Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"What do you mean? Didn't they come to you on their own initiative, offering to help you take care of Xiaoyan'er?"

Zhou Rui's brows furrowed, and he felt a surge of anger rising in his chest.

Although Xiao Yan'er has no blood relation to him, he has watched her grow up almost every day for the past year.

To be honest, the only thing he lacked compared to Wang Xinghua, the biological mother, was to breastfeed the child.

"Sigh, her grandfather said that Xiao Yan'er is the granddaughter of the Zhao family. What kind of behavior is it for her to stay at your house every day? It doesn't sound good to others."

"I was so caught up in their words that I had to let Grandma Yan take the child back to the old house. Who knew they wouldn't treat my daughter well after they got back? It's infuriating."

"Sister-in-law Xinghua is here? Don't stand, sit down and eat."

Lin Qiuyue carried a plate of steaming stir-fried dishes out of the kitchen and lifted the curtain. When she saw Wang Xinghua, a warm smile instantly spread across her face.

"Even if you didn't invite me, I'd still stay here and eat today. I'm too lazy to go back and cook for that jerk Zhao Dazhu."

Wang Xinghua angrily sat down on the bench, taking out all the humiliation she had suffered at the hands of her mother-in-law and sister-in-law on her own husband.

"Alright, alright, that's what I've been waiting for. Zhou Rui, hurry up and make a couple more hearty dishes in the kitchen. I want to have a good chat with Sister-in-law Xinghua."

As Lin Qiuyue spoke, she took the little rice cake and little gosling from Zhou Rui's arms and half-pulled him into the inner room.

Tonight I plan to have a couple of drinks with her, sit on the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) with the door closed, and have a private conversation. It's much more convenient than leaving the door open in the main room.

Zhou Rui stood there watching, the doll he had just reached out to catch and held for a while had flown away, and he couldn't help but sigh at his empty hands.

At this rate, my position in this family is really in jeopardy.

Zhou Rui went into the kitchen and first took out a few eggs from the basket that had been exchanged. Little Yan'er had been wronged, so he would make her a steamed egg later.

Another steamed fish, and some stir-fried shredded potatoes with vinegar.

In just half an hour, all the dishes were ready. The steamed eggs were so tender that you could see your reflection in them, and they smelled incredibly enticing after being drizzled with sesame oil.

He then casually scooped a piece of glistening pickled radish from the pickled vegetable jar, diced it, and sprinkled it with sesame seeds.

As I carried several dishes toward the main room, I heard voices coming from the inner room.

"You didn't see it. When I opened the door to the Zhao family's old house today, I saw Xiao Yan'er squatting alone by the stove, holding half a cold sweet potato in her hand. She couldn't even get a hot steamed bun."

Wang Xinghua's voice, tinged with the smell of alcohol and carrying the grievances she had suppressed all the way, said: "Before I left for work this morning, I specially gave her grandma two boiled eggs, saying that Yan'er would be hungry at noon and I would give them to her to eat."

"When I asked my daughter Yan'er in the afternoon, I couldn't find any eggs at all."

"Luo Sujuan also called her a debt collector, saying, 'What kind of little brat eats eggs?'"

Wang Xinghua was clearly furious; she stopped calling her sister-in-law and addressed Luo Sujuan by her given name.

Lin Qiuyue added a small half cup of white wine to her wine bowl and gently tapped her fingertips on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Then you shouldn't listen to your father-in-law's nonsense anymore. Xiao Yan'er is your own flesh and blood. You can't let your child suffer because of some gossip."

"From now on, whenever you're busy, just leave the child with me. No matter how tight things are at home, there's always enough for Xiaoyan to have a hot meal and a bowl of hot soup."

Wang Xinghua picked up the rough porcelain bowl in front of her and gently touched it with Lin Qiuyue's. Her eyes were red, but she finally laughed out loud.

Zhou Rui lifted the cotton curtain and went inside. The two little kids on the kang (a heated brick bed) had sharp eyes and immediately dropped the calabashes they were holding, climbing over the kang mat with their short legs to get to him.

