CH 31

Chapter 31 – Family rule

The Zhou family haven’t had dinner yet, but the food was ready. Obviously, the family was waiting for them.

As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the village, Da Tou led his younger brother and sisters, and ran excitedly towards the cart while shouting at the top of their lungs.

Although the cart was still moving, he clambered on board agilely. When Da Lang and Er Lang saw this, there was a twinkle in their eyes. While childing them, they helped the group of kids to climb on board the cart.

From a distance, Old man Zhou saw the smiles on their faces and knew the trip went well. So, he turned around and went into the house.

Xiao Qian led her two sisters-in-law and carried the table from the hall to the yard. The hall was a bit dark, and it was too wasteful to light the oil lamp. Anyway, it was still bright outdoors, so the family could have dinner in the yard.

Wu Lang and Liu Lang sprinted towards their house. The former was carrying money in a cloth bag while the latter had the big rooster in the pack basket.

They were yelling as they dashed in, “Eldest sister-in-law, eldest sister-in-law, can you stew a chicken for dinner?”

Xiao Qian didn’t even bother to look up, “In your dreams. Want to eat a chicken for every trip to town? Our chickens are all egg laying hens.”

Wu Lang had rushed in front of her. He turned his back to show her the pack basket, and said loudly, “Not the chickens at home. Stew this one!”

Xiao Qian saw the wretched rooster and exclaimed, “Where did you get the rooster? Did you steal it?”

Her eyes widened and her mind ran wild. After Xi Lang picked up gambling, did his two younger brothers learn to steal chickens?

Would they resort to having improper relationships with women* next?

Angrily, she stood with her hand on hip, but Liu Lang became unhappy. He turned around, faced her and said, ” Eldest sister-in-law, do I look like a thief? Someone gifted this rooster to us.”

Xiao Qian sighed in relief, took the rooster out of the basket, weighed it with her hands and found it was quite heavy.

She asked, “Who is so stupid? Although this rooster looks miserable, it’s still meat and it’s so fat. Why give it to you?”

Liu Lang sniggered, “I also think he’s heartless, but someone said we made a loss. Anyway, this is a long story. Eldest sister-in-law, let’s kill the chicken and stew it first. Man Bao deliberately bought the rooster back to nourish mother’s body.”

Xiao Qian looked at the available daylight and said, “Not tonight. Let’s do this tomorrow.”

She took a closer look at the rooster in her hands, and muttered, “We might be able to save this rooster if we take good care of it…”

Wu Lang and Liu Lang’s eyes widened in fright. They seemed to see the rooster’s meat flying away from them.

Instinctively, the two brothers turned around and shouted to Man Bao, who had just entered the yard, “Man Bao, eldest sister-in-law plans to raise the big rooster and sell ​​it. Please persuade her to stew the chicken!”

Xiao Qian glared at the brothers.

Man Bao didn’t care that the cart was still moving. She slid off the cart with a grunt, ran to Xiao Qian’s side, took her hand and swayed it, “Eldest sister-in-law, eldest sister-in-law, kill the rooster quickly!

“This rooster is meant to nourish mother’s body. The rooster nourishes vital energy and blood. Who knows? Perhaps mother will recover after eating it.”

Mrs Zhou slowly walked out of the main door into the yard. She smiled and said, “Man Bao, don’t trouble your eldest sister-in-law. It’s late. Even if you want to kill the rooster, we can do this tomorrow.”

“No. Look, it’s still bright. We’ll light a fire for dinner tonight, it’s not too late.”

The children watched eagerly, and Old man Zhou said, “Fine. Since the children are showing their filial piety, then, let’s stew the rooster tonight. Anyway, we’ll have to cook it whether we do it in the morning or evening.

“I don’t think this chicken has any energy left. It might be dead if we leave it till tomorrow.”

Man Bao nodded eagerly, “Dead chicken is not tasty.”

Xiao Qian took the rooster and her sisters-in-law, Feng and Shi quickly went to help. One boiled water on the stove, while the other prepared the ingredients for the stew.

These days, they didn’t have any good vegetables to go with the rooster but at least, they could pluck two large radishes from the garden. They cut the radishes and stew them with the rooster.

While the three sisters-in-law were busy in the kitchen, Da Lang and the others remained in the yard to report the affairs of the day to their father.

They reported the details; the amount of money made from selling the grains, and the total amount used to buy medicine. The balance was handed over to Old man Zhou who passed the money to Mrs Zhou.

Mrs Zhou oversaw the money at home.

The Zhou’s had an average sized farming land, and if it was a good year, there would be surplus. Fortunately, there were many able adults in the family. Other than farming, they could do odd jobs. They were able to save quite a bit of money by doing these different jobs.

The bulk of the credit belonged to Mrs Zhou as she was an excellent manager. She assigned the best person for the jobs, and even advised how the work should be done. Even Old man Zhou listened to her.

Mrs Zhou took the money, counted it, and made a mental note. When she turned around, she saw Man Bao huddling with all the children in the family, and the little girl was twittering away.

With a smile, she asked Da Lang, “Man Bao didn’t trouble you today?”

Da Lang glanced at Man Bao, and so happened to look at her wriggling buttocks as she was sitting with her back against her elders. He didn’t know what tales the little girl was spinning as all her listeners were exclaiming.

He hesitated for a moment and said, “Father, mother, Man Bao and the others also made quite a lot of money in town today.”

“Ah!” Old man Zhou exclaimed and said with a smile, “Man Bao managed to sell all the flower baskets?”

Da Lang replied, “More than that. She also bought a big rooster, and when she sold it, she made three grams of silver.”

Old man Zhou and Mrs Qian were stunned. They quickly called Man Bao over to ask her.

Man Bao happened to be bragging in front of her nephews and nieces. Since her parents asked, she felt even prouder, and told them all about what they did in town.

She grew up listening to stories. Her parents told her stories, her brothers and sisters-in-law told her stories, Mr Zhuang told her stories, Keke often told her stories, and she had been exposed to storybooks recently.

So, she has acquired a bit of storytelling skills and weaved a tale which mesmerised her listeners especially Da Tou and the others who had never been to town. Man Bao’s vivid descriptions made their imaginations soar and they felt as if they also went to town.

Man Bao spoke until her mouth was parched and her tongue scorched. Mrs Zhou silently poured her a bowl of water.

Man Bao drank, and her eyes glittered with joy. She said, “Mother, there are so many people, so many people in town. I’ll take you there next time, ok?”

Mrs Zhou smiled, “What will I do when I get to town? You lot can go.”

Da Lang’s gaze shifted from Man Bao’s pocket to the cloth bag that Wu Lang was holding. He said, “Mother, we can’t give so much money to the children. What if they lose the money?”

Mrs Zhou said to Man Bao, “Man Bao, give the money to mother. I’ll keep it for you?”

Man Bao shook her head, “I’ll take care of it myself. I’m an adult.”

Mrs Zhou smiled slightly, stroked her hair and said, “You’re also a member of our family. Do you know the family rule?”

Man Bao shook her head.

Mrs Zhou said, “Your brothers and sisters-in-law have to contribute 60% of the money they make outside to the public fund. If you want to keep the money yourself, you will also need to pay 60%.”

Since this was the rule, Man Bao didn’t reject this outright. She thought about it for a while and said, “All right, but I’ve to count the amount of money we have.”

– End of this chapter –

Reference:

I think the author mixed up the Chinese idiom 摸鸡偷狗 (literal translation: stroke the chickens and steal dogs) as she used 偷鸡摸狗.

摸鸡偷狗 means thievery and petty touching, and also refers to improper relationships between men and women. Taken from Baike.