Chapter 657: Chapter 656: The Right to Name

Whether they still wanted to eat fish or not, Lin Nianhe couldn’t care less.

Laosi was staying over at Uncle Guan’s house tonight; there was no need for her to worry about him.

She took the gold bracelet from Zhao Cuihua to the Zhao Family.

Zhao Cuixia had recovered by now and was busy making Head Flowers with Yu Xiangqin. Widow Zhao wasn’t home, having gone out visiting; Zhao Zhuangshi, however, was chopping firewood in the courtyard.

Lin Nianhe greeted him and went into the house to find someone.

“Sister Xiangqin, Huahua,” Lin Nianhe said with a smile, “you two seem busy.”

“Nianhe, come here,” Zhao Cuixia immediately set aside her work and scooted over. “Get up on the kang bed.”

Yu Xiangqin was puzzled: “What brings you here?”

“I just came back from town,” Lin Nianhe said, “The Gambling Den has been busted.”

“Eh?”

Both Yu Xiangqin and Zhao Cuixia were stunned.

Lin Nianhe smiled and looked at Zhao Cuixia, continuing, “Looks like you might not need to pay back Li Gang’s debt after all.”

Zhao Cuixia’s brows furrowed, and she pursed her lips, saying nothing.

Yu Xiangqin nudged her: “Hey, you better not be foolish. A gambler won’t change. If this den is closed, he’ll find another. Just divorce him quickly, no hesitation!”

Fiddling with a head flower in her hand, Zhao Cuixia looked at Yu Xiangqin and suddenly laughed: “But then wouldn’t I be worrying at home that your sister might get annoyed with me?”

Yu Xiangqin replied: “What does my annoyance have to do with whether you’re at home or not?”

“…”

Lin Nianhe couldn’t help but laugh. She said to Yu Xiangqin, “Sister Xiangqin, could you pour me a bowl of water? I’m about to die from exhaustion after a whole day’s commotion.”

“Ugh, fine then, you’ve done a real service this time.”

Yu Xiangqin went to the kitchen to get some water for Lin Nianhe. During this time, Lin Nianhe handed the bracelet back to Zhao Cuixia, whispering, “I got it back for you.”

Zhao Cuixia looked at the familiar gold bracelet, her eyes widening: “Nianhe, how… how did you get this back?”

“Hush, I didn’t get it. I’m just the messenger,” Lin Nianhe glanced outside and said, “Keep it safe, don’t ask too much.”

Zhao Cuixia held the gold bracelet tightly, her eyes filled with gratitude: “Nianhe, thank you! I… I…”

Just as she was about to cry, Lin Nianhe hurriedly said: “Hold it in, or your sister-in-law will think I’ve bullied you when she comes back and she’s surely going to beat me up.”

Zhao Cuixia laughed through her tears, quickly wiped them away, and turned back to place the bracelet into the kang cabinet.

“Nianhe, thank you…” she held Lin Nianhe’s hands with heartfelt thanks. “I want you to give my Baobao a new name. My mom said the old one is jinxed and needs changing.”

“Ah? Me?” Lin Nianhe’s eyes sparkled.

“Yeah, you’ve saved me and Baobao, and helped our family so much…” Zhao Cuixia looked at Baobao who was chewing on her little hand on the kang and continued, “I even wanted to make Baobao your godchild, but my mom said it’s not suitable since you’re not married.”

“It’s okay, no rush about the godchild thing, it’s just been such a long time since someone trusted me this much!” Lin Nianhe was almost moved to tears. She asked, “Huahua, what are your hopes for the child? What kind of name are you thinking of?”

Zhao Cuixia thought for a moment and said, “No particular hopes, just that she lives a safe and fortunate life.”

Lin Nianhe thought hard for a while, feeling that safety and fortune naturally meant peace, then suggested, “How about Zhao Fushou?”

Zhao Cuixia: “…”

She suddenly understood what her sister-in-law was warning her about.

Yu Xiangqin, carrying a bowl of sweet soup from the kitchen, overheard “Zhao Fushou” as she walked in.

