Hunting 81: Gathering Goods in the Mountains, I Spoil My Ex-Wife to the Extreme

"Yunlan, take all these dry rations."

At this moment, Huang Zhifang took a bundle out of the house, which contained steamed buns and pancakes she had made, as well as a bundle of dried pickled vegetables and a jar of malted milk powder that she had dried before winter.

"Mom, why are you putting malted milk powder in there? This is something my third brother bought to give you as a gift. I can't accept it."

Li Yunlan took the bundle, opened it, and immediately took out the two cans of malted milk powder inside.

"Take it if I give it to you. Although it's a gift from your third brother, I see how thin you and Qianqian are... Sigh, just take it. You've married so far away, there's nothing your mother can do to help you."

Huang Zhifang stroked Li Yunlan's somewhat thin cheeks. What a good girl she was. Even when she was a girl at home, her family was poor, but her cheeks were never this thin.

After being married into the Wang family for several years and being their daughter-in-law for a few years, she has become so thin that Huang Zhifang feels heartbroken.

But there was nothing she could do to help Li Yunlan, so she could only leave what she considered to be the best things to Li Yunlan.

"Fourth Sister, take this. I'll buy it for Mother after I take you to the county town and you get on the bus."

Li Yunshan said.

"Take it. You've married so far away, we can't help you much. Your mother is just worried about you," Li Yunmei said.

Looking at her family members who cared about her, Li Yunlan couldn't help but tear up: "Mother, Second Sister, Third Brother, thank you."

"Why are you saying all this? Let's hurry up and go. It's a long way from here to the county town. If we don't hurry, you and Qianqian won't get home until dark."

Huang Zhifang waved his hand, signaling Li Yunlan to leave quickly.

Because it's about 26 or 27 li from Guapigou Village to the county seat, and over 100 li from the county seat to Li Yunlan's in-laws' house, Li Yunshan had to take the mother and daughter to the county seat first before they could take a bus back.

Although it's only about 130 li in total, transportation was underdeveloped in those days. There was only one bumpy dirt road from Qinghe County to Li Yunlan's husband's home, and even buses would have to travel on it.

As for highways, in the early 1980s, there were no highways in the true sense in mainland China.

Therefore, for Li Yunlan to return to her parents' home, the journey of just about 130 li would be arduous even by bus, far less convenient and faster than travel decades later.

"Yes, Mother, Second Sister, take care."

Li Yunlan wiped away the tears welling up in her eyes, hugged her daughter Wang Qianqian, and sat on the back of Li Yunshan's bicycle.

"Mother, I'm leaving."

Li Yunshan said something, then pedaled hard on his bicycle, and soon he and his daughter, Li Yunlan, disappeared from Huang Zhifang and Li Yunmei's sight.

"Mother, are we going home?"

On the back of the bicycle, Wang Qianqian nestled in Li Yunlan's arms, blinking her eyes as she looked up.

"Yes, we're going home now."

Li Yunlan nodded.

"But Mom, I don't want to go back. I want to stay at Grandma's house."

"Qianqian, why don't you want to go back? Do you want to stay at Grandma's?"

Li Yunshan was pedaling his bicycle hard when he heard Qianqian's words and smiled as he asked.

"Because if I go home, I'll get scolded by my grandma, but I won't get scolded at my maternal grandma's house. My maternal grandma, uncle, and aunt will also cook delicious food for Qianqian."

"Qianqian said in her childish voice."

"Qianqian, what nonsense are you talking about?" Li Yunlan glared at Qianqian and scolded her.

"Mother, I'm not talking nonsense."

Qianqian pouted pitifully.

"Fourth Sister, why are you scolding Qianqian? Do you think I don't know what kind of person Yuanchao's mother is? When my eldest brother and I visited you before, Yuanchao's mother was a shrew, cursing the neighbors and making them not dare to lift their heads. When my eldest brother and I went to Yuanchao's house, his mother never gave us a kind look either, as if we went to her house specifically to take advantage of her."

"You know yourself whether you're doing well at Yuanchao's house or not. Yuanchao is honest, but he lacks his own opinions, obeys his mother completely, and is somewhat sexist... Don't you think that's true?"

Li Yunshan said as he pedaled his bicycle.

In her past life, Li Yunlan gave birth to three daughters for her brother-in-law Wang Yuanchao, but they eventually divorced because his mother, Feng Cuilan, interfered and Wang Yuanchao favored sons over daughters.

Wang Yuanchao is an honest man, and also a mama's boy, but being honest doesn't mean he won't favor sons over daughters.

He recalled that in his previous life, Li Yunlan was not only scolded severely by Feng Cuilan for giving birth to three daughters in a row, but was also beaten black and blue.

At that time, Li Yunlan called the village office, and it was someone from the village office who came to her home to inform her.

When he and his elder brother rushed to Wang Yuanchao's house in the neighboring county overnight, they saw that their fourth sister, Li Yunlan, had been beaten until her hair was disheveled, her right eye was bruised and swollen, her mouth had a bloody cut, and her arms, thighs, and back were covered with purplish-blue bruises.

When the fourth sister saw him and the eldest brother, she burst into tears and said she wanted to divorce Wang Yuanchao.

