VHBF -Chapter 106 Village Bully Daddy (Part 17)

After coaxing his daughter and even buying her a pile of things, Qin Yuli felt especially proud. Holding the kid in his arms, he ate while bragging away.

Chen Qiuhua rolled her eyes and said, “What about me and your dad?”

She stuck her hand out and shoved it right in front of her son, saying righteously, “Your father and I worried ourselves sick for days. And you—fine and dandy, waltzing back home—did you ever think about showing some filial piety to your parents?”

Old Qin had no idea when he’d started smoking his dry tobacco. Maybe the moment his son came back, the knot in his heart finally loosened. He took a couple of puffs, and when he heard his wife say that, he nodded along.

Seeing that the old man and old woman had both stretched out their hands asking for things, the rest of the Qin family followed suit. The two daughters-in-law were women, so they felt embarrassed asking their younger brother-in-law for gifts—but kids were a different story.

The twin boys, Bai Mian and Hei Mian, suppressed their usual fear of being bullied by Third Uncle. With identical faces plastered with the same silly, honest grin as their dad’s, they crowded over and said, “Third Uncle, what about us?”

“When you weren’t here, Third Uncle, we helped take good care of little sister Yinyin! I took Yinyin out to play.”

“I took Yinyin to dig for bird eggs!”

“When Yinyin wouldn’t eat, I helped her eat!”

“And also—”

“And also what? Hm?”

The twins immediately shut their mouths. Seeing Third Uncle’s and Grandma’s dark faces, they shuddered and scurried behind their parents. “…Hmph. Little brats still want presents? Not a chance!”

Although Qin Yuli didn’t bring gifts for the other kids in the family, he did bring back two full sets of books.

They were textbooks and workbooks from primary school all the way through junior high from a big city. A huge box crammed full, stuffed into a large sack. Earlier, the Qin family had wondered what could be so heavy—when they pulled it out and saw, good heavens, thick stacks upon stacks of books!

The Qin family’s children stared, dumbfounded. Da Hua was quite happy, but the twins and Xiao Hua looked miserable. Third Uncle was really awful—no presents was one thing, but he even bought books! With so many, who knew what year or month they’d ever finish reading them!

Qin Yuli laughed. “Won’t take that many years. Start now and read until you finish junior high!”

The kids: “……”

Compared to the rural primary school run by the commune, educational resources in big cities were several levels higher. The commune school had basically no resources—it was just set up with money scraped together by a few production teams.

There was endless farm work in the countryside. During spring planting and autumn harvest, schools even had to give kids time off so they could go home and help.

They couldn’t focus fully on studying, and resources couldn’t keep up—how could they learn well?

The teachers didn’t expect the kids to be geniuses anyway. As long as they learned manners and could read a few characters, the teachers considered their job done.

It wasn’t just the teachers who thought that way; parents did too. These days, being able to read at all was already pretty good—what more could you want?

Sure, in the cities, graduating from a technical secondary school could get you assigned a job, but that really didn’t apply much to old farmers. Rural kids generally didn’t study as well as city kids. Whether they could even test their way out was another matter—and even if they did get in, they still couldn’t compete with city kids. City kids had connections, better education, and a head start. How could you compare?

Urban job resources were tight too. Good positions went to two kinds of people: those with backgrounds, and outstanding students. If you had neither, you had to queue up for a job assignment, waiting for some unit to need people. Then the school would sift through candidates one by one. By the time it was your turn—who knew what year or month that would be?

Because of this reality, the Qin family had never really expected to produce a scholar. Their thinking was the same as everyone else in the village.

So when Third Son went to all this trouble to bring back so many books, they were puzzled. Wouldn’t it be better to spend that effort and money on food, drink, or something else?

Qin Yuli glanced at the little kid beside him. If it weren’t for his daughter, he wouldn’t have bothered hauling back these dead-weight books.

After all, the kid looked kind of silly—if she didn’t read more, what if she got tricked by someone in the future?

Thinking that, Qin Yuli said, “You don’t get it, do you? Count back a few generations—our family’s all been farmers. Dad, Mom, big brother, sisters-in-law—do you really want to watch the Qin kids keep living like this? Relying on the weather for food, slaving away in the fields every day?”

