RYEY – Chapter 80 Strangers

Zhaodi couldn’t hold back any longer. With tears streaming down her face, she rushed forward and threw herself on Chen Chunhua, who was just about to pull the cart. Chen Chunhua was so startled she froze, and when she looked closely, she realized it was her own mother.

“Chunhua, come home with me.”

“Go back? Go back where?”

“Go home, of course.”

“Which home? Yours?”

“You… daughter, what’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong? Ever since you accepted Wang Tuozi’s bride price, you’ve already sold me off. A sold good can’t be returned, can it? Of course not.”

Chen Chunhua forcefully shook off Zhaodi, grabbed the rope, and got ready to pull the cart again. But Zhaodi grabbed it back, slinging it over her own shoulder and trying to pull the cart herself.

But no matter how many times she pulled, the flatbed cart didn’t move—because the woman behind wasn’t pushing at all. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but if she could slack off, of course she’d slack off for as long as possible.

“Why aren’t you pushing?”

Zhaodi turned to look at that woman. The woman rolled her eyes—at least Chen Chunhua was a temporary worker here, but what about her? What kind of person was she to come and snatch up work like this?

“Chunhua, tell her to push. I’ll help you pull a few loads.”

“How many loads can you pull for me? Or how many days can you pull for me? Since you sold me off, don’t come here pretending to care. I don’t buy it.”

“Chen Chunhua, how can you talk like that? If you hadn’t brought this on yourself, would you have ended up like this today?”

Chen Weimin couldn’t stand it anymore and barked angrily.

“Brought it on myself? Look at how Cheng Qiao lives after marriage, and look at how I live. You still think you helped me? Get lost! I don’t ever want to see you again.”

Chen Chunhua snatched the rope back from Zhaodi and gave her a hard shove. Zhaodi staggered back several steps, unable to keep her balance, and fell to the ground.

Chen Weimin’s chest heaved with anger. He knew he had been rash in this matter, but at the time he had no choice but to sacrifice the cart to protect the coachman. Otherwise, the Chen family’s reputation would’ve been trampled underfoot.

“Zhaodi, let’s go. This ungrateful wretch—just treat it as if we never had such a daughter.”

“Get lost! Don’t come back again. From now on, just consider me a daughter who’s dead to her parents.”

Chen Chunhua sneered coldly. She wasn’t going to be bullied by Wang Tuozi forever. Once she had a good plan, she would make sure Wang Tuozi died a miserable death.

“Child’s father, how can Chunhua break my heart like this? How can this unfilial girl be so heartless? How much suffering have I gone through for her…”

Zhaodi sobbed bitterly. She never imagined things would turn out like this. How could she face the villagers when she returned? How could she explain that her daughter really was doing heavy labor at the brick kiln? How could she show her face again?

“Let’s go. From now on, don’t treat her as a daughter anymore. Just treat her like a stranger.”

As soon as those words fell, all the women in the molding team looked at Chen Chunhua with pity in their eyes. So she was another pitiful one, sold off by her parents—otherwise, why else would she be working here?

When the villagers saw Zhaodi and her husband return, they all crowded over with questions, wanting to confirm whether Chen Chunhua was really working as a laborer at the brick kiln.

Miao Qing also squeezed in nervously. If Chunhua was really this useless, could she still be of any use for her revenge? Clearly not. Such a worthless thing.

Couldn’t even hold onto a scoundrel, and now couldn’t even keep a second-married man so much older than her, with a child no less—getting completely controlled instead. Pathetic.

Zhaodi, faced with so many probing questions, finally broke down. She picked up a broom and drove people away. She was already in so much pain, and now these people were here for a laugh. Couldn’t they do something decent and let her live a little longer?

“Zhaodi, what are you doing? If you don’t want to talk, then don’t. Why chase people off like this?”

“Exactly. That mutt was right—Chunhua must be doing hard labor.”

“Oh my, do you even know what kind of place the brick kiln is? It’s full of men. A woman working among men, tsk…”

“Really? I’ll go see for myself tomorrow.”

“Me too. Chunhua might not be as pretty as Comrade Cheng, but she’s not bad-looking either. Working among men, could something… happen?”

“Who knows? Maybe Wang Tuozi’s head will start growing grass.”

Although Zhaodi chased the villagers off, their words rang out louder and louder, getting cruder each time. Chen Weimin was so angry he stomped back into the house to sleep.

“Wang Duocai, looks like you’re going to end up with a few more relatives.”

One villager spotted Wang Duocai and grabbed him with a mocking laugh. Wang Duocai was just on his way home to get a trowel—the bricks had arrived, and he had no time to waste chatting.

“Get lost. Our family has nothing to do with Wang Tuozi’s family, not even remotely related. We’re as far apart as heaven and earth.”

“Haha, Duocai’s getting worked up. It’s not like your head’s sprouting grass. What are you so anxious about?”

“More like he’s anxious to get to the scoundrel’s house. I hear wall-building pays fifty cents a day.”

Another villager shouted maliciously. Everyone looked at Wang Duocai, then at the trowel in his hand, and their attention all focused on him.

Wang Duocai cursed his bad luck under his breath. How did he run into this? He hurried off without another word. The villagers didn’t follow—after all, the scoundrel only hired the Wang family to work, not them. Going would be a waste.

As dusk fell, everyone went home. Mother Li had already prepared hot water, letting Cheng Qiao and Li Huan wash up before dinner so they could rest early.

Uncle Niu was feeding the old ox when the door was knocked. Opening it, he found it was Village Head Chen Weidang. Just as he was about to ask why he came, Chen Weidang pointed to the two people behind him.

Uncle Niu understood immediately. They were sent down from above. Such people usually lived in his backyard, since that was where the big cowshed was.

Uncle Niu silently led them along a small side path that went straight to the cowshed. He had fenced off his house from the backyard with wooden planks.

The two carried thin luggage, stumbling as they followed him into the yard. Two others were already living there—an elderly couple from the capital.

“Old Zhu, you’ll have company now.”

Uncle Niu knocked on a weather-beaten wooden door. With a creak, it opened, revealing an elderly, scholarly man with white hair and glasses.

“Brother Niu, Village Head—you’ve come?”

“These are newcomers. They’ll live next door to you.”

“Oh, I see. I’ll open the door for them.”

Old Zhu quickly opened the next room. He and his wife had already cleaned it a few days earlier after hearing that new people were coming.

But no matter how much you clean a mud house, it still looked dusty. And now with dusk setting in and no bright lights, the room appeared even older and gloomier.