Liu Yuemin pouted resentfully, "I was just being kind and caring for our third sister-in-law."
"If you have that much free time, manage your own man and children first. Look at the soles of their shoes, they're about to fall apart. Don't always expect me to make shoe soles and shoes for you?"
Liu Yuemin seemed a bit wronged, "Mom, you know my needlework isn't good."
"If it's not good, why don't you hurry up and learn while you have nothing else to do? What do you expect?"
This time, Liu Yuemin was completely speechless.
Seeing that she had stopped talking, Li Xiulan looked at Chen Lishu, "It's cold outside, isn't it? Come onto the kang and warm up."
Chen Lishu smiled at her, sat down by the kang, reached out, picked up the shoe sole next to her, and began to stitch it silently.
For a moment, the room fell quiet, only the sound of the mother and daughter pulling the thread could be heard.
Li Xiulan said, "It's only a few days until the New Year. Tomorrow, the production team will be taking everyone to town to buy New Year's goods. We also need to buy some things for the house. Who do you think should go?"
"It's too cold, I can't stand the chill, so I won't go," Liu Yuemin said with a smile, being the first to refuse.
Every year it was the same few items, no matter how you looked at it. Getting up early in the cold weather was not as good as staying home comfortably.
The others also remained silent.
"How about I go? I've saved up some cloth coupons, and the three children are growing fast, their clothes need to be updated." At this time, Zhang Qin, as the eldest daughter-in-law, took the task upon herself.
Although the Gu family lived together as a large family, Li Xiulan and Gu Shoufu were not people who mistreated their children. Apart from necessary expenses, each household had its own small savings.
"Eldest sister-in-law, I'll accompany you," Chen Lishu said, looking up and smiling at her.
Zhang Qin treated her well, and she couldn't let her go alone.
Zhang Qin naturally knew her good intentions and smiled, "Then I'll come to call third sister-in-law early tomorrow."
The matter was settled.
The next day, before dawn, Chen Lishu was still asleep when the door was gently knocked. "Third sister-in-law, are you awake?"
Zhang Qin stood at the door and asked softly.
"Eldest sister-in-law, I'm awake. I'll be right there." Chen Lishu quickly responded and got up to put on her clothes. She soon opened the door.
"It's cold on the road, I specifically brought a small quilt, we'll cover ourselves with it in the cart."
Chen Lishu heard her and her gaze fell on the basket Zhang Qin was carrying. She saw a small quilt with a blue floral pattern inside and smiled, "Eldest sister-in-law is still the most thoughtful."
As they spoke, they walked out. As soon as they pushed open the door, a cold wind mixed with snowflakes blew in. Chen Lishu instinctively tightened the scarf wrapped around her head.
The horse-drawn carriage was parked at the village entrance, and four or five people were already seated. Seeing Chen Lishu and her sister-in-law approaching, they all moved aside.
"This snow really doesn't seem to stop this year," an aunt complained as the two found empty seats.
"We don't know what next year will be like. With so much snow, farming will likely be delayed," another person chimed in.
"How is your Xingdong? He didn't even come back for such a big event as his wedding. Did he really die out there?"
As Chen Lishu was listening to others talk, her body was suddenly bumped by an elbow. She turned her head and saw that it was Mrs. Liu, their neighbor, who had somehow come to her side.
Hearing her words, Chen Lishu couldn't help but frown. Zhang Qin, beside her, subtly pulled her and whispered, "She's very difficult to deal with, don't pay attention to her."
Seeing that she had successfully attracted everyone's attention, Mrs. Liu became more animated, her voice rising higher than before, "If you ask me, you're also quite foolish. You knew you were a widow and still married, I really don't know what you were after."
"Then what were you after with Uncle Liu? Did you like him getting drunk and hitting you every day?" Chen Lishu retorted unceremoniously.
She thought if she didn't respond, Mrs. Liu would get bored and stop. Little did she know, she was getting more brazen.
Everyone present couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing her words.
Everyone knew that Liu Baisui was a drunkard when he was alive, and he was notoriously fierce when it came to beating his wife. It was only after his death that Mrs. Liu had a better life.
Mrs. Liu was embarrassed but unwilling to give up. She snorted, "No matter what I was after, I at least have two sons to rely on. With your appearance, how many years can you stay loyal to Xingdong?"
"Aunt Liu, you have time to worry about other people's families. Why don't you manage your two children more?" Chen Lishu said, then turned to Zhang Qin and deliberately said in a loud voice, "If I had two sons like that, I would have strangled them directly, rather than causing trouble for the team and society."
Mrs. Liu was not good at choosing men, nor was she good at teaching children. Her two sons, seventeen or eighteen years old, had no proper jobs and spent their days doing petty thievery, peeking at women using the toilet over walls, and other disreputable things.
"You!" Mrs. Liu pointed at her, unable to utter a second word for a long time.
She had always thought that the entire Chen family was soft-tempered and easy to bully. Now, being bored, she was looking for some amusement. Who knew she had misjudged them, and this one was actually a sharp-tongued shrew.
"Those are still sons. It's better than your mother giving birth to 'Seven Fairies'."
Everyone only discussed this in private, but no one would expose such a sore spot to someone's face.
"Aunt Liu, your words are too much. The propaganda team from above said that having boys or girls is the same. Are you contradicting the authorities with what you're saying now?"
Although Zhang Qin was usually gentle and easygoing, and rarely argued with villagers, she was now family with Chen Lishu and naturally couldn't stand others speaking ill of her family.
"Yes, sons or daughters, these Chen girls are all beautiful. If I could have a daughter like them, I would be laughing in my dreams. Unfortunately, my husband and I both have long faces, so we can't give birth to their melon-seed faces."
Chen Lishu looked sideways. The speaker was Li Maocai's wife from the front yard, a distant relative of her mother-in-law, Li Xiulan. She immediately gave her a grateful smile.
The nickname 'Seven Fairies' had existed in her previous life too. Every time she heard it, it felt jarring, thinking they were mocking her family. Hearing it now, she didn't feel much, taking it as a compliment to her looks.
After this commotion, four or five more women came. Seeing that the sky had already turned a fish-belly white, the carter sat on the cart and cracked his whip. With the sound of the whip, the horse-drawn carriage began to move.
The journey that took nearly two hours on foot took only one hour by carriage.
"I'll be waiting at the usual spot. The carriage leaves at half-past three, everyone, don't be late." Winter nights fell quickly, and the roads were difficult to navigate in the dark. So the carter gave instructions and drove the carriage away.
Chen Lishu and Zhang Qin thought for a moment and decided to buy the items Li Xiulan had asked for first, and then see what they wanted to buy for themselves.
They first went to the food store to buy meat and other essential seasonings, and then went to the department store.
The department store in town had two floors. The first floor was the main hall, and along the walls inside were counters and shelves.