They shook their heads hard. Of course they didn’t want that. Farming was steady, sure, but it was bitter work with no future, all depending on whether Heaven showed mercy. Take this year for example—bad weather, poor harvest. Wouldn’t that mean going hungry?

If they could go to the city and eat rationed grain, no matter how hungry things got, it wouldn’t reach them.

Qin Yuli patted the books. “This whole set I got from Shanghai. Without connections, you really couldn’t get a complete set like this. These weren’t easy to come by. If you really don’t care for them, I’ll just move them back to my room and let my daughter read them herself later.”

The little dumpling looked at the stack of books nearly as tall as she was, gestured for a bit, then clung to her dad’s arm and said enthusiastically, “Yinyin wants to read books. Yinyin will read one book a year. When I finish all the books, I’ll grow taller than the books!”

Qin Yuli laughed and pinched her chubby little cheek. “One book a year? Look at you, getting all capable. So promising!”

It was Chen Qiuhua who finally caught the deeper meaning in her third son’s words. He said getting food was easy, but getting these books was extremely hard—not something money alone could buy. If the books were that hard to obtain, then—

They had to be useful.

“In big cities, people study everything. Kids there learn more, so naturally they do better on exams. Our commune school only teaches basic literacy and simple arithmetic, so it’s hard to test your way out.”

“Now that we’ve got the same books city kids use, as long as the children work hard at them—even if they’re not better than others, with some extra effort they might be able to test their way out.”

Now everyone in the Qin family understood. With so many books to read, if the kids really put in the effort, then in the future—whether they got into a city high school or a technical secondary school—either way, they’d definitely have a future!

The Qin family’s eldest daughter-in-law, Zhao Yueya, her belly swollen with pregnancy, was so excited she trembled. “Third Brother, I don’t even know what to say. Sister-in-law really thanks you. I’ll make sure Da Hua and Xiao Hua study hard. When they succeed someday, they’ll repay you, their Third Uncle.”

The way she looked gave Qin Guoshu quite a scare. His wife had originally said she’d give birth before the New Year, but somehow the baby inside just wasn’t showing any signs of coming out. His wife, on the other hand, was rather happy about it, saying the child was clever—knew to wait out the end of the year and be born at the start of the next. Babies born at the beginning of the year had the advantage.

Chen Qiuhua snorted, put on a stern face, and said, “A little girl still wants to study? After finishing primary school, she should come back and help with the housework. Aren’t you going to have another baby anyway? When the time comes, let these two older ones help look after it.”

Da Hua’s face flushed red. She wanted to say something, but in the end she didn’t dare.

She wanted to study, wanted to amount to something.

Zhao Yueya had been quite happy at first. Hearing her mother-in-law say this, she lowered her head and didn’t dare speak either. She didn’t really have the confidence—among the girls in the village, she’d never seen any go to middle school. Most didn’t study at all, many hadn’t even gone to primary school.

The fact that her two daughters could attend primary school already put them far ahead of many girls who couldn’t even get enough to eat and had to work at home every day like hired laborers. Zhao Yueya swallowed her words and didn’t dare argue back.

Buying books had been a good thing to begin with, and after listening to the big promises Qin Yuli had painted, the Qin family had been even happier. But now the atmosphere had grown a bit stiff—those who wanted to speak didn’t dare, and those who hadn’t spoken didn’t know what to say.

At that moment, a soft, sweet voice sounded out: “Grandma, what does ‘little girl’ mean? Does it mean a girl?”

Yinyin tilted her head, her eyes clear and bright with a child’s unique innocence. She said, “Why can’t girls study? Grandma, Yinyin is a girl too—does that mean Yinyin can’t study either?”

Chen Qiuhua: “……”

She froze for a moment, looking at her precious little granddaughter’s puzzled eyes, not knowing what to say. How was she supposed to argue back? Say it wasn’t like that, say my precious granddaughter, you’re different, you can study?

Over there, her third son was already glaring at her. Chen Qiuhua turned her back and said nothing.

Yinyin was a little confused. Had she asked the wrong thing? “Isn’t ‘little girl’ the same as meaning a girl?”

That made everyone else laugh, and the atmosphere lightened up.

Even Chen Qiuhua couldn’t help curling the corners of her mouth, thinking to herself that her granddaughter was just so lovable—no one could compare!

