1968: At the beginning, the beautiful sister-in-law came to borrow food! Chapter 045

Zhao Jianguo’s funeral finally passed.

Although the Old Zhao family was seething with anger, they had lost so much face in front of the entire village that they dared not make a fuss again for a while.

Old Lady Zhao’s act of cursing the entire village also caused the villagers to gradually distance themselves from their family.

Only Zhao Jianguo’s ghost of a brother and his younger brother were still thinking about Shuhua.

Especially his younger brother, who was thinking every day about how to marry Shuhua.

However, with things having escalated to this point, everyone was losing face.

He had begged Old Lady Zhao several times, but she wouldn’t budge.

In Old Lady Zhao’s mind, she would torment Shuhua until Shuhua had no food to eat.

Then she would return to their family for free. There were plenty of cases of younger brothers marrying their sisters-in-law in those days.

Even men marrying widowed sisters-in-law and taking on their children were common!

As for the sisters Shuhua and Shufen, they had settled down in the room next to Li Yunfeng’s.

Just two days after this matter quieted down, Li Yunfeng’s cheap mother-in-law started visiting his house more frequently.

Two or three visits a day were not uncommon.

She would come in the morning, claiming to check if Natasha and Sophia, the two foreign daughters, were accustomed to breakfast.

She would come again at noon, saying she had nothing to do at home and wanted to help mend things.

In the afternoon, she would make another trip, claiming to be afraid the two foreign daughters were bored and wanted to chat with them.

Her words sounded good, all about caring for her goddaughters.

But Li Yunfeng knew perfectly well that this woman’s true intentions were not what she claimed!

Ever since Li Yunfeng saw his mother-in-law that night, she had seemed a bit off.

Especially in the past two days, the way she looked at him had also changed.

However, she did have the capital for it. Nearing forty, she looked even more radiant than the young wives in their twenties in the village.

Her skin was fair and clean, and her figure hadn’t gone out of shape from childbirth or labor; what should be prominent was prominent, and what should be shapely was shapely.

Unlike most women in the village, who wore drab clothes and had rough calluses on their faces and hands.

Especially her phoenix eyes, when she looked at someone, an unintentional glance felt like it carried electricity, capable of tingling one’s heart. The small beauty mark under her eye corner added a few more alluring charms to her.

After she arrived, her hands and feet were indeed nimble. She helped with chores without any hesitation, doing laundry, cooking, and tidying the house—she was capable of everything.

This made Natasha and Sophia have a good impression of her, truly treating her as an elder with respect.

But while working, her eyes never left Li Yunfeng.

When Li Yunfeng was moving firewood in the yard, she would bring him a bowl of hot water.

“Yunfeng, you look tired. Rest for a bit and drink some water to warm yourself.”

When handing the bowl, her fingers, fair and tender, would surely brush against Li Yunfeng’s hand!

Li Yunfeng was screaming in his heart, “Mother-in-law, can you please stay away from me? If this continues, I, a young man, won’t be able to handle it!”

What kind of cadre could withstand such a test?

One day, Natasha and Sophia went to Shuhua’s place as guests.

The mother-in-law came to Li Yunfeng’s house again, helping him with some mending.

“Yunfeng,”

She began, seemingly casually, while sewing clothes.

“Why is my life so bitter? I was widowed young, and after finally raising my children, again… Sigh.”

Her voice trailed off, and she wiped the corner of her eyes with her sleeve, her shoulders gently shaking.

Li Yunfeng’s scalp tingled at the sight of this.

Was she going to drop the act? Lay it all out?

“Mother-in-law, it’s all in the past. Isn’t it good now? You have me; life won’t be bad from now on.”

“Good, my foot,”

The mother-in-law put down her needlework, looked up, her eyes red, at Li Yunfeng.

“You don’t know how hard it is for two widows to live in this village.”

“Backbiters, those who try to take advantage openly and secretly. If I hadn’t recognized you as a god-relative, my mother-in-law and I wouldn’t know if we could live in peace.”

“In these times, there are many people who take advantage of families without male heirs, let alone two widows like us.”

“Don’t worry, no one will dare bully you two from now on.”

Li Yunfeng patted his chest, guaranteeing.

“Mm, I know you have a good heart and are responsible.”

The mother-in-law smiled through her tears, and her eyes regained their previous alluring charm.

“It’s just that sometimes, my heart feels… empty. It’s hard to find someone to talk to.”

She sighed softly, her gaze drifting towards Li Yunfeng, the meaning self-evident.

Li Yunfeng’s internal alarm bells rang loudly. Damn it, this woman really dared to flirt! He quickly stood up.

“Uh, Mother-in-law, I just remembered that the greenhouse in the backyard isn’t finished yet. I’ll go get busy!”

With that, Li Yunfeng quickly left the room. If he stayed any longer, he might end up in a compromising situation.

The mother-in-law watched his retreating back, a faint, imperceptible smile on her lips.

To be honest, that cheap mother-in-law’s ripe charm was fatally attractive to any hot-blooded man.

But his mind was clear; this cheap mother-in-law was untouchable.

Their relationship was set. If anything were to happen, the village’s gossip could drown him, and the women at home would surely explode.

It wasn’t that Li Yunfeng didn’t want to, but that he couldn’t. Even if he could, it would have to be a secret for life.

It would be impossible to be open and public like with Natasha and Sophia.

“Rabbits don’t eat the grass near their burrows. Hold back, I must hold back!”

However, the more he interacted with his cheap mother-in-law, the more useful information about the village Li Yunfeng managed to extract from her.

This Red Flag Production Team looked like one team, but there were many intricacies within it.

The entire team consisted of about three hundred households, divided into five production groups.

The area they lived in belonged to the Fifth Group, with about fifty households, all old residents of Li Family Village, related to each other.

According to his mother-in-law, any two families in the Fifth Group, if traced back three generations, were guaranteed to be relatives. If not cousins, then brothers-in-law or something similar. That’s why the Fifth Group was particularly close-knit and united against outsiders.

Families like Donkey’s, Erlengzi’s, and Stone’s were the core strength of the Fifth Group, with many male family members, giving them influence.

The other groups had more complex compositions.

Some were small villages merged from elsewhere, and some were outsiders who settled down after “breaking through the Guandong.”

Among these groups, the Old Zhao family had the most power.

The Old Zhao family were local residents. They also had many people; just Zhao Jianguo and his brothers alone numbered four, and adding uncles and cousins, they could gather more than a dozen male adults.

So they walked around the village with impunity, and even the team leader sometimes had to give them some leeway.

The remaining families didn’t have as many male adults, mostly two or three, at most four or five.

Normally, the groups often had conflicts over抢夺 (grabbing) work points and farm tools.

But while they fought, no one had gone as far as the Old Zhao family.

Besides, after the New Year, the Fifth Group would start building terraced fields and greenhouses.

Their relationship with the other groups would become less significant. Even if the others followed suit, they would have to wait until the Fifth Group had already reaped the benefits.

“Brother Yunfeng!!”