How I Tamed My Wolfish Husband Back in 80s-Chapter 50 - Thick-skinned_1
50: Chapter 50: Thick-skinned_1
50 -50: Thick-skinned_1
After being stunned, Dong Lamei squatted on the ground and slapped her own uninjured hand against her thigh while cursing.
Of course, she wasn’t cursing Li Qiao.
Because she was clear that Li Qiao wouldn’t talk nonsense to her face, the one at fault was her daughter.
Li Qiao swept a look of disdain at the mother and daughter and walked away.
The comfort Dong Lamei thought she would receive came to nothing.
She jumped up, grabbed Li Jinhua’s face, and vented her anger, “You dead girl!
What on earth are you trying to do?
I’ve told you over and over to get along well with her.
When people talk, they say how well you sisters get along and it reflects well on me.
Why don’t you listen?
You complain about her not feeding you, and now look, she accuses you of stealing.
Isn’t that a slap in my face?”
Li Jinhua screamed in pain but didn’t dare speak up until Li Qiao had walked far away, “Mom, it’s all a misunderstanding.
She brought those white flour buns, and I thought since she’s my sister, her things are mine too, right?
I took two and she reacted as if I wanted her life.
She even took four sorghum buns from me.
As for the rice, she gave it to me because she couldn’t finish it.
The notebook, I just forgot to tell her, and she’s making a mountain out of a molehill.”
“I’ll call her back so we can face the drums and settle this clearly!” Dong Lamei wasn’t easily fooled this time.
Li Jinhua naturally didn’t dare to confront Li Qiao, stammering, “Her, I, I haven’t been improperly close with her.”
At a glance, Dong Lamei knew that Li Jinhua had tricked her again.
She pointed at Li Jinhua with trembling fingers and scolded her once more.
She had just mended ties with Li Qiao and was hoping that this time Li Qiao would be in the wrong, giving her an opportunity to show off in front of Li.
But now, her own daughter was ready to sever all ties with her.
Being a stepmother is hard.
Being a real mother is also tough.
Her rage reignited, she forcefully pinched Li Jinhua’s face again and ordered her to find Li Qiao immediately to apologize and mend their relationship.
Li Jinhua wanted to, but Li Qiao had gone far and Qin Jin was at home.
She feared Qin Jin might beat her up.
If she ended up with a bruised nose and swollen face, how could she go to school?
“You dead girl!
Are you listening to me?”
“How about you come with me?” Li Jinhua suggested weakly, rubbing her sore face.
Dong Lamei, frustrated beyond measure, stomped her foot, “Ah!
You useless thing!”
In the end, mother and daughter both went to the Qin family’s house.
In the courtyard.
Old Mrs.
Qin was arranging the soaked straw, while Qin Jin was sanding thin bamboo strips with sandpaper.
“Oh, look who’s here.”
Old Mrs.
Qin looked up, surprised and delighted, wiped her hands on her apron, came forward to greet them, inquired with concern about the other’s arm injury, and instructed Qin Jin to fetch chairs.
After mother and daughter had taken their seats,
their eyes swept over the straw and bamboo strips.
“What are you doing with these?”
Old Mrs.
Qin smiled and played dumb, “Oh, you know the rope net on the bed in the house has a hole in it?
It’s for patching that up.”
Dong Lamei sneered in disdain, thinking if they can’t even afford to fix a good bed, one could imagine how useless Loser Qin was, and she could no longer rely on Li Qiao in the future.
If she wasn’t worried about ruining her reputation and her son having trouble finding a wife later, she really would be too lazy to come and mend the relationship with Li Qiao.
That old lady was so miserly, not even pouring her a cup of water.
Just as she was thinking this,
Old Mrs.
Qin went inside and brought out a small bag of sugar, headed to the kitchen cupboard to make two bowls of sugar water, and brought them over.
“Here, have some sugar water,” she offered.
“That’s very kind of you,” Dong Lamei’s smile returned, “Is there much work in your collective these days?”
“Not much, just dug ditches for two days at the beginning of the year.
How about your village?”
“The same.” Dong Lamei, holding the bowl, looked around, “Where’s Qiaoqiao?”
“She’s reviewing with the youth and the sent-down youth,” Old Mrs.
Qin laughed.
Li Jinhua suddenly realized why Li Qiao was making rapid progress; there was someone knowledgeable to guide her.