As a great, amazing father, Comrade Qin Yuli was not about to let his kid be disappointed. He said, “From now on, in our family, whether they’re girls or boys, whoever can study will study; whoever can’t, won’t. No special treatment for anyone.”

As the only person in the Qin family who’d been treated as “special” his entire life, Qin Yuli said this with complete righteousness. After all, he was setting a good example for his daughter.

Chen Qiuhua turned back, wanting to say something. She’d held onto her old beliefs her whole life and couldn’t turn them around so easily. The family wasn’t rich or well-off—just farmers with their faces to the soil and backs to the sky. How could they send all the children to school? Sending the boys was enough.

Qin Yuli shook his daughter’s chubby little hand and spoke before she could: “Mom, why don’t you explain to Yinyin what ‘little girl’ means, then?”

Only then did Chen Qiuhua hold her tongue. She did want little Yinyin to study—ideally to test into the city someday, become a city girl, then marry a capable city boy and live harmoniously and happily.

Pinching her nose, Chen Qiuhua accepted it without saying anything more. Forget it—Da Hua and Xiao Hua weren’t particularly bright anyway; studying wouldn’t amount to much for them. They’d talk about the future later.

Seeing that she’d stopped talking, the Qin family took it as her tacit agreement with Third Son’s words. Da Hua happily squeezed her younger sister’s hand, looking at the little cousin in Third Uncle’s arms with gratitude in her eyes. If it hadn’t been for her little cousin speaking up by accident just now, they might not have had this chance at all.

Grandma had now acknowledged Third Uncle’s words in front of everyone. If they studied well, maybe they really could go to middle school, high school—even take the college entrance exam!

The second family didn’t feel much about it. They had a pair of twin sons and had no plans to have more children. Two brats were already hard enough to raise—no way they could afford more. So their mother’s favoritism toward boys was actually a good thing for them.

Right now, in Grandma’s heart, the ranking of the children in the family went like this: Third Son’s bargain granddaughter, the twin grandsons, then Eldest Son’s two daughters.

The ones who lost out the most were Eldest Son’s family.

Zhao Yueya rubbed her belly and steeled her resolve again—she had to give birth to a boy. Only then would she dare speak loudly to her mother-in-law in the future!

Suddenly thinking of something, her eyes lit up. She beckoned to the bargain little niece in her brother-in-law’s arms. “Yinyin, come here for a moment. Auntie will give you some New Year’s money.”

Yinyin blinked and looked at her dad. In the past, although Eldest Aunt hadn’t treated her badly, she wasn’t warm either—rather cold, even more distant than Second Aunt.

Seeing her dad nod, Yinyin climbed down from his legs and toddled over on her short little legs. “Auntie.”

Zhao Yueya smiled and reached out to pinch the child’s cheek, finding the feel quite nice—plump and tender, even nicer to pinch than a newborn.

Seeing that her little niece didn’t resist, Zhao Yueya pulled the child into her arms. She sat on a stool, her belly huge, like she was carrying a ball. Yinyin was very careful, not daring to touch her belly. Grandma had said there was a little brother inside—she mustn’t touch it carelessly.

Zhao Yueya had her come closer, grabbed her small hand, and placed it on her belly. “Yinyin, say hello to the baby in Auntie’s belly. It’s New Year—we’re celebrating, so he should celebrate too, right?”

Yinyin stared with wide, curious eyes. “Can the little brother understand?”

Zhao Yueya’s eyes lit up. “You’re saying the baby in Auntie’s belly is a little brother?”

Yinyin nodded in confusion. Why was Auntie suddenly so happy? Grandma had said it—there was a little brother in Auntie’s belly.

When Zhao Yueya saw her blessed little niece nod, the worry in her heart finally settled. The smile never left her face—this niece of hers, whatever she said came true, and she had good fortune too. If she said it was a younger brother, then it had to be a younger brother!

Besides, old folks always said that children’s eyes were the sharpest and their words the most spiritually attuned. This baby she was carrying was definitely a boy!

Maybe because she was too happy, Zhao Yueya’s stomach suddenly cramped. She cried out in alarm, “Quick, quick, quick—he’s coming!”

The Qin family: “……”

Chen Qiuhua: “……” Good grief, what a troublesome daughter-in-law. She’s about to give birth and still dragged her granddaughter over—if anything went wrong, wouldn’t she blame the child?

