CH 104

On that day, Zhulan was tired in the first half of the night and slept well. In the second half of the night, she was a little full, and her arms were sore and uncomfortable, so she basically didn’t sleep in the second half of the night.

Zhou Shuren’s situation was the same as Zhulan’s. They rubbed each other’s arms in the middle of the night.

Because her son-in-law was at home, Zhulan couldn’t sleep late, and her arms felt uncomfortable when she got up and put on clothes. She folded the quilt and said, “I can’t do work today.”

Zhou Shuren said, “I can’t write today either.”

Zhulan was happy. Since someone was accompanying her in her misery, she felt emotionally better.

After eating meat for a whole day yesterday, Zhulan wanted to eat something light. She wanted to eat green cucumbers. Unfortunately, there were no off-season vegetables in the ancient north, all they had was green cabbage.

In the morning, Zhulan asked Li Shi to steam egg custard, boil cabbage soup, and make steamed radish and meat dumplings as the main dish.

As soon as Zhulan lit the fire, Xuemei came to the kitchen. Xuemei said, “Mom, what are you making in the morning, I will help my sǎozi.1“

Zhulan remembered that the eldest daughter can cook, but her cooking skills were not very good. She was used to Li’s cooking, and she didn’t want to abuse herself, “We are making buns in the morning, you help your sǎozi in that later!”

Xuemei has already seen the eggs and meat scraps. She didn’t foolishly say it was too extravagant. Judging from the nonchalant expression on her sǎozi’s face, she knew that her family had always eaten like this. No wonder her sǎozi has become more generous. “Okay.”

Zhulan helped to light the fire, her arm was uncomfortable and could not help other things, and it was not cold in front of the fire. Warming her hand, Zhulan asked, “The two children changed places to sleep, did they make a fuss last night?”

Xuemei thought about her two children and her face softened. “They didn’t cause any trouble in the evening. The house was warm, and after they had some porridge, they fell asleep in no time. They haven’t woken up yet!”

At the in-law’s house, their house was never warmed up, even if most of the firewood was collected by their family. The firewood burned by their room every day was the least, otherwise, her sǎozi will make a fuss. But she was in her mother’s family last night. All of them slept warmly and had enough food. Her son kept asking if he was staying at wàipó’s house all the time, but unfortunately, he couldn’t.

Zhulan felt sorry for the two thin children, “Don’t help, go back and burn the kang in the house, so that the children won’t wake up and get cold.”

Xuemei smiled, “When I got up just now, my eldest brother carried the firewood to the door, and Jiang Sheng has already lit the fire.”

Zhulan was satisfied with the performance of the eldest son, who was the future head of the family, “Your elder brother is more and more comprehensive in handling things now.”

Xuemei nodded. She was surprised. In the past, when she came back to her natal home for the Chinese New Year, her elder brother never cared about these trivial matters. The elder brother has really changed a lot. He has a certain pace when picking up people and sending them off. He is not at all like before.

And not only the eldest brother has changed, but several brothers have changed more or less. However, the biggest change in the family was her parents. After thinking about it, she accepted the reason given by her sǎozi, because the mother was sick and had a sense of life and death. The mother changed first when she got well, and their father who cared most about their mother also changed, which then affected the brothers.

Breakfast was ready, and Zhulan’s side was occupied by her wàisūnzi.2 Jiang Du was clever enough to know that his wàipó treats him best, “Wàipó,3 let Xiaodu’s custard be for wàipó.”

Zhulan felt sad, such a young child had to learn how to please others. “Everyone has a share, this bowl is for you, Xiao Du, eat it quickly!”

Jiang Du saw that the eldest jiùmā4 brought in a few more bowls, and believed her wàipó’s words, “Well, thank you wàipó.”

Xuemei felt a sense of frustration in her heart. Her son was already at an age where he would observe people’s expressions and react accordingly. She harbored even more resentment towards her in-laws and the Jiang family. She lowered her head to conceal the emotions in her eyes and carefully fed her daughter the egg custard. “Don’t rush, my dear. It’s hot, so eat it slowly.”

Zhulan watched her wàisūnnǚ5 take a bite and knew it was delicious. She was eager to help and felt even more concerned for her eldest daughter. She thought about making more delicious food to nourish her well.

Li Shi just couldn’t hold her tongue and said whatever she was in her heart, “Look how pitiful the child is.”

Zhulan, “…”

Just know it in your heart, why say it and hurt people? Terrible!