Lu Xing looked at Chen Guihua and said calmly, "Madame Tao, I'm here to find Auntie Li Lan."

Most of the villagers respected teachers. Lu Xing was willing to call Li Lan "Auntie" because he was close to Li Lan, but he called Chen Guihua "Madame" because it was reasonable and polite.

Chen Guihua was somewhat dissatisfied. He didn't even bring a gift when he came to their house as a guest. He really didn't know the rules. He even said that the people in the city were generous. In her opinion, he was much more stingy than Auntie Wang from the neighboring village.

Even so, Chen Guihua still followed Lu Xing into the house. She wanted to see why the educated youth was looking for Li Lan.

Chen Guihua, who had just despised him in her heart, felt like she had been slapped in the face in the next second.

But when she saw Lu Xing open the handkerchief to reveal the dark green jadeite, her eyes widened in an instant. She wanted to rush over and stuff it in her arms. How could she care about whether her face hurt or not?

Li Lan quickly wrapped up the handkerchief again after a short moment of surprise. Her tone was solemn.

"Little Lu, I can't take this. To be honest, Auntie didn't help much. You should take this pair of bracelets back. They will be useful in the future."

Even though Li Lan hadn't seen much of the world, she knew that this was not an ordinary item. It might even be a family heirloom.

Lu Xing's expression was desolate as he forced a smile.

"I'm not afraid of Auntie laughing at me. This is indeed passed down from my ancestors to my descendants. But in this world, I don't have any relatives in the city. It's useless to keep it. Auntie, please accept it."

Li Lan couldn't refuse, so she had to take it. She thought that she would find a chance to return it to him in the future. Lu Xing had said that it was to be passed down to his descendants, so it was left to his daughter-in-law by his parents. How could she take it for herself?

Tao Yin looked at Lu Xing in a good mood.

Since he had already given her the bracelet, there was no way he could return it.

"Little Lu, have you eaten breakfast yet? I'll get you a bowl of noodles," Li Lan greeted.

Lu Xing glanced at Tao Yin, and a smile finally appeared on his face.

"Thank you, Auntie."

Chen Guihua watched the two treasures fall into Li Lan's hands, and her heart itched. The bracelet was so good. Even if she couldn't wear it, it would be good to pass it to her granddaughter-in-law.

Chen Guihua winked at Li Lan for a long time, but didn't get a response. She suddenly gnashed her teeth in anger.

"Third daughter-in-law, you're really capable." Someone had just given her a basket of eggs, and now someone was rushing to give her a family heirloom. What kind of fate was this?

Chen Guihua stomped her feet, turned around, and went back to her room. Not long after, she was heard wailing and howling in the room.

"God damn it, which son of a bitch stole my Longan? Shameless!"

Li Lan and Tao Yin looked at each other in confusion. Lu Xing slowly ate her noodles. She couldn't help but frown when she heard the screams.

It was so unpleasant that it affected her mood.

Chen Guihua didn't care how unpleasant her screams were. She rushed to the central room with a broom in her hand.

"Li Lan, is this how you teach your daughter? You let her steal food from her biological grandmother's room, huh?"

"Grandma, you lost your Longan in your room. Do you suspect that I stole it?"

Chen Guihua's anger flared up when she heard Tao Yin's question. She couldn't help but reach out to give Tao Yin two slaps, but Lu Xing pulled her back by the back of her clothes.

Chen Guihua looked at the three people present. She suddenly couldn't stand it. She lay on the ground and began to beat her chest and stomp her feet.

"You heartless girl, you stole my things and you don't admit it. You were just jealous of my Longan. I didn't give it to you last night, so you stole it. You're so young and you don't learn good things. You're a disgrace to my Tao family!

Do you know how precious Longan is? I can't even bear to eat it, but you stole it all. Give it back to me. If you don't give it back, I'll go to the village entrance and shout. I'll say that my granddaughter stole my grandmother's food. Let's see what others will say about you! "

Chen Guihua cursed incoherently. Tao Yin heard it clearly. Chen Guihua didn't seem to be acting. The Longan in the room was probably stolen.

There were only a few people living in the big yard. She didn't care about the Longan. If she wanted to eat it, her uncle had plenty. Who else could have made it?

Lu Xing coldly looked at Chen Guihua who was on the ground. As long as she did anything harmful to Tao Yin, he could directly pick up her clothes and throw her out.

Li Lan hadn't seen her mother-in-law throw a tantrum for a long time. After two years, she didn't miss her mother-in-law at all. Instead, she was trembling with anger.

Li Lan's daughter wouldn't be so short-sighted as to do such a tasteless thing.

"Grandma, I really didn't steal your Longan," Tao Yin explained to Chen Guihua very sincerely.

But Chen Guihua didn't listen.

"You're still so stubborn. If it wasn't you, who else could it be?" Chen Guihua cried loudly.

"Old man, you died so early. You went to enjoy life and left me alone. Now I'm being bullied by my own granddaughter. My life is miserable!"

Li Lan couldn't wait to drag her mother-in-law out immediately. She began to slander her granddaughter's innocence in front of outsiders. If Lu Xing didn't keep his mouth shut and word got out, how could her daughter face others?

Tao Yin wasn't anxious at all. He let Chen Guihua cry on the ground for a long time.

"Grandma, you said that I stole your longan. Think about it carefully. Didn't I stay in the central room this morning and not go anywhere? Didn't you sit here the whole time? If I sneaked out, wouldn't you see it?"

Chen Guihua hurried to show off her enamel jar early in the morning. How could she allow Tao Yin to be absent?

"Then it must be you who stole it from my room last night when I was out!" Chen Guihua didn't think about it. She insisted that Tao Yin stole her precious Longan.

