“Grandfather!”

“Grandpa, we’re here!”

The children chattered noisily as they walked into the courtyard. The originally quiet courtyard instantly became lively and brought a smile on Qiao Qiang’s face. As he got older, he preferred his surroundings to be bustling with activities.

“It’s good that you’re here! Good that you’re here! All you kids hurry up and come in!” Qiao Qiang brought the children into the house with Li Gui and Qiao Mei following closely behind.

Li Gui looked at Qiao Qiang and wondered how to address him. Qiao Qiang could also tell what Li Gui was thinking. After all, he was her ex-father-in-law and it was quite inappropriate for her to call him father.

“Just call me uncle,” Qiao Qiang said to Li Gui.

“Alright!” Li Gui replied.

The family had a jolly meal together.

Qiao Yu was not so lucky. She had already started to get cold feet on the way and did not want to go back to face her family. If she went home empty-handed, she might be beaten to death.

Qiao Yu entered the courtyard nervously. The moment she entered, everyone in the house looked at her in unison.

“Oh, Qiao Yu is back!” Liu Ying said.

“Why are you back empty-handed, what happened, is there nothing good today,” Wang Qin teased.

Qiao Yu stood at the doorway and did not dare to enter the courtyard. She was afraid that Qiao Zhuang would be unhappy and beat her up again.

“Why did I hear that you didn’t go to work today, so you didn’t manage to find food and also didn’t go to work today! What else can you do!” Qiao Zhuang said.

As expected, Qiao Zhuang lost his temper. When he went to work today, he realized that Qiao Yu was not there. Having one less person around made a lot of difference. Besides, being a girl, if she did not work, did she expect them to feed her!

Qiao Yu stood at the door and explained, “I… I… I was chased out of someone’s house today…”

Qiao Yu did not dare to say whose house she was chased out from. If she said it was Qiao Mei’s house, Qiao Zhuang would definitely not believe it. Previously, they had already fallen out with Qiao Mei over the matter with the bean sprouts. Now that Qiao Mei viewed them with great enmity, they did not dare to provoke Qiao Mei for no reason. However, if she said that it was Li Gui’s house, Qiao Mei would not let her off as well. Either way, she was in a dilemma.

“Someone’s house? Whose house? Don’t tell me you have a lover!” Liu Ying teased.

Qiao Yu hurriedly waved her hand and said, “No, no! I don’t have a lover! There’s no such thing!”

Qiao Zhuang did not have the energy to care about Qiao Yu and left these things to his wife. She dragged Qiao Yu into the room and gave her a good beating. The rest of the family ate in the east room and pretended not to hear no matter how terribly Qiao Yu screamed inside the other room.

Qiao Yu was not the only one singled out for a beating. All the women in the family who could not contribute money or food would get beaten up. The eldest son was capable and provided a lot of food, so Liu Ying had never been beaten up. The second daughter-in-law was the accountant of the brigade and just needed to contribute a little money every month. The third daughter-in-law was capable and was basically the one who did all the housework at home.

Everyone else at home either contributed money or effort. Qiao Yu was the only one who did not have money or the energy to do work. Her family ostracized her and kept wanting to find a random family so that they could marry her off.

Qiao Yu felt indignant. Why could the ugly Qiao Mei find a soldier from the capital who was also so handsome, and yet she could not do the same! Qiao Yu silently noted these things as she was being beaten up. She blamed everything on Qiao Mei.

Qiao Yu stared at the door with hatred in her eyes. She would definitely take revenge on Qiao Mei and live a happier life!

“Achoo!” Qiao Mei sneezed out of the blue.

“Mei Mei, what’s wrong, did you catch a cold?” Li Gui asked with concern.

Qiao Mei touched her stomach and rubbed her nose and said, “I’m fine. What’s going on, someone must be talking bad about me behind my back.”

“Good to hear you’re fine. Don’t catch a cold.” Li Gui felt relieved to hear that.

“Oh right. Mom, please accompany me to the county city tomorrow. I still have a few things I haven’t bought. I forgot about them the last time,” Qiao Mei said as she looked at Li Gui.

“Sure, no problem.” Li Gui nodded.

“It’s settled then!” Qiao Mei smiled happily. By her own estimate, there were still three days before she had to set off for Gushan.