Old Mrs. Song is reborn; get out of here, you scumbag husband and illegitimate child!

Lin Fang's snack shop was steaming hot. Nie Erhua brought a bowl of peanut soup with taro and eggs, and placed a plate of fried dough sticks cut into sections on the table.

"Third Aunt, drink it while it's hot to get rid of the cold."

Song Xianglan picked up a spoon and took a bite.

The peanut soup was thick and sweet, and the taro was soft and glutinous. A warm current slid down my throat and into my stomach.

"It tastes good."

Song Xianglan praised, "Erhua, invite Shugen to come to your third aunt's house for the New Year."

Nie Erhua wiped her hands on her apron.

A forced smile appeared on his lips:

"Mom said I should spend the Spring Festival with her and Xiaochuan, and then visit my third aunt's house after the New Year."

She lowered her eyelids, and her eyelashes trembled.

"Third Aunt, I haven't been able to sleep well these days. Every time I close my eyes, all I see are those old stories. I feel like life is so hard, like I'm being tortured. Sometimes I really want to just end it all. I feel so much hatred oozing from my very bones."

She became more and more upset as she talked.

"I hate my own weakness and cowardice, I hate that Yan Ergou isn't human. I hate those beasts in Pingcheng..."

"Thank you for saving me too."

Song Xianglan put down her spoon.

Just as he was about to speak, Lin Fang chimed in:

"Who hasn't thought about dying at some point? Back when I was in the Geng family, I was so pathetic that I wanted to die."

When I first left, I felt like the sky had fallen, and I was afraid of people gossiping about me when I went out.

Now I have a shop and money; that's what you call jumping from hell to earth. Even the air tastes sweet. As long as I'm alive, there's something to strive for.

Song Xianglan put a fried dough stick into the peanut soup and took a big bite.

He nodded and said:

"Lin Fang is right. Let bygones be bygones, and move on. After this New Year, it's a new life. Who wants to keep rehashing old news?"

Nie Erhua was stunned.

He stared blankly at Song Xianglan.

I was locked up in that dark and gloomy place for too long.

She felt she was already completely rotten.

Only with Song Xianglan could he still feel like a human being.

"Third Aunt..." Nie Erhua's voice trembled, and her eyes instantly reddened, "Don't you think I'm dirty?"

Song Xianglan's face hardened, and her tone became serious:

"Nonsense. The filth lies with those heartless and ruthless beasts. What does it have to do with you? You are a perfectly innocent and good woman. Don't punish yourself for the sins of others."

"Your soul is clean, and your body is clean."

"Those who are guilty and need to repent and reflect are bad people."

Nie Erhua bit her lip, and tears fell to the ground with a "plop".

Lin Fang's eyes reddened.

They always punish themselves for the sins of others, and sometimes they feel that they are the ones who are unlucky, because they must not have done enough.

Song Xianglan, however, said it was the fault of the bad people and had nothing to do with them.

……

After leaving Lin Fang's shop, Song Xianglan went to the supply and marketing cooperative for a visit.

I bought two pots of daffodils that were in full bloom.

I also weighed out a few more pounds of melon seeds and candy.

I rode my bike back to the Xiaoquan Brigade.

The village loudspeaker was playing; it was already past 11 a.m.

I just arrived at my doorstep.

The ugly woman was squatting under the banyan tree at the intersection, holding a rice bowl, clearly waiting for her.

"Lanlan," Liu Chounu said, shoveling a mouthful of salty rice into her mouth, "The Wang family is making a huge scene. Zhaodi was pinned to the ground and beaten by her mother-in-law, screaming like a pig being slaughtered. Lots of people have come to watch the spectacle."

Song Xianglan parked the car and unloaded the items:

"Didn't Wang Zhihe protect her?"

"Protect my ass."

Liu Chounv, with a gloating expression, said, "Wang Zhihe and Qiao Zhaodi had a big fight, and everyone knows what they were arguing about."

When the Queen Mother heard that the money her son had painstakingly saved to build a new house had all been stolen by Zhao Di and taken back to her parents' home to fill a bottomless pit, she was furious.

That was a real beating; they even broke the feather duster.

Song Xianglan sneered inwardly.

This retribution came swiftly.

"Did you steal them all back?" Song Xianglan asked.

"That's right. I heard they even asked Wang Zhihe for money, and told him to borrow money from Zhou Fang and the others."

Do you think Qiao Zhaodi's brain is filled with mush?

She's a mother of three, after all. Is she really going to drive her whole family to despair? She has absolutely no consideration for their livelihood.

