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0.66% Reborn in the 80s, Get Rich by Eating Melons / Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Going to the County Town

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Going to the County Town

After using the restroom, Tong Yao almost passed out at the sight of the steaming large wooden basin in the room. She had initially wanted to stay in the countryside for a few more days and experience rural life, but now, she genuinely wanted to leave.

Frankly speaking, she couldn't adapt to these conditions.

No wonder the original host constantly complained; it was indeed difficult for a city-raised lady to accept a place where she even had to bathe in a basin.

She used a towel to wipe herself down quickly with water, instantly feeling much better, then gazed in embarrassment as Si Boyi helped her carry out the bathwater.

As she was lying on the bed, there was a sudden crack of thunder outside, followed by a flash of lightning which lit up the room. Immediately after, there was the sound of pouring rain. Remembering the animals' words, Tong Yao was stunned. The things these little creatures said actually all came true.

She was astonished at the realization that she now had her own personal weather forecast.

The moment before, she had found their chatter quite annoying, but now she felt relieved. She could gain much useful information simply by eating melon.

The next day, Tong Yao was awakened by a chorus of crowing roosters and barking dogs, along with the gossiping sounds of flies and mosquitoes.

Mosquito A: "This woman wraps herself like a zongzi when she sleeps. I didn't get a single drop of blood."

Mosquito B: "It's much better at Dazhu's place. He tossed and turned with his wife half the night, and slept like a log. He never reacted, no matter how much I bit him."

Fly A: "I'll go to Lijuan's place tomorrow. She is going to the city to find Si Chen. The food must be good."

Tong Yao: "Eat, eat, eat. That's all you know."

Wait, Lijuan is going to the city to find Si Chen?

It was unsurprising that a village medical prodigy might catch the attention of others. Tong Yao had not yet even seen her affordable husband, but a potential romantic rival had already appeared.

Lin Fengying was cooking in the kitchen, and Si Xiaohui was in deep discussion with her about something. Upon asking, Tong Yao found out that Zhang Lijuan was planning to visit the city the following day, and Si Xiaohui also wanted to go, but Lin Fengying disagreed.

Going to the city meant spending money, and their family's income relied solely on several acres of land.

Their eldest son was already married and starting his own family, so it didn't feel right to continue asking him for money. Their younger son was 23 and had not yet married; he had been helping with farm work at home since he finished junior high school. Tong Yao was a bride whom she had chosen for her eldest son.

Even though her younger son hadn't said anything, she knew he held some resentment in his heart.

She had indeed wondered if she was wrong, but after seeing Tong Yao, she knew she was right.

A golden phoenix like Tong Yao was not suitable for her younger son.

Besides, Tong Yaohui had always funded her eldest son's education with a clear goal. While he said that he didn't care which son Tong Yao married, if she truly married her younger son, his family would surely disapprove.

Sigh!

Now, all she wanted to do was save some money for her younger son's wedding, so her daughter would have to make some sacrifices.

Si Xiaohui had red, teary eyes and didn't say anything. Knowing his family's situation, Si Boyi also stayed quiet.

After understanding the situation, Tong Yao blinked. So, Xiaohui wanted to accompany Lijuan on her trip. Did Xiaohui know Lijuan's intention, though?

After pondering it for a while, Tong Yao suggested: "Mom, if Si Chen doesn't come home today, why don't Xiaohui and I go to the city to find him tomorrow?"

Si Chen was a busy doctor; he may not be able to come home today. Instead of waiting for Si Chen to come home and question him, it might be better to go find him directly.

To be honest, Tong Yao was a bit excited. What would Si Chen's reaction be when he saw his runaway wife suddenly show up?

"You want to go to the city to find Si Chen?" Lin Fengying paused for a moment, then hesitated, "That's fine, but you've never been there before. You won't know the way, right?"

Before Tong Yao could speak, Si Xiaohui frowned and said, "I'm not going with her."

Tong Yao rolled her eyes at Si Xiaohui. If she didn't want to come, so be it. Tong Yao hadn't wanted to bring her along anyway. She turned to Lin Fengying and said, "Mom, since she doesn't want to go, then I'll go by myself. I can read and know how to take the bus."

Si Xiaohui hadn't expected that Tong Yao was serious about not taking her along, and was even rolling her eyes at her. She felt both frustrated and regretful that she had spoken so hastily.

Lin Fengying didn't feel at ease and thought for a moment before saying, "You should go with Xiaohui! I'm not comfortable letting you go alone."

This time, Si Xiaohui didn't say anything.

Tong Yao snickered to herself. Nice try, trying to make her toe the line. She thought again.

She wasn't the type to bully others, nor was she the type to grovel and please anyone.

...

