Chapter Thirty-Eight: These Two Old Women

  There are only five days left before the holiday at Shida University, she must hurry up and settle Wang Zhuozi.

  The next afternoon, Qiu Ye took some time out and went to the Pingfang District in the northeast corner of Shida. Mom had said that she and Dad lived here when they first got married, and her brother was also born here, only she was lucky enough to be born later, by the time she was born, the family had already moved into a building, cold in winter and hot in summer.

  Qiu Ye walked on the main road, looking at the flat houses in front of her, trying hard to recall that these flat houses were probably demolished in '95 and then five buildings were built here. That is to say, if she had hired Wang Zhuzi, she could have been selling tea eggs here until '95, provided that no one else was doing the same business at that time.

  Qiu Ye walked along the small path and entered this compound of flat houses. She remembered that Wang Zhu's family lived in the sixth house on the first row, so she strolled forward, counting as she went. When she reached the fourth house, she saw two women sitting in the courtyard, both looking to be over 40 years old, sunbathing and knitting sweaters together while chatting softly with each other. They were laughing and giggling, their faces flushed with joy.

  Qiu Ye looked at these two people and felt that they were somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember who they were. She was just about to walk over and continue searching when a woman inside saw her.

  "Hey, aren't you that old girl from the Qiu family? It's been a long time since you came to play with our Dandan!" A slightly chubby woman with a ponytail shouted at Qiu Ye outside the yard.

  In the Teachers' College dormitory, those with the surname Qiu were all called "Qiu Dad" by themselves, so everyone in the dormitory loved to call Qiu Ye.

  Qiu Ye suddenly remembered why this woman looked familiar. She was Xu Lanhua, a notorious shrew from the Normal University, nicknamed Wang Dama. Her daughter, Wang Dandan, was Qiu Ye's classmate and had been her nightmare since middle school and high school.

  Wang Dandan was a playmate of mine when I was little. At that time, I didn't go to kindergarten and there were only a few kids who would play with me. Wang Dandan was one of the ones who wouldn't play with me. She couldn't tell good from bad back then and always followed others around randomly. But she remembered that her mom wasn't too keen on letting her play with Wang Dandan.

  In her impression, Wang Dandan was a very pretty little girl. She wasn't too willing to play with herself in elementary school, but when she got to middle school, they became close friends. At the time, she was thrilled and thought she had found a good friend. It wasn't until later that she realized Wang Dandan had taken the initiative to befriend her because of her own unremarkable appearance, which made Wang Dandan stand out even more when they were together.

  Later, Qiu Ye suffered a lot when she was with Wang Dandan. Until Wang Dandan's deliberate framing made her middle school and high school five or six years fall into deep water and fire. At that time, although Qiu Ye actively kept away from Wang Dandan, the harm had already been done. She didn't have the mood to study at that time, so in the end, she only got into a third-rate university.

  Wang Dandan had already achieved her goal, successfully using her beauty to captivate the school's top student, becoming his wife. Of course, she couldn't be good friends with someone like herself anymore, and she didn't need to pretend to be friendly, so from then on, they became like strangers.

  After I returned to university, my mother told me that Wang Dandan later became pregnant and got married. The child's father was not the eldest son. Moreover, her marriage life was not happy, the two families were always quarreling, and finally ended in divorce. Wang Dandan didn't want the child, so she went out to work alone, and then there was no news about her anymore.

  As she grew older, Qiu Ye thought back to her school days and realized that she disliked Wang Dandan, but didn't hate her. She felt that most of the reasons for being framed in middle school were due to herself, as she had given others opportunities. So after going to college in the provincial city, she stopped thinking about her middle school days and intentionally sealed off those memories, making them a part of her memory that she never wanted to touch again.

  In this life, I met someone related to Wang Dandan again, and those intentionally forgotten memories floated up once more.

  The woman who called herself Wang Dandan's mother was one of the people who spread rumors about her at that time. Qiu Ye had no respect for this woman, and as soon as she saw her, the humiliation that had gradually faded from her memory resurfaced, and she could still recall the scene where the woman pointed at her and ridiculed her loudly.

  Qiu Ye closed her eyes, trying to remain calm, and kept telling herself that she was no longer the Qiu Ye of her past life. In this life, she would not become good friends with Wang Dandan, so she would not be framed or ridiculed by others.

