Chapter 12 Village Aunties Speak
That day, I was pedaling home again with a whole cart of packages.
Narrow road, old grudge—I ran into Lu Jingchuan’s older sister.
She stared at the pile of delivery boxes on my cart until her eyes nearly popped.
“Good heavens! Xia Mianmian! Why are you buying this much again? Does money blow in on the wind? My brother works so hard Farming to earn it, and you throw it away like this? Marrying a spendthrift like you was the worst luck of eight lifetimes!”
Before, I might have been polite.
Now?
I propped up the little e-bike and gave her a sweet smile.
“That’s right. When your brother married me, he paid a Bride Price of six hundred sixty thousand.”
“And now the money he earns all goes straight to me. He even said he has no time to spend it, so I should spend hard and buy whatever I like. Doesn’t that burn you up?”
“You! You—”
She shook all over with rage.
Her eyes flicked, then she suddenly raised her voice.
“What are you so smug about? Just wait! Lu Jingchuan’s old girlfriend is back! She’s a college graduate too, sensible and thrifty! Sooner or later he’ll dump you!”
Before I could open my mouth, Aunt Wang spat and bellowed.
“Lu Hongxia! Stop spraying filth! What old girlfriend does Lu Jingchuan have? Plenty of people tried to match him over the years, but his standards were high—he never took a second look!”
“Exactly!”
Aunt Li piled on.
“And you still have the face to call yourself his own sister? When your mother got leukemia, what did you say? ‘I just had a baby, I can’t deal with it’!
You forced him to skip school even after the admission notice came—a key provincial school!
The kid did Farming and ran to the hospital, borrowing from every house to scrape together hundreds of thousands for treatment.
Two years! You didn’t put out one cent, didn’t lift one finger!
And now you strut around playing the elder? ”
“Lu Jingchuan spent years quietly paying off debt. How much bitterness did he swallow? Now that his days are better and he has a wife, you bounce out to boss people around? Bah!”
Several aunties around us joined in, scolding harder the angrier they got.
Under the pile of blame, Lu Jingchuan’s sister slunk away.
I stood frozen. A buzz filled my ears.
Dropped out of school… key provincial school… hundreds of thousands in debt… carried it all alone…
So these years, Lu Jingchuan had been that bitter…
I suddenly remembered the day he said, “You’re the only family I have in this world.”
That lonely, desolate look in his eyes…
So that line had been so heavy.
For some reason, I wanted so badly to hold him.
I climbed onto the little e-bike and raced straight for the fields.
Under the grape trellises, workers were packing boxes at full tilt.
Lu Jingchuan wore a washed-pale old tank top, mixed into the crowd loading the truck.
Sweat slid down his neck.
“Lu Jingchuan!”
I charged over without thinking and locked my arms around his waist.
His body went stiff at once.
“Mianmian? Don’t… I’m dirty…”
His voice sounded flustered. His big hand hovered lightly at my back.
“You… what’s wrong?”
His voice dropped, thick with confusion and worry.
“Lu Jingchuan.”
I buried my face against his burning chest and choked the words out low.
“From now on… we’ll live well together.”
When I married him, half of it was fury at my Ex-Boyfriend, half was thinking he was honest and steady.
Only then did I understand that when choosing a man, character and backbone were what held the sky up.
He was clumsy with words, never pretty with speeches, but he gave security in full, and when he stood for me he never hesitated.
“Whoa, look at Lu Jingchuan and his wife—so sweet!”
“Hugging in broad daylight!”
The teasing made my face burn. I let go in a hurry.
Lu Jingchuan’s ears went red too, but he took my hand firm and steady.
“It’s hot here. Let’s go somewhere else.”