As expected, Si Chen didn't come home that day. That afternoon, Lin Fengying went to Zhang Lijuan's house to make a phone call to Si Chen to let him know. However, Zhang Lijuan hadn't topped up her phone credit, and the call didn't go through. Chen Jinlan scoffed at Lin Fengying during the encounter.

That evening, Si Boyi heated a large pot of water for Tong Yao to bathe. Si Xiaohui complained a few times at the side and was scolded by Lin Fengying. In frustration, Si Xiaohui deliberately spoke loudly in the courtyard.

"You all treat her like a treasure when she is lazy and spends all day eating and sleeping, and can't do anything else. If she were at any other house, she probably would have been beaten to death by her mother and husband-in-law by now. My older brother especially dislikes lazy women—you think moving to the city means you'll live a good life, but you'll probably be sent back here in just a few days."

In her heart, Tong Yao cursed. Who said that being a daughter-in-law meant that she had to bear all the hard work and toil?

It wasn't the busy farming season, and there wasn't much work to do at home anyway. Didn't they manage to do everything just fine before she arrived?

She refused to play the role of a pushover. Anyone could do it, but she wouldn't.

After bathing, Tong Yao packed some clean clothes and listened to the flies and mosquitoes gossip about the village happenings. Then she went to bed for a good night's sleep.

In the morning, Lin Fengying fried two vegetarian dishes and boiled a pot of porridge. The four of them sat around a small, quaint square table, speckled with red lacquer. As soon as they finished eating, they heard Zhang Lijuan's voice from outside the door.

"Xiaohui, are you ready?"

"Yes, yes." Si Xiaohui replied. Immediately, she put down her bowl and chopsticks and rushed out.

Tong Yao went back to the room to change and take her things, happening to make eye contact with Zhang Lijuan as she left. Zhang Lijuan was evidently dressed up; her knee-length pink dress seemed new, as wrinkles were still visible. Her loose hair was adorned with a hair band. Overall, she looked nice except for the pair of socks visible in her handmade cloth sandals, which made her appearance slightly odd.

Zhang Lijuan wasn't fat, but she had a larger frame and was tall, making her the type many mothers-in-law in this era favored. According to the older folks, her large hips were ideal for giving birth to a son.

In comparison, Tong Yao appeared slightly delicate. At one hundred sixty-five centimeters, she weighed only ninety pounds. She had also made an effort to dress up that day, wearing a bubble-sleeve dress with a fitted top and casual bottom. Its light yellow color further accentuated her fair skin.

This type of dress would remain in vogue even in the 21st century.

To match the dress, she wore a pair of white sandals, which she hadn't worn since moving to this house.

The wound on her head had already scabbed over, so she removed the gauze and covered the scab with her bangs. Her long hair draped over her back, with her loose tendrils tied up into a princess-style bun. With her doll-like face, her get-up made her look like a wholesome and pretty high school student.


Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Encounter with a Thief

Seeing both of them dressed so formally, Si Xiaohui looked displeased. If this were ancient times, it would be the gap between a lady and her maid.

Regrettably due to their poor family situation, Lin Fengying had never bought her good clothes. The clothes she was wearing were bought two years ago to keep up appearances, and she could hardly bear to wear them at home.

Her good mood instantly plummeted, and Si Xiaohui sarcastically asked with a stern face, "We're just going into town, not matchmaking. Why all this pomp?"

"I usually dress like this." Zhang Lijuan smiled and looked at Tong Yao, "My sister-in-law is all dolled up though, you must be going to meet Chen in town, right?"

Had she not known about Zhang Lijuan's feelings for Si Chen, Tong Yao would not have found anything wrong with her comment. But knowing that Zhang Lijuan had her sights on Si Chen, the words didn't sound right.

"I didn't dress up on purpose, it's just that my figure is slim and I look good. My temperament can't be hidden."

Si Xiaohui's face was filled with disgust as she muttered, "So shameless." Who would boast about themselves like that? Shouldn't normal people be modest?

Zhang Lijuan always heard Si Xiaohui gripe about how Tong Yao was lazy and idle at home. Hearing Tong Yao's self-praise, she burst out laughing. To the older generations, Tong Yao was a ditz, not catching the underlying meanings in what people said.

Zhang Lijuan had envied Tong Yao for her beauty before, but now she felt much better.

"Let's not stand here any longer. My uncle will be here soon with his tractor, let's wait for him at the entrance of the village!"

Lin Fengying saw the three of them off to the entrance of the village, constantly reminding Si Xiaohui and Zhang Lijuan not to run around in town and not to talk to strangers. She treated them like children. Si Xiaohui was somewhat impatient whereas Tong Yao felt warm. In her previous life, she grew up in an orphanage, and no one truly cared about her.

