Chapter 629 Your Age
New sister-in-law?
If she were young, this title would have made her heart race and filled her with joy.
But her heart is over eighty years old, and it will no longer be happy because of this gentle shackle.
Any new identity or title is a shackle on the soul, like a frog being slowly boiled in water, or like poison coated in honey.
When you have nothing and need to depend on others to live, you don't care about these things. Living is the most important thing. Dignity and rights are nothing more than thorns stuck in your heart.
But now that she can live on her own, things she couldn't perceive before are gradually becoming clearer.
In the eyes of those people in the village, she now thinks she's all grown up and wants to fly high.
So, what she couldn't go back to wasn't the small courtyard in Li Family Village, but rather the prison she didn't want to return to, where they could escape with just a word.
"Sister-in-law, don't stand at the door, come in quickly."
Song Chunxue snapped out of her daze and calmly looked at Xie Zheng.
Why didn't you tell her you were coming so she could have avoided the guests?
He must have done it on purpose.
His intentions were quite clear; perhaps he was willing to give her a formal status.
But she didn't want it.
Someone will definitely criticize her for being ungrateful.
Seeing that Xie Zheng was also staring at her, waiting to see how she would react, Song Chunxue knew that she couldn't avoid it.
She smiled and said, "I'm not your sister-in-law yet, don't call me that. Please, everyone, have a seat. If you don't mind, try my braised noodles."
She swallowed hard. She was so hungry she could eat three bowls of vinegar soup noodles, but with three people suddenly arriving, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to eat even one bowl.
Xie Zheng then spoke up, "Sit down. Since you're here, try some Northwest specialties. Sister Song's cooking is excellent."
"..." He really dares to say that.
The three men were of different ages, but they must have been acquainted with Xie Zheng and had a good relationship with him, otherwise they wouldn't have come at this time.
"Alright, then we won't stand on ceremony."
"It smells delicious and looks very tempting. I hope it won't cause any trouble for my sister-in-law."
"We were in a hurry to see Lord Xie and forgot to have someone inform him first. Please forgive us, Lord Xie."
Song Chunxue smiled politely, "I was just afraid you wouldn't be used to the food. If I had known you were coming, I should have prepared more dishes."
Xie Zheng pulled her to sit beside him and greeted her naturally and familiarly, "Don't be shy, sit down and eat. I'm quite surprised that you could come. We'll have a couple of drinks later."
The servant standing outside the door hurriedly went to the kitchen to give orders to prepare some snacks for drinking.
The kitchen was bustling with activity. Liu Chunshu kneaded dough in a basin while instructing the cook in charge, "Add more garlic and stir-fry it until fragrant. Master Song and Lord Xie ate more of the vinegar soup noodles, so this noodle dish is sure to be more appetizing. Someone come and help me knead the dough a little longer."
"I'll do it!"
"In another pot, make some more vinegar broth. It must be made with scallions to make it more fragrant," Liu Chunshu instructed again.
The people in the kitchen were all long-time residents of the Xie family, and they were not comfortable being ordered around like this.
While tossing the wok, Chef Wu subtly inquired, "Who is that woman? Why do you call her Master Song?"
“She is now cultivating Taoism, and our Lord Xie is her junior brother.” Liu Chunshu knew their intentions and spoke concisely without saying more.
"Huh? How did you get involved with the Taoist nun, sir? She looks barely a match for our Lord Xie, but she's far inferior to the late Madam. She's not gentle and considerate enough to Lord Xie, and even expects our Lord Xie to fawn over her. How can we stand that?" Chef Wu commented. "She's dressed like a man too; it's not respectable to take her out."
Liu Chunshu scoffed, "What do you know? There were plenty of well-dressed ladies from respectable families before, but unfortunately, they didn't catch our Lord Xie's eye. Is Lord Xie the kind of person who cares about appearances? Women who flatter and fawn may look more respectable, but they are not worthy of our unconventional Lord Xie, who does not bow to worldly conventions."
