The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 537: Chapter 528: The Stepmother Who Refuses to Be a Stepping Stone 16

Before the new year, the snow fell again, and it didn’t fall lightly. By early morning, large flakes were drifting down and kept getting heavier until mid-morning.

In such cold weather, even Li Zhifang didn’t fancy going out.

But these two days, the kids have their final exams, and right after that, it’s winter vacation. While the adults might stay indoors, the kids must go to school.

There was no helping it, Li Zhifang had to wear two cotton-padded coats and wrap up in a long scarf to take the kids to school.

When he returned, his cotton shoes were soaked through.

Anning brought him a pair of cotton slippers to change into before letting him in the house.

While handing him a sweater to change into, she asked, ”With the snow this heavy, will they still have school in the afternoon?”

Li Zhifang shook his head: ”The kids won’t be coming back for lunch. They’ll have school only in the morning, and they won’t go in the afternoon. They have exams tomorrow, and once the exams are over, it’s vacation time.”

Anning thought for a moment: ”Let them wear those leather cotton shoes we just bought tomorrow when they go to school.”

Home-made cotton shoes are comfy but it doesn’t take long for them to get soaked through when walking in the snow, as opposed to the store-bought ones which are moisture-proof.

The kids had originally not wanted to wear the new shoes they bought, saving them for the New Year.

But with the snowfall this heavy, if they were to go out in cloth cotton shoes, their feet would freeze in just a few days.

”Okay, I’ll bring the leather cotton shoes when I pick them up in the afternoon and have them switch into them before coming back home.”

Li Zhifang agreed and said, ”Let’s cook lunch later when the kids are back.”

While the two were discussing what to cook for the kids’ exams tomorrow, Zhang Fengfeng braved the snow and wind to arrive.

Her voice was loud; Anning could hear her clearly shouting from the courtyard.

”Mom, why did you come?”

Seeing Zhang Fengfeng as she lifted the cotton door curtain, Anning quickly urged her to come in: ”The snow is too heavy, how could you dare come alone? What if you fell down on the way, what would we do?”

While speaking, Anning flicked off the snowflakes that had settled on Zhang Fengfeng. Once she was inside, Anning poured her a bowl of boiling hot brown sugar water to hand over.

”Zhifang, fetch two pieces of pastry for mom.”

While instructing Li Zhifang, Anning went to get some apples: ”I brought these back when Zhifang and I went to the city the day before yesterday. We were supposed to bring them to you, but yesterday I was at the greenhouse all day, and then it snowed today... Now that you came here, take them with you when you leave.”

Zhang Fengfeng wasn’t here for the food.

She pushed the apples away: ”Your dad and I are old, and our teeth aren’t good; we can’t eat this kind of thing. Keep them for the children.”

Anning didn’t pick them up but asked, ”What exactly brings you here, Mom?”

As soon as she mentioned the matter, Zhang Fengfeng’s expression turned a bit grim: ”It’s about your aunt’s family, a matter I find hard to speak of... Ah, your aunt’s daughter-in-law is gone. She passed away last night, and we need to visit this afternoon. They are holding the funeral the day after tomorrow, and our family must all go. Otherwise, it would be inappropriate.”

”How could she be gone?”

Li Zhifang just brought over some snacks and was surprised to hear his cousin-in-law had passed: ”How could a perfectly fine person be gone just like that?”

Zhang Fengfeng sighed again: ”It’s such a terrible thing to talk about. Your cousin-in-law was not a pleasant person; all these years since marrying into your aunt’s family, she’s done nothing but stir up trouble. Yuanzi had long tired of her, and your aunt also thought that if the couple couldn’t get along, they would just get divorced. But she stubbornly refused, insisted on making a scene. The other day, they quarreled about something again, and she and Yuanzi came to blows. Yuanzi walked out in a fit of anger, and who knows what she was thinking, maybe trying to scare your aunt and the others, but she downed a bottle of pesticide with water. The container wasn’t cleaned properly, and she ended up poisoning herself to death.”

”What a mess this is.”

Li Zhifang felt the situation was rather troublesome: ”You’d think if she was so desperate, that would be it. But in dying, she’s dragged others into this mess too. Mom, rest awhile, I’ll go to Lao Liu and tell him about it, and I also need to inform my brothers. Our whole family needs to go pay our respects to my cousin this afternoon.”

When it came to Li Zhifang’s aunt, Anning did know he had an aunt, but she really didn’t know the specifics.