The ugly woman shoveled a mouthful of rice into her mouth and mumbled indistinctly:

"Qiao Zhaodi's precious younger brother, Qiao Yaozu, was sacked and beaten black and blue last night. Qiao's mother came to ask Qiao Zhaodi for money for medical treatment, and she ran into Wang's mother, who was in a bad mood. The two mothers-in-law started fighting in the yard."

Song Xianglan said calmly:

"Things get chaotic at the end of the year. Keep a close eye on the Qiao family's movements from now on."

"I know, I love watching this family's antics."

Liu Chounu wished she could also put a sack over Yang Xiaohong and beat her up. "By the way, your Huijun is back. I saw her come in with red and swollen eyes."

Song Xianglan's heart tightened. Without arguing with Liu Chounu any longer, she picked up her things and walked into the courtyard.

Push open the door.

The courtyard was quiet.

Shen Huijun sat on a small stool by the well, with a large wooden basin in front of her, and was washing clothes with a washboard.

"Huijun," Song Xianglan called out.

Shen Huijun mechanically waved her hands in the water, stood up, wiped her hands haphazardly on her apron, and then turned around and threw herself into Song Xianglan's arms.

"mom……"

That scream was heart-wrenching.

All the fear that had been suppressed all night surged out.

"Mom, am I a bad person? I don't want Xiangdong to go to the southwest, and I want to be a righteous military dependent, but just thinking about war and people dying makes me tremble with fear... Am I too lacking in awareness?"

Song Xianglan patted her daughter-in-law's trembling back.

He sighed:

"Silly child, what's wrong with that? That's your man. If you were to happily send him off, that would be heartless."

"I'm scared too."

Song Xianglan's eyes were also a little wet. "That's flesh that fell off my body. How could I not feel pain?"

Even if we're scared, we can't hold onto his legs and stop him from leaving.

All we can do is hope he comes back safe and sound.

Shen Huijun sniffed and lifted her head from Song Xianglan's embrace, her eyes gradually hardening.

"Mom, I'm going to worship the Buddha, the Jade Emperor, the Kitchen God, the Earth God, our ancestors, and the Earth God with you this year... I also want to collect medicine and supplies for the Southwest."

"That's right."

Song Xianglan pulled her into the house, "Mom has already made preparations. Song Dong and the others are still outside buying medicines and supplies little by little."

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went into the west room.

The two squatted on the ground to count the number.

Gauze, anti-inflammatory drugs, hemostatic powder, and even several boxes of precious penicillin.

After checking the goods.

The two decided to send the first batch of supplies to the southwest.

Song Xianglan first called Cong Ying, who sounded cheerful on the other end: "Don't worry, Auntie, Song Dong has contacted me. He'll come to my place to pick up the goods first."

I hung up on Cong Ying.

Song Xianglan dialed Song Qiang's number again.

"Qiangzi, no matter the price, I'll take as much as you have, as long as it's hemostatic and anti-inflammatory medicine!"

Song Qiang's voice was loud and clear on the other end:

"Third Aunt, those bosses from Hong Kong, as soon as they heard it was being sent to the front lines, they went on a shopping spree in Hong Kong without saying a word, and found trucks overnight to transport it here. Many hands make light work; even if each person contributes just one box of medicine, it can save many lives."

The heavy weight in Song Xianglan's heart eased slightly.

Finally, she dialed the emergency contact number left by Song Xiangdong's unit.

The call was transferred several times.

It's finally connected.

"Hello, who is this?" came a dignified middle-aged male voice from the other end.

"Greetings, Commander. I am Song Xianglan, Song Xiangdong's mother." Song Xianglan gripped the microphone slightly, her voice steady. "I know the army has discipline, so I won't ask anything else. I just want to report that our family has managed to gather a batch of emergency medicines and supplies, which we would like to donate to the army to be sent to the southwestern front."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.

His tone then became agitated:

"Sister Song, thank you! Thank you for training such a good soldier as Song Xiangdong, and thank you even more for your support of the country at this time. The supply and demand department will contact you soon to coordinate the transportation route."

……

hang up the phone.

Song Xianglan let out a long breath.

I paid the phone bill and was about to leave.

Chunxia winked at her as she locked the door.

"Auntie, come on, come on, I've locked the door too, let's go together."

Song Xianglan was taken aback:

"Where to?"

"Let's go to the Wang family." Chunxia's face was glowing with excitement. "Just now someone said that Qiao Zhaodi's mother was making a scene in the Wang family's courtyard, insisting that you and Wang Zhihe hired someone to beat up her son, and demanding that the Wang family and you pay compensation."

The Queen Mother was wielding a broom and hurling insults at her; the whole village had come to watch, thinking it a spectacle they might as well see.