The servant tending the fire nodded, "That's true. That woman seems kind and considerate to us servants. She even cooks for us herself."
Chef Wu scoffed, "No official title or status, just arrived at the Xie family and already acting like it's his own home, even using cooking as a way to curry favor with the adults, I don't think he's any better."
Liu Chunshu threw the dough onto the cutting board, picked up a rolling pin and wiped it clean. "You feel like someone stole your work, right? You're not happy about letting me rest for a while?"
The old woman next to her was scooping noodles. "Stop talking and take the noodles over. The adults hate gossip. Be careful you don't get punished."
The kitchen was bustling with activity, and people were chatting and laughing in the main house as well.
Everyone found that the woman Xie Zheng brought was generous, unpretentious, and unpretentious, and gradually they opened up and talked about things that had happened over the years.
When they learned that Xie Zheng had refused to return to the capital to take up his post, the three of them were very surprised and said that he was out of touch with reality. But when Xie Zheng talked about the people and government officials in Jincheng, they all felt that he had done the right thing.
They praised Song Chunxue's noodles highly and even asked for a second bowl, feeling embarrassed.
After drinking some more wine, their voices grew louder, and the group chatted about the past and present. When they learned that Xie Zheng had now begun meditating and cultivating Taoism, they greatly admired his actions and expressed their envy of his straightforwardness in not fearing worldly conventions and daring to show disrespect to the emperor.
Xie Zheng also asked about their experiences over the years and learned that their children were quite successful, and that two of them had grandchildren and were beginning to enjoy family life, which made him very gratified.
As the conversation went on, the topic turned to birth, aging, illness, and death. They lamented that the noodles tonight were indeed very chewy, but a bit difficult to digest; the long noodles always seemed to get stuck in their teeth, and they'd lost quite a few teeth in the last two years. Thankfully, the meat and vegetables were gentle on their old teeth, making them easy to swallow, which amused everyone.
Afterwards, everyone asked each other about their health, what medicine they usually took to relieve leg pain, and said that they hadn't listened to music or seen beautiful women for several years, and didn't even dare to feast their eyes on them anymore, and wanted to live a few more years.
Hearing this, Song Chunxue sighed deeply. Their group of people were getting old. Some of their peers, who were weak, would be bedridden at the slightest headache or fever. Some of their ancestors had died young, and they had even prepared their coffins.
When these things are mentioned, Xie Zheng can't help but grab the hem of her clothes under the table, his expression thoughtful.
He is very afraid of getting old.
No one is unafraid of getting old.
Now that I've finally tasted a little sweetness after a long period of ordinariness and loneliness, I'm especially afraid of growing old and of all the unexpected events. This heart, which is no longer young, is no longer as resilient as before, able to withstand the slightest turmoil of fate.
When discussing these matters, it's inevitable to mention the filial piety of children. One might expect someone to care for them at their bedside, while another might initially offer words of comfort and concern, but over time, they become afraid to even mention feeling unwell, feeling as if they've been punished. As a child, I was quite annoyed by my grandfather's nagging and unsteady gait…
Am I getting old?
Song Chunxue felt that her life was finally starting to have flavor, and she was in control of it.
She couldn't help but chime in.
"If you are not feeling well, drink less strong tea and gradually switch to fruit tea, flower tea and health-preserving porridge."
"Get up early and go to bed early, get more sun and exercise more, and get less angry and think less about unnecessary things."
"Aren't you all officials with money? Even if you complain about my nagging, you're not that bad off, living off the wealth I've accumulated."
"If your legs hurt, get acupuncture and moxibustion. Drink more bone broth regularly."
"What's there to be afraid of? If your children don't like being nagged, then don't nag them. Why put up with that? Just go to the theater and visit the teahouse more often."
"Don't say you're old. If you don't mention it, I think you could live to be a hundred."
The eldest, Lord Cao, nodded in agreement. "That makes sense. May I ask how old you are, sister-in-law?"
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