Chapter Thirty-two: The Jiang Family Returns to the Village

  Lin He was thinking, when he saw Madam Zhao walking in from the courtyard, with Zhou following behind. As Madam Zhao approached, Lin He stood up and called out, "Granny, you're here!"

  Zhao didn't say much either, just patted Lin He's head and asked "Where is your mother?"

  Lin He called out to Huang Shi, and Zhao Shi said, "Second sister-in-law, wait until your older brother's family comes back. Their house has been empty for a while. You and third sister-in-law come with me to help them clean up. If we wait until they get back, it will be too late to clean."

  Huang nodded and Lin He also followed together, and instructed Chen Er to take good care of Xiao Bao.

  A group of people walked to Lao Dajia's house, which was very close to Lin He's home. It only took a few minutes to walk there, crossing several fields. When Lin He's family built their new house, they all lived in Lao Dajia's house for a while, and Lin He knew this.

  The house, although not lived in for less than half a month, has still accumulated quite a bit of dust. The furniture at home is all still there, and most things are still usable. The old house has only been uninhabited for a few years, and the exterior appearance is still well-maintained, so it doesn't need to be renovated again.

  Lin He felt that it was good to have such a room in Da Bo's house, otherwise he would be afraid that there wouldn't even be a home, and couldn't help but think of the modern-day slogan "Gambling harms people deeply."

  A few people in the house wiped all the furniture with a cloth, wiping away all the dust, and then put some miscellaneous things in order, swept the floor clean, and the house was almost cleaned up. What's left is to tidy up the yard thoroughly.

  The courtyard had grown some wild grass because it hadn't been lived in for a while. Zhao's family first pulled out the weeds, then cleaned up some unwanted things in the courtyard and threw them away. After cleaning up for almost half an hour, the courtyard was finally tidy.

  Lin He and his family had just put down their tools when the He family returned to the village. When they arrived at the village, they rented a flatbed cart in town and pulled back some things from home. Actually, there was nothing much, the shop was leased to others, and the things in the shop could not be taken away. They brought some of their own bedding and clothes, as well as some pots and pans.

  Qingshan and Yuer also followed behind, this was Linhe's first time seeing Qingshan and Yuer. Qingshan, at the age of 15, had already grown to be almost as tall as Lindajiang, but was slightly thinner, wearing a green silk jacket, looking somewhat like a scholar, except his eyes didn't seem like those of an obedient person.

  Yu'er, who was walking behind, said she was already ten years old this year and had become a big girl. Yu'er looked a bit like her mother, He Shi, with a slightly plump figure, but dressed like a rich family's young lady.

  She had two small buns on her head tied with a pink ribbon, wearing a large red silk jacket, with green pants underneath, and embroidered shoes on her feet. The colors were quite eye-catching, but Lin He thought they looked somewhat tacky.

  Yu'er looked at Lin He wearing a coarse linen jacket standing there, with some disdain in her eyes. Seeing the courtyard of their own home, she also curled up her lips. Lin He secretly smiled, this He family had already reached this point, and they still came back with an air of superiority. It seemed that they still hadn't acknowledged this reality, and from now on, this would be their home.

  On this side, Huang wanted Lin He to call someone, and Lin He called one by one. I thought that a twenty-year-old person didn't need to be on the same level as a child. On this side, Qing Shan said, "This is Sister He, she's grown up so much, it's been many years since I've seen her."

  Lin He lowered his head and smiled, but didn't say anything. Da Jiang saw that the courtyard and house were spotless, knowing it was his mother who had brought his two sisters-in-law to clean up. However, he was also tongue-tied and not very good at speaking, only saying "Mother, you all came so early to clean up, it's really hard work."

  Zhao said, "What's so tiring about it? Either way, there's nothing to do, I'll just help you guys with the cleaning."

  Zhao helped the He family sort out the things they brought back, and there weren't many things to begin with, so it was done in no time. Lin He saw Yu'er standing there motionless, as if she had come to a completely strange place. She thought that when Yu'er moved out, she was still young, so she shouldn't have any memories of this place, and it was normal for her to feel strange.

  Walked to Yuer's side and said, "Sister Yuer, if there's nothing else going on in the afternoons, you can come to my house's courtyard to play. My family has a lot of people, usually in the afternoons we're all at home with Mother doing embroidery, Sister Yuer should know how to do embroidery too, right? We can keep each other company."

  Yu'er nodded, but her expression seemed a bit impatient. Lin He saw her like this and didn't say much more, then walked into the house to see if Huang Shi and the others had finished packing up, and whether they could leave yet. She was also getting a bit impatient staying here.

  Seeing Huang and them chatting, it seemed like they couldn't leave, just as I was about to go back myself, I heard Huang say "Big sister, I thought that you all wouldn't have prepared anything for your return, so I packed some rough things at home, I'll go back and send them over to you, what do you think?"

  Mr. He heard that it was a rough girl, and there was indeed a slightly disdainful look in his eyes, but it quickly flashed by, and he continued to say "Well, then I'll trouble you, second brother's wife. You see, this time I really didn't prepare many things well."

  Huang took Lin He back, Huang was holding some food prepared in the morning to send to He's house, Huang asked Lin He if she wanted to go, Lin He said no, and would rather stay at home with Xiao Bao and Chen Er.

  Huang sent these grains to He's home, and when He saw that most of them were coarse grains, she was somewhat displeased in her heart. She thought Huang had kept the good white flour for herself and deliberately sent over some worthless coarse grains. Their family mostly ate white flour, so who would want these coarse grains? However, it wasn't nice to say anything, so they accepted them without saying much.

  Lin Dajiang said, "How come you sent so much grain over here? Did your family keep some for yourselves? Now that winter is coming and grain prices are high, your family has a lot of people too."

  Huang smiled and said, "Uncle, we still have some at home. There's nothing good in this house, so I can only bring some coarse grains, it's really not worth giving."

  Lin Dajiang waved his hand, "This time so many things happened, all thanks to you and Er Niu's help, otherwise I don't know what to do. Now I still need you to deliver something, it's me who should be sorry."

  After a few polite words, Huang also stood aside. She was originally a person who didn't like to talk much and listened to Zhao and He chatting.

  "Zhao and He were just chatting casually, Zhao said that he wanted to prepare for a visit to the Jiang family's house, He immediately spoke up and said "Mother, you see, our current situation at home, what method do I have to go to the ancestral hall?"

  In this era, when going to the clan elder's house, you must bring something with you. He Shi also meant that.

  "Didn't Erniang's wife just send you some flour and cured meat? If we really don't have anything else, just bring those over, it'll be fine. This time we're just going to pay our respects, there's nothing else to do. Think about the good things you've done in the past."