Chen Dabao knew from her attitude that she was determined to send them to the detention center. His legs went weak, and he almost fell to the ground.
He secretly regretted not letting Old Mrs. Chen come alone.
Watching Old Mrs. Chen and Chen Baozhu being taken away by the police, Chen Lishu patted the dust off her clothes, walked over, and closed the courtyard gate. The entire courtyard returned to its previous tranquility.
"Third sister-in-law, are you okay?" Gu Xingping asked, looking at her swollen cheek with concern.
"I'm fine," Chen Lishu shook her head. "The things are still in the neighboring yard. I'll get a stool to retrieve them."
"Third sister-in-law, you should rest. I'll go." Gu Xingping left a word, turned back into the house, and quickly brought out a stool, placing it at the base of the wall. Stepping on the stool, she climbed over the wall. She saw two large bags still lying on the ground and happily turned back to Chen Lishu, saying, "Third sister-in-law, they're still there."
Hearing they were still there, Chen Lishu couldn't help but smile, but the smile didn't fully form as it pulled at her wound.
"What are you doing?"
A male voice came from the neighboring courtyard. Gu Xingping, who was about to climb down the wall, was startled by the voice behind her. She lost her grip and her feet slipped, and she fell.
"Little sister!" Chen Lishu was terrified. She forgot everything else and ran to the door, opened it, and rushed into the neighboring courtyard.
Gu Xingping's fall was not light; she sat on the ground for a long time without recovering.
"Are you alright?" The male voice came from overhead again, with a hint of cautious concern.
"How can I be alright? Try falling from such a high courtyard wall and see if you're fine."
Gu Xingping finally recovered a bit. Hearing the voice of the culprit who caused her to fall, she became angry. She looked up and saw a thin, tall boy, no more than two years older than her, wearing thick bottle-bottom glasses.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I saw you trying to climb into my yard, so I asked."
Gu Xingping's expression froze when she heard him mention his yard.
She quickly got up from the ground, not bothering to brush the dirt off herself, and immediately went to pick up the bags on the ground. "Uh, I live next door. My things accidentally fell into your yard, and I thought no one was home, so I wanted to jump over the wall to get them."
The boy's gaze fell on the two large bags she was dragging. He opened his mouth, "They accidentally fell over?"
Gu Xingping felt her lie was a bit flimsy, but as long as she could get her things back, she didn't care. She could only brace herself and nod, "Yes, accidentally."
"Xingping, are you alright? Did you fall badly?" Fortunately, the courtyard gate was unlocked. Chen Lishu pushed the door open and, seeing that she could still stand, her worried heart finally relaxed a little.
"Third sister-in-law, I'm fine. Just a little scraped on my hand," Gu Xingping quickly explained, seeing her concern.
"I remember you. You came to our photo studio to have your picture taken. There was a military officer with you then." The boy's eyes lit up when he saw Chen Lishu. He still felt excited thinking about how handsome that military officer was.
Hearing the voice, Chen Lishu remembered there was an outsider present. She turned her head and saw the bottle-bottom glasses that looked somewhat familiar on the boy's face.
"I remember you too," Chen Lishu smiled at him. "Is your name Ermao or Sanmao?"
"My name is Ding Chen. Sanmao is just what they call me nonsense," Ding Chen scratched his head and gave an awkward smile.
"Oh, I heard that Uncle Jin and Aunt Jin next door were transferred and rented out their house. I didn't expect you two to rent it."
"Yes, it's quite a coincidence," Chen Lishu agreed with a smile and took one of the bags from Gu Xingping's hand. "I'm really sorry to have bothered you. We'll be going back now."
Seeing that the two women were carrying heavy items, Ding Chen couldn't help but step forward. "Why don't I help you carry them?"
"Thank you, but no need to trouble you," Chen Lishu declined with a wave of her hand and left with Gu Xingping, carrying their things through the gate to go home.
"Although today was quite unlucky, our luck was actually quite good. I didn't expect to run into someone you know, third sister-in-law," Gu Xingping said to Chen Lishu while washing her hands.
"Third sister-in-law, you don't know how nervous I was. What if that Ding Chen didn't let us go? These two bags of clothes would have been exposed."
Chen Lishu was also somewhat fortunate. "Yes, luckily you didn't fall badly, or I really wouldn't have known what to do."
After saying this, the two women smiled at each other.
"Third sister-in-law, are we still going out to sell clothes later?" After tidying up the clothes again, Gu Xingping asked.
"Yes," Chen Lishu nodded. She wouldn't stop farming just because she heard a cicada chirp.
"This time we won't go to the main street. Let's go to the factory area." Although finding buyers would be a bit more troublesome, it would be relatively safer.
The food on the living room table had long since cooled down, but it was the height of summer, and there wasn't much difference between hot and cold. The two sisters-in-law ate a simple meal, each carrying a portion of the clothes on their backs, and headed straight for the lumber mill area.
This time it went smoothly. All thirty-odd pieces of clothing they brought were sold out in this one residential area alone.
People who heard the news and rushed over were quite disappointed to see that everything was sold out. "Will you be back tomorrow? It's rare to have such an opportunity, and it's a pity not to have bought anything."
Chen Lishu smiled at them and said, "We have some matters at home, so we probably won't be back for a while. We're very sorry."
After they left the factory area, Gu Xingping couldn't help but ask, "Third sister-in-law, people still want to buy, why aren't we coming back tomorrow?"
Chen Lishu smiled and explained, "It's safest to strike and then change locations. Who knows how many people genuinely want to buy? For safety's sake, it's better to refuse."
Gu Xingping nodded, pondering that it indeed made sense.
On their way back, Chen Lishu specifically went to the bank to deposit the money. She didn't want the incident of Old Mrs. Chen snatching money at noon to happen again.
Besides depositing her own money, she also opened a savings account for Gu Xingping.
"When all the clothes are sold, deposit the money you earn yourself. It's safer than keeping the money on hand."
"Okay," Gu Xingping happily took the savings book and carefully put it in her pocket.
The two returned home. Since there were some leftovers from lunch, Chen Lishu simply stir-fried some green vegetables. Just as the sisters-in-law were about to eat, the courtyard gate was knocked on again. After the incident at noon, they had developed a conditioned reflex; their hearts tightened instinctively at the sound of knocking.
The knocking only lasted for two sounds and then stopped. Chen Lishu guessed it might not be the neighborhood committee. She got up, walked to the door, and carefully peeked through the door crack. She saw Ding Chen's retreating back, and only then did Chen Lishu open the courtyard gate.
Ding Chen turned around when he heard the door open. Seeing that Chen Lishu was the one opening it, his gaze couldn't help but glance inside. "I'm very sorry for what happened to the young lady who fell from the wall. I don't know how her hand is. I happen to have some gentian violet at home, so I brought it over."