  She tried her best to control herself and politely said, "Auntie, isn't Wang Dandan in kindergarten? I'm not here looking for her, I'm looking for Zhu Zhi Gege. Is he at home?"

  Nowadays, neighbors are not like those in the past. In the past, people living on the same floor for a year might not even know each other's names, and interpersonal relationships were particularly indifferent. Everyone just swept the snow in front of their own door. But nowadays, it's different. Every day, everyone leaves their doors open, and some neighbors are closer than relatives. Like these two aunties chatting in the courtyard, they must know whether Wang Zhuzi is at home or not.

  "He should be at home, I didn't see him go out. And you shouldn't always play with fools, or else you'll become foolish too, just like our family's Dandan, going to kindergarten every day, getting a little education, so it's easier to get into university later. You go back home and have a good talk with your dad and mom, don't always save those few bucks, this bit of money won't be enough for your brother to marry a wife in the future." Wang Dandan's mother had an expression that was all for Qiu Ye's own good, but you could also hear the boastful and provocative tone in her words.

  "Yes, now it's a new society, and the old idea of preferring boys over girls is no longer popular. The country's laws have all specified that boys and girls are equal, you should advise your father well, or else he won't have a good life in the future. And I also heard that your father doesn't let you attend kindergarten, instead letting you set up a small stall at the entrance of the cafeteria, isn't that like pushing his own daughter into the fire pit?" The short-haired woman next to her also spoke up.

  Qiu Ye listened to her words, almost vomiting blood, she knew that they might all think like their previous life, thinking that they didn't attend kindergarten because their parents were biased, favoring boys over girls. But listening to this aunt's tone of voice made Qiu Ye very unhappy. It was none of their business to comment on her family matters.

  How could they talk to a little girl who hasn't even gone to school about giving birth to boys or girls? Is this the law? The most despicable thing is that she actually said going to sell buns is like pushing her into a fire pit, what's wrong with them.

  She remembered a phrase her father always said, "These old women are always causing trouble, not satisfied with their own family's affairs, they love to meddle in others'. She really wanted to loudly tell the old woman in front of her: "Get out of here! You think you can meddle in our family's business? Just wait until I become rich, I'll use my money to get rid of all of you. Teach you a lesson, it's not that easy to jump into the fire pit."

  There's nothing to brag about, it's just a broken kindergarten. Her dad said that going there would be suffering, and now she agrees with her dad's point of view. If not for her dad, she wouldn't have had time to sell her own buns, and if she didn't sell buns, she wouldn't have made money, and without making money, she wouldn't be able to buy monkey tickets, and without buying monkey tickets, she would never have the money to enjoy life. So she's very grateful for her dad's partiality towards her.

  But such profound love is beyond the understanding of ordinary people, and Qiu Ye doesn't want to explain it either. What they think has nothing to do with her.

  And this Wang Dama is quite mean, saying that Zhu Zhi Ge is an idiot. Yet she still lets him help her with work all the time. She's really shameless and has no conscience. No wonder Wang Dan Dan won't turn out well in the future, having a mother like her who isn't kind-hearted.

  Qiu Yepi smiled and said to the two old women: "Auntie, I'm going to school in September this year. My dad said that having meat in a bun doesn't mean it's on the surface, just because you've been to kindergarten doesn't mean you can learn well after you start school. Some people are born with low IQ, no matter how many times they attend kindergarten, it's all in vain."

  And another thing, Auntie, you should also keep an eye on Dandan in the future and not let her always go to Zhu Zi's house, or else she'll become stupid too.

  "Hmph, we won't go to that fool's house to play, don't curse our Dan Dan." Wang Dan Dan's mother was very unwilling to hear Qiu Ye's words, it seemed like she was saying something about Dan Dan, but this child hadn't been named yet, and let her think of a retort, couldn't find the place.

  Qiu Yeke didn't care whether they were happy or not, she still had something to discuss with Zhu Zige, so she said: "I'll talk to Zhu Zige about it, those two aunts, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first, you all continue knitting sweaters."

  Qiu Ye said and walked forward, didn't hear the two aunts' whispering clearly, but she knew with her toes that they must be saying something bad about her.