Chapter 2, The Quarrel

Du Li opened the door and went out. There was no one outside, nor was there anyone in the courtyard. Light shone through the crack in the door into the silkworm room, and there were voices inside.

“Second Brother, I’m here.” Du Minren said outside the cowshed.

Du Li strode over and started yelling at everyone he saw: "Have you lost your mind? You, a scholar, dare to take advantage of merchants? You're not going to take the imperial examination? Tell me honestly, are you in debt? Are you gambling?"

"No," Du Min said calmly.

"Really not?" Du Li became increasingly suspicious.

“Don’t you think this is a great business opportunity? The Meng family’s paper horse shop is the best in Wu County and even Suzhou, but it hasn’t made a name for itself. Its customers are mostly poor people, and it mainly sells paper money and funeral banners, so the profit isn’t much.” Du Min spoke eloquently, clearly having thought about it for a long time. He put his hands behind his back and said confidently, “However, most of my classmates from the academy are from wealthy families. They are a group of customers who care about face and can afford to spend money. As long as we build up our reputation, the Meng family’s paper horse shop will have no shortage of business in the future, and it will all be big business.”

Du Li understood, but he disapproved. "This has nothing to do with you. If you need money, your family can give you some. You can't get involved in business. If this gets out, you'll be ruined from your career in the imperial examinations and becoming an official. Then your second sister-in-law and her family will be criminals. How will she face the Du family then?"

Du Min frowned, and said stubbornly, "The news won't leak out..."

"No." Du Li interrupted him forcefully before he could finish speaking, and threatened, "If you don't want to harm your second sister-in-law, you'd better go back to the academy tomorrow morning and never mention this matter again."

Du Min was angry that he was inflexible, so he exclaimed "Oh dear!" and stormed off.

The next morning, Du Min left home by boat without even having breakfast, which reassured Du Li.

Upon hearing the news, Meng Qing felt far more disappointed than happy. She pondered it all night, hoping even more that the dream was real.

"Second son, time to get to work in the fields," Father Du called from the yard.

"Okay." Du Li replied, putting on the dirty padded jacket he had brought back yesterday. He said to Meng Qing, "I'm going to plow the fields. Mother and sister-in-law are going to pull up the rice seedlings. Only Jinshu and Qiaomei will stay at home. If you need anything, call them. If they can't do it, have Jinshu go to the fields to call for help."

Jinshu and Qiaomei are the eldest son's two children. Jinshu is seven or eight years old, and Qiaomei turned five last month. Both of them can understand what is being said and can also run errands.

Meng Qing nodded helplessly. Her family was genuinely busy, and she couldn't force an adult to stay home to help her take care of the children.

Before leaving, Du Li gave Qiao Mei another instruction, "Your second aunt just gave birth yesterday, so she can't go out. You stay home and take care of her, and listen to her."

Qiaomei nodded, "I remember, my mother told me that."

As Du's mother passed by carrying a basket, she urged, "Stop dawdling and hurry up and carry the plow. We don't know when your older brother will be back. Your father and I will lead the ox while you hold the plow."

Meng Qing's family lives in the city, and it takes two hours to get there by boat. Brother Du Li went to deliver the good news yesterday afternoon but didn't come back last night.

Meng Qing lay on the bed listening intently for a while. When there was no more noise outside, she called out, "Qiao Mei, come in."

The little girl happily pushed open the door, "Second Aunt, did you call me?"

Meng Qing pointed to the oil paper package on the table, "Maltose, take some for yourself, and give two pieces to your brother too."

Qiaomei grinned, and she was happy to help her second aunt with chores, always getting to eat candy and snacks in return. She took a piece of maltose candy and put it in her mouth, then counted three more and put them in her palm, saying, "My brother eats two pieces, and I'll eat two pieces too."

Meng Qing nodded, "This is for today, we'll eat the rest tomorrow."

"Is Grandma Pan coming to see my little brother tomorrow?" Qiaomei asked.

“Yes, my little brother is having his third-day celebration tomorrow, and his maternal grandmother is coming,” Meng Qing said. “Would you like to see him?”

Qiaomei walked to the bedside with the candy in her hand, and Mengqing took the child out from the inside.

"Is the little brother awake? Does he want candy?" Qiaomei asked, leaning over the bed.

"He can't eat it yet; he'll have to wait until next spring," Meng Qing said with a smile. "In two more years, he'll be able to follow you all around the village."

Qiaomei licked the candy in her mouth and asked, "What's his name?"

“The name Wangzhou was given to us by your uncle,” Meng Qing said.

"Second Aunt, I've gone out to pick mulberry leaves." Jinshu peeked in when he saw the door was open.

"Okay, be careful when you climb the tree, don't fall," Meng Qing instructed.

Qiaomei ran out and handed out two of the malt candies she was holding, saying, "They're from my second aunt, they're so sweet."

"You stay home and look after your second aunt," Jinshu instructed, her mouth full of candy. "You can't go into the silkworm room, and don't knock over the silkworm trays."

"I won't."

