Chapter 20:
“Hehe, silly wife, that’s Mahuang Gully in Luojia Village!”
“How come you don’t even remember your own hometown?”
Li Sanmao threw the wild game into the bamboo basket, carried the bamboo basket on his back, and Miaomiao picked up pine cones from the ground on the hill to play.
The two of them stood under the pine tree facing the wind…
“Mahuang Gully?”
Luo Zhi’er was stunned.
Her eyes rolled around, and she now couldn’t remember things from before.
Sometimes fragments of the past would flash through her mind, but not completely…
“Hehe, husband, my dad said I was picked up from an old gully in Mahuang Gully. He was afraid I’d be sad, so he never let me go to that place before.
A gentle breeze brushed by, lifting the soft strands of hair from Luo Zhi’er’s forehead, revealing a pair of watery eyes. Her phoenix eyes narrowed slightly as she gazed slowly into the distance…
For some reason, she looked a bit sad to Li Sanmao.
“So that’s how it is…”
Feeling a bit heartbroken, he stepped forward and pulled her chubby hand,
“Wife, I didn’t know before, sorry… If I’d known, I wouldn’t have mentioned it.”
He’d brought up her sad past…
“No, husband, it’s not your fault. I was just thinking about other things.”
“I’m actually very happy.”
Back then, every household in the village was poor, anyway poorer than now.
Many went hungry…
When Luo Zhi’er was little, she didn’t know her background and lived carefree days.
But later, some naughty kids from the village saw her fat, with a tuft on her head tied with a big red flower, looking silly.
The key was that this silly fat girl always had good things to eat in her hands.
Seeing her following behind them every day, holding goodies, while they were always hungry, they ganged up to bully her.
“Fat girl, hand over what’s in your hands quick! Then we’ll play with you!”
“Yeah, otherwise don’t follow us anymore.”
“No!”
“What?”
“This is the sweet potato my dad roasted for me! If you want to eat, go home and have your parents roast it!”
“Nonsense, big fool! You’re just an unwanted fat leech, a big fat girl! Uncle Luo isn’t your dad!”
Saying she was an unwanted fat girl, abandoned by someone, Luo Zhi’er of course got anxious. “You’re lying, you’re the one abandoned. My dad treasures me!”
In that excited moment, the food was also smacked to the ground by a naughty boy…
It was picked up and eaten by a dirty kid, and another chased him to grab it…
They fought in a heap!
“Luo Zhi’er, fat girl!”
“Unwanted big fat girl!”
“You’re lying, I have a dad, and dad wants me!”
That radish-head asked her,
“Then where’s your mom? My grandma said you were picked up from Mahuang Gully, not Uncle Luo’s real daughter! And look, do you two even look alike? You’re just an unwanted fat girl!”
“Hahaha, Luo Zhi’er is just a fat leech Uncle Luo picked up!”
“Wrong, she’s a leech spirit that eats people. Quick, beat the leech spirit to death!”
The naughty boys threw stones at her, hitting her head. She wailed and cried, went home and asked dad where her mom was?
Old Man Luo broke out in a sweat, anxious. Seeing her head bleeding from the beating by those kids, bullied so badly, he felt heartbroken.
He got a clean towel to wipe her clean, then took her to the doctor to apply medicine.
When they got back, she wouldn’t eat or drink, feeling insecure. At first he said, your mom was sick, and dad had no silver to cure her so she left…
“Zhi’er, it’s dad’s fault! Dad is useless, can’t earn silver, that’s why it’s like this…”
Her little chubby hand touched Old Man Luo’s rough cheek. “Dad, you’re the best dad in the world. You’re useful. When Zhi’er grows up, she’ll earn silver for you to spend!”
Old Luo Tou, a big man, tears streamed down… “Hey! Good girl Zhi’er!”
“Dad, where does it hurt? Zhi’er will blow on it!”
Later, Old Luo Tou went to every home of the kids who bullied her, reasoning with their parents, not allowing them to bully his Da Ya anymore.
Anyway, that lie was exposed, and when she grew up, people in the village still gossiped about it often.
Old Man Luo saw that he couldn’t hide it anymore, so he honestly confessed to her…
But her father still treated her as well as before, just like his own daughter.
“In the past, my dad never let me get close to the mountains or the ravines. Suddenly looking down from this high place, it doesn’t even look the same…”
“Hehe!”
“Oh, wife, are you homesick?”
Li Sanmao saw his wife staring blankly at that stretch of wasteland.
This matter was also his fault; his wife had been married to him for so long without ever going back.
His wife must miss her maternal home, and her father-in-law too; she had even forgotten what her maternal home looked like…
“Yeah, I miss my dad a bit. Husband, if you have time, can you let me go back to Luojia Village to visit?”
“Sure.”
Li Sanmao looked at his wife and agreed, but this matter needed Zhou Shi’s permission.
Like Xiao Zhou Shi and Chen Shi, they could go back to their maternal families. Chen Shi basically stayed at her maternal family in town all year round, while Xiao Zhou Shi could go back during festivals…
Of course, Zhou Shi was also a bit reluctant to let her go, after all, visiting relatives meant bringing things, and bringing things meant spending silver.
As for Luo Zhi’er, her father was gone, there were no relatives left at home, only Second Uncle.
He was Old Man Luo’s blood brother, but they hadn’t interacted much before, and now that she was married, they interacted even less…
Zhou Shi was also afraid that if she brought things back to visit that outsider Second Uncle’s family, not only would it be a waste of effort, but it would also cost silver.
How could that be allowed?
This big fat one had already stuck to her Old Li Family, and it was best to cut ties with those poor relatives from the old Luo family!
