Chapter 36...

Chapter 36...

Chapter Thirty-Six

Liu Aihua was quite dissatisfied with Ye Anguo's decision to have Jiang Lai help take care of the children at the military region before their marriage. It wasn't that Liu Aihua disliked Ye Anguo's three adopted sons or didn't want Jiang Lai to take care of them; rather, it was purely because she was afraid of gossip and felt that Ye Anguo's actions were somewhat disrespectful to Jiang Lai.

In fact, Jiang Lai and Ye Anguo and his three sons had been corresponding for more than three months. With such frequent correspondence, Jiang Lai's family had become quite familiar with Ye Anguo's three adopted sons. Ye Wenyu and the others would write about the various interesting things they encountered in their letters, and would also greet Jiang Bolin, Liu Aihua, and others. Jiang Bolin and his wife had long since accepted Ye Anguo's three adopted sons.

Jiang Lai and Ye Anguo are still dating, not even engaged yet, let alone married. Ye Anguo is already asking Jiang Lai to take care of his child. If others find out, they'll think Ye Anguo is treating Jiang Lai like a nanny.

That's one thing, but what if Ye Anguo's comrades misunderstand and think Jiang Lai lacks self-respect and self-love? You know, Jiang Lai is supposed to follow Ye Anguo to his military post after they get married. If she has such a bad reputation, what if she suffers mistreatment over there? And her parents are thousands of miles away and it's hard for them to know what's going on here.

For this reason, Liu Aihua's feelings for Ye Anguo plummeted, and she began to question whether Jiang Lai's decision to date Ye Anguo was the right one.

"Mom, what's wrong? Why do you look so pale? Are you sick?" Jiang Lai was extremely worried when she saw Liu Aihua's face.

Liu Aihua glanced at Jiang Lai, who seemed oblivious to her troubles, knowing that she wasn't the type to care about what others said. Jiang Lai's poor health had led to constant gossip, and if she were to argue, she probably wouldn't be able to keep up. However, Liu Aihua was, after all, Jiang Lai's mother, and with a sigh, she made a decision.

Seeing that Jiang Lai was still happily saying that she would see the Ye Wenyu brothers once she went to the military region, Liu Aihua didn't tell her what she was thinking. Instead, she said casually, "It's nothing. I probably didn't sleep well last night. Don't worry about me. Hurry up and go to the Ye family. Didn't you say you were going with Ye Anguo's parents?"

This is precisely what Liu Aihua was most dissatisfied with: since Ye Anguo's parents were going to go anyway, why did Jiang Lai have to go with them?

"Oh right, I almost forgot about that. If Mom is still not feeling well, remember to see a doctor and get some rest. Leave anything to do at home for me to take care of when I get back." Jiang Lai had really forgotten about that.

"Alright, alright, I know. You go ahead and do you need to worry about me? I'm a grown man, why should I need you to worry about me?" Liu Aihua said, feigning impatience.

As a result, Jiang Lai rode her bicycle to the Ye family's house, and Liu Aihua immediately made a phone call. She didn't know what Ye Anguo had said to Jiang Lai, so she had to hear Ye Anguo's thoughts with her own ears to feel at ease.

When Ye Anguo was notified that Liu Aihua had called, he thought something had happened to Jiang Lai and was terrified. He even ran to the scene when the call came.

“Anguo, this is Jiang Lai’s mother.” Liu Aihua didn’t follow up with the second sentence and immediately asked about Ye Anguo’s request for Jiang Lai to go to the military region to help take care of the three children: “It’s like this, you called back before and asked Jiang Lai to come and help you take care of the children. What’s going on? Didn’t you say that your parents were going over? You know that Jiang Lai’s health is not very good, and her father and I are not very at ease about her going all the way over here.”

Although Liu Aihua said this with a smile, Ye Anguo could still sense her dissatisfaction in her words. He was usually a bit slow to realize it, but he was enlightened when he talked to his comrades about it on the phone.

Ye Changqing had told him that he and Jiang Lai were still dating, and he was using the excuse of taking care of three children to call her over. What if Jiang's family misunderstood that he didn't respect Jiang Lai and only treated her as a nanny? Therefore, he was able to calmly face Liu Aihua's questioning.

