Living like a widow? My rough neighbor is coaxing me to have a baby every night.

Chapter 66 Li Weimin throws a tantrum: I want Xianglian!

The Li family's courtyard is right in the middle of the village. Although the three mud-brick houses look old, they are considered a respectable family in the poor and remote Xiahe Village.

Li Weimin's father, Li Jianshe, was the village accountant, in charge of the bookkeeping.

When he walks on the village road, he always has his hands behind his back, walks with his feet turned outwards, and even his cough is louder than others.

The sun was scorching hot, like it was burning. Cicadas, hiding under the leaves of jujube trees, were howling incessantly, their cries irritating and irritating.

Liu Xiaocui sat cross-legged in the shade under the gourd trellis, holding a half-finished mille-feuille in her hand.

She was skillful with her hands, nimbly manipulating the thimble with her fingers, and the hemp rope pierced through the thick cloth with a "rip" sound before being tightened sharply.

On a small stool next to her, Aunt Zhang from next door was cracking sunflower seeds with a handful of them, spitting the shells all over the ground.

"Hey, Xiao Cui, did you hear that commotion just now? The police cars are here. That butcher Zhang is probably going to be in trouble."

Aunt Zhang's thin lips moved rapidly, her eyes gleaming with gossip. "That girl from the Li family is really tough. This is the third time, isn't it? She still hasn't gotten married."

"Strong fate? That's just bad luck for husbands!" Liu Xiaocui snorted coldly, rubbing the needle in her hand against her scalp with oil. "Whoever gets involved is doomed. Luckily, I didn't give in back then, otherwise..."

Before he could finish speaking, the courtyard gate was violently slammed open with a loud bang.

A figure rushed in, covered in yellow dust, looking like a wild ghost just dug out of a grave.

Li Weimin lost one shoe while running, and the sole of his bare foot was bleeding from being poked by a pebble.

But he felt no pain; his usually dull face was now filled with madness.

"Mom! Money! Give me money!"

He started yelling as soon as he entered the door, his voice cracking and sounding creepy.

Liu Xiaocui's hand trembled, and the steel needle almost pierced her flesh.

She slammed the sole of her shoe into the basket, glaring at him with her upside-down, triangular eyes: "Are you trying to call back your soul?! In broad daylight, did a wolf rip out your gall bladder? Look at you, you're a pathetic sight, your pants are practically hanging up like rags. Don't you know how hard it is to get cloth ration coupons?"

Li Weimin couldn't hear any of this.

All he could think about was the jeep that had taken Zhang the butcher away and the scattered red paper scraps on the ground.

That was a gap that God had left for him; it was his only hope in this life.

He rushed to Liu Xiaocui and slammed his kneecap hard onto the ground with a thud, making the ground tremble.

"Mother! Butcher Zhang has been arrested! The police have taken him away!"

Li Weimin gripped Liu Xiaocui's trouser legs tightly with both hands, his small eyes red as if about to bleed: "The marriage is off! Xianglian doesn't have to marry that butcher anymore! Mother, this is an opportunity! If we just scrape together some money and send it over now, Niu Guihua will definitely agree! Mother, quickly give me three hundred... no, two hundred! Two hundred will do!"

Two hundred yuan?

Aunt Zhang dropped the melon seeds in her hand in shock, her mouth agape enough to fit an egg: "Oh my, has Weimin gone mad? If you dismembered your mother and sold her bones, do you think they'd be worth that much?"

"Get out of here!" Liu Xiaocui cursed, though it was unclear whether she was cursing Aunt Zhang or her son.

She didn't rush to move, but slowly took out a thimble from the basket and wiped it on her clothes.

The movements were so slow they were unsettling, exuding a chilling indifference that sent shivers down your spine.

"Want to marry that slut? Li Weimin, are you still asleep, or is your brain full of shit?" Liu Xiaocui raised her small feet, clad in pointed cloth shoes, and kicked Li Weimin's bleeding foot hard.

The kick was powerful, hitting the wound squarely.

"Ouch—!" Li Weimin shuddered in pain, curling up into a ball like a shrimp.

