Chapter 383 Zhao Yanling

On the morning of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year in 1963, after breakfast, Zhou Yue, along with Cui Mei, Cui Ju, and Xiao Jiu, said goodbye to their families, walked to the town, took a bus on the national highway to the county seat, and then took a car from the county seat to the city. The whole trip left everyone physically and mentally exhausted.

Especially after drinking a little alcohol, I was so carsick that I didn't want to talk, let alone eat anything. I only ate some fruit to ease my stomach discomfort.

She didn't want to go out because of this; it was too damn painful.

Tang Cuiju parted ways with them temporarily at the bus station. She had to go to work the next day and needed to go home to pack.

All they know is that they bought tickets for this afternoon, but they don't know the exact time yet, so they'll have to wait until they get the tickets to decide.

The farewell words had already been spoken at home; they simply waved to each other and said goodbye.

Cui Mei and Xiao Jiu didn't bring much luggage. Although Cui Mei gave Xiao Jiu motion sickness medicine, it didn't seem to be very effective.

Zhou Yue was carrying two bags, Cui Mei was carrying a large bag, and Xiao Jiu was carrying her own small schoolbag. They stood at the bus station for a while and then saw a police officer riding a bicycle.

Zhou Yue put down his luggage, took a bag of fruit and went over. The two saluted each other, hugged and greeted each other, exchanged pleasantries, calculated the ticket price, paid, and the other party accepted the fruit.

After that, he handed me three tickets and hurriedly rode off on his bike, as he was in a rush to get to work.

When the person arrived, Xiao Jiu was still a little puzzled: "Your comrade-in-arms?"

"Introduced by my brother," that makes sense now. He looks to be in his twenties or thirties, not like Zhou Yue's comrade-in-arms.

"That's right, still three sleeper berths, two middle berths and one upper berth."

From Los Angeles to Rocky, it's about 500 to 600 kilometers. The train leaves at 7 p.m., and with the time spent stopping and resupplying, and at the average speed of 40 to 50 kilometers per hour in those days, it won't arrive until 5 or 6 p.m. tomorrow.

This train was slow, but the timing was perfect; I took a nap and arrived.

There are cars that can travel at 100 km/h, but you have to be careful. Under normal circumstances, most cars travel at 40 or 50 km/h.

A regular hard seat costs a little over five yuan, while the most expensive sleeper berth is the lower berth, which costs eighteen yuan, the middle berth is fifteen yuan, and the upper berth is twelve yuan.

Zhou Yue paid for the tickets, and the two sisters didn't stand on ceremony with him. They were family, so there was no need to be so particular.

The three of them went to the train station to store their luggage and came back at 6 p.m. to pick it up. The storage fee was 50 cents.

Afterwards, we went to a state-run restaurant for dinner. Since it was Chinese New Year, there wasn't much food available. Each of us ate a bowl of hand-pulled noodles, a plate of stir-fried shredded potatoes with vinegar, and a plate of stir-fried mushrooms with sliced ​​meat. We didn't buy much before leaving, thinking that we would arrive early the next morning and have dinner before boarding the train.

Looking at the time, it was only one o'clock in the afternoon. There was still plenty of time, so the three of them decided to take a car back to No. 28 Liuxiang Courtyard.

As the saying goes, timing is everything. The courtyard was packed with people, but not because the Weng family elders had an accident. Instead, they were there for Zhao Yanling, a widow in her thirties from the West House Cannery.

At that moment, she was being punched and pounded by a middle-aged woman. Cao Li, probably grateful for the care she had received in the hospital years ago, helped to mediate. There were also neighbors around trying to break up the fight, including other neighbors in their courtyard, who all sided with Zhao Yanling.

My second sister was probably washing clothes before, but now she's rolling up her sleeves and anxiously standing by, mainly because the middle-aged woman's curses were so offensive that they were not at all acceptable to unmarried girls like them.

Yuan Yuan stood at the door. You might think she was just watching the show, but she frowned. Her gaze seemed focused, but her thoughts had already drifted away. She probably had experienced similar situations before.

Grandma Weng and Grandpa Weng are quite old, so they could only stand on the outside. When they saw Xiao Jiu come back, they quickly pulled her aside and frowned as they spoke.

"Don't listen to these unpleasant words, you young lady, hurry up and go inside."

Cuiju and Yuanyuan saw them at the same time. Amid the noise, they went back into the house. The moment the door closed, it was not exactly quiet, but at least their ears could have some peace and quiet.

"What's going on?"

Seeing Xiao Jiu's gossipy expression, Cui Ju said irritably, "That crazy woman started banging on the door as soon as she came in. The moment Sister Zhao opened the door, several women rushed up and beat her. She wouldn't say anything, and they were scratching and clawing at her. Luckily, most of the people were here today, and they quickly ran out to break up the fight."

As they continued talking, the woman finally began to sob, saying that Sister Zhao had seduced her man, and now her man wanted to divorce her and live with Sister Zhao. Sister Zhao looked completely bewildered and wouldn't tell her name when asked, instead putting on a pitiful act.

The women she brought refused to mention the man's name. Zhao Jie, feeling utterly wronged after being beaten, yelled that she would call the police. Only then did they reveal the name, which Zhao Jie didn't recognize at all. When she asked them where they got it from and who told her, they accused her of faking it.

"Did they call the police or not? Sister Zhao goes to work on time every day and stays home with her two daughters on holidays. She hardly ever goes out except to buy groceries. These people are obviously trying to bully her. They can't find a reason, so they're deliberately trying to ruin her reputation."

"That's exactly right. We all live in the same courtyard, so their claims are completely unfounded. Luckily, a few of us women pulled that shrew back and Sister Zhao slapped her a few times. We also retaliated by kicking and scratching her. The police will be here soon, let's see how they interrogate her!"

Upon hearing that Xiaojiu and his group had tickets for 7 PM, the staff said, "That's perfect. Let's make some dumplings later, and you can go into the station after you've eaten your fill."

With his daughters inside, Zhou Yue couldn't stay any longer, so he went to talk to the two elderly men from the Weng family in front of the house.

After Zhou Yue left, they couldn't keep the door closed and watch the commotion with the door open. Cuiju went back to washing clothes.

The situation was now under control. Sister Zhao displayed the fierceness of a widow, slapping the woman so hard that she dared not attack again.

She had already realized that Zhao Yanling was keeping track of all the losses she had suffered, and Zhao Yanling had just retaliated against her in return. She was not one to be taken advantage of at all. It seemed that she had miscalculated today. She hadn't expected that the people in this dilapidated courtyard would be so united. They actually called the police when they said they would. Now they were under control and couldn't leave.

Soon, the police arrived, along with women from the neighborhood committee. Receiving such a distressing incident during the Spring Festival was unpleasant for everyone.

After questioning them separately, the police took away the troublemaker, Zhao Yanling, along with Cao Li and their neighbor Liu Sisi. The remaining neighbor, Cai Minmin, stayed home to take care of Zhao Yanling's two daughters.

Zhao Yanling turned her head to comfort her two daughters.

"It's okay, Mom is just going with them to give a statement. They'll call my colleagues and the uncles and aunties from the neighborhood committee later. They'll all testify for Mom. Mom only has you guys and has never gone out to mess around. These people are probably sent by your grandma to ruin my reputation and make me completely infamous so she can marry your uncle. She's a pervert!"