CHAPTER 355: CHAPTER 357: LOOKING FOR SOMEONE

"They’ve turned against me, turned against me," Li Shengmei shivered with rage, looking as though she might have a heart attack right there and then.

Dong Meihua cried outright, "Why did I marry into the He family, if not because you treated me well? You said you didn’t have a daughter and would treat me as your own, but in truth, you’ve never considered me your daughter, nor treated me well."

Li Shengmei gasped for air, glaring as she retorted, "How have I not treated you well? I would love to treat you well, but you have to give me something to be proud of. Both of Zheng Xianghong’s daughters-in-law are now mothers, and they got married later than you did."

Wow, Dong Meihua squatted on the ground and burst into loud sobs.

Li Shengmei walked away, infuriated by Dong Meihua to the point of near-death. She had thought Dong Meihua was compliant and had never expected her to dare speak to her like that, to actually suggest she was inferior to Zheng Xianghong. Huffing and puffing, Li Shengmei strode forward, determined to write a letter to Gangzi to tell him all about Dong Meihua. Such a daughter-in-law must be disciplined; she was already daring to lash out at her mother-in-law, and who knows what she would do once she had a son.

By the time Dong Meihua had stopped crying, Li Shengmei’s figure was nowhere in sight. She didn’t want to go back to the He family, yet she had no idea where else she could go. She felt utterly miserable.

At that moment, Dong Meihua thought of Feng Ying and thus headed toward Red Star Production Team.

Feng Ying, seeing Dong Meihua approaching with red eyes, asked with concern, "What happened, who has bullied you?"

Dong Meihua shook her head, and it wasn’t until Feng Ying pulled her into the room that Dong Meihua began to talk about Li Shengmei.

"Since there’s nothing wrong with you, could it be a problem with He Xuexiang?" Feng Ying suggested.

At this, Feng Ying felt thankful she hadn’t married into the He family. Although The Lius were not ideal, at least they were far better than the He family.

And Mrs. Liu was not as domineering as Li Shengmei. Apart from the annoyance of Liu Haihua and Liu Haiguo being somewhat ugly and useless, at least they were decent, and she could get through her days.

"That can’t be, he’s very healthy," Dong Meihua said, flushing slightly.

Now Feng Ying felt a bit envious again. Military men should have better physical strength, unlike Liu Haiguo who was always exhausted, sleeping like a dead pig.

"Don’t worry too much, some people conceive early, some late. As long as you both are fine, you’ll surely get pregnant," Feng Ying consoled Dong Meihua, showing full sympathy and continually comforting her.

On the other hand, Li Shengmei returned home in a fury, to which He Hongjun asked, "Didn’t you go out with your daughter-in-law? How come you’re back alone?"

"Don’t even mention her, that ungrateful wretch," Li Shengmei spat out angrily.

"What happened?" He Hongjun inquired.

Li Shengmei recounted how Dong Meihua had talked back to her, which made He Hongjun frown, "So you just left her on the roadside?"

"I don’t care if she dies," Li Shengmei spat, as though breathing fire.

He Hongjun frowned deeply, looking out at the darkening sky. He turned to He Xuewu and ordered, "Wuzi, hurry up and go find your sister-in-law. If it gets dark and she still hasn’t returned, who knows what might happen."

"Why should I look for her? You have no idea the awful things she said. I, Li Shengmei, have never been insulted like this in my life. If it were someone else, fine, but my daughter-in-law? Now she dares to yell at me; how can I expect her to take care of me in my old age?"

Li Shengmei didn’t want her younger son to go, but He Hongjun disagreed and looked at her sternly, "If she’s married into the He family, she is one of us. Now that it’s nearly dark and she’s not back, if something happens, how will you explain it to Xuegang? That you argued with your daughter-in-law and left her out there? Then you’ll see if Xuegang will side with you, his mother."

At this point, He Hongjun turned to He Xuewu and said, "Hurry up and go."

Only then did He Xuewu sprint outside, regrettably Meihua had gone to the Red Star Production Team, and He Xuewu couldn’t find anyone on the road.

Returning alone, He Hongjun couldn’t sit still anymore. "Where’s your sister-in-law, didn’t you see her?" he asked.

"Didn’t see her. I went to the place mom mentioned, but she wasn’t there. I have no idea where she went," He Xuewu replied.

"Well, go and look for her quickly," He Hongjun roared at Li Shengmei, banging his cane on her stool.

Li Shengmei, looking at the darkening sky, said, "It’s already dark, how can we search, where do I even start? I told you not to indulge her, if she doesn’t want to come back, let her be. Searching for her once means if she throws a tantrum and runs off again, who’s going to have the time to search for her?"

Fuming, He Hongjun didn’t even bother to look at Li Shengmei anymore and headed straight to the Gao family’s place.

The Gao family had just finished dinner and were surprised to see He Hongjun coming over.

Gao Guoqiang asked, "What’s happened?"

He Hongjun immediately told them about the argument Meihua and Li Shengmei had on the road. Li Shengmei returned first, but when He Xuewu went back to look for her, Meihua wasn’t at the same spot and hadn’t returned either. Now that it was dark, he hoped Gao Guoqiang could get someone to look for Meihua, to prevent any mishap.

Although Meihua was a daughter-in-law of the He Family, she was also an educated youth from the production team. So, Gao Guoqiang decided to send Gao Jiazhi to search with others.

Gao Jiazhi left immediately and Sun Yuhua felt very unhappy inside. It was Meihua who had gone missing, yet her husband was the one to search for her. She immediately said, "Maybe she ran off to the Red Star Production Team. Meihua has always been close to Feng Ying."

It was then that He Hongjun remembered, saying, "I’ll go remind Jiazhi."

"No need, Yuhua will go," Zheng Xianghong said to Sun Yuhua, telling her to remind Gao Jiazhi to also check if Meihua was at the Red Star Production Team while searching for her.

He Hongjun’s mobility was impaired, and they couldn’t expect him to chase after Gao Jiazhi. Gao Guoqiang, having worked hard all day, was ultimately not as young as Gao Jiazhi. That’s why Zheng Xianghong sent Sun Yuhua instead.

And so, Sun Yuhua went out.

He Hongjun didn’t leave either, sitting in the Gao family’s yard. Watching little Weilin nestled in Gao Guoqiang’s arms after a full meal, he felt deeply envious.

At that moment, Xia Xiao poured a cup of rough tea for He Hongjun; it was made from boiled tree leaves, as this place wasn’t famed for tea. Here in the countryside, people drank tea boiled from picked leaves.

Now, at three months pregnant, Xia Xiao’s belly was showing, and even though her clothes were loose, they still hinted at her pregnancy.

He Hongjun envied Gao Guoqiang even more and sighed, "You’ve really got it good."

"We’re no different. I have two sons, you have three. You won’t have fewer grandchildren either," Gao Guoqiang said.

He Hongjun felt helpless; his home was never peaceful, unlike the Gao family’s tranquil life.

With Sun Yuhua’s reminder, Gao Jiazhi didn’t bring anyone else to search and straight went to the Red Star Production Team. He quickly found Meihua at Liu Haiguo’s house. Learning that He Hongjun had sent Gao Jiazhi to look for her, Meihua finally felt some relief.

But thinking of Li Shengmei still made her angry. Today at the hospital, Meihua had been extremely embarrassed and could hate Li Shengmei to death. Had it not been for reason, she would have fought with Li Shengmei on the spot.