Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 1504: Lu Family’s Great-Grandson 2

Chapter 1504: Chapter 1504: Lu Family’s Great-Grandson 2

Ma Cuixia has four older brothers and one younger brother. Together, the five brothers have twenty-three sons. The oldest nephew is over thirty, and the eldest grandnephew is already fifteen. The youngest nephew is sixteen this year and still in school. You could say this is a very large and powerful extended family. As the only paternal aunt in the family, her status in her maiden home was beyond question.

Her brothers and younger brother were all honest, hardworking men. Her nephews respected her greatly, and several of them had only been able to attend school thanks to financial support from her and Hu Ping. Even though occasional tension arose between her and her sisters-in-law, these were never serious matters in her eyes.

Ma Cuixia was calculating how much game and mountain goods she could buy with the cash in her pocket as she walked into her eldest brother’s house, but she immediately sensed something unusual.

The whole family was shrouded in a gloomy and sorrowful atmosphere.

"Xiaoxia, you’re here? Just sit yourself down on the kang, no need for me to greet you." Ma Lao Da, sitting cross-legged on the kang while smoking, shifted over slightly, his bronzed, weathered face filled with bitterness.

"Big Brother, what happened at home? Why didn’t anyone let me know?" Ma Cuixia asked.

The eldest sister-in-law was seated near the inner side of the kang. She wiped her tears and, upon seeing Ma Cuixia, looked as though she had seen a savior. "Oh, sister-in-law, you have to see if your husband can find someone to help with this."

Ma Cuixia grew anxious. "What exactly happened? Big Sister-in-law, tell me!"

"It’s about Little Shuanzi..." The sister-in-law sobbed, "Yesterday, your Big Brother was having dinner at the village secretary’s house, and Little Shuanzi tagged along. Somehow, he ended up getting into a fight with the secretary’s grandson, Tiezhu. Normally, kids fighting wouldn’t be a big deal, but during the scuffle, they knocked over the kang table. The kerosene lamp on the table tipped over and burned a big hole in a sheep wool blanket!"

Ma Cuixia was stunned. "So it’s just a burned sheep wool blanket—why is everyone looking so troubled, as if the sky is falling?"

The eldest sister-in-law couldn’t hold back. "That was a sheep wool blanket from the Capital! Bought from the department store there. The village secretary’s new son-in-law bought it for his daughter Ma Xiaoling as a gift, and it just arrived yesterday. It’s meant to be part of her dowry when she gets married! The secretary’s wife had laid it out on the kang to show it off. Who could’ve guessed those two brats would cause such a disaster! Ma Xiaoling sat right there on the floor crying, insisting we give them an identical replacement! Even if we had the money in hand—which we don’t—it wouldn’t matter; none of the stores here carry that kind of blanket. Your Big Brother and his wife went to town to check, but they couldn’t find anything like it."

Ma Lao Da tapped his smoking pipe against the edge of the kang, knocking off some ash. "Xiaoxia, Ma Xiaoling’s wedding is scheduled for the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, which happens to be the same day as our Xiaoman’s. Xiaoman’s father has a wide network of connections, and her aunt married a military officer. Could you ask them for help? See if they could pull some strings and buy the same kind of wool blanket. We’ll pay for it."

Ma Cuixia immediately thought of Feng Qingxue. In her letters, Qingxue mentioned that the Friendship Store had all sorts of goods, and as long as you had special foreign exchange coupons, you could buy practically anything. She had asked if they needed anything before. They’d wanted to buy a watch for their daughter, so surely they could get a sheep wool blanket too, right?

"Big Brother, Big Sister-in-law, Hu Ping does have a friend in the Capital. They should be able to buy the sheep wool blanket you’re talking about."

Ma Lao Da and his wife’s eyes immediately lit up with hope. The sister-in-law grabbed her hand and asked eagerly, "Sister-in-law, really? Really? Money is not an issue—just get us that wool blanket! Your Big Brother has worked hard and lived honestly his whole life. I don’t want him to be the target of the secretary’s wife’s open scolding over something like this!"