Chapter 13 Sharing the Same Misfortune
The eldest brother, Jiang Yeming, has become much more well-behaved.
His wife, Chen Feng, seemed to have been scolded by him; her eyes were red when she woke up the next day, indicating that they must have had a fight.
When he saw Song Chunxue, he turned his head away and went back into the house.
Song Chunxue remained expressionless, thinking to herself that it wasn't that the boss couldn't do anything about Chen Feng, but that he hadn't been willing to say anything to her before.
A man is a man after all. Although he loves his wife, he lost his patience when Chen Feng made a fuss every few days and pushed all the housework onto him.
The thought of Chen Feng spitting at her whenever she saw her in the future, and making the children call her "old woman" instead of "grandma," filled Song Chunxue with nothing but disgust for this woman.
Chen Feng is petty and loves to take advantage of others, unwilling to suffer any loss. Her son inherited her personality; he seems shrewd but is actually too clever for his own good, and is still single at almost forty years old...
Song Chunxue didn't want to think about the past, so she got up from the stove and served herself a bowl of freshly cooked soup.
"Time for soup!"
She called out, telling them to come and get it themselves.
Her sons, each a head taller than her, were expecting her to bring them food and serve them to them—what kind of behavior was that?
The eldest, second, and third sons obediently went to the kitchen, picked up their bowls and chopsticks, and went to the north room to drink soup together.
On the rough porcelain plate were a white flour pancake and three coarse grain pancakes.
Song Chunxue divided the white flour pancakes into four portions and distributed them to everyone at the table.
The eldest brother, Jiang Yeming, looked at her, and Song Chunxue said irritably, "If your wife doesn't want to eat with us, she won't get any of the good stuff."
The eldest brother didn't say anything more and buried his head in drinking his soup.
"Leave the housework to the eldest son and his wife. We'll be back as soon as dinner is ready, is that alright?"
Song Chunxue was worried that they would ignore her, so she reminded them while they were eating soup and pancakes.
The eldest brother lowered his head and reluctantly replied, "Okay, I understand."
Song Chunxue nodded in satisfaction, then turned to meet the curious yet silly gaze of the three children.
"What, don't you recognize your mother?"
Sanwa suddenly buried his head, finished the soup, and got up to walk out.
"Hahaha, Sanwa must think his mother is like she's been reborn..."
Before the second brother could finish mocking the third brother, he was met with a cold glare from the eldest brother and quickly buried his head, focusing on drinking his soup and eating his flatbread.
After finishing her meal, Song Chunxue put the bowl in the kitchen, then put on her hat, took her tools, and went to the fields.
It drizzled last night, and the air is very fresh today. The sun has just risen, and there are still dewdrops on the plants.
She usually gets up early and goes to work in the fields early. After she had been shoveling wormwood and dandelions for a while, she saw the villagers gradually arriving in the fields to weed.
Unfortunately, she ran into an old acquaintance today, Zhao Yufang, the wife of the An family she had gotten along very well with when she first married into the Li family village.
Their land is very close to each other, and both of them planted broad beans this year. They happened to be hoeing the broad beans today.
Actually, Song Chunxue really didn't want to see her because it reminded her of the past.
Zhao Yufang's first husband died very early. Later, a man surnamed Chen came to the village and took him in as a son-in-law.
Because Song Chunxue was close to Zhao Yufang, she naturally became acquainted with her man.
But this man went too far and started touching her inappropriately.
Their relationship soured afterward. After their child grew up, Zhang Yufang and her husband went to the county to accompany the child to school...
Life is short, like a dream.
In a daze, Song Chunxue didn't know if she was dreaming or if she had really been reborn.
Seeing Zhao Yufang arrive at the edge of the field with a smile, Song Chunxue couldn't help but stare at her youthful face in a daze.
I remember that Zhao Yufang and her husband both passed away before her. Before they died, their two sons were useless and their grandsons had all gone to work in the county. Their old home had been uninhabited for many years and was overgrown with weeds.
But in the years before they died, they returned to their hometown and lived there. Many years later, she still remembered how thin Zhao Yufang was and how she would unconsciously shed tears when talking about her good-for-nothing children.
They were all in the same boat, pouring all their heart and soul into their child, only to be left with nothing but illness and die in despair.
"Hey, why are you crying? Are you so upset to see me?"
Zhao Yufang walked up to her, carefully watching the beans under her feet, making sure not to step on a single one, and took out a rice and flour bun from the cloth bag in her hand.
"Don't you love my rice and flour buns?" Zhao Yufang said with a smile. "Try them, aren't they delicious this time?"
The yellow rice and flour buns are made from millet and sorghum, and they are very sweet and moist, unlike the dry multigrain pancakes.
Song Chunxue took it, took a bite in a daze, and found it still so sweet and delicious.
At thirty-six, she is still very capable, in good health, and has a good appetite; everything she eats tastes delicious.
But since turning sixty-five, people's appetites have declined significantly, their mouths smell bad and dry, and nothing tastes good.
These past few days, she's only been thinking about her children and hasn't had a chance to sit down and truly appreciate the changes.
"Hey, why are you wearing all those clothes you've been saving at the bottom of your trunk? How could you bear to part with them?"
Zhao Yufang raised her hand and touched the smoky-colored short-sleeved shirt she was wearing. "It's been in the box for so many years, the color isn't as bright as it used to be."
Song Chunxue sniffed and looked down at her clothes. "Hmm, what's there to be reluctant about? They'll just fall apart if I leave them, so I might as well wear them until they're worn out. That way, I won't feel so bad."
"I heard you kicked Li Guangzheng out of your house. What, you're not planning to get back together with him?"
Song Chunxue frowned, and asked in surprise, "When did I get together with him?"
Zhao Yufang looked around, "Keep your voice down. Everyone can see what he's up to when he comes to your house so often, and he stays for two hours at a time. Don't tell me..."
"Don't talk nonsense. I would never look down on a bastard like Li Guangzheng. That time, he was drunk and insisted on sleeping on my kang (heated brick bed), and I couldn't get rid of him."
"That's true. I used to think he came from a wealthy family, so I shouldn't offend him. But he took advantage of me and asked for the best food and drinks. I kicked him out."
Song Chunxue said irritably, "Don't mention him to me again."
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about him. By the way, weren't you going to separate the eldest son out? Why haven't we seen any activity lately?" Zhao Yufang sighed. "It's not good for you to favor him too much; he's the laziest guy."
The more Song Chunxue chewed the rice and flour bun in her mouth, the sweeter it became. She looked at the flock of sheep across the mountain; it was Sanwa herding the sheep.
"Yes, I see that, so I don't plan to favor him anymore. I will try my best to treat them fairly and justly."
Zhang Yufang nodded. "That's rare. You've suddenly changed your attitude. Did something happen?"
Song Chunxue was taken aback. "What could possibly happen?"
"Your second son is going to join the army, and you haven't made any preparations at all? Aren't you going to find him a wife or something?" Zhao Yufang nudged her and winked, "My niece is always thinking about marrying your second son."
Song Chunxue remembered that the second brother seemed to have mentioned the second daughter of the Zhao family.
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