Niu Da took out the twenty catties of meat, four catties of spare ribs, four catties of pork bones, and ten catties of pork fat that he had bought.

Shen Yu said with heartache, "Honey, we have some money now, but we can't spend it like this! How much money is this?"

"My dear wife, don't be reluctant to part with her. You and the baby both need to nourish yourselves." Back then, Chen Yu was a famous beauty in Xiangzhou. Many local gentry wanted to marry her. But over the years, he hasn't been able to achieve much and hasn't been able to provide his wife with a good life.

Niu Cuihua, Niu Meihua, and Niu Baozhu rushed over in a swarm: "Daddy, Daddy, are we going to have fried pork cracklings today?"

Niu Da laughed and patted his three daughters' hair, saying, "That's right!"

"Great! We can have fried pork cracklings! Mom, we can have fried pork cracklings!" In the past, we could only eat them during the Chinese New Year.

Niu Da cut out two catties of pork fat, split it in half, and said, "Back then, we were so grateful to Niu the Mute and Niu Like for lending us money; otherwise, Cuihua and the others would be motherless children now."

"Aunt Xiang was busy running errands to stop the bleeding. One pound was for Aunt Xiang and her five children, this pound was for Niu the Dumb's family, and this pound was for Xiao Niu Li's family."

The families of Xiang Jinlan and Niu Yaba did not buy meat, mainly because they wanted to save money for their children's education and did not intend to eat meat themselves.

Niu Da cut another five catties of meat for the old clan chief: "This is to show our respect to the old clan chief. If it weren't for his fairness and integrity in protecting our family, we would have been bullied to death in the village long ago!"

Chen Yu said, "That's all as it should be!"

Niu Da cut out two more pounds of lard, lit a fire, and fried it. Niu Meihua and Niu Baozhu, being young, were so tempted by the smell of the fried lard that their mouths watered.

"Mom, the pork cracklings smell so good!" Niu Meihua's eyes were shining. Although the family's meals had been getting better and better over the past two months, her father and mother said that the money needed to be saved for building a house, buying chickens, piglets, geese, and so on. Therefore, the family could only eat meat once every seven days.

Little Plum Blossom was really craving it.

Eight-month-old Niu Baolan can already crawl. She crawled to Shen's side and squeezed the little hand of Xiao Fubao in Shen's arms. She giggled as soon as she squeezed it.

Little Fu Bao, with his bright, dark eyes, looked around at everything with great interest.

Niu Da added, "We'll write to them this year, asking our third sister to come a little later next year, so we can go to our parents' place on the second day of the new year!"

The Niu family could only save up a little money every three years, which they used for travel expenses to visit their parents-in-law.

The family behind the Niu family, whose head was named Niu Fangyuan, heard the Niu family and the Xiang family frying pork lard, which smelled delicious, and complained to his wife, Yuan:

"I don't have a son, I really don't know who I'm going to feed this fried meat to!"

Madam Yuan said, "It's their business if they don't have a son, why should we worry about it? Besides, does that mean girls don't deserve to eat meat?" She was glad she didn't have a daughter, otherwise, having a father like Niu Fangyuan would have been incredibly unlucky.

Niu Fangyuan saw Xiang Jinlan frying meat through the kitchen window and smacked his lips, saying, "I just feel uneasy. Why is it that they send it to Aunt Xiang but not to us? That Xiang is a widow! Right, a widow, who knows what kind of shady relationship they might have!"

"Don't talk nonsense. Didn't Aunt Xiang help Madam Shen have several children? When I wanted to go in and help, you wouldn't let me in, saying you were afraid of getting bad luck from having daughters. Luckily, I had sons in my early years. If I had only daughters like Madam Shen and Madam Xia, who knows how you would have treated me!"

“Look at you, you’re so greedy when others eat a little meat, aren’t you afraid of making a scene! Aunt Xiang is almost fifty years old, how old is Niu Da?” Yuan said.

Niu Fangyuan kicked the threshold hard and said, "I just look down on women without heirs. You old hag, do you want a beating?"

When Niu Fangyuan's son, Niu Yuan, saw his father hitting his mother, he went up to fight back. Niu Fangyuan was a bad person, and Madam Yuan was also a shrew. "You, surnamed Niu, you're greedy and can't eat meat, so you hit me! You hit me! You hit me!"

Yuan was a heroine.

Niu Fangyuan was hit by a mixed doubles attack from the mother and son.

Niu Fangyuan's mother, Chen, had also been at odds with Niu Dajia for many years. She liked to compare herself to Niu Da's mother since she was young. At first, she compared her appearance to Niu Da's mother.

Niu Da's mother was a top-notch woman back then, and his father was also handsome, literate, and had a respectable job.

