Back To The 80s-Chapter 142: At a Loss (smile66 and He’s Jade an Extra Update x2)_1
Upon hearing this, Gu Xiaobei felt a sense of frustration. He couldn’t lash out at Sun Aiqin, so he thought to himself, ’It’s just a few vegetables, why am I making a fuss?’ Smiling, he said, "Aiqin, you can eat our vegetables without asking, just don’t waste them, okay? When it’s time to harvest the cabbages and radishes, I’ll give a share to your family."
Since he couldn’t prevent her from taking them, he decided to endure the small loss and let her eat them.
Sun Aiqin did not expect Gu Xiaobei to be so generous all of a sudden, and she was somewhat at a loss, thanking him somewhat embarrassingly: "Thank you then, sister-in-law."
It was only when Sun Aiqin carried the basket into the yard that Li Fengmei said: "So, she has also plucked vegetables from your garden?"
From the implication of Li Fengmei’s words, Gu Xiaobei understood that Sun Aiqin’s encroachment wasn’t limited to her own garden:
"She’s been taking from your garden as well?"
"She’s taken from everyone’s. When you were gone, she even had a quarrel with Guanghan, my next-door neighbour’s wife. Guanghan had only two crops, and Sun Aiqin sneaked out to pluck one at night, to make pickles," Li Fengmei said grudgingly.
"She just moved here and didn’t have a vegetable plot. She’ll be better next year." Despite her annoyance, Gu Xiaobei knew she could not bring too much trouble to Lu Zhanguo over a few vegetables, so she decided to let it go.
Li Fengmei nodded in agreement, "Exactly, times are tough nowadays, especially for people like us who have moved from rural areas to the city. We earn so little and yet we still have to support our families back in the village."
Gu Xiaobei didn’t respond. She was indeed unable to do anything about it.
Quite a number of people were feeling on edge about Lu Zhanguo going to the provincial capital. The most unsettled among them was Gao Dailin.
In the afternoon, he unexpectedly received a call from his superiors, demanding that he ensure the transport of cultural artifacts out of T City before the end of October.
Gao Dailin was pacing restlessly to and fro in the courtyard when he saw Jin Cheng teasing Liu Cuicui with a small stick in his mouth. A plan formed in his mind.
"Jin Cheng, come over here," Gao Dailin said, beckoning him with an amiable attitude.
"Did you hear what I told you, don’t put too much salt in the food at noon, it’s like you’ve pledged to kill all the salt sellers." Jin Cheng spat out the small stick from his mouth and snarled at Liu Cuicui when he heard Gao Dailin call him.
"Mr. Gao, you called me for something?" Jin Cheng sauntered over with a nonchalant look on his face.
"There’s something I need your help with," said Gao Dailin with a smile.
"Don’t be. If you need anything, just let me know," said Jin Cheng, waving dismissively.
"I’ve noticed recently that Li Hao has been acting fishy. Could you follow him to the south?" whispered Gao Dailin.
"Sure, absolutely. I’ve never been to the south before. I’ve heard there are many beautiful women there," said Jin Cheng, laughing gleefully.
"Well, then, pack up and go with Li Hao this time. I’m sorry to trouble you," said Gao Dailin, patting Jin Cheng’s shoulder.
"It’s no big deal. What’s important to Mr. Gao is important to me. I’ll make sure to handle it properly," replied Jin Cheng in a carefree manner.
Gao Dailin was extremely pleased watching Jin Cheng, who seemed as naive as a fool.
However, Jin Cheng became serious, as he knew what he was facing on this trip to the south.
When October arrived, the weather turned colder day by day. One early morning, it started raining. The autumn rain was particularly chilling, and the room was even colder. Gu Xiaobei wished she could put on a quilted jacket and crawl into a bed.
However, the sweater she was knitting for Lu Zhanguo, with Li Fengmei’s careful instruction, was only just getting started. Time was of the essence, she had to speed up the knitting. Initially clumsy, she didn’t even know how to hold the knitting needle. She would knit one stitch too tight, and the next one too loose. She had had to undo her work more than a dozen times, but now she was much better, albeit slow.