But he still wouldn't let go: "Mother! Xianglian isn't a slut! She's a good girl! She was forced into that situation in the Zhao family... Now that she's finally escaped, we can't just stand by and watch her die! I've always liked her since I was little, please grant me this favor!"

"To grant your wish? Who will grant mine?"

Liu Xiaocui sneered, spitting all over Li Weimin's face. "She's a good girl? A good girl can be dumped like trash by her in-laws? She's a used slut! You're a young man, good-looking and wealthy, why would you pick up the leftovers Zhao Gang threw away? Do you even care about my reputation?"

"It's not leftovers! It's the person I cherish most!" Li Weimin shouted, his neck stiff, the veins on his forehead throbbing.

"My dearest! Can you eat it? Can you spend it like money?"

Liu Xiaocui picked up the half-finished shoe sole and slapped it hard across Li Weimin's face. The multi-layered sole was as hard as a brick, leaving a red mark on Li Weimin's face.

"Li Weimin, listen to me carefully. Even if we had two hundred yuan, let alone not being able to come up with it, I'd feed it to the dogs or throw it in the latrine to make a sound, but I would never use it to fill that Li family's hole! That old hag Niu Guihua is a wolf in sheep's clothing, she'll devour you without spitting out the bones. Do you want her to chew up all the little bit of our Li family's savings?"

"I don't care! I want Xianglian!"

Li Weimin was so slapped that he saw stars, and a mixture of frustration and despair welled up inside him.

He got up from the ground and circled around like a headless fly.

"If you don't give me the money, I... I won't live anymore! I'll smash my head against this millstone and die!"

As he spoke, he lowered his head, making a gesture as if he were about to crash into the large blue stone in the middle of the yard where people grind tofu.

He's used this trick since he was a child.

As long as he cries, makes a scene, and threatens suicide, his mother will eventually soften.

But this time, the courtyard was quiet.

Liu Xiaocui didn't even lift her buttocks. She even reached out and grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from Aunt Zhang's hand, cracked them open with a "crack".

"Hit. Aim and hit."

Liu Xiaocui spat out a sunflower seed shell, her tone as cold as if she were talking to a stranger, "If you smash your brains out, it'll save me a lot of trouble. Quan Dangdang was born with a placenta. Anyway, you've been raised to be a good-for-nothing, you can't even handle a woman, and you still want to come back and gnaw on my bones."

Li Weimin rushed forward two steps, slamming on the brakes with lightning speed.

He stared blankly at his mother, and his bravado vanished instantly.

He never had the guts to die. He was just a soft dough ball held in Liu Xiaocui's palm. Without this shell, he didn't even know how to live.

Aunt Zhang, watching from the side, couldn't help but laugh. She interjected sarcastically, "Oh, Weimin, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but what are you trying to achieve by acting so desperately? No matter how pretty Li Xianglian is, she's just a pretty face with no substance."

Liu Xiaocui picked up the conversation, her triangular eyes narrowing: "There's something else, which I didn't want to say, but since you're so shameless, I'll let you die knowing why."

She stood up, dusted off her pants, walked over to her son, and looked down at him.

"Li Xianglian stayed with the Zhao family for three years, and her belly didn't show any signs of pregnancy! Why did the Zhao family divorce her? It's because her field doesn't grow crops! It's like a barren land! She's destined to have no offspring!"

A thunderclap exploded in Li Weimin's mind, making his ears ring.

In the rural areas of that era, the phrase "not laying eggs" was more poisonous than murder or arson.

That was a death sentence for a woman.

Li Weimin stared wide-eyed for a long time before finally managing to squeeze out, "No... impossible... Xianglian is perfectly healthy... Maybe... maybe it's that kid Zhao Gang who's no good..."

"Bullshit!"

Liu Xiaocui spat at his feet, "Zhao Gang is a cadre! He gets a government job! How could he have a problem? I heard his lover in the city is getting pregnant! What does that mean? It means this is Li Xianglian's problem!"