"It's like this, Auntie. The reason I called Jiang Lai over this time is because I found a very skilled doctor here, and I'd like to ask him to help Jiang Lai get better." This was the excuse Ye Anguo came up with. He really wanted to help Jiang Lai get better, but the skilled doctor was a lie. To put Liu Aihua at ease, Ye Anguo could only tell a small lie.

"Is that so? Why didn't you say so before?" Liu Aihua asked curiously.

"I was worried that Jiang Lai would misunderstand and think I disliked her because of her poor health, so I didn't mention it." Ye Anguo was telling the truth; he didn't want Jiang Lai to misunderstand him.

“Anguo, I’m not trying to criticize you, but you and Jiang Lai are getting married. From now on, you need to be more open and honest about things, otherwise misunderstandings can easily arise. For example, this time, you were worried about Jiang Lai’s health and wanted to help her get some treatment. You should have just said so, but instead of saying so, you made up an excuse to have her come over and help you take care of the child. To others, that means you don’t respect Jiang Lai and are treating her like a maid. It’s okay if we misunderstood, we can just clear things up. But what if the people in your military compound also misunderstand? If you don’t respect her, how can you expect others to respect her? How will she live over there in the future?”

Liu Aihua told Ye Anguo all her worries and concerns. As the saying goes, "Even if you have a child for a hundred years, you will still worry for ninety-nine." At this moment, Liu Aihua, as a mother, didn't care whether her future son-in-law would think she was being long-winded. She wanted to pour out all the things she had for Jiang Lai to Ye Anguo.

Fortunately, Ye Anguo genuinely liked Jiang Lai and cared for her no less than Liu Aihua. He listened to Liu Aihua talk a lot without showing any impatience, and would repeatedly confirm some things about Jiang Lai's health, even wishing he could write them down in a small notebook.

It has to be said that Ye Anguo's attitude pleased Liu Aihua. When she called before, anyone could tell that she was in a bad mood, like dark clouds that were about to rain. Now, the sun is shining brightly after the rain.

Jiang Lai was unaware of what Liu Aihua and Ye Anguo had discussed. She rode her bicycle to the Ye family home. At that time, Ye's father, Ye Yuanliang, and mother, You Maidong, were still working in the fields and not at home. Only Ye Anguo's older brother Ye Anpeng's children were there: 8-year-old Ye Chang'an and 3-year-old Ye Changqing. They still remembered Jiang Lai, who had visited their home once before.

"Brother, this is my future second aunt." Before Jiang Lai could even speak, the clever little Ye Changqing pointed at Jiang Lai as she slowly walked over and said to his brother Ye Chang'an.

"Second Aunt, are you here to see Second Uncle? He's not home," Ye Changqing said to Jiang Lai, tilting his head.

"Little Changqing, I'm not here to see your second uncle. Are your grandparents home?" Jiang Lai rubbed Little Changqing's head and took out a bag of fruit candies from her shoulder bag.

"Thank you, Auntie. Grandpa and Grandma aren't home; they've gone to work," replied Ye Chang'an, the older one.

"Changqing, you stay here with your second aunt. I'm going to call Grandpa and Grandma back." After saying that, Ye Chang'an shoved the candy into Ye Changqing's hand and ran off, leaving Jiang Lai and Ye Changqing looking at each other in bewilderment.

"Second Aunt, come inside quickly." Ye Changqing obediently accompanied Jiang Lai, and even moved a chair for her like an elder in the family would greet a guest. If Jiang Lai hadn't seen him and stopped him in time, he would have climbed onto the chair to pour her hot water, which would have terrified her.

Don't think that you don't have to work in the cold winter of the twelfth lunar month. In fact, there is a lot of farm work to do in the south during winter, such as plowing the land to make it easier to plant next year, composting fertilizer, repairing irrigation ditches, and so on.

Ye Yuanliang, a man, was called to repair the irrigation canal. You Maidong was with many women carrying the manure piled up in the pigsty and cattle pen to the field to compost. When Ye Chang'an came over, You Maidong had just finished carrying a load of pig manure back.

"Didn't Chang'an tell you to stay home and look after your younger siblings? Why are you here? And why are you running so fast, all sweaty?" You Maidong said, frowning.

"Grandma, my second aunt is here. I asked Changqing to stay with her, and then I rushed over to find you," Ye Chang'an said hurriedly, still out of breath.

