"Sister-in-law, this is so delicious! It's even more fragrant than meat!"
The fourth brother, Li Chenyu, mumbled incoherently as he ate, his mouth stuffed full.
The other younger brothers nodded in agreement, muttering words of praise as they wolfed down their food.
At this moment, Li Chenyang also walked in from outside, and upon smelling the fragrance, he was also delighted:
"Wow, I can smell the delicious aroma from far away. Looks like we're in for a treat today."
"You went to help someone, but they didn't provide you with meals!"
Ye Xiaoxiao deliberately teased him. Even the original owner couldn't stand this kind-hearted, good-natured man. Before the family split, they were fine; they always did chores together. But even after the split, Li Chenyang was still the same. She'd have to find a way to change him.
"It's just helping out, why go to their house for a meal? It's too embarrassing!" Li Chenyang and his brothers were busy eating, not caring about such things.
"Let me tell you, I won't say anything about you acting like this now that the family hasn't split up, but if you dare to run off to help others instead of taking care of the family after the split, see if I don't teach you a lesson." Ye Xiaoxiao said, reaching out and tugging at his ear.
Li Chenyang chuckled and said, "We'll talk about it later, we'll talk about it later."
The father-in-law was also quite satisfied with the meal: "We never thought that river clam meat could be eaten like this. Tomorrow, you should go and catch some more. It tastes really good."
Only the mother-in-law looked somewhat embarrassed, unsure whether to eat or not.
[The task is to give the mother-in-law a way to save face.]
[What a stupid task! Why? No way! She just said those things to me. I still have to give her a way out.]
[Host, you know the original plot. Although your mother-in-law likes to complain, you can't change it. If they were to talk about who they treat best, it would be your eldest son's family. They raised three children for you. Compared to their other sons and grandsons, they're the best to your family!]
After the system finished speaking, Ye Xiaoxiao thought about the plot and realized it made sense. It was just that later on, Lao Qi tricked their family, causing them to rack up a huge debt.
Because of her hatred for the sixth son, she disliked her in-laws, but they never cared about her bad temper and would bring her food and drinks. They even had their children fed and paid by the family.
"Mom, try this, it tastes even better than meat."
Seeing that her mother-in-law was eager to try it, but her sons were still staring at her, hoping to see her make a fool of herself, Ye Xiaoxiao felt amused. She directly picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks and put it in her mother-in-law's bowl.
"I don't want to eat!" Liu Juan was quite embarrassed because she didn't expect her eldest daughter-in-law to serve her food.
"Eat up, eat up, it's really delicious. You still don't trust my cooking skills?"
Liu Juan's eyes suddenly welled up with tears. She had raised eight children, like eight troublemakers, and in the end, only one stranger in her eyes truly cared for her. He even put meat on her plate.
"Mom, why are you crying? If you don't want to eat, then don't. I didn't mean to..."
Ye Xiaoxiao was about to say, "I'm not forcing you to eat," when she heard her mother-in-law wipe away her tears and then actually laugh.
"Eat, of course I'll eat. Mom's happy. I'm so old, and there's still someone who cares about me eating meat. Unlike all of you, you only care about your own food."
As Liu Juan spoke, she glanced around at the group of sons and daughters gathered around the table.
"Look at you, it's like you think I've wronged you. Hurry up and eat, why are you thinking about all that?"
The father-in-law felt a little embarrassed when he realized the words were directed at him. The younger children, however, didn't care about such things; they treated mealtimes like a battle.
Only Li Yanni was still young. Seeing that her mother seemed to like eating this meat, she followed her sister-in-law's example and put a piece on her mother's plate as well.
Li Yanhong was eating with her mouth greasy. Seeing her sister-in-law and mother like this, she blurted out, "So pretentious!"
"You brat, who taught you all this? Who made you so pretentious all the time? You've only been to school a few days, and you're already trying to act like a cultured person!"
Originally, Liu Juan was definitely biased towards her daughter, but when she saw that her daughter-in-law knew to give her, the mother-in-law, meat, and that her own daughter was making sarcastic remarks, she couldn't stand it and smacked her on the head.
"Mom, why did you hit me? I'm your daughter. Why do you always side with your sister-in-law?" Li Yanhong retorted.
"I'll beat you up, you heartless bastard! You eat other people's food every day and do nothing for them, and you don't even say a kind word. You're a wolf in sheep's clothing."
Looking at her daughter like this, Liu Juan wondered what kind of life she would lead in the future.
Chen Dashun is also the eldest son in his family. But his daughter... sigh.
[Mission complete. Reward: 1 kg of Lotus MSG!]
Wow, system, you understand me so well. Now meals should taste better.
In the Li family's courtyard, crickets chirped merrily. From the kitchen, one could also hear Liu Juan clearing the dishes, along with her incessant nagging of Li Yanhong.
In the room to the west, Ye Xiaoxiao took out the large iron basin from the system space and placed it on the ground.
She touched her round belly with one hand, and the little one inside was wriggling around like a little monkey.
Perhaps it was because of the health pills she had taken before, this little rascal was making a ruckus. Her belly was bulging up and down, one spot was being pushed up, then another, just like a little mouse.
Li Chenyang had just taken a shower and came into the room. He was quite surprised to see such a large basin on the floor.
"Where did this come from? I've never seen it before! Did Mom buy it?"
"I bought it. The money was sent from my home. It's the middle of summer and there's nowhere to shower, so I had to buy a basin. Did you think I could help me?"
Li Chenyang touched his nose, wondering what to say. He stared blankly at his wife.
"Go fetch me a basin of warm water. I need to wash!"
But then, as if remembering something, she pulled Li Chenyang along.
"Let me tell you, this pot is mine. My brother sent me money to buy it. Don't try to be a good person and give it away as a donation, or we're done."
"Look at what you're saying, who would even care about your basin anymore?"
Li Chenyang said he didn't care, but he still glanced at it a few more times. This big iron basin must have cost a lot of money.
He came back shortly after going out with a kettle of hot water and a bucket of cold water.
After helping Ye Xiaoxiao adjust the water temperature, he was ushered out of the house.
Ye Xiaoxiao finally had a comfortable bath. And surprisingly, the big tub was quite comfortable for her to use for bathing.
In this era of scarcity, these things must have been rare commodities.
After taking a shower, Li Chenyang was allowed to come in and tidy up, and the water was poured out. Even as he was leaving, his mother asked him where he got the basin.
They only stopped when they heard the money came from the woman's brother. I was thinking of telling them not to buy things recklessly, since there are many expenses at home.
Ye Xiaoxiao sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), drying her hair. On such a hot day, everyone had taken their straw mats and gone outside to sleep.
Li Chenyang was originally going to go out to sleep, but then he thought about what happened during the day.
Then she remembered what her father had said to her while she was working outside. Only then did she speak:
"Hey Xiaoxiao, in the future... don't make such a big fuss over small things. We're all family. Be more understanding."
"What did you say? I don't understand, say it again!"
Ye Xiaoxiao knew perfectly well that he was just trying to be the nice guy again.
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