Li Zhifang’s aunt married quite far away; about twenty or thirty miles from Li Jiazhuang, so there wasn’t much contact with the Li family here. Although Anning had lived in Li Jiazhuang for several years, she really didn’t know what sort of person this was.

”Mom, don’t be anxious, let Zhifang quickly go to notify our fifth and sixth brothers, and then the three of them can go send a message to eldest brother’s family.”

Anning hurriedly comforted Zhang Fengfeng.

She also took out the cotton-padded shoes she bought for Li Zhifang a while ago and asked him to put them on, and then gave him an army coat to wear before going out.

The first family Zhang Fengfeng visited after getting the news was Li Zhifang’s.

After all, Li Zhifang’s place is the closest to the old couple, and she did intentionally let Li Zhifang send the message.

She is a bit old after all, with such heavy snow, she dared not go too far, and she was also afraid what she would do in case she fell.

After Li Zhifang went out, Anning stayed to chat with Zhang Fengfeng.

In just a few words, Anning had coaxed out the situation of Zhang Fengfeng’s younger sister.

Zhang Fengfeng’s sister is named Zhang Erfeng, and she married into the Xiao family of Shanqian Village, quite far from Li Jiazhuang, and they only have one son named Xiao Yuan.

Speaking of which, this Zhang Erfeng is also a bit remarkable.

Xiao Yuan is quite capable. When he was studying, his grades were especially good, always ranking first in exams, but back then, the college entrance examination had not been resumed, so he stopped studying after high school.

Xiao Yuan originally wanted to join the army, but Zhang Erfeng absolutely refused.

She had only this one son, and when she got old, she was counting on her son to look after her. Once her son joined the military, being so far away, she couldn’t even see him, which she couldn’t bear.

By hook or by crook, Zhang Erfeng insisted on keeping Xiao Yuan at home.

Xiao Yuan didn’t join the army. With his ability, he entered a factory in the county. Being good-looking and smart, it didn’t take long for him to win the favor of his superiors in the factory, and the factory director’s daughter took a fancy to Xiao Yuan.

Xiao Yuan probably also thought it would be a good deal to marry the factory director’s daughter, and since he hadn’t fallen in love with anyone else, he agreed to the girl.

When Xiao Yuan went home and told Zhang Erfeng about it, she jumped up in complete disagreement, refusing no matter what.

She thought how she was just a farmer, and her husband wasn’t very accomplished. If Xiao Yuan were to bring a city girl home, surely, she would be overshadowed.

Would it be the daughter-in-law serving her, or her serving the daughter-in-law?

Besides, girls from the city surely wouldn’t want to come live in the countryside, right? Should Xiao Yuan really marry that girl, they would definitely have to live in the city. With the girl’s father being the factory director, they would surely get housing, and by then, her son would become someone else’s.

Anyway, Zhang Erfeng made a big scene, adamantly opposed, and insisted on having Xiao Yuan marry a girl surnamed Wang from the same village.

In her words, that girl named Wang Chunliu came from a family with many brothers, and Wang Chunliu herself was sturdy, clearly looking very fertile. Plus, Wang Chunliu’s father was the village head. Marrying Wang Chunliu would mean their family would have support within the village.

That’s right, Xiao Yuan’s father was the only child for several generations. The Xiao family was a lone household in Shanqian Village, and in any case, Zhang Erfeng and her husband felt somewhat unable to hold their heads high.

In the end, Xiao Yuan didn’t marry the factory director’s daughter. After some incident, he also lost his job and returned to the village to farm.

He was obedient and married Wang Chunliu, whom Zhang Erfeng approved of.

But this Wang Chunliu really wasn’t up to par; several years into the marriage without bearing a child, she was also particularly aggressive, unreasonable, disrespectful to Zhang Erfeng, frequently cursing at Xiao Yuan — in short, Zhang Erfeng’s family had a particularly rough time because of marrying this woman.

As Zhang Fengfeng talked about it, she became somewhat angry: ”Your aunt is just a bit unclear-headed. You see, if Yuanzi had married the factory director’s daughter back then, how good would that have been. That girl was so beautiful and extraordinarily gentle and kind. In the end, your aunt completely messed up a good thing, bringing such a troublemaker back for Yuanzi. She regretted it later on, but what use is regret?”

Anning was stunned for a long time after listening.

Her palms were all sweaty, and her heart was pounding rapidly.

She thought to herself that this Xiao Yuan must be Xiao Yuan.