"Grandma, look at your enamel jar. What's in it?" Tao Yin pointed at Chen Guihua's jar on the table.

"Wow, mom, did you come here early in the morning to blame Yinyion? You said that your Longan was stolen, and you brought it here to eat in the morning. If Yinyion stole your Longan last night, where did the Longan in your bowl come from?" Li Lan reacted and immediately retorted. Chen Guihua was speechless.

Lu Xing leaned against the octagonal table and smiled at Tao Yin when Li Lan wasn't paying attention.

"Auntie, I still have something to do at school. Since the matter has been clarified, I'll go back first. I'll visit you another day."

Chen Guihua was immersed in the grief of losing the Longan. She didn't notice that Lu Xing, who had been walking with a limp, walked like a normal person.

Tao Yin slowly helped Chen Guihua up from the ground.

"Grandma, I can understand how you feel after losing the Longan. But think about it. Since you lost it early in the morning, it hasn't been long. Our courtyard is only so big, and there aren't many people. No one outside knows that you have this treasure in your room."

Chen Guihua wasn't stupid. On the contrary, she was very smart. After hearing Tao Yin's words, she immediately waved her hand away and strode to the second branch's room.

After a while, she heard Chen Guihua's deafening curses.

It turned out that Chen Guihua had personally found the bag of Longan in Zhu Xiuyun's room.

"Well, I didn't expect that it would be difficult to guard against a thief at home!

Tell me, did you steal my Longan to give to your family? Tell me! "Chen Guihua pointed at Zhu Xiuyun's nose and scolded loudly.

Zhu Xiuyun felt very wronged. She didn't know why so many Longan mysteriously appeared in her room. But no matter how she explained that she had been caught red-handed, Chen Guihua refused to believe her. She stood at the door and scolded Zhu Xiuyun's ancestors.

Li Lan listened to a few words and then came back to sigh with Tao Yin.

"I didn't expect that it was your Auntie who did it. This matter is so ugly. No wonder your grandma is so angry."

"This matter may not have been done by Auntie."

Zhu Xiuyun had been married for many years and had never argued with her mother-in-law. Moreover, she had given birth to Tao Jie. In Chen Guihua's eyes, she was a great hero of the Tao family. Why would she be so stupid to do such a disgraceful thing?

"Then you said that it could be the younger generation who stole it?"

Li Lan thought about it and could understand. Her sister-in-law was a stingy person. If the child was greedy, she might really do such a thing.

It was just that the adults didn't teach her well.

This matter had nothing to do with her. Tao Yin just treated it as a joke and let it go.

Zhu Xiuyun, who had been scolded by Chen Guihua, didn't stay idle. She hurriedly went around asking people to matchmake for her eldest daughter's younger brother.

At the age of nineteen, she was in the prime of her youth. Tao Laidi was dragged by Zhu Xiuyun to attend several matchmaking parties. She went from house to house and within a month, the marriage was settled. Her in-laws were not from the same production team. She heard that their family was quite well-off and didn't have to worry about food and clothing. Just this point alone made Zhu Xiuyun satisfied. She thought that there would be a lot of betrothal gifts when the time came.

When Tao Yin went to wash dishes by the well, he saw Tao Laidi. She didn't look any different from before. She was still holding a thick basin of clothes and washing them.

Tao Yin was washing the pot with hot water. Tao Laidi's hands were still soaked in the cold well water.

It was almost December. She was only wearing a tattered jacket. The cotton inside had been worn for many years. It was already a little black and moldy.

"Congratulations, Eldest Sister. You're going to get married after the New Year." Seeing Tao Laidi's unhappy expression, Tao Yin chose a few nice words to say.

Tao Laidi forced a smile.

"I should be happy. Anyway, the future won't be as bad as it is now."

Tao Laidi had suffered a lot under Zhu Xiuyun. Tao Yin knew how much, but what could she do? Zhu Xiuyun was her cousin's biological mother. It was not her place to meddle in other people's business.

Tao Yin comforted her with a few words. Tao Laidi suddenly stopped what she was doing and asked Tao Yin if he knew why her mother suddenly wanted to marry her. Tao Yin shook his head.

Tao Laidi's smile was bleak: "Last time, my grandmother's Longan was stolen. My mother insisted that I was the one who did it. No one else would do it except me. Then they discussed how to quickly marry me off, so that I won't do anything dirty again."

Tao Yin didn't know about this. Now that he heard Tao Laidi talk about it and saw her bitter expression, Tao Yin smiled and shook his head at her.

"Eldest Sister, Second Aunt misunderstood you. You're not that kind of person."

"You believe me?"

This time, it was Tao Laidi's turn to be surprised. She thought that after telling Tao Yin, her cousin would dislike her. She never thought that the only person who believed in her was not her closest relative, but her cousin who didn't have a deep relationship with her.

Tao Yin didn't say anything and firmly held Tao Laidi's hand.

Tao Laidi sniffled and smiled through her tears: "Yinyion, do you know? I've always envied you. I've envied you since you were young. Third Uncle and Aunt love you so much. You're smart and beautiful. When I was young, I liked to dream that I would become Tao Yin when I woke up."

She wanted to become like her cousin. She had parents who loved her and a warm family. She didn't have to face scolding and beating every day when she woke up.

Tao Yin looked at Tao Laidi's hand with pity.

The original owner was miserable, but even if Chen Guihua made things difficult for her, she still had parents who loved her. On the other hand, Tao Laidi had nothing. She lived in a weak family and had to face endless criticism every day.

Fortunately, Tao Yin remembered that Tao Laidi's husband was a good person. Their married life could be considered happy.

"Don't worry, Eldest Sister. Life will definitely get better."