"Mom, stop nagging, just go home! We're not kids anymore." Si Xiaohui impatiently pushed Lin Fengying to go back. She had always been watched over by her mother, and going into town felt like a bird flying out of its cage. She was overjoyed at the newfound freedom and wished she could fly straight into town.

"You child." Lin Fengying was somewhat helpless. She instructed Tong Yao to be careful on the road before reluctantly going back home.

"Your mother-in-law is really nice to you." Zhang Lijuan commented with discernible envy.

"Well, yeah, I'm her daughter-in-law." Tong Yao deliberately emphasized the last three words.

"Just because you are now, doesn't mean you always will be." Without Lin Fengying present, Si Xiaohui didn't mince her words, scornfully declaring, "My brother would never like a lazy and idle woman."

"But your brother certainly likes beautiful women." Tong Yao retorted.

"Shameless."

Si Xiaohui grumbled and turned her head to chat cheerfully with Zhang Lijuan.

Tony Yao decided to ignore them as they ignored her. They had not stood at the entrance of the village for too long when they heard the sound of a diesel tractor. Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw a tractor slowly approach, stirring up dust on the road as if causing a sandstorm.

"Uncle." Zhang Lijuan greeted the driver affectionately, showing off with pride. In these times, families who owned a tractor were rare. When it came to marriage, they could pick and choose from all the villages around.

Liu Dazhu looked the three girls over, "You three are all going to town?"

"Yes." Zhang Lijuan took out a yuan from her pocket and gave it to Liu Dazhu, "My mom said, we have to pay for the gas for the ride."

Liu Dazhu initially hesitated but finally accepted after a little back and forth.

Seeing Zhang Lijuan gave money for the ride left Si Xiaohui bewildered. It was only when Tong Yao handed Liu Dazhu a yuan that she remembered to do the same. The idea of spending one yuan for a ride, before even buying anything, made her heart ache.

Already three passengers sat in the tractor's cab, two women in their forties and a man in his fifties. They were sitting on the little bench in the cab. Zhang Lijuan and Si Xiaohui got in without fuss. Tony Yao, however, was struggling to climb up in her dress. It prompted the man to say,

"You two, give your younger sister a hand."

Upon hearing this, Si Xiaohui and Zhang Lijuan instantly frowned. It was true that with Tong Yao's fair skin and delicate features, she looked younger. But they were all girls, who would like being called old?

"She's already married, and she's a year older than us," Zhang Lijuan explained.

With surprise, the man looked at Tong Yao, thinking to himself that she got married a bit early.

Si Xiaohui, however, pointed her finger at Tong Yao, "Who else, like you, would dress like a little girl even after getting married?"

The constant 'da-da' noise from the tractor was making Tong Yao's ears buzz. She didn't feel like dealing with the two of them. The bumpy dirt road was making her waist ache. At least the scenery was good, it helped to distract her a little.

After an almost an hour-long ride, they finally arrived in town. Liu Dazhu informed Zhang Lijuan to meet back in the same place at three in the afternoon before he left to run errands at the post office.

Tony Yao stretched out and then under Si Xiaohui's suspicious gaze, did several more stretching exercises. Feeling her arms and legs more relaxed, she finally asked, "I'm going to the hospital to look for Si Chen. Where are you two going?"

Zhang Lijuan rubbed her waist, "I have been feeling a bit unwell lately, so I want to see a doctor at the hospital."

Si Xiaohui said, "That's perfect, I can go and see my brother."

In reality, Tong Yao had already known that Zhang Lijuan wanted to see Si Chen and was asking on purpose.

Since they all had the same destination, there was no need to go separately. They got on a bus to the hospital. The bus was crowded, all the seats were taken, and the three girls were pushed to the back. Since Tong Yao got on the bus, she caught the attention of a few young men who kept stealing glances at her.

Beautiful things are indeed more eye-catching, Tong Yao thought, and decided that she needed to get used to it.

After the bus traveled one stop, a few people got off and a woman with a pet dog and a man in his thirties got on. The man's appearance could only be described as shifty, and as soon as he got on, his eyes started scanning around the bus non-stop.

The pet dog in the lady's arms also seemed to keep a wary eye on the man as if it too sensed he was up to no good.

After two stops, a woman in her thirties suddenly screamed, "My money is gone, there is a thief on the bus."

Everyone on the bus was alarmed by her cry, including the driver, who pulled over but did not open the doors. "Ma'am, are you sure you lost your money on the bus?" the driver asked.

"It was lost on the bus." The woman responded anxiously and quite certainly, "I still had the money when I got on the bus."

Everyone quickly checked their wallets and kept their distance from the woman, for fear she'd accuse them of the theft. Si Xiaohui and Zhang Lijuan also initially checked their wallets. When they found their money was safe, both girls could finally breathe a sigh of relief. It didn't matter if someone else lost their money, as long as theirs was safe.


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