She almost flipped the bowl of water onto Lin Nianhe’s head.

“Listen to yourself! Does the name ‘Zhao Fushou’ sound good for a little girl?”

“Uh… doesn’t sound nice, huh…”

Lin Nianhe frowned, deep in thought for a moment, then tentatively asked, “What about Zhao Youfu?”

Before Yu Xiangqin could curse, Baobao suddenly burst into tears with a wail.

Lin Nianhe said, “Seems like Baobao doesn’t like it.”

Yu Xiangqin was so irritated that she rolled her eyes, handed over the syrup, and picked up the child to coax.

Lin Nianhe looked at the syrup, then at Baobao’s delicate little face…

“Zhao Syrup?”

“And why not call it Zhao Yiwan?”

“Uh… mainly I thought you’d slap me.”

“You actually thought about it!”

“…”

Lin Nianhe once again painfully lost the naming rights.

On the way back to the Educated Youth Corps, Comrade Xiao Lin was disgruntled.

“It’s just naming, tomorrow I’ll have my own, and nobody will fight me for it!”

…

The next day, Lin Nianhe saw Laosi and his group off, and en route they accompanied Yu Xiangqin to divorce Zhao Cuixia.

Li Gang remained silent throughout, his gloomy expression made people uneasy.

Laosi furrowed his eyebrows and said to Lin Nianhe: “This kid might cause trouble, should I take care of him on the way?”

Lin Nianhe sized up Li Gang for a while, then shook his head: “No need, he’ll mess up and take himself down, no reason to dirty our hands.”

Laosi was somewhat puzzled but didn’t insist.

Until half a month later, when Laosi heard in the black market that a guy missing two front teeth got both his hands chopped off in a gambling house in the provincial city, he found it vaguely familiar and inquired further from the gossiper.

That person was Li Gang.

Li Gang died in a foreign land, uncertain whether from the cold or blood loss, but he died leaving behind a huge debt of several hundred to his parents.

The family fell apart, and the person was gone.

It’s unknown if he hated the person who said “a small gamble keeps life interesting” before he died.

Whether he had regrets or hatred, it was destined to be a mystery. Related to this, while the Li family shouldered the debts, Zhao Cuixia was actually doing quite well with the children.

She had a skill that made money, her mother and sister-in-law didn’t find her burdensome, and looking at her, she seemed plumper, her complexion even better than before.

Lin Nianhe had been unhappy these days.

Because Comrade Old Lin had called her recently, asking her and Sie Yufei not to come back to Beijing for the New Year.

“There’s certainly nothing wrong at home, but it’s been a bit unsettled lately, you two better not come back, to avoid any issues.”

Comrade Old Lin’s tone was gentle, but his stance was indisputable.

Lin Nianhe, who had been looking forward to this year’s visiting relatives leave since the end of the last one, was instantly deflated.

She had made a series of plans to execute, but now, all the plans were snuffed out at the root, not one could progress.

The only one worse off than her was probably Sie Yufei—his father didn’t even bother to call him personally; it was Mr. Lin who relayed the order not to return home.

At the Educated Youth Corps, Lin Nianhe and Sie Yufei squatted by the door eating roasted sweet potatoes, watching others busily pack their bags.

Lin Nianhe: “What’s so good about going home for the New Year, having to visit so many relatives, and being asked countless times what you did over the year.”

Sie Yufei: “Exactly, if my elder brother was there, I’d probably get beaten up too.”

“Not going home is so free, I can do whatever I want, sleep twenty hours a day without anyone caring.”

“Exactly, I can eat whatever I want, eight meals a day and nobody will say a word.”

Wang Shumei couldn’t stand it anymore and suggested, “Why don’t you two come to my place for New Year’s?”

“Really? Sister Shumei, are you serious?”

“Sister Shumei, look at you being polite… what does my nephew like? I’ll go buy it right now!”

Wang Shumei: “…”

Really don’t know who was the one bragging just now about how great their own New Year’s was.