Boys were wild and quick on their feet. Chen Qiuhua waved her hand and sent the two Hei Mian brothers to run to the village to fetch Granny Jiang, the midwife. Most of the village’s babies had been delivered by her hands—steady and reliable.

Granny Jiang had already gone to bed on New Year’s Eve when a burst of knocking woke her. By the time she arrived at the Qin house, hot water had already been boiled. The men had retreated to another room, and Zhao Yueya, supported by her sister-in-law Li Dilai, was walking around inside the room.

She stroked her belly and muttered to herself, “The little girl said it’s a son. A son. It must be a son…”

Li Dilai: “……” Where did eldest sister-in-law’s usual sharp wits go? Looks like she’s about to give birth and has gone a bit silly!

Granny Jiang had a loud voice and spoke straight from the gut, never minding people’s feelings. The moment she stepped inside and saw Zhao Yueya’s round, ball-like belly, she let out an “Oh!” and said, “This girl sure knows how to pick a time—choosing New Year’s Eve to rush out! Count it up and the baby will be born around the first day of the new year. A real little sly one!”

Everyone in the Qin family heard that. Eldest son Qin Guoshu rarely fell silent like this—he sat motionless on a chair, brows tightly knit, and at those words his frown deepened even more.

He wasn’t someone who favored sons over daughters. It was just that he’d heard his wife nag about it too often, plus his mother’s influence. He felt that if this baby still wasn’t a boy, his wife probably wouldn’t be able to take it—who knew if she’d do something extreme.

As a down-to-earth rural man, Qin Guoshu actually hoped for a son too. Not only to support them in old age, but more importantly, so that when they were old, he could help look out for and back up his two older sisters.

Chen Qiuhua immediately exploded. She’d been boiling water in the kitchen and suddenly dashed into the eldest son’s room, hands on her hips as she shouted at Granny Jiang, “Can’t you talk properly? I say this baby is a boy!”

“My granddaughter already said it’s a boy—what you say doesn’t count!”

Granny Jiang replied, “Which granddaughter? Is she the Goddess of Mercy or something, that she can decide whether someone gives birth to a son or a daughter?”

Chen Qiuhua dragged over the little girl who was leaning against the doorframe watching the excitement, pointed at her fair, doll-like face and said, “You don’t recognize our girl? Those two times the production team got meat—who was it thanks to?”

Though Chen Qiuhua argued with great confidence, in truth she didn’t feel very sure inside. The Qin family felt the same. Granny Jiang had been delivering babies for twenty years—could her words really be wrong?

Second son Qin Guodong patted his big brother’s shoulder. “There’ll still be Bai Mian and Hei Mian kids later on. Big brother, no need to rush. Besides, you and sister-in-law are still young—having two more wouldn’t be too many.”

Everyone thought Zhao Yueya, who cared the most, would react more strongly. Li Dilai even tightened her grip, ready to stop her if eldest sister-in-law lost her head and caused a scene.

But Zhao Yueya was perfectly fine. She kept forcing herself to walk back and forth, hoping the labor would go more smoothly later.

Hearing this, she cut in to stop her mother-in-law’s argument and said, “Auntie, just focus on delivering the baby. Whether it’s a boy or a girl, our family will accept it.”

This really didn’t sound like someone who’d been chanting obsessively about having a son. She was far too calm. But there was no time to puzzle it out—Zhao Yueya’s contractions grew stronger and stronger. Granny Jiang took a look and said, “Alright, lie down on the bed.”

“Bring in the hot water. Second son’s wife, you stay and help.”

Everything proceeded in an orderly way. The Qin house kept its lights on all night, and finally, deep into the night, there was movement inside the room—followed by a loud, clear cry of a newborn baby.

Zhao Yueya had already given birth twice before, so this third delivery went fairly smoothly. It only dragged on until late night because the baby was big and took some effort.

Even Granny Jiang was puzzled. These days every household had it hard; even pregnant women were thin, and the babies were born scrawny like little mice.

This one from the Qin family was different—big head, chubby body. Granny Jiang weighed him slightly in her hands; not seven or eight jin, but five or six jin for sure.

This was probably the fattest baby born in Dahuai Village in recent years.

