Back To The 80s-Chapter 119 - 118: Absurd_1

Liu Cuicui glanced at the silent Li Hao and stammered, "We’re here to check on my third sister."

Gu Xiaobei was puzzled. After Li Juan left, Li Hao and Liu Cuicui surely must know about the commotion caused by the third Li sibling and his wife. He didn’t expect the usually honest and straightforward Liu Cuicui to play such tricks on him.

"Your third sister has already moved out. Didn’t you know? Someone new has already moved into her room." Gu Xiaobei didn’t expose the trick, and feigned surprise.

Liu Cuicui blushed, wringing her hands and saying, "I didn’t know... We haven’t been back here for a month."

"Oh, your third sister didn’t say where she was moving to, I suppose she must have gone back home?" Gu Xiaobei said, deliberately playing dumb.

"No, my mother-in-law sent a telegram saying my third sister didn’t go back..." Liu Cuicui gasped after realising she had said too much and quickly fell silent.

Li Hao, standing to one side, cast a gloomy glance at Gu Xiaobei, then, without saying a word, turned to leave, taking Liu Cuicui with him.

Gu Xiaobei squinted, watching the couple as they walked away. He suspected they were scheming to borrow money, and this irritated him.

Li Hao walked off in a huff, pulling Liu Cuicui alongside him. Liu Cuicui’s wrist hurt from being yanked, but she didn’t dare protest. After they’d walked some distance, Li Hao let go of Liu Cuicui’s hand and walked ahead without looking back.

Liu Cuicui, feeling wronged, said, "Didn’t we say we’d speak nicely to Sister Xiaobei and ask her to lend us some money?"

Li Hao snorted, "They wouldn’t even let us through the barracks gate. But we still want to borrow money?"

Liu Cuicui pouted and didn’t say anything. The last time they asked, Gu Xiaobei refused to lend them money. She didn’t want to come this time, but Li Hao said that if they could get into Gu Xiaobei’s house, he could surely find a way to borrow money. But, to their surprise, Gu Xiaobei didn’t let them in at all.

Looking at Liu Cuicui, who looked like a wronged child, Li Hao was even more annoyed. "We definitely can’t go back to the city today. It will cost us money to go to the town, we might as well go back to your parents’ house."

Liu Cuicui didn’t want to go back, but she didn’t dare contradict Li Hao. He had been so irritable lately, frightening her. He was so short-tempered now, that he would hit her at the smallest provocation.

Liu Cuicui’s family lived in Liujiawa. You could get there by crossing the mountain behind the barracks. It was whilst shepherding sheep on the mountain that Liu Cuicui met Li Hao, who was undergoing field training.

As they reached the entrance of the village, they ran into Liu Cuicui’s younger brother, Liu Siwa, who was about to take two goats to graze on the mountain. Upon seeing Liu Cuicui, Siwa wiped his nose with his sleeve and said, "Second Sister, why are you back? Did you bring anything good to eat?"

Liu Cuicui was somewhat afraid of this little bully of a brother, and replied softly, "I came in a rush, I didn’t have time to buy anything."

Liu Siwa curled his lip, "No wonder, mom always says daughters are liabilities, hmph." Not paying them any further attention, he led his goats away.

Liu Cuicui hung her head and hurried towards her home, praying she wouldn’t run into any villagers who would inevitably ask what she brought back from her visit to her parents’ house. She was always afraid of something like this happening, only for it to really occur.

Just as she was about to reach home, she ran into her aunt, who was leaving their house. Seeing Liu Cuicui and Li Hao, her aunt immediately tightened her voice and shouted, "Oh! Cuicui is back, older sister-in-law, come out, your honoured guest is back!" Her aunt’s voice was loud and known throughout the village. Upon hearing this, Liu Cuicui’s mother, with a blue handkerchief on her head, rushed out.

The aunt carefully studied the couple from head to toe and pryingly asked, "What good things did you bring to honor your parents since you came back? I heard you two have jobs now."

