Chapter 161: Reporting the News
Zhao Chunhua couldn't help but feel a little worried. After so many years, such heavy work must be a great test for the human body.
"Not really. The older generation in the family do relatively less work due to their age; the workload of my eldest brother and Jia Ze is basically the same; my second brother and his wife have it easier."
When mentioning this, Shu Mian'er showed a hint of dissatisfaction.
The second son and his wife of the Shen family have always been good at taking advantage of loopholes. When faced with hard work, they can always cleverly avoid it and let others bear the pressure brought by these responsibilities.
Although they would occasionally complete the task of feeding the livestock to ensure they did not starve to death, the two men always found reasons to shirk physical work such as chopping trees or carrying water.
They always seem to find ways to avoid direct involvement and leave the hardest part to others.
However, someone still has to take over the responsibilities they evade, and this extra workload will often be transferred to the shoulders of Brother Shen and Shen Jiaze.
The already heavy workload became even more unbearable. The two young men often worked during the day and had to stay up late at night to prepare things for the next day.
"Don't your parents-in-law manage this kind of behavior?"
Zhao Chunhua frowned slightly.
She found it hard to imagine how such unfair treatment could be allowed to continue for a long time in a normal family.
Seeing this, Shu Mian'er became a little nervous. Although she knew that the other party had no dissatisfaction with her, she still replied softly: "I did try, but the effect was minimal."
Whenever the family tried to persuade the couple to correct their mistakes by reasoning or blaming them, the result was usually nothing, and no substantial changes took place.
This couple is incredibly thick-skinned. No matter how you preach or criticize them, it seems like it goes in one ear and out the other, and they are not affected at all.
Their attitude seemed to indicate that all other forms of communication were meaningless unless it directly forced them to work.
It is said that the plan is to consider splitting up the family business after selling the batch of pigs raised this year.
As the number of family members continues to increase, especially after the third generation begins to grow up, the model of continuing to bind everyone together to live together is no longer appropriate, but is likely to cause internal conflicts and disputes.
"That's better. You're pregnant now and it's inconvenient for you to move around too much. It's understandable that Jiaze wants to share more of the burden; but you also have to pay attention to him and make sure he doesn't overwork himself."
Zhao Chunhua suggested, considering the new changes that are about to come and the limitations brought about by Shu Mian'er's own special circumstances.
Among the many ancient customs, what Zhao Chunhua disliked most was the use of the so-called "filial piety" to restrict people's freedom.
She couldn't understand why, even when the family was full of children and grandchildren and lived a wealthy life, the elders still did not allow the young people to live independent lives. This phenomenon was very common in the society at that time.
There are indeed some open-minded parents who will provide appropriate support and assistance to their children when they grow up, helping them to start their own businesses and build families. However, even these seemingly reasonable behaviors may sometimes be criticized by people around them and even regarded as typical cases of violating traditions, which makes young people who want to change the status quo feel extremely depressed and helpless.
Shu Mian'er, who was also dissatisfied with this situation, expressed her deep agreement after hearing this and nodded silently.
She decided to use the limited money she had to buy more diverse ingredients for her family, hoping to improve their overall living conditions by improving the quality of food.
The main purpose of doing this is actually to support the hard-working Shen Jiaze - he has to face an extremely heavy workload every day, and the bland and nutritious meals alone cannot meet his energy needs.
Especially considering that they are still so young and are about to welcome a new life, Shen Jiaze cannot afford to damage his health for work.
Compared with other brothers, Brother Shen's family had a more difficult life.
Lacking additional sources of funding, they could find no other way to increase their income except to work harder.
Even my sister-in-law, who was pregnant, had no reason to rest for a moment, and the couple looked much older than their actual age.
"I won't interfere with other people's family situations, but you have to promise me that you will no longer work too hard, even if you earn less."
Although the Shen family has not yet officially separated and become independent, they still maintain the habit of eating together.
Ideally, it would be great if the entire family could work together to run the business together; however, there are always a few lazy people who are unwilling to put in the corresponding effort but want to reap the fruits of others' labor. In fact, this is taking away the interests of other family members.
Zhao Chunhua is not that generous. She is unwilling to share the fruits of her hard work with others. Whenever she thinks of this idea, she can't help getting angry.
Therefore, she did not expect Shu Mian'er to be able to do this.
Fortunately, Shen's parents did not touch their daughter-in-law's dowry. The property that Shu Mian'er brought was still firmly in her hands, and she was not asked to use it to subsidize the household expenses. This undoubtedly made Shu Mian'er feel a lot more relaxed.
While they were chatting, Shen Jiaze came back carrying firewood.
Although he looked tired, there was a satisfied smile on his face.
Seeing that the food on the table was still steaming, Shen Jiaze put aside his anxiety, knowing that he didn't need to eat right away and could instead enjoy the warmth slowly.
Shen Jiaze took some hot water from the big pot and went to the bathroom to take a bath, washing away the dust and fatigue of the day.
Zhao Chunhua walked into the kitchen and carefully brought out the carefully prepared dishes, preparing to have a delicious dinner with her husband.
In the morning, Shen Jiaze worked hard in the fields and even pulled up entire pumpkin vines by their roots.
Zhao Chunhua carefully washed the fresh tender pumpkin tips and some small melons she picked over and over again with water.
Afterwards, she used lard and the fragrant bacon to stir-fry them together, and added water to stew them. Although the finished product looks plain, its simple taste is very much in line with the local people's taste.
In addition, there are delicious fried shredded potatoes with pickled pepper and mouth-watering pickled fish for them to enjoy.
Zhao Chunhua had bought the fish from the market earlier and kept them in a small fish pond specially set up in the backyard. The purpose was to ensure that there would always be some delicious fish ingredients to entertain guests when they came to visit. She specially used bamboo baskets to separate and keep them separately.
It seems that these little fish have indeed survived well.
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