"Second Aunt?" You Maidong was stunned for a moment. Ye Anguo wasn't married yet, but she quickly realized that the second aunt Ye Chang'an was referring to was Jiang Lai.

"Okay, I understand. Chang'an, go tell your grandfather to go back home." You Maidong instructed Ye Chang'an, put the carrying pole and winnowing basket on the ground, and was about to leave.

However, fate intervened when an old woman from the same village caught her: "Wait, Maidong, is the second aunt Chang'an mentioned Anguo's girlfriend? She's been coming to the village to see your pretty young girl every now and then these past few months?"

"Yes, that's the one. I'm going home now, let's talk later." Hearing Ye Chang'an say that Jiang Lai had come, You Maidong was no longer in the mood to argue with others. She pushed the other person away and ran away, and even asked the other person to ask the captain for leave for her.

"Why is You Maidong running so fast? Can his future daughter-in-law run away?" The old woman muttered, but it was just a few complaints. In reality, she turned around and went to ask for leave for You Maidong. You Maidong ran all the way back, leaving behind a rather unpleasant smell. However, after working all morning, You Maidong's nose had gotten used to it and he didn't think about the problem.

"Jiang Lai." You Maidong went straight to Jiang Lai. She was very satisfied with Jiang Lai, her future second daughter-in-law, and she was always enthusiastic towards her.

"Why did you come at this time? Is there something urgent? It's so cold and you've come all this way. In the future, if anything happens, just have someone send a message and Anguo's father and I will come to the city to see you."

To be honest, You Maidong really couldn't bear to let Jiang Lai be exposed to the cold wind: "Are you cold? Go back inside quickly, I'll make you some brown sugar water to warm your stomach."

"Auntie, no need. I'm wearing a thick scarf, hat, and gloves, and I've already drunk some hot water. Please don't bother yourself. You've been working so long, you should rest." Jiang Lai quickly pressed the woman down, feeling it wasn't her place to make a woman in her fifties or sixties run around doing things for her.

Just as You Maidong was about to speak, Ye Changqing came out of the house with a bag of candy in his hand. Just as she was about to greet him, Ye Changqing took several steps back and said to You Maidong, "Grandma, did you forget to wash your hands after you came back? You smell like pig manure."

You Maidong looked down and realized she really did smell like pig manure. She had spent the whole morning picking through pig manure, so it was inevitable that some would get on her: "Oh dear, I knew I'd forgotten."

You Maidong immediately ran off to wash her hands and then quickly went back to her room to change her clothes: "Changqing, you stay here with your second aunt. Grandma is going to change her clothes first."

"Okay, Grandma."

"Auntie, don't rush, take your time. I'll wait outside. There's no need to rush." ​​Jiang Lai and Ye Changqing's voices rang out at the same time.

Hearing Jiang Lai's words, You Maidong paused, but slowed down. He thought of the village chief's daughter-in-law who worked in the county. On her wedding day, You Maidong was the one who cooked. You Maidong had seen the girl once. She was as fair-skinned as Jiang Lai, but the girl looked down on them, the peasants who made a living in the fields. Her eyes seemed to be on the top of her head. She looked down on everyone else in the village chief's family, let alone someone like her who was now dirty and smelly.

Putting everything else aside, Jiang Lai's actions have earned her a lot of respect in the village. She has visited several times in the past few months, and now everyone in the village envies You Maidong for having such a good daughter-in-law.

Jiang Lai had lunch at the Ye family's house that day, and then returned to the city with Ye Yuanliang and You Maidong. Ye Anguo had already asked his comrades to buy sleeper tickets for the train, which was leaving early the next morning, so they had to rush back that evening.

Ye Yuanliang and You Maidong originally didn't want to go, but Jiang Lai knew why Ye Anguo had called them over, so she also tried to persuade them. After much persuasion, she finally convinced Ye Yuanliang to go.

The next morning, Jiang Lai and the other two were taken to the train station by Jiang Bolin and Liu Aihua. However, Jiang Lai did not expect that she would encounter an unexpected accident on the train, which was full of accidents in the novel. She did not encounter any child traffickers or awful old men and women taking up seats. However, it did allow Jiang Lai's special skills to be fully utilized.