Later, they compared who had more sons.

Chen had three sons, and Niu Fangyuan was the second.

However, Chen's son was not as handsome as Niu Dajun, and Chen always felt that Niu was shorter than his parents.

Then they compared whose son was more successful.

When Niu Da was hauling goods for Jia Dafu, he was one of the more well-off people in the village, and Chen Shi was angry for a long time.

Fortunately, Niu Da's mother died young, just like Niu Da's father, and the Niu family suffered one misfortune after another.

But she only had daughters.

This delighted Mrs. Chen.

The three sisters, Niu Cuihua, Niu Meihua, and Niu Baozhu, ate with their mouths full of oil and their faces beaming with happiness.

"Quickly grab a washcloth and wipe your faces. Look at you, your mouths are covered in oil!" Chen Yu laughed.

Niu Meihua wiped the grease from the corner of her mouth and said, "Mom, the fried pork cracklings are so delicious. Can we still eat them during the New Year?"

"Yes, you can! Mom will make you rice with lard tonight!" Chen Yu said.

Niu Cuihua wiped her own mouth, and then helped Niu Baozhu wipe her mouth.

Little Fu Bao smacked her lips, and Chen Yu's heart melted. "Oh, our Little Fu Bao wants to eat too? You can only eat a little after you turn one year old! We're not greedy, we have breasts to eat, but our three older sisters don't, so we'll be envious of them too!"

After feeding the two babies, Chen Yu found a comfortable corner and enjoyed her delicious meal in peace.

She has just enough breast milk now.

After feeding them, Xiao Fubao and Niu Baolan fell asleep. Niu Cuihua watched her two younger sisters sleep, while Niu Meihua and Niu Baozhu, like two wild monkeys, ran around the village with a group of children.

The next day, Chen Yu marinated the twenty catties of meat that Niu Da bought and hung them, along with the eight fish that had been dried earlier, to air dry at the door.

Xiang Jinlan was somewhat envious of the abundant New Year's goods in Chen Yu's family. Even when her husband was alive, her family had never been able to buy so many New Year's goods.

Since her husband died, her family's situation has become even more difficult. Many families look down on them. Chen Yu and Xiang Jinlan have always had a good relationship.

When is your brother-in-law coming back this year?

"The second son sent a message back, saying he'll be back this winter. Your eldest son is also of marriageable age. Have you arranged any marriages?"

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, men could only marry at the age of sixteen at the earliest and at the latest thirty. If they were over thirty, they would be fined.

A girl can marry at fifteen; once she's over twenty, she's considered an "old maid" and will be fined.

Xiang Jinlan remarried with her two sons. Her eldest son, Zheng Si, is twenty-three years old this year and still doesn't have a wife. Because he studied for two years, he works as a waiter writing menus in a restaurant.

The second son, Zheng Rong, is twenty-two years old this year and is also unmarried.

Aunt Xiang's third son is named Niu Xiangguo. He is seventeen years old this year. He has never been to school and cannot read a single character. He works with Xiang Jinlan in the fields and also does some handicraft work weaving straw sandals. The straw sandals don't sell for much; they are very cheap, only one coin a pair.

The youngest son, Niu Xiangjun, is fifteen years old, and there is also a daughter who is thirteen this year.

Xiang Jinlan said, "Given our family's circumstances, no one dares to arrange a marriage for my son. I'm incredibly frustrated. I was thinking that since we made some profits from contracting the Guhu Lake project this year, I'll send my second and third sons to town to learn a new skill next spring. As for marriage, we'll try to find one that suits us best."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "That's fine then, Auntie, come in and let's talk!"

"Your Cuihua is learning to weave? Meihua and Cuihua, those two girls, are becoming more and more sensible!" Madam Xiang walked in, sat down in a chair, and praised.

Niu Cuihua's newly learned weaving skills were not very fast, and her technique was not proficient enough. Even with the best of luck, she would break one out of every three pieces she wove.

The fabric was infused with cotton, making it more expensive than ramie. The cotton was sourced from the old clan chief, and most of it had already been collected before winter.

Xiang Jinlan was overjoyed when she saw Xiao Fubao:

"This child is so pretty and adorable! If she keeps growing like this, she might just grow up to be a great beauty! Look at those rosy little lips!" "If we weren't all surnamed Niu, we'd really like to arrange a marriage between your daughters and me!"

Little Fu Bao seemed to understand, blinked her big eyes, and smiled sweetly. She wasn't annoyed that someone had taken a liking to her at such a young age. On the contrary, she felt that Xiang Shi was praising her, and she was very happy.

Xiang Jinlan held Xiao Fubao for a long time before reluctantly returning her to Shen Shi when she left.