Old Lady Chen was very experienced. She knew that even if the eldest son did not want the money, Mrs. Hu would find a way to secretly ask for it. If so, the second son's family would not save any money, and the eldest son would think that he helped his brother, but it was a bargain for Mrs. Hu. So she said, "I agree with the second son. Even brothers should settle accounts clearly. Helping is helping, but the wages should still be asked for."
Chen Ming added, "There are still four strings of cash left from selling the land, which is enough to repair the house. If you always help me like this, I will be embarrassed to ask you for help in the future."
Chen Ye was speechless after hearing this, and then he talked about the time to build the house. It was the busy farming season, so they had to plant corn and sweet potatoes first. The big house had more land, and with the second house's land, they would have to wait until the end of May to build the house. Chen Ming thought about the sewing baskets and sewing kits at home, so he set the time to build the house at the end of June. After the house was built, they would repair the thatched house they lived in.
Before they left, Chen Ming gave the four feet of blue coarse cloth to Chen Ye to make clothes.
Chen Ye was so anxious that his face turned red. He shouted, "Don't I know what kind of life your family is living? Although Ah Fu's illness has improved, you still have to save money to send Ah Lu to see a doctor. Why spend this money? My family's life is much better. We don't need these few feet of cloth. Keep this cloth to make a new set of clothes for Ah Lu. His clothes are all tied up on his body."
After saying that, he helped Old Lady Chen out, Chen Afu followed behind with Dahu, and Chen Ming saw them out.
Mrs. Hu did not move, she still wanted to get the few feet of cloth. Even if she did not dare to take it home, she would take it to her mother's house to make clothes for her brothers or nephews.
Chen A-lu was a smart kid. Seeing that Hu was lagging behind, he knew what she was thinking. When Hu reached out to take the cloth on the kang, he reached out first and took it, handed it to Wang and said, "Mom, uncle asked you to make me a new dress, you can't give it away. If the cloth is not used up, make another one for Dabao."
Mrs. Hu was so angry that she cursed loudly, "You poor looking man, how dare you take back the gifts you gave away." Chen Ye and Old Lady Chen were not present, but she did not hide her greed and meanness at all.
Chen Ahfu smiled and said, "We didn't take it back. My uncle sympathized with my family's poverty and gave it to my brother to make clothes."
Mrs. Hu cursed again, "What a fool you are! How dare you talk back to your elders."
Wang was not stupid. She knew that Hu did not dare to take the cloth home, and must want to secretly take it back to her parents' home. Wang was willing to give it to Chen Ye, after all, Chen Ye helped her family a lot. But what about letting Hu secretly take it to Hu's house? Hearing her scolding Ah Fu, she felt even more unhappy.
Wang put the cloth into the cupboard and said to Hu, whose face was red with anger, "Daya didn't come to eat, so I left a bowl of fried cucumber and meat for her. Sister-in-law, take it back for her." This bowl of dish was originally reserved for Chen Ming to eat tomorrow.
No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. Hu still followed Wang to the kitchen angrily and took the food away.
Chen Ahfu was a little speechless. Wang was too sloppy. People like Hu were just hungry wolves who could never be full. She secretly asked for things, not only did she not appreciate it, but most of the time she didn't dare to let Old Lady Chen and Chen Ye know.
After Hu left, Chen A-lu said to Wang, "Mom, that bowl of meat and vegetables is for my dad to eat tomorrow. Why did you let my aunt take it away? If it really went into Daya's mouth, it would be okay. But maybe it went into Hu Laowu's mouth, which would be a pity."
Wang sighed, "Your aunt-in-law is already unhappy because she didn't take the cloth. If you don't give her some benefits, I don't know how long she will keep complaining at home."
Chen Ming came in and heard this, and he sighed and shook his head. Big brother is such a good man, why did he marry such a woman.
When Hu first married into the Chen family, Chen Ming also respected this eldest sister-in-law. But Hu disliked this sickly uncle very much. She behaved well in front of Chen Ye and Old Lady Chen, but when they were not around, she used the most vicious language to scold Chen Ming, almost angering him to death. Perhaps, she just wanted to anger him to death as soon as possible.
When the family was divided that year, Old Lady Chen and Chen Ye originally intended to let Chen Ming live at home so that they could take care of him. But Chen Ming insisted on moving out, so Chen Ye helped him sell an acre of land, and the two brothers secretly added one or two taels of silver each to buy this small courtyard. Fortunately, Wang came into the family a few days later, otherwise Old Lady Chen would have come to his house to take care of him first...
After the eldest wife's family left, Chen Afu stopped Wang who was about to go to the kitchen to clean up. She was in much better health now and could clean up slowly.
Seeing her daughter's ability, Wang smiled brightly and went into the house to make clothes for Chen A-Lu. She made a sleeveless jacket and trousers, enough for A-Lu and Dabao's family.
Both children were very happy. A-Lu couldn't remember how long it had been since he had worn new clothes, and Dabao had never worn new clothes before, but always picked up his uncle's old clothes. So Dabao was very excited and kept asking when he could wear new clothes.
Ah Lu put others before himself and humbly said, "Mom, let Dabao do it first."
Wang nodded and smiled, "Okay, grandma will let Dabao wear new clothes tomorrow."
After cleaning up the kitchen, Chen Ahfu watched Wang sew clothes. She was speechless about the ancient tailoring, especially the trousers, which looked like two pockets sewn together at one end. Not only were they ugly, they were uncomfortable to wear, and they also wasted a lot of fabric. She thought that when she was more skilled, she would see if she could improve it. Of course, it was impossible to change the aesthetics of this era, and the trousers could not be made into tapered small trouser legs, but at least the waist and crotch should be tailored to be slightly more fitted.
The next day, when it was already dawn, Chen Ahfu heard no movement outside the door. Wang must have worked late last night and was still asleep.
She got up quietly and saw a light rain falling outside the window. The rain was very light, misty and silent, washing the leaves and grass even greener and cleaner.
Chen Ahfu put on her clothes and saw a blue suit on the table. She walked over and opened it. It was a sleeveless jacket and a pair of trousers made for Dabao.
Wang fulfilled her promise and let Dabao wear new clothes today.
Chen Afu put the clothes next to Dabao first before going to the kitchen.
She brought an armful of straw from under the eaves into the house. To prevent the rain from wetting the firewood, a pile of straw was always placed under the eaves. She lighted the fire carefully and put the brown rice into the pot to cook slowly.
After the rice in the pot boiled and the fire was turned down, Chen Ahfu went back to the house to comb her hair. She tied a curl on top of her head, which looked a bit like the bun in her previous life, and fixed it with a wooden hairpin. This was the only hairstyle she knew how to do now.
"Mom." Dabao rubbed his eyes and sat up. When he saw the new clothes, he suddenly woke up and shouted, "Oh, new clothes!"
"Shh, speak softly. Grandma was making clothes late last night and hasn't gotten up yet." Chen Afu said softly.
Dabao nodded and hurriedly put on his clothes. After putting them on, he stood on the kang, feeling a little bit at a loss, pulling at his clothes and looking at Chen Afu shyly.
Chen Dabao's jacket and pants are ill-fitting. The jacket is long to his thighs, and the pants are too big and rolled up twice, with the crotch almost falling to his knees. He can still wear this set of clothes three years later. Although it doesn't fit, the little boy in the new clothes is still very beautiful, especially the shy and excited look, which is so adorable.
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