Lin Qiuyue and Wang Xinghua were chatting so enthusiastically that they had already picked up their wine bowls, completely forgetting about whether the two children had eaten anything.

He placed the bowls containing steamed eggs and steamed fish on the kang table, picked up a small porcelain spoon in each hand, and began feeding the two little darlings with both hands.

The little gosling, who had just been crying, suddenly brightened up.

She sipped the smooth steamed egg little by little, her cheeks puffing out like little dumplings.

Little Niangao was even more impatient. Not satisfied with the fish that Zhou Rui handed her, she stretched out her little hand and grabbed the stir-fried potato shreds from the plate and stuffed them into her mouth.

It was so sour that her little brows furrowed into small knots, but she couldn't bear to spit it out.

Fortunately, An'an came back from playing outside and immediately took over the care of the two little ones, which relieved Zhou Rui from his frantic state and finally allowed him to sit down and have a few bites of hot food.

"Auntie, fish." Little Niangao called out indistinctly, a piece of fish meat in her mouth. The boneless belly meat was so delicious that she kicked her little feet on the kang mat.

"Auntie, Egg."

Little Yan'er immediately came over to compete for attention, her little expression clearly showing that the steamed egg her aunt fed her was more delicious than the one her second uncle fed her.

Just as An'an had finished wiping the egg yolk off Xiao Yan'er's face with a coarse cloth, the sound of footsteps pattering came from outside the courtyard gate.

Zhao Dazhu's low voice drifted in through the crack in the door: "Xinghua? Xinghua, are you here?"

In the past, when he came to Zhou Rui's house, he would always barge in loudly without any politeness.

It was only today, after learning that his wife had been mistreated at the old house, that he became unusually cautious.

The children on the kang (heated brick bed) stopped moving for a moment. Little Niangao, with half a piece of tender fish in his mouth, tilted his head and looked towards the door.

Little Yan'er reflexively slammed her hand on the table and called out, "Dad!"

Wang Xinghua slammed the wine bowl she had just picked up onto the kang table, spilling half of the wine around her mouth.

Her face instantly darkened, and she stepped off the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed): "I knew he would come looking for me. Today is the perfect opportunity to expose all the dirty secrets of Old Zhao's family's favoritism."

Lin Qiuyue quickly grabbed her wrist and gestured towards the door with her chin: "Don't rush out, sit down first."

"Zhou Rui, go open the door and let him in. Shouting at the top of his lungs outside the gate at night will only cause rumors if outsiders hear it."

As soon as Zhou Rui stepped into the main room, there was a light knock on the wooden door twice.

Zhao Dazhu stood outside the threshold, half-huddled up, his trouser legs still covered in yellow mud from the paddy field.

Upon seeing Zhou Rui, he frantically reached into his pocket for cigarettes, his hands trembling so much that he almost couldn't even pull out a cigarette.

"Ruiwa, I...I've come to take Xinghua back."

"My parents were furious at home. They said she ran away with Yan'er without saying a word. What will the neighbors say if word gets out?"

"What kind of talk is this?" Zhou Rui stepped aside to let the person in, then gently closed the door behind him. His voice was low but each word was firm.

"Yesterday your mother came to our door offering to help take care of Xiaoyan. But then she turned around and made the child squat by the stove eating cold sweet potatoes?"

"The two boiled eggs that Sister Xinghua gave to the child, Xiaoyan didn't even get a taste of, and they ended up in your nephew's stomach. You really didn't know anything about this?"

The forced smile on Zhao Dazhu's face froze instantly, and the cigarette fell to the ground with a thud from between his fingers.

After stammering for a long time, his face turned red, and he couldn't utter a single complete sentence: "I...I work in the team during the day, stuck on the ridge of the field from morning till night."

"My father and mother were called by the village to feed the pigs. They didn't know anything about my sister-in-law's life at the old house."

"I talked to them when I got back this evening, and they will definitely pay more attention to Yan'er in the future."