"Anyway, you can't go in. I don't want to get beaten up with you." Jinshu emphasized. He was worried and shouted into the house, "Second Aunt, keep an eye on Qiaomei and don't let her go into the silkworm room to play with the silkworms."

Meng Qing agreed. The silkworms in the silkworm room were responsible for the family's silk tax. Under the equal-field system, each household had to pay two zhang of silk and three liang of cotton every year, and there could be no mistakes. Not only did they pay the silk tax, but Du Min's writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones also came from the silkworm room. The silkworms' status in the family was comparable to that of the oxen that plowed the fields.

After Jinshu left, Qiaomei went back inside. After finishing the candy in her hand, she got two more pieces from Mengqing before going outside to dig earthworms for the chickens, completely satisfied.

Meng Qing got out of bed and walked around for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, until she was covered in a cold sweat. She then went back to bed and lay down to sleep with her child.

When she woke up again, the baby was hungry. Meng Qing fed him and changed his diaper, and at the same time, she changed the linen mat that was on the bed to absorb the lochia. After finishing all that, she was covered in a cold sweat, and lying in bed with a dizzy head, she still had to soothe the whimpering baby. She was getting angry.

At the hour of Si (9-11 AM), Du's mother returned covered in mud. Entering the courtyard, she saw no sign of her grandchildren and called out at the top of her lungs, "Jinshu? Qiaomei? Where are they?"

In the south room, the child, who had cried himself to sleep, was startled by the sudden noise and burst into tears. Meng Qing quickly turned to embrace him, saying, "Don't be scared, don't be scared, it's okay, Mommy's here... Don't be scared, don't be scared... Come here, Mommy will hold you."

Du's mother pushed the door open, and as soon as the door opened, a strong smell of blood mixed with the stench of urine hit her. She frowned and said with disgust, "You feed the baby when he cries. What's the point of just talking while holding him in your arms?"

Meng Qing's eyes flashed with anger as she glared at him, "Isn't it because you scared me? Don't you know there's a newborn baby in the house? What are you yelling about?"

The baby in her arms cried louder again. Meng Qing suppressed her anger and gently coaxed, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid..."

Du's mother gritted her teeth and stared at her, then closed her eyes, turned around, and left.

When the workers returned at noon, Meng Qing immediately told Du Li, "Go and tell your parents and brother and sister-in-law not to throw things around or raise their voices at home. Wang Zhou is still young, and loud noises will frighten him. Your mother came back at noon shouting and screaming, which scared him so much that he cried for a long time and refused to drink his milk."

"Okay, I'll talk to them later." Du Li went to get the urine ring and linen mat from the basket, and also took the urine bucket out.

"Mom, wash the diaper after you finish eating. Wash it and dry it as soon as possible, your grandson will need it tomorrow," Du Li said as she walked outside the kitchen.

Du's mother threw things around and complained unhappily, "I pull rice seedlings in the field, and when I come back I have to cook for you all and wash the baby's diapers. I'm exhausted and still have to put up with other people's attitudes. My life is really miserable."

“When haven’t you been pulling up rice seedlings? It’s not just this year. While you were cooking, we were plowing the fields, we weren’t idle either, it’s not like you’re the only one suffering. When Jinshu and Qiaomei were little, you were the one washing my sister-in-law’s diapers during her postpartum period, so why do you complain about your miserable life when it’s my turn?” Du Li retorted, seizing the opportunity to vent about his frustration from yesterday: “Yesterday too, I thought Qingniang had gone into labor half a month early, so I asked her if she was alright, and you got angry. Mother, is it some kind of disaster that I’m having a son? You either give me the cold shoulder or smash the pots and bowls.”

Du's mother felt guilty and ashamed, but she refused to back down verbally. She shouted, "Go ask your daughter-in-law and see if she acts like a daughter-in-law. She treats me like an enemy. I don't even dare to say a word in front of her. I'm not a mother-in-law; I'm a servant."

"I won't ask her, I'll listen to you." Du Li walked in. "Go ahead and tell me, she's only been out of the world for less than two days, what did she do to offend you?"

"Well, you're clearly taking her side in everything you say, and you're even arguing with me! What's wrong? Are you going to hit me?" Seeing him pressing her, Du's mother became furious and started arguing unreasonably.

"Second brother, come out here!" The eldest brother, Du Ming, shouted as he came over, his face stern as he scolded, "What are you doing? What are you making a scene about?"

"Don't yell, your nephew is only two days old, he's easily frightened." Du Li knew that this matter would be difficult to resolve again when he saw his mother being unreasonable.

Meng Qing walked behind the door and listened intently for a while. Seeing that Du Li's momentum had subsided under the intimidation of filial piety and the order of seniority, she said through the crack in the door, "Du Li, I've thought about it. If Mother doesn't want to take care of me, then forget it. Go to your third aunt's house later and ask her to come and take care of me during my postpartum period. I'll give her ten coins a day."

Brother Du frowned and said impatiently, "Sister-in-law, what are you talking about? Mother didn't refuse to take care of you during your postpartum period. It's just that the family is busy, and she's exhausted, so it's understandable that she's a little irritable."

