just want to spend a peaceful life with you..."

"No matter how hard and tiring our lives are, as long as you don't cause any trouble outside, our family will still have a future..."

"When our dog and cat grow up in a few years and can help work in the fields, we will have three strong laborers, mother and daughter. How can we not have a good future?"

"I've told you so many times, but you just won't listen. You just won't listen and insist on doing evil things..."

"This time the Longyan Commune Police Station arrested you, but they let you go for my sake..."

"But if there is a next time..."

"After the Spring Festival next year, I will go to Beijing to attend university. If you commit a crime again and get arrested, do you think you will have to call me back home from afar to clean up your mess and rescue you again..."

In the room, the only sound was the eldest sister's constant nagging.

Even when Mother Lu quietly pushed her away, signaling her to say less, the eldest sister still refused to give up.

The only emotion that Father Lu expressed about all this was the changing frequency of the flickering of the smoke from his pipe as he sat in a chair in front of the kang in the house and smoked it.

My brother-in-law Xu Erhe has now become the most obedient house cat.

He was very perceptive. While listening to his wife's complaints, he served his father-in-law on his pipe, knocking off the ashes, refilling the pipe with tobacco and lighting it, just like a waiter serving an old landlord.

As for Lu Yifan, he couldn't "enjoy" the biological attack from his father's pipe.

He leaned sideways against the doorway of the inner room and lifted a corner of the cotton curtain to let in the cool air from the outer room. In his other hand, he held a teacup made by cutting off the upper half of a liquor bottle, and the cup was filled with super finely ground Longjing tea.

After taking a sip, he had to spit out the tea leaves for a long time.

On the way back from the commune.

Lu Yifan has basically been controlled by his brother-in-law Xu Erhe.

It’s settled that after the Spring Festival, we will take her to Beijing together and help her find a way out there.

However, after bringing the person back, he will have to endure the mental magic attacks (the nagging of the eldest sister), and how to regain the trust in front of his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

He had no intention of intervening in these matters.

In fact, he was staying in the house at the moment, witnessing the quarrels and reactions of his family members, most of them were just killing time because they were bored.

It gets dark early in the north in winter.

It was freezing cold, and there were only a few households in the village with electricity.

On a night like this, it was really torment for me to stay alone in my own little yard.

It seems that Xu Erhe is really afraid of his elder sister, this tigress who can easily show her power and violence.

And it was said that even though the eldest sister was aggressive and scolded her husband like a grandson, she kept clamoring for a divorce, and she must not live with Xu Erhe anymore...

But in reality, if she really didn't want to live anymore, why would she yell so fiercely and be so emotional...

There is an old saying that goes, spanking is love, scolding is care. The elder sister kept nagging and scolding, and her hands also kept working.

While they were talking, a sole had been completed, and she immediately received a lot of praise from her eldest and second sisters-in-law. The mother also took the opportunity to take out a large stack of shoe uppers that had been made earlier, and handed them to the eldest sister, asking her to pick one upper by hand to see if it was the right size for the newly sewn sole.

The eldest and second sisters-in-law realized that their mother was deliberately looking for something to do and took the opportunity to divert the eldest sister's attention.

They immediately joined in the gossip from time to time, deliberately talking to their elder sister-in-law and picking on the quality of her needlework.

As expected, a group of old ladies started arguing about who should wear the new shoes. The eldest sister had been scolded enough by her husband, so she started to compete seriously to see who had better craftsmanship.

The younger sister had been pretending to read a book or text by the oil lamp.

Now that there was no more "good show" to watch of the elder sister and her husband quarreling, he immediately opened his mouth and yawned.

Then look at the two little nephews Goudan and Maodan.

They had actually already fallen asleep in the warmest spot at the head of the kang, snoring loudly. No matter how noisy the adults on the kang were, it did not affect their sweet sleep at all.

It seemed that he had walked more than a hundred miles during the day.

The two little guys were really exhausted.

At this time, Father Lu finished another pack of cigarettes, waved his hand to indicate that he would stop smoking, and gave a wink to his brother-in-law Xu Erhe and his youngest son Lu Yifan, meaning that they should take the opportunity to quietly leave.

Xu Erhe felt as if he had been pardoned, and tiptoed towards the door of the inner room.

Lu Yifan grinned silently and lifted the cotton door curtain for his brother-in-law Xu Erhe. His brother-in-law Xu Erhe slipped out of the inner room in a flash, like a giant monkey that had finally escaped and returned to the forest.

The eldest sister heard the noise in front of the kang in the room, and when she looked up, she just caught a glimpse of Xu Erhe's back flying out.

He immediately raised his voice and challenged again.

As a result, he was slapped on the mouth by his mother's shoe sole.

Of course, it is a bit of an exaggeration to say that he was beaten with the soles of shoes.

In fact, a more accurate statement would be that the mother was a little too anxious and wanted to cover her eldest daughter's mouth to stop her nagging.

As a result, I neglected to hold the shoe sole in my hand.

Then I just covered my sister's mouth with the sole of my shoe...

"Okay, don't take it as if you're never going to stop nagging me..."

Seeing that the eldest sister subconsciously reached out to grab the soles of her shoes and leaned forward to pretend to get off the kang, the mother lowered her voice and said something rudely.

The eldest sister then sat back on the kang in embarrassment, complaining, "Anyway, he's a dog that can't change its nature..."

Father Lu coughed and said, "Alright, let's all take a rest!"

The eldest and second sister-in-law hurriedly packed up their sewing tools, moved to the edge of the kang, and tiptoed to look for their cotton shoes in the shoe hole in front of the kang.

"Mom, Dad, Big Sister, and Two Sisters-in-law, I will go back to my courtyard with my brother-in-law."

Brother-in-law Xu Erhe, who was hiding in the main hall, quickly followed Daoan's words and said goodbye.

The elder sister suddenly said something cruel.

"Mr. Xu, you are a stubborn person who can't change his bad habits. If you want me to believe that you can change, you should do something manly. Otherwise, I really can't live with you like you, Mr. Xu..."

My brother-in-law Xu Erhe was shivering in the main room due to the cold wind outside.

Listening to his wife's still indignant words, he opened his mouth to defend himself, to praise his wife in person, to show his determination to learn well or something...

Lu Yifan didn't give him the chance to complain. He patted his shoulder and asked him to leave. "Let's go. What's the point of arguing with your wife? Is there any point in arguing between you two? Remember today. Go back and work hard to improve yourself. One day, you can use money to make your elder sister listen to you with ears perked up and a smiling face. Only then will your reasoning be meaningful. Do you understand?!"

Xu Erhe naturally didn't understand.

But I feel that whatever my brother-in-law says now makes a lot of sense.

Although she is nearly ten years younger than him, it seems as if she has lived a lifetime longer than him.

However, thinking that he would be able to go to the capital with his brother-in-law after the Spring Festival, his heart was filled with fighting spirit. Making a living in the imperial capital, even if it meant begging, was much better than living in the countryside!
(End of this chapter)