Chapter 36 - 13: "Lin Heling

Chapter 36: Chapter 13: "Lin Heling

Lin Zhao was also very satisfied.

Not long after the meal, Mrs. Lin and Lin Shisheng were ready to go home.

Da Zai and Er Zai were especially reluctant to see them go. Their eyes welled up with tears.

Lin Zhao stroked her two sons’ little shaved heads. The prickly texture wasn’t pleasant, but at least it had destroyed the breeding ground for lice.

"I’ll take you to Grandma’s house another day."

Er Zai’s face instantly lit up. He asked excitedly, "When? I miss Grandpa."

"Me too. I miss Grandpa’s stories. I love listening to them," Da Zai said.

Lin Zhao chuckled lightly. "What a coincidence. I like them too."

Her father had a mysterious past. He had come to the area as a refugee during the war when he was only about ten years old. He had suffered a head injury that muddled his memories, so he couldn’t remember where his home was. All he knew was that his surname was Lin and his name was Lin Heling.

He could read and draw, was full of knowledge, and could tell all sorts of stories. He was handsome, too. In the words of Lin Zhao’s maternal grandmother, whenever her father just stood there, he looked like a young nobleman from an opera—so dashing. Anyway, he was good-looking from every angle.

Lin Zhao had prepared a lot of nice things for them to take back—canned goods, brown sugar, meat, and dried noodles—but both Mrs. Lin and Lin Shisheng refused to accept them.

Even when Lin Zhao got angry, they wouldn’t take anything. Having no other choice, Lin Zhao cooked a bowl of dumplings, packed them in a lunchbox, and told her mother to take them back for her father to eat.

"These are for Dad. If you won’t take them, Mom, I’ll deliver them myself," Lin Zhao said, very unhappy.

She was angry that her mother was being so formal.

’She had gotten all those things from her lottery draws. She just wanted to be a filial daughter to her parents, and it had nothing to do with the Gu Family. Yet her mother insisted it would be bad for her.’

Lin Zhao specifically pointed out that the dumplings were her way of honoring her father. This time, Mrs. Lin couldn’t refuse.

"Alright, Mom will take them. My daughter knows how to be filial now. This will make your father happy too."

Lin Zhao didn’t smile. "Those other things were for you and Dad, too. Why didn’t you take them?"

"You’re a mother of four now, how can you still be so thoughtless? If I accepted those things, what would happen to your reputation? The whole village would point fingers at you, saying you’re secretly taking things from the Gu Family to subsidize your own family. Your father always says that gossip is a fearsome thing. You might not think of these things, but your mother can’t be the one to harm you," Mrs. Lin said earnestly.

"But..." ’Those things have nothing to do with the Gu Family.’

But she couldn’t say that out loud.

Lin Zhao felt a little wronged.

’No job, no financial independence. I can’t even be a good daughter to my parents.’

"I know you’re a good daughter. Our family may be poor, but we don’t lack for food. Keep those nice things for Da Zai and the others to eat. As long as you take good care of the children and give me less to worry about, I’ll be at ease." Mrs. Lin smiled and patted her daughter’s hand, then gave Da Zai and Er Zai a long list of instructions before finally leaving with Lin Shisheng.

The people from Fengshou Team ran into them.

"Leaving already, Da Zai’s grandma?"

"Why not stay a little longer?"

"Heading back after seeing your daughter, Sister-in-law Lin?"

...

Regardless of what they were thinking, the people of Fengshou Team kept up appearances.

Mrs. Lin was the type who responded to kindness, not coercion, so she also smiled and exchanged pleasantries. "Yes, we’re heading back. There are still things to do at home."

After a few more words, the two from the Lin Family left.

The local villagers at the entrance to the village were still talking.

"Chenghuai’s wife is so lucky. Even after getting married, her family still dotes on her. I saw her mother and brother bring her a basket of eggs and a fat fish. The Lin Family really treasures their daughter."

"That’s right. You won’t find another family in any of the surrounding villages that spoils their daughter like the Lin Family. If the Lin Family hadn’t spoiled her, Chenghuai’s wife wouldn’t have gotten so lazy."

"They were even willing to part with a fish! That’s basically meat. The Lin Family is really generous."

"I heard that as soon as Da Zai’s grandma heard her daughter had hit her head, she rushed over in a panic. The Lin Family is so protective—did Xing’er not get a beating?"

A group of women chattered nonstop, their voices a flurry of gossip.

One who knew the inside story looked left and right, and seeing no one approaching, lowered her voice. "What do you mean she didn’t get a beating? She was beaten until she was screaming her head off. It was Da Zai’s second uncle who did it."

One of them shifted into a more comfortable sitting position, her eyes shining brightly, and hurriedly asked, "And the Gu Family didn’t stop him?"

"Stop him? Why would they? You wouldn’t have either, if you were them," the well-informed woman said.

Her words instantly hooked everyone’s attention.

"Tell us the details..."

That woman, basked in the gaze of several pairs of eyes, was immensely satisfied. She launched into the story she’d dug up, speaking with such passion that spit flew from her mouth.

After hearing the story, someone said, "I haven’t heard about Old Mrs. Gu going to the Gu Family’s third branch to settle scores."

"Da Zai’s grandma is the village tyrant! I heard she killed someone back in the day. No one who crosses her comes out unscathed. Xing’er’s grandma is old; how would she dare go over there? She wants to live a few more years," another woman guessed.

What this person didn’t know was that, by a strange twist of fate, she had guessed about seventy to eighty percent of what was on Granny Gu’s mind.

"Xing’er is strange, too. You never see her picking fights with Tie Dan’s mother or Bangbang’s mother, but she’s always at odds with Da Zai’s mother. What’s that about? Is it what they call ’hate at first sight,’ where they have to fight every time they meet?" the auntie said, mystified, as she mended a hole in a pair of pants.