Back To The 80s-Chapter 290 - 300: Turmoil (Seeking Monthly Ticket) _1
Shi Xiuying felt humiliated, she said sternly: "You ungrateful brat, you’ve forgotten about the time you and your sister lived at my house."
Lu Aiguo pulled over a chair and sat down casually, snorted, then said: "Enough about that. Whenever your family had food, you sent me and Ruirui away, lying that there was no food left at home, making us miss a meal a day."
Shi Xiuying felt a bit awkward, she burst out angrily: "Aiguo, what are you talking about? Are your uncle and I such people?"
"You really are. Each time Ruirui and I came home, I would sneak in your kitchen and touch the pot on your stove, it was always warm," Lu Aiguo said with disdain. Thankfully, he was clever then, always sneaking and hiding some food, otherwise, Shi Xiuying and her husband might have starved him and his sister to death.
Shi Xiuying’s face turned red in shame, she looked to Wen Xiuqing for help: "Xiuqing, look, Aiguo misunderstood. We must have been boiling water at home, and he’s mistaken it for us secretly enjoying food behind their backs."
Wen Xiuqing looked at Shi Xiuying’s exaggerated expression with more dissatisfaction and calmly said, "Back then, I was being re-educated and couldn’t keep my children with me, so they stayed at your house. I never failed to send money and food coupons every month."
Lu Aiguo stirred the pot further: "Mom, let’s not talk about the money you sent. My uncle was secretly raising a goose in a cave. When there was a goose egg, he was afraid that Ruirui and I would eat it and secretly fried it in the middle of the night." But in the end, he secretly slaughtered that goose, took it to the riverbank, and roasted it with Lu Ruirui.
When Shi Xiuying and her husband saw the goose was gone, they said nothing since keeping chickens and geese at home was against the rules. they had to swallow this loss silently.
Shi Xiuying clamped her mouth shut, unable to say anything. Instead, her daughter, Zhang Yanmei, said, "Aiguo, how can you hold a grudge against my family over some food? At that time, everyone was starving. If my parents were really like that, wouldn’t you and Ruirui have starved to death?"
Lu Aiguo looked at Zhang Yanmei with disdain and laughed, "Thank God, I was smart."
Zhang Yanmei choked on his words, glared at Lu Aiguo and said nothing more.
Although the relationship was not perfect, it was not suitable to directly drive away Shi Xiuying and her daughter, who were, after all, family. Wen Xiuqing even asked Aunt Li to add another dish for dinner.
Gu Xiaobei and Lu Zhanguo had been staying with the children upstairs until dinner time before they came down with the children.
Shi Xiuying came over again, carefully looking at Mo Wang in Gu Xiaobei’s arms, "This child looks just like Yuanchao, with a hitching post on his ears."
Gu Xiaobei saw Wen Xiuqing’s face change dramatically and shivering when she heard this.
But Shi Xiuying just kept on talking, "Zhanguo and Yuanchao look so alike, you can only tell them apart by the hitching post on their ears."
It wasn’t until now that Gu Xiaobei understood that the Yuanchao Shi Xiuying was talking about was Lu Zhanguo’s twin brother. No wonder Wen Xiuqing was so agitated when she saw Mo Wang. She probably was reminded of Yuanchao.
Unable to sit still any longer, Wen Xiuqing got up and went back to her bedroom. Lu Aiguo glared at Shi Xiuying and said, "Taga, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Deliberately mentioning my older brother, causing my mom to be upset."
Shi Xiuying curled her lip and protested, "How can you say it’s intentional? It seems like your mother is too narrow-minded. Back then, it was normal for a family to lose a child. But for your mom, she can’t get over it."
Lu Aiguo impatiently gestured: "Okay, Taga, be sensible, and shut up when it’s necessary."
Shi Xiuying hummed discontentedly and then said to Gu Xiaobei, "Come, let me hold your big fat son."
But Lu Aiguo quickly rushed over, took Mo Wang and said offhandedly, "Let’s go, great nephew. Uncle Aiguo will take you to eat."
Gu Xiaobei laughed at his jester-like uncle and seeing Shi Xiuying’s sulking, he quickly got up to follow them to dinner.
During dinner, Wen Xiuqing didn’t come out, it was Aunt Li who brought her a serving. Shi Xiuying brazenly asked Lu Aiguo while eating, "Aiguo, why didn’t I see your wife and Yueyue?"
Without raising his eyes, Lu Aiguo said, "You didn’t bring any gifts for them. Why do you care about them?"
"You disrespectful brat, I’m just thoughtfully asking about you!" Shi Xiuying glared at Lu Aiguo unsatisfied.
Zhang Yanmei tugged at Shi Xiuying’s clothes on the side before she moved on to her next question. "Where’s your dad? Is he coming back tonight? We actually came here to ask him for a small favor."
Curious, Lu Aiguo put down his chopsticks and asked, "What can my dad help you with?"
"Your older nephew wants to join the army this year, but he missed the recruitment period. He was wondering if he could take a shortcut and go there directly," Shi Xiuying said.
Lu Zhanguo, who was holding Xiaopang, frowned and said, "Winter recruitment already ended. Why didn’t he apply earlier?"
Shi Xiuying awkwardly laughed, "Your oldest nephew is a little wild, your brother can’t control him. He just got back from roaming somewhere, so we thought about sending him to the army to keep him in line."
Lu Zhanguo responded emotionlessly, "Then wait till next year. He certainly won’t make it this year."
"How come? Your dad holds such a big position, surely he can handle this little matter?" Shi Xiuying complained.
Lu Aiguo chimed in, "Yeah, my dad does hold a big position. His own son is still suffering in the remote mountains, right? And he hasn’t handled that either."
"Just you, always talking." Shi Xiuying glared at Lu Aiguo.
Lu Aiguo merely raised an eyebrow and continued eating. Shi Xiuying, no longer willing to deal with Lu Aiguo, lowered her head and continued eating.
After dinner, Lu Aiguo went to his mother in law’s house to pick up Fang Jing and her daughter. Lu Zhanguo and Gu Xiaobei couldn’t just leave Shi Xiuying and her daughter in the living room alone, so they stayed and watched T.V. with them. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Shi Xiuying was a talkative person and couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Finding the news broadcast uninteresting and the national affairs too complex for her, she initiated a chat with Gu Xiaobei, "You’re planning to go back to G Province and look after two children by yourself?"
Gu Xiaobei nodded without saying a word, twirling Mo Wang’s little hand with his finger.
"It’s not easy to look after two children. Your mother-in-law lost one while looking after two," Shi Xiuying pouted, as if speaking out of goodwill.
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhanguo’s face immediately darkened.
Gu Xiaobei was curious about Lu’s oldest son’s absence, and after hearing Shi Xiuying’s account, it seemed to be because of her mother in law’s negligence. But seeing Lu Zhanguo’s dark face, he dared not to comment.
But Shi Xiuying seemed not to notice, instead, she examined the decor of the room, "If we had the current conditions back then, the oldest one absolutely wouldn’t have died."
Lu Zhanguo’s eyes were cold as he looked at Shi Xiuying. Seeing this, Zhang Yanmei quickly tugged at Shi Xiuying’s clothes, "Mom, we’ve been traveling the whole day, let’s go to sleep. Zhanguo, which room are we sleeping in tonight?"
Only then did Shi Xiuying glance back at Lu Zhanguo, hurriedly nodding, "Yes, yes, I’ve been dozing off for a while."
Without saying a word, Lu Zhanguo picked up Xiaopang and showed the two to the guest room on the first floor.