The three daughters she bore for the Wang family were: the eldest, Qianqian, who was ten years old at the time but was as thin as skin and bones; and the second daughter, who was five years old, was also as thin as a monkey.

Li Yunlan wanted a divorce, which was exactly what Feng Cuilan wanted, so she immediately arranged for Wang Yuanchao and Feng Cuilan to divorce.

Wang Yuanchao agreed almost without hesitation.

Now, he has been reborn.

Knowing Wang Yuanchao's character, he naturally didn't want to see his sister suffer the same torment as in her previous life.

According to Li Yunshan's idea, he should divorce Wang Yuanchao as soon as possible before his fourth sister, Li Yunlan, becomes pregnant with her second child, so that he can get away from the Wang family as soon as possible.

However, as the older brother, he couldn't openly suggest that his fourth sister divorce Wang Yuanchao.

"Third brother, you're right. Yuanchao is indecisive, he listens to his mother without question, and... he's a bit sexist. But... he's good to me. My mother-in-law isn't so good to me, but I can just put up with it."

Li Yunlan paused for a moment before speaking, but her tone and expression suggested a lack of confidence and a hint of unease.

"If Wang Yuanchao and your mother-in-law treat you badly, scold you, or even hit you, remember not to swallow your anger. You still have your maternal family, me, your eldest brother, your second sister, and your mother."

Upon hearing Li Yunlan's words, Li Yunshan didn't continue. Some things are better left unsaid.

However, he still had to give the necessary instructions.

He is no longer Li Yunshan from his previous life, so he doesn't want his fourth sister to be the same as she was in his previous life, enduring so much humiliation in the Wang family for so long for the sake of "family harmony brings prosperity" and "family scandals should not be aired in public".

I bear all the hardships and all the burdens myself.

She had her family, her older brothers and sisters, her mother and him, and her eldest brother and second sister to support her. She didn't have to compromise like that, but in the end, she ruined her own life.

"Yes, Third Brother, I've got it."

Li Yunlan was stunned for a moment, and then hot tears slid down her face.

"Mother, why are you crying?"

A few tears slid down and fell onto Qianqian's face. She looked up, somewhat confused.

"No, Mother didn't cry. Mother is just happy, and her heart is warm."

Li Yunlan quickly wiped away the tears from her eyes and cheeks, sniffed, and said.

"oh!"

An hour later.

"Alright, we've arrived at the bus station."

The bicycle stopped as soon as it entered the bus station. Li Yunshan got off the bicycle, held it steady, and then let Li Yunlan carry Qianqian off the bicycle.

"You guys wait here, I'll go buy the tickets."

Li Yunshan propped up his bicycle and walked toward the ticket window of the bus station.

"Hey, Third Brother, I'll buy the tickets."

Li Yunlan quickly picked up Qianqian and chased after them.

Having stayed at her parents' home for so long, even though she was staying at her eldest brother Li Yunshi's house, her third brother would often send meat to her eldest brother's house when he had nothing to do. She and Qianqian ate quite a lot while staying at her parents' home.

Moreover, her third brother had given her four hundred yuan before, which was already extremely kind of him.

So how could she let her third brother pay for the train tickets?

"I'll buy them. You can keep your money for yourself. Even if Third Brother is short of money, he won't be short of money for those two train tickets."

Li Yunshan smiled and said.

He then went to the ticket window at the bus station to queue up to buy a ticket.

"Comrade, please show me your letter of introduction."

In those days, although not many people had the means to travel long distances by bus, they still needed to present relevant documents, such as a letter of introduction, to buy a ticket at the bus station's ticket window.

Without a letter of introduction, traveling long distances, such as across counties or cities, is virtually impossible.

However, Li Yunshan already had Li Yunlan's letter of introduction in his hand. After showing the letter, he was able to buy a ticket to the neighboring county without any problems.

"Let's go to the waiting hall to wait for the train."

After buying their tickets, Li Yunshan met up with Li Yunlan and her daughter, and the three of them went to the waiting hall.

After waiting a while, the bus arrived.

"Third Brother, we're going back."

Just before getting into the car, Li Yunlan held Qianqian's hand and said to Li Yunshan.

"Go back now, be careful on the road, and remember to call the village office to let them know you're safe when you get there. The people there will tell me."

Li Yunshan waved his hand.

Unlike 30 or 40 years later when every household had a telephone or mobile phone, nowadays, there is often only one landline phone in a village, usually located at the village office.

It wasn't until the mid-to-late 1990s that landline phones became common in village shops. Many people who went out to work would call the village office or the village shop to ask someone to notify their family to answer the phone, or ask the person who answered the phone to go to their home to deliver a message.

Li Yunshan had donated several thousand yuan to Guapigou Village after all. If Li Yunlan called the village office to let them know she was safe, the village officials would surely notify her out of respect for him.

"Okay, Third Brother, I understand."

Li Yunlan nodded.

"Remember what I told you on the way. If you feel you can't go on like this, bring Qianqian back. Our family is now a family with tens of thousands of yuan, so we don't need you and Qianqian to eat."

Li Yunshan gave instructions.

"Okay." Li Yunlan nodded, then patted Qianqian on the back of the head: "Qianqian, say goodbye to your third uncle."

Goodbye, Uncle.

Qianqian obediently said something, and then Li Yunlan took her hand and led her onto the bus bound for the neighboring county.