“I’ll go find my third sister.”
Arriving there,
she entered the yard to a chorus of reading aloud.
It was English.
The pronunciation was just like a foreigner’s.
Among the sent-down youth, there really were hidden talents.
Li Qiao had such a good place to study but didn’t invite her, which was simply too selfish!
“Third sister,” she called out.
The sound of reading in the room suddenly stopped.
Li Jinhua tentatively called out again, but there was no response. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
She took two steps forward.
The educated youths were sitting around the dining table, with no sign of Li Qiao.
“Who are you looking for?” Du Xinxin asked.
Li Jinhua: “Hello, I’m Li Qiao’s sister.
Is she here?”
“She just left.”
Li Jinhua wondered: “Then how come I didn’t see her on the road?”
“We wouldn’t know about that.”
Li Jinhua muttered to herself as she left.
“Li Qiao, she’s gone.”
Only then did Li Qiao, holding her hastily packed notebook, peek out from Du Xinxin’s room and signaled to close the door.
Once the door was shut again.
Du Xinxin: “Why are you avoiding your sister?”
“It’s a long story.
If my sister comes again next time, and in case she bumps into this, don’t say I taught you English.” She wasn’t stingy about teaching anyone.
But Li Jinhua was just too disgusting, not your average kind of repulsive.
“Why?”
Li Qiao changed the subject: “Did you remember the pronunciations?
I need to go back.” She still had handicrafts to do.
“Almost, I’ll bring the notebook to you tomorrow night.”
“Alright.”
….
Li Qiao walked back, and at the crossroads, she came face to face with Li Jinhua.
Li Qiao pretended not to see her.
Li Jinhua approached awkwardly: “Third sister, I was wrong.
I shouldn’t have taken your notes.
I intended to copy them and give them right back to you, but you suddenly showed up, and I was afraid you’d scold me.”
Li Qiao: “You had countless chances to put them back secretly.”
Seeing she couldn’t bluff her way out, Li Jinhua finally said: “I was blinded by jealousy.
You weren’t much better than me before, but suddenly, you were far ahead of me, even surpassing Hu Xiufang.
Did you learn from the educated youths?
Next time you go there, take me with you.”
Li Qiao, listening to the first part, thought Li Jinhua truly realized her mistake.
Only later did she realize how naïve she had been.
Good grief!
Turns out it was all about using her to get in touch with the educated youths.
She said, “I’m not close with the educated youths.
If you want to keep up with your studies, tell them yourself.”
“Third sister~”
“Don’t be coy with me!
Stranger.”
Li Jinhua: “…”
Li Qiao intended to go straight home, but remembering they were out of soy sauce, she headed towards the convenience store.
Li Jinhua followed closely, shamelessly apologizing, swearing she’d never take her notes again, never badmouth her in front of their parents.
Li Qiao turned a deaf ear.
She had given Li Jinhua too many chances, only to be let down every time with cold indifference.
Rather than grappling with Li Jinhua, it was better to spend time on Qin Jin, talking to him more, pampering him, giving him enough security so that when faced with the huge gap between them in the future, he wouldn’t feel inferior or sensitive.
“Third sister, won’t you say something?”
“Don’t call me third sister!
We have severed ties,” said Li Qiao.
Li Jinhua: “….”
Li Qiao, carrying the soy sauce, entered the house to find Dong Lamei putting down some sweet soup and smiling warmly, “Qiaoqiao, back already?
You look like you’ve lost weight recently, studying must be tiring, huh?
Come home tomorrow, I’ll stew some meat for you to eat.”
Li Qiao, admiring their thick-skinned nature for the first time, began to doubt whether Dong Lamei was like Li Jinhua, given the saying like mother, like daughter.
She bluntly said, “I can’t accept it, to eat a meal’s worth of your meat, I’d have to bring back two pounds, plus an additional two pounds of eggs, and also buy cigarettes and alcohol.
A single visit would mean eating salted vegetables for half a month at home.”
Dong Lamei: “…”
Old Mrs.
Qin and Qin Jin exchanged a silent glance.
Although it was the truth, was it necessary to say it outright?
How would they interact in the future?
Dong Lamei laughed awkwardly: “Look at what you’re saying.
Who decreed that you have to bring things when visiting your mother’s house?
We welcome you just the same empty-handed.”