“Yes, I understand you’re busy with farming. I left the two kids at home this morning to take care of things. Did I say anything? I didn’t have any objections at first. But I really can’t take it after half a day. I just gave birth yesterday, and it’s hard for me to even get out of bed today. I need someone to help me, and I need someone to soothe the baby when he cries and change his diapers frequently,” Meng Qing said innocently. “I didn’t make a big fuss or insist that my mother stay home to take care of me. Can’t I just pay for someone to take care of me myself?”

"That won't do. It would sound terrible if word got out." Brother Du immediately rejected the idea. How could someone hire their aunt to take care of their nephew's wife during her postpartum period when the mother-in-law was still alive? If they did that, the villagers would gossip about them.

Meng Qing didn't insist. She compromised and said, "What my brother said makes sense. How about this, I'll pay for you to hire a freelancer to work in the fields, and let Du Li stay at home to take care of me and the children."

Du Li immediately spoke up: "That's fine, I'll go talk to Dad."

Brother Du was speechless.

Meng Qing went back to bed and lay down. After a while, she heard Qiao Mei crying, and she frowned.

"I told you to stay home and look after her, where did you go?" Du's mother asked, pinching Qiaomei's ear. "You're only interested in eating and playing. You can't even do a simple task properly. You're not allowed to eat lunch."

Li Hongguo's face was grim, but her mother-in-law was in a hurry to vent her anger, so she didn't dare to get herself into trouble. She could only follow up with a light scolding: "Didn't I tell you to watch over your second aunt? You still ran out to play. Your grandma was right to scold you."

"I saw that my second aunt was asleep, so I went to my great-grandmother's house to play for a little while," Qiaomei said, crying.

"When I came back to change my clothes, I saw Qiaomei waiting at home," Brother Du testified on behalf of his daughter.

"Alright, alright, that's enough, it's giving me a headache." Father Du came out from the main hall, with Du Li following behind him. He said again, "Mother, elder brother, sister-in-law, Wangzhou is a newborn, he's timid. Please don't shout or yell at home, it'll frighten the child."

Li Hongguo had two children, so she could understand the situation. She immediately instructed Jinshu and Qiaomei not to shout at home and not to speak loudly when near the south room.

“Mother, my second son’s wife just gave birth, and this is her first child. She can’t take care of her. You should stay home and take care of her. You don’t need to go to the fields,” said Mr. Du.

"I won't go to the fields? How can you manage if I don't go?" Mother Du disagreed. The second son turned twenty-one this year and was allocated twenty mu of permanent land and thirty mu of allotted land at the beginning of the year. Adding the forty mu of permanent land and one hundred and sixty mu of allotted land under the old man's and eldest son's names, the family had a total of two hundred and fifty mu of land. This year, manpower was already scarce, and if she were to be missing, they would have to plant twenty or thirty mu less of early rice.

“I’ll tell my second son to go to the city and hire two idle men,” said Father Du.

Du's mother was distressed about the money. "Two idlers earn thirty coins a day. In a month, that's almost a string of cash. That's more than the harvest from eight mu of paddy fields. No way!"

"The early rice was planted in just half a month, and it won't even take a month," Du Li couldn't help but interject.

"That would still cost five hundred coins. You make it sound so easy. Will you pay for it?" Madam Du had her eye on Meng Qing. She looked towards the south room.

"The money comes from the public funds." Father Du stated firmly. He glanced at his wife and said fairly in front of his son and daughter-in-law, "Your daughter-in-law doesn't have to go through postpartum confinement every year. You can't afford to hire help just this year? You've taken care of your eldest son's wife, but you won't take care of your second son's wife?"

Mrs. Du was so angry that she felt dizzy. She refused to eat and stormed back to her room to lie down.

Du Li felt a sense of satisfaction, but pretended to be uncomfortable on the surface.

"Ignore her, she's so old and still acting like a young wife." Father Du snorted. "Serving food, I'm starving."

Du Lisheng brought two meals back to the house and ate with Meng Qing. "Dad said we'll hire two helpers for the family, and Mom will stay home to cook and take care of you. By the way, the money for hiring helpers will come from the family funds, so you don't need to pay anything."

Meng Qing had achieved her goal. Her father-in-law was a man who cared a lot about his reputation, and since the family hadn't divided the property yet, and her daughter-in-law was still in postpartum confinement, he certainly wouldn't ask her to pay for help. However, she had already made her generous promise, and she wasn't stingy, so she immediately opened the box and took out one hundred coins to give to Du Li.

“In front of your father, tell your mother that the reason for hiring a helper is mainly to take care of me. I don’t need to pay wages; I just want to add some good dishes to the family.” She instructed him.

Du Li counted the copper coins, took out fifty copper coins and put them back in the box, and only took fifty coins with him.

Meng Qing couldn't help but glance at him a few more times. A moment later, he returned with fifty coins.

"What? Your father won't accept it?" she asked knowingly.

Du Li nodded, casually tossing the copper coin onto the table without saying anything more.

Not long after, everyone in the family went to work in the fields. Du's mother strolled into the south room and took the fifty coins.

After paying her, Meng Qing took the opportunity to make a request, asking her to tidy up her room.