Read Novel Full Chapter 79
Chapter 79 : Marrying into the Family
“This lipstick is not cheap. I’ve only seen this color on the lips of those workers in the city! Xiaolan, you’re so beautiful.”
“Yes, our country girls are not bad looking either. We look just as good when we dress up.”
“Your hairband is really pretty. Did you buy it at the supply and marketing cooperative?”
There was a girl with dark skin, her eyes rolling. “Jiang Li, can you put on some makeup for me too? We’re from the same village, so just consider it a favor.”
The person speaking was Zheng Juanjuan. She was extremely jealous as she saw how the formerly inconspicuous Li Chunlan had undergone a complete transformation and was now surrounded by so many people.
She had spoken in front of so many people, and Jiang Li would definitely feel embarrassed to refuse.
“No, I’m in a hurry and need to go home.”
“How long will this take? You’re so stingy. Are you reluctant to let others use your things?”
Jiang Li was a little angry. This person was taking advantage of her and still wasn’t done with it.
Before Jiang Li could even speak, Li Chunlan started scolding her. “Zheng Juanjuan, you can’t change your habit of asking for things from others, can you? If you want to beg for food, go somewhere else. My Lizi’s cosmetics are so expensive, why should she let you use them? Are you really this shameless?”
“That’s right! She’s so stingy that she won’t even lend me some clam oil, and she still has the nerve to ask for something as expensive as this!”
Everyone who played with them knew Zheng Juanjuan’s character. They talked about her one after another, and she ended up crying. She ran away with her face covered.
“Don’t pay attention to her. She’s like that. She can squeeze water out of cracks in rocks.”
Everyone present had grown up together and had all suffered some hardship because of Zheng Juanjuan. Over time, no one wanted to be friends with her anymore.
A group of girls stood up for Jiang Li. Jiang Li felt warm at heart and even taught everyone some braiding techniques.
A man and a woman were walking toward them. The man wasn’t tall, but the woman was tall and strong, a head taller than the man.
“Brother Jin, come to my house for lunch. We’re stewing fish today. The fish you got as an educated youth isn’t enough to fill your stomach, right? My mom also said we’ll have steamed buns today, but you look so hungry, you’re just a handful of bones.”
Ding Wenyu wanted to touch Chang Jinguang’s face out of heartache, but Chang Jinguang avoided her without saying a word, making her feel disgusted.
This family only knows how to eat. Everyone, from top to bottom, is fat and bloated. Ding Wenyu is no exception. She’s tall, strong, and has a shiny black complexion. She doesn’t look like a woman at all.
Chang Jinguang’s gaze fell ahead, and he was immediately attracted to the refreshed Li Chunlan.
She looked particularly good today, on par with Jiang Li who was standing beside her.
Seeing Chang Jinguang staring straight ahead without blinking, Ding Wenyu looked forward too. Li Chunlan stood tall and graceful, like a magnolia bud just beginning to bloom, full of vitality. Every movement, every smile of hers was captivating.
Ding Wenyu subconsciously felt a trace of inferiority in her heart, followed by an unknown bitterness. When she saw Chang Jinguang stunned, she became angry again.
“Why, are you bewitched? Then why don’t you date Li Chunlan? You’re looking at another woman in front of me. Do you think I’m dead?”
Ding Wenyu slapped Chang Jinguang without hesitation. She was strong and didn’t hold back, so Chang Jinguang staggered.
Holding the aching back of his head, Chang Jinguang looked at Ding Wenyu in disbelief. “Are you crazy? Who did I look at? How can a woman like you be so rude? Do you still act like a woman?”
“I’m going to hit you. If you can’t control your eyes, I’ll poke them out. I tell you, Chang Jinguang, you eat and drink from me, but if you dare not listen to me, you’ll suffer the consequences.”
Ding Wenyu looked like her mother. When her mother was young, she was big and strong, and no one dared to marry her. So, they found a young man who had fled, her father, to marry into the family.
In her heart, Chang Jinguang’s family was thousands of miles away, and they would settle in Dashuping in the future. If she married Chang Jinguang, it would be no different from him marrying into her family.
Since she’s marrying into the family, she would be the head, and Chang Jinguang would have to listen to her.
Their quarrel was heard loudly by Jiang Li.
Jiang Li smiled, thinking that Chang Jinguang would get what he deserved.
Qin Xiaoting cooked at noon. She secretly dug a hole in the private plot behind the educated youth site and roasted some lotus leaf chicken.
The lotus leaves were picked from the village’s lotus pond and then dried. The chickens were raised in an area with spiritual spring water, free-range chickens that ran all over the mountains and fields.
The lotus leaf chicken was fat but not greasy, with crispy skin and tender bones. It was juicy when pulled, and so fragrant that Jiang Li licked her fingers after eating it.
After eating two chickens, Jiang Li still felt unsatisfied, so Qin Xiaoting took out some roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes from the fire.
The skin of the sweet potato was charred black, but when broken open, it was golden and attractive, as if flowing with honey. Jiang Li liked to eat the layer between the flesh and the skin the most, which tasted particularly delicious.
Qin Xiaoting peeled the potatoes and ate them with sugar.
Jiang Li also brought some homemade chestnut cake. She had kept saying she wanted to eat it, so Chen Xianyun made it for her the next day.
After eating and drinking her fill, and taking a sip of spiritual spring water, Jiang Li touched her round belly and sighed with contentment.
After eating, the two buried the chicken bones in the ground and walked to the educated youth site together.
It was noon, and they ran into Xu Caixia, who came out of Guo Haifeng’s room shyly, holding a washbasin. When she saw Jiang Li and Qin Xiaoting, Xu Caixia snorted coldly and rolled her eyes.
After not seeing each other for a while, the once plain-looking Xu Caixia appeared much older, darker, and thinner. Jiang Li was a little surprised, and Qin Xiaoting whispered to her.
“The team leader punished Guo Haifeng to clean the manure pits in front of and behind the village. He did it twice, and then he got into a fight with Chang Jinguang and couldn’t get out of bed after that.
Xu Caixia served him, carried manure for him, and willingly put half of her work points in his name.”
Jiang Li opened her mouth wide and gave a thumbs up, “This guy is really a gigolo. He’s not just any gigolo. Look at Chang Jinguang, he has no technical skills and is completely controlled by Ding Wenyu.”
Xu Caixia cooked wild vegetable porridge in a big pot at the educated youth site. There were more vegetables than porridge, and it was almost like wild vegetable soup.
Her stomach growled with hunger. These days, Guo Haifeng had to take medicine and didn’t go to the fields, so two people had to eat one person’s food.
The food distributed last winter could have lasted her the whole year, but now there was one more mouth to feed, and it was all eaten up before winter. The last handful of millet was just put into the pot.
Seeing that the weather was getting colder and colder, and the wild vegetables on the mountain were becoming fewer, Xu Caixia panicked. She took the wild vegetable porridge out and ran into Qin Xiaoting and Jiang Li again.
A smell of meat wafted over, and she glared at them angrily.
It would be fine if she didn’t eat, but Guo Zhiqing couldn’t go hungry because he was a patient.
Thinking of this, Xu Caixia put down the wild vegetable porridge in her hand and walked forward. “Qin Xiaoting, can you lend me some food? Guo Zhiqing is sick, and he needs nutrition.”