With the light on, Gu Xiaobei sat on the small bed knitting the sweater, calculating in her mind that Lu Zhanguo said he would be in the city for two or three days. This was the third day, he should be back soon.
Lost in thought, Sun Aiqin walked in, holding her kid and a ceramic jar in her hand, without even knocking.
Caught off guard by the sudden noise, Gu Xiaobei jumped, feeling naturally upset and staring silently at Sun Aiqin.
"Sister-in-law, are you knitting a sweater?" Sun Aiqin disregarded Gu Xiaobei’s displeasure and asked while leaning in.
"Yes, please sit." Regardless of her displeasure, Gu Xiaobei couldn’t exactly kick her out, so she had to bear with it and ask Sun Aiqin to sit down.
As soon as Sun Aiqin sat down, she put her child on the edge of the bed. The one-year-old child could already walk slowly. Once Xiaobao was on the ground, she swayed towards the edge of the bed.
"Watch your kid, don’t let him hit himself," warned Gu Xiaobei. Seeing Xiaobao’s unsteady walking, she hastily put the sweater in the middle of the bed, fearing the knitting needles could hurt the child.
"Don’t worry, all children stumble while learning to walk, they grow up through bumps and bruises," Sun Aiqin laughed it off.
Xiaobao had originally aimed for the ball of yarn. Seeing Gu Xiaobei put away the yarn, he became agitated and began crying on the edge of the bed. Gu Xiaobei didn’t understand what he wanted to do, so she asked Sun Aiqin: "What does Xiaobao want?"
Without a care, Sun Aiqin replied: "No worries, he just wants to play with your ball of yarn." She didn’t bother to soothe the child; instead, her eyes darted around the room.
Feeling helpless, Gu Xiaobei couldn’t just let the child carry on crying. She got up and took two biscuits from the cupboard by the door and gave them to Xiaobao. The child finally stopped fussing when he saw the food.
Laughing, Sun Aiqin said: "My sister-in-law is so resourceful. Whenever he makes a fuss at home, I have no idea what to do, I just have to wait for him to cry it out."
Gu Xiaobei did not respond. Even though she had no experience with children, it was easy to soothe such a small kid, just divert their attention with something else, and they would be fine.
Seeing that Gu Xiaobei was ignoring her, Sun Aiqin continued: "Sister-in-law, I forgot to ask Chang Yuan to bring cooking oil back today. We ran out of oil for cooking at noon. Could you lend me half a jar? I’ll return it tomorrow."
Gu Xiaobei was at her wits end. This was more like taking half a jar of oil rather than borrowing it. How was she planning to give it back? But she just smiled and said: "Why don’t I just give you a full jar? Then you can return a full jar to me. Isn’t that easier?"
Embarrassed, Sun Aiqin laughed and said: "I’m afraid I might not handle a full jar well while holding the child. You just need to give me half."
"That’s fine, I can help you carry it over." After all, she couldn’t just give the oil away for free. Otherwise, people like her would take advantage more and more.
Sun Aiqin pouted and kept silent. With an awkward laugh, she handed the ceramic jar to Gu Xiaobei so she could pour the oil.
Gu Xiaobei carried the jar of oil and helped Sun Aiqin back to her house. On her way back upstairs, she saw Li Fengmei cutting up vegetables at the stove and asked her silently: "Did she borrow oil?"
With a sense of resignation, Gu Xiaobei nodded. She wondered if her previous generosity in offering vegetables had led Sun Aiqin to believe that she was easy to take advantage of.
Speaking in hushed tones, Li Fengmei said: "She’s already borrowed from us once before." After that, she made a face.
Gu Xiaobei guessed that she must not have returned it. It was strange—Chang Yuan was responsible for bringing in army rations, so it should be convenient for him to buy such things.
"She’s also borrowed from Wang Ping’s family and didn’t return it," Li Fengmei lamented.
"Did you all lend her half a jar each?" Gu Xiaobei asked curiously.
"Yep, she said she only needed enough for two meals, so half a jar was enough," Li Fengmei answered truthfully.
"I gave her a full jar; she better return it in full," Gu Xiaobei said, not beating around the bush.