At that moment, Liu Cuicui was miffed with Gu Xiaobei. If only she had lent her money, she could have avoided coming back and dealing with all this nonsense.

As Liu Cuicui’s mother came out, she heard the aunt’s question. Noticing that Liu Cuicui and Li Hao had returned empty-handed, her thin face fell: "What are you doing back here, it’s not a holiday or anything."

"We just came to see you and father." Liu Cuicui meekly replied.

"See with what? Your two eyes? You brought two mouths as well?" Liu Cuicui’s mother retorted irritably.

"Mother, can we continue this conversation inside?" Liu Cuicui found courage seeing Li Hao standing by like a complete stranger.

"Go inside. Your father’s gone to the mountains to carry rocks, and I’m heading to the field to work. Cook something for yourselves but don’t touch the white flour." Seeing her sister-in-law standing in front, ready to cause a scene, Liu Cuicui’s mother decided against making a fuss.

With her head bowed, Liu Cuicui entered the yard, followed by the sullen-faced Li Hao. Liu Cuicui’s mother glanced at Li Hao’s retreating figure and then picked up her hoe. She went to weed the newly growing sunflowers. If she didn’t weed now, the grass would soon be taller than the sunflower sprouts.

Liu Cuicui picked up an armful of corn stalks and went into the kitchen to prepare cornmeal dumplings. They hadn’t eaten since last night.

After Li Hao entered the yard, he disappeared. When Liu Cuicui finished making the dumplings and was about to serve the broth, Li Hao rushed in. "Stop eating. Let’s get out of here."

"It’s almost ready, let’s eat first before we go." Liu Cuicui was confused.

"Hurry to the town, we’ll eat there." Li Hao urged.

Liu Cuicui reluctantly patted the soot from her clothes and hurriedly left with Li Hao.

When Liu Cuicui’s mother returned from the field at noon, she noticed the gate wide open but there was no sign of Li Hao or Liu Cuicui.

She rushed into the inner room and saw that the wooden box on the bed had been opened, and even the box where the money was kept was pried open. Her legs gave way, and she collapsed in the yard, beating her chest and crying, "What did the Lius do to deserve this... I raised a thankless daughter who brought a thief into the house... How are we supposed to live... Li Hao, you beast, you won’t die a good death..."

This happened right during lunchtime, so before long, a crowd had gathered in and around the yard. They were all shocked that the usually quiet second daughter of the Liu family could do such an outrageous thing.

By the time Li Hao and Liu Cuicui reached the town, it was already mid-afternoon. They found a noodle stall and ordered four bowls of hand-pulled noodles. Liu Cuicui was taken aback, "Li Hao, we don’t have money to pay for this."

Li Hao glared at her, "Just eat and stop worrying." After inhaling three large bowls, he finally put down his chopsticks, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a wad of ten and five yuan notes to pay the bill.

Liu Cuicui was not stupid, and upon seeing the money, her face changed color, "Did you steal this from my mother?"

"What do you mean by stealing? I borrowed it because we were in a bind. When we have money, we can pay your mother back." Li Hao said nonchalantly.

Liu Cuicui turned pale, her voice trembling, "My mother will definitely not let me in the house again. If she sees me, she’ll probably break my legs." As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.

Li Hao snorted, "It is all because that Gu Xiaobei wouldn’t lend us the money." Upon hearing this, Liu Cuicui also blamed Gu Xiaobei. She had respected her like an actual sister in the past, but now that she was in trouble, Gu Xiaobei did not help.

"But we still shouldn’t have stolen mom’s money. After this, I won’t be able to show my face in the village." Liu Cuicui still felt it was improper, "Let’s return the money to my mom."

"Return? So we can starve?" Li Hao glared at her.

Liu Cuicui grumbled, "Where did our salaries go each month? We haven’t bought anything special." She didn’t dare raise her voice to complain to Li Hao.

"Like I’ve told you before, I’ve invested it in a business. Even if I explain, you won’t understand. In a few days, we will have money." Li Hao said impatiently.

"Li Hao..." A figure walked over from the noodle stall across the street.