After that, even seeing that the baby was a boy didn’t surprise Granny Jiang much anymore. One strange thing after another.

She pushed open the door, face full of smiles. “Oh my, Sister Chen—your eldest daughter-in-law gave birth to a boy!”

Chen Qiuhua froze for a moment, then came back to her senses, her face splitting into a grin. “Da Hua, go to the kitchen and get eggs—fix five eggs for Granny Jiang. And put in two pieces of sugar cake too, let Granny Jiang take them home for her grandson.”

Da Hua answered loudly, her voice especially crisp and strong—stronger than ever before. Her mother had given birth to a younger brother! Da Hua didn’t think girls were worse than boys, but if her mother had a son, their family’s days would be easier.

Granny Jiang happily carried the little basket, but she didn’t leave right away. She turned back to look at the little girl sleeping in Qin Yuli’s arms and smiled kindly. “A blessed, good child.”

She’d seen that the eldest daughter-in-law had clearly shown signs of carrying a girl—how did she end up giving birth to a boy? And such a good-looking, chubby, sturdy one at that.

After giving birth, Zhao Yueya actually looked more energetic. With a wave of her hand, her mother-in-law had the second daughter-in-law prepare brown sugar water. Leaning against the bed, Zhao Yueya drank it while gazing at her big, chubby son at the bedside, her face full of happiness.

Li Dilai didn’t quite know how to feel—there was an uncomfortable knot in her heart. Reason said that since they were all family, she shouldn’t hope for anything bad for her eldest sister-in-law. But now that she really had a son, Li Dilai couldn’t bring herself to be happy either.

Before, her twin boys had been the only grandsons of the Qin family. Now eldest sister-in-law had a son too. Big brother was already the brigade leader; adding a son to that was icing on the cake.

Her own man was the most simple-minded of the Qin brothers. Wouldn’t their branch end up at the very back in the family hierarchy?

The youngest uncle and his adopted little daughter were favored by the parents and placed first. Originally, the second branch still had some advantage, evenly matched with the eldest branch led by the brigade leader—the old lady didn’t favor either side. But now that eldest sister-in-law had a son and was the brigade leader’s wife, with newfound confidence, wouldn’t things change?

Li Dilai’s thoughts spiraled. Zhao Yueya had no idea her sister-in-law’s mind was so complicated. She was simply happy, staring at her son’s chubby face and never getting enough of it.

“Dilai, take a look—don’t you think this kid is sturdier than his two older sisters?”

Li Dilai glanced over, heart clogged. He looked like a little fat ball—who could compare?

Zhao Yueya was in high spirits and didn’t mind her sister-in-law’s displeased look. She grabbed her hand and chattered on, even muttering that it was lucky the little girl had such great fortune, letting her younger brother share in it.

Li Dilai suddenly remembered—before the birth, it was eldest sister-in-law who had called the little girl over, even had her touch her belly, coaxing her to say there was a son inside.

She’d just touched it, just finished saying it—and then the baby was born…

Li Dilai: “……”

Chen Qiuhua squeezed in to look at her grandson. After a few glances and a couple of affectionate kisses, she finally gave Zhao Yueya a decent expression. “Take good care of yourself.”

“Oh right—about this business with the little girl, don’t go spouting nonsense later. Just keep it clear in your own heart. Treat the girl better from now on. Don’t think I don’t know how you’ve been nitpicking and scowling at her behind my back. This time, whose good fortune did you benefit from?”

“Could Granny Jiang’s words be wrong? You were fated to give birth to daughters. If our girl hadn’t lent you her good fortune, could you have had such a big, chubby son?”

Zhao Yueya nodded repeatedly. With a son, she was satisfied with everything. Even being scolded by her mother-in-law, she accepted it gladly. “Mom, don’t worry, my mouth is sealed. Besides, could I be that kind of ungrateful person? When Fusheng grows up a bit, I’ll tell him he was born thanks to Third Uncle’s little miss. I’ll make him filial to his big sister in the future.”

Chen Qiuhua froze. “Fu… Fusheng?”

Her silly daughter-in-law looked utterly enchanted. “Of course! Mom, if our Fusheng hadn’t benefited from his third sister’s good fortune, would he have today? If it weren’t for his sister, he’d have had to wear red and be sent off as a child bride for someone else!”

Chen Qiuhua: “……”