Aunt Zhang, listening nearby, was also astonished. She stopped cracking her melon seeds and interjected, "My goodness! Three years without a baby? That's a real problem. If she marries him, it'll mean the family line will end!"

"Did you hear me?"

Liu Xiaocui pointed at Aunt Zhang, "Even outsiders understand this, but you, you idiot, can't grasp it! Our Li family has had only one son for three generations. Do you want your grandfather to be unable to rest in peace in his grave? Do you want your father to be gossiped about and called childless?"

This series of questions completely drained the last bit of strength from Li Weimin.

He collapsed to the ground, covering his face, which was covered with tears and dirt, with both hands, and let out a suppressed sob.

He wanted Xianglian, but he was also afraid of having no descendants.

In the village, a man without a son cannot stand up straight.

Seeing that the time was right, Aunt Zhang brought her round face closer, plastering a fake smile on her face.

"Oh, Weimin, don't just be upset. There are plenty of women in the world. As long as you have money, you're not afraid of not finding a good one. Your aunt has one right here."

Aunt Zhang winked at Liu Xiaocui and continued, "My niece from Xiawan Village, my maternal family, is named Wang Yanni. She's a young woman who hasn't married yet, but her figure is like a millstone, and her buttocks are so round they could hold a basin of water! She's clearly a good match for having sons!"

Liu Xiaocui didn't stop sewing the shoe soles, nor did she even lift her eyelids. She snorted through her nose, "Wang Yanni? The one from Xiawan Village next door?"

"Yes, yes, yes! That's her! We know her inside and out!" Aunt Zhang slapped her thigh and smiled broadly.

Liu Xiaocui rubbed the thimble on her scalp with oil, then suddenly looked up, her triangular eyes blazing: "Old woman Zhang, do you think I'm blind? That Wang Yanni has a face full of pockmarks, densely packed like a sesame seed cake sprinkled on top. Is that what you call decent? If you can stand looking at her, my Weimin will be scared to death if he wakes up in the middle of the night!"

Aunt Zhang's smile froze for a moment, and just as she was about to open her mouth to defend herself, Liu Xiaocui's spittle sprayed over her.

"And don't think I'm forgetful. That girl was born in the Year of the Tiger, right? She's already twenty-six! Two years older than my Weimin! In the village, she'd be considered an old maid! Are you trying to find Weimin a wife, or are you trying to find him a stepmother to pamper?"

Aunt Zhang wasn't annoyed by this barrage of words; instead, she cracked her sunflower seeds loudly, her face displaying the shrewdness of someone who's been through it all.

"Oh my dear sister, you're so clueless! As the saying goes, 'A woman three years older brings good fortune!' So what if she's two years older? Women of that age know how to care for others and be considerate of men! Besides, what's wrong with having pockmarks on your face? They're just on your face, they won't stop you from having children!"

As long as you have a big butt and can bear children, turn off the lights, roll around on the bed, and they all feel the same! It's better than that fair-skinned one who can't lay eggs, right?

Li Weimin knelt on the ground, listening to the conversation that sounded like a breeding exercise, and his stomach churned.

This isn't a wedding ceremony; it's like picking out the biggest livestock at the livestock market!

"I won't watch! I won't watch!"

Li Weimin suddenly went berserk, grabbing a handful of dirt from the ground and throwing it around, shouting, "I don't want anyone but Xianglian! Whoever wants to marry that pockmarked woman can marry her!"

"I think you're asking for a beating!" Liu Xiaocui picked up the half-finished shoe sole and was about to hit her again.

Just as things were getting chaotic, footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

The courtyard gate was pushed open with a "bang," and Li Jianshe walked in with his hands behind his back and his signature pigeon-toed gait.

He had a black leather notebook tucked under his arm; it was his livelihood as an accountant and also his status symbol in the village.

Upon entering the house and seeing the chaotic scene of chickens and dogs running around in the yard, Li Jianshe's sparse eyebrows furrowed into a knot.

"What's with the wailing? I could hear you two putting on a show from all over the place! Trying to let the whole village hear the commotion from the Li family, huh?"