Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

Chapter 8 Thrilling
Lin Yi was terrified. "Girl, take it easy! Don't fight with your mother-in-law again! Dad is really scared this time!"

Lin Qin lowered her head guiltily. She knew that this kind of situation would only increase in the future, and she hoped that her father's heart would be stronger, otherwise he would definitely be driven to the brink of collapse by anger.

Lin Yi could tell from her expression that she hadn't listened, so he sighed helplessly and said, "This morning when I opened the door, I found another cleaned black carp in the kitchen, just like yesterday. I don't know which kind person gave it to me. I drank a bowl of it first, and it was fine. You guys can eat it. Black carp is good for wound healing, so you should eat more."

Yesterday morning, when he got up, he found a cleaned black carp on the stove, weighing about a pound. He thought it was given to him by someone in the neighborhood, but after asking around, no one admitted to it.

In this kind of weather, fish that has been cleaned will not be fresh if it is not cooked for a day, so he could only stew the fish in a daze.

Unexpectedly, another one popped up first thing this morning.

Their village has fishponds, but they are full of wild, small tilapia that no one catches and no one can catch.

Blackfish like these can only be found in Nanxi.

Thinking of Nanxi, Lin Yi recalled Chen Wenjun's image. He glanced at Lin Qin subconsciously, then shook his head. It couldn't be that person. He didn't know his daughter at all and had never been to their house. How could he know where his house was?

If it wasn't Chen Wenjun, then who could it be?
Lin Yi was completely baffled.

Lin Qin guessed who it was.

She first removed the fish bones from Liu Yaya's fish and then fed her a bowl of fish soup.

With a smile, she asked, "Ya Ya, is the fish soup delicious?"

Liu Yaya nodded obediently, "It's delicious! It's better here at Grandpa's place. We can eat fish every day. At Grandma's, I can only eat sweet potato rice with pickled vegetables. If I eat one more, Grandma will scold me for being a waste of money."

Don't underestimate a six-year-old child; she understands everything.

Lin Yi's face instantly darkened, and he was so angry he almost threw down his chopsticks. "Ma Cuihua has gone too far! Ya Ya is her own granddaughter! How could she treat a child like this?"

Lin Qin scoffed, "Dad, she treated us like that yesterday, do you really expect her to give Ya Ya meat?"

Lin Yi choked and sighed again.

Lin Qin calmly ate her fish soup while helping Lin Yi clear the table.

Over the next few days, Lin Yi would find an extra blackfish on the stove every morning when he woke up. At first, he insisted on getting to the bottom of it, but to no avail. Gradually, he got used to it and started cooking the fish in different ways whenever he saw it.

Sometimes I cook tofu and fish soup, sometimes I make a soy sauce broth with sweet potato porridge, and if I want to be extravagant, I fry it with some lard.

Just so that her daughter and granddaughter could have a few more bites of good food.

Under Lin Yi's care, Lin Qin's wounds healed very quickly, forming scabs in three or four days and starting to fall off in seven or eight days.

Just as she was about to find another reason to stay at her parents' house, someone from the Liu family came to tell her that Liu Yongming was coming back soon and that she should take Liu Yaya back with her.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi was unwilling to let Lin Qin stay any longer and immediately told her to pack her things and go home.

“Girl, listen to your father. Yongming is a college graduate, an educated man. He definitely won’t side with his mother. Go back and talk to him clearly, and ask him to stand up for you. If possible, take the child and go with Yongming, so that you and the child won’t continue to be bullied by that wicked woman, Ma Cuihua.”

Lin Yi talked on and on.

Lin Qin felt increasingly heartbroken as she listened. She forced back her tears and turned back to the shed to pack her belongings. She handed the fifty yuan to Lin Yi, saying, "Dad, it's not safe for me to keep this money. Please keep it for me. I'll ask you for it if I need it."

Lin Yi understood Lin Qin's concerns and agreed without hesitation, happily seeing her and Liu Yaya off out of the village.

The mother and daughter walked for an hour before returning to the Liu family home. As soon as they entered the house, they were met with Xu Manzhi's gloomy face.

Lin Qin didn't even glance at her, and went straight back into the house with the child in her arms.

Before she could even sit down, Ma Cuihua's cursing voice rang out.

"Our Liu family really owes her a debt. It's one thing that she can't give birth to a son, but she also acts like an ancestor who needs to be worshipped. Doesn't she care about shortening her lifespan?"

Lin Qin covered Liu Yaya's ears and smiled reassuringly at her, "Don't listen to that nonsense, it's an eyesore. Aren't you tired? Do you want to go to sleep?"

Liu Yaya shook her head, clutching Lin Qin's clothes tightly.

Lin Qin smiled knowingly and pulled her down to lie down together.

Ma Cuihua had been yelling and cursing in the yard for most of the day, until her mouth was dry, but there was no sound from Lin Qin's room. It was as if she was performing a monologue, which infuriated Ma Cuihua, so she immediately told Liu Li to go up.

Liu Li, whose face was scratched by Lin Qin, still remembered it. She immediately rushed to Lin Qin's room and started banging on the door, yelling, "Second sister-in-law! Mom told you to come out and do some work, didn't you hear me? Are you deaf? Open the door!"

Liu Li's urgent shouts were like calling for a soul, so loud that my heart almost jumped out of my chest.

Lin Qin got up angrily, poured a glass of cold water that had been sitting for several days, quickly went to open the door, and splashed it at Liu Li.

Liu Li was soaked to the bone. After the initial shock, she jumped up in anger and pointed at Lin Qin, yelling, "You bitch! How dare you splash me! I'll fight you to the death!"

As she spoke, she rushed towards Lin Qin, but Lin Qin tripped her by sticking out her leg.

Liu Li tripped and fell flat on her face, hitting her chin on the floor tile. She wailed in pain, "Mom! Sister-in-law! That bitch Lin Qin bullied me! Aaaaah!"

She scrambled to her feet and ran outside, shouting as she did so. She was wet and dirty, with saliva, tears, and snot streaming down her face.

Seeing her youngest daughter's miserable state, Ma Cuihua flew into a rage, yelling, "Lin Qin! I'll beat you to death, you bitch!"

Xu Manzhi also came over to help.

Seeing that someone was backing her up, Liu Li rolled her resentful eyes, turned around and went back to the kitchen to get a ladle of boiling water, then rushed towards Lin Qin, saying, "You dared to splash water on me, today I'll let you taste what it's like to be splashed with water."

Ma Cuihua and Xu Manzhi stepped forward and pulled Lin Qin from the left and right to prevent her from moving.

Liu Li splashed hot water at Lin Qin, and at the critical moment, Liu Yaya rushed out and knocked Xu Manzhi down.

"Ah!" A heart-wrenching scream echoed throughout the alley, mixed with Liu Yaya's shrill cries and Ma Cuihua's vicious curses.

Lin Qin carried Liu Yaya, who was crying so hard she was almost breathless, and rushed out of the yard, banging on the neighbor's door.

"Lin Qin? What's wrong with Ya Ya?" Granny Liu asked anxiously.

Lin Qin knelt down before Granny Liu with a thud. "Granny, that crazy woman Liu Li got a ladle of boiling water and tried to splash me. Ya Ya shielded me, and her back was splashed with hot water. I need to take her to the hospital now, but I don't have any money. Could you lend me a few yuan? I'll pay you back later."

"Okay, okay! Don't worry, wait here, I'll go get it." Grandma Liu hurriedly went back into the house.

Lin Qin went to borrow from the neighbor next door to Granny Liu.

I borrowed from three or four different places before I could scrape together a dozen or so yuan.

(End of this chapter)