Chapter 8 Is Farming at Home a Good Idea?
Chen Feng panicked when she saw Song Chunxue approaching her suitcase.
"Mother, what are you looking for? I didn't hide anything."
She gave the old man a wink, "I'm afraid you'll come back too late, and the food won't be good if it's cooked too early. I'll go and cook for you now."
Song Chunxue raised an eyebrow. Was she scared?
"Okay, then take out the white flour cakes from the box and make us some egg drop soup."
She wasn't going to back down easily. "I can understand you having a sweet tooth while you're pregnant, but you can't just take other people's things without permission. Who doesn't want to eat white flour?"
“The family hasn’t been divided yet. Although you are the eldest daughter-in-law, you’re secretly eating alone and locking all the good things in the house in your trunk. How are you going to live like this?”
She stared at Jiang Yeming and said, word by word, "Big brother, I was too biased towards you before, but you thought it was only right, that it was your fault that Sanwa and I had to eat chaff and wild vegetables, right? From now on, I won't spoil you. The more you work, the more you get; the less you work, the less you get. If you continue to act like this, don't blame me for kicking you out of the house to beg for food."
But at this moment, only one thought occupied the old man's mind, and the flame in his chest burned brighter and brighter.
"The most valuable thing in our family is in the hands of the third son. Is that why Mother suddenly favors him?"
The eldest brother gritted his teeth and said indignantly, "It's just herding sheep, I can do that too!"
Song Chunxue smiled, "Okay, then from now on you can herd sheep in the morning and Sanwa can herd them in the afternoon."
“You said it yourself,” Jiang Yeming said with a determined look, “and you have to give me half of the sheep.”
Ha, he dares to even think that.
But the thought that he had such a self-righteous attitude was something she had spoiled him with made Song Chunxue feel suffocated.
"You wish! Let's wait a month before we talk about it." She gently tapped Chen Feng's box. "Also, if you don't take out the white flour cakes inside today, you're all sleeping in the donkey pen tonight. I mean what I say."
Chen Feng was so angry that he glared and puffed out his beard, but he still reluctantly opened the box and took out the tightly wrapped white flour pancakes.
Looking at the golden-brown, well-prepared flatbread, Song Chunxue couldn't help but sneer, "Your flatbread-making skills are quite good; you even know to add lard inside. It's just that the dough didn't rise properly."
Chen Feng glared at Jiang Yeming, rolling her eyes in anger, then turned and lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed).
"What are you lying down for? Hurry up and cook." Song Chunxue's eyes darkened. "We haven't eaten yet."
"Mother, Feng'er is very sleepy, so you..."
"Then you go cook."
"..." Jiang Yeming opened his mouth, about to refuse on the spot.
But when faced with his mother's intensely imposing gaze, he backed down and nudged Chen Feng, saying, "Get up and cook."
Chen Feng was so angry that she punched him twice.
Song Chunxue was too lazy to watch them pass the buck. She took the pancake and walked out, saying, "It's fine if you don't want to make it. I have hands and feet, I won't starve to death."
Jiang Yeming felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this, and couldn't help but kick Chen Feng, "Hurry up and go."
Chen Feng, who was still angry, threw a tantrum on the spot, punching and kicking Jiang Yeming while crying loudly.
"I'm pregnant and you still kick me! I told you my stomach hurts, but the baby still kicks me... Waaah, I don't want to live anymore! Why did I marry you...?"
Jiang Yeming was most afraid of her using this trick, so he quickly put on his shoes, got off the kang (a heated brick bed), and went to cook.
Song Chunxue was in the north room with Sanwa, and she made him put on his new shoes.
“If you can’t bear to wear them, you don’t have to wear them when you’re herding sheep. Change into them every day when you come back from outside and wear new ones at home. Wear the old pair when you’re herding sheep, but I’ve already added some to the kang (heated brick bed) to the pair that has three or four holes.”
Sanwa was a little reluctant to part with the shoes, but seeing how nice they were, he put them on and tried them on.
At this moment, the second son lifted the curtain and came in, staring at his new shoes and stamping his foot.
"Mom, do my shoes look good?"
Song Chunxue's gaze fell on the second son, Jiang Yehui.
The second child had been studying and failed the children's examination for three years. Half a year ago, he changed his mind and joined the conscription with his classmates.
He had never done manual labor, was fair-skinned and clean-cut, and had a slightly silly smile, but he had a strong sense of never giving up and was always very proud.
Despite his frail and scholarly appearance, he resolutely went to the army and worked his way up to a minor official position after five years.
Those five years must have been very tough for him.
He must have been extremely grateful to his sworn brother who pulled him out of his most difficult time, which is why he married his sister and treated his mother like his own.
Actually, she didn't have much to complain about.
Children and grandchildren have their own blessings; her comfort lies in the fact that her children are living peacefully.
Moreover, during his first few years in the army, he would send money home every year through intermediaries…
"Mother, what's wrong?" The second son panicked when he saw her staring at him with red eyes.
He pointed at the third child, "You're arguing with your mother again? I'll slap you, you believe me?"
As he spoke, he made a gesture as if he was about to slap Sanwa, glaring at him through gritted teeth.
But he was just trying to scare Sanwa, and Sanwa ignored him.
Song Chunxue's nose stung even more. She suddenly remembered that the two brothers had a very good relationship at the beginning, especially when they had just started their own families.
At that time, the second son only had one daughter. He would bring his wife and daughter back to celebrate the New Year together. The two brothers would sit around the fire pit and talk and laugh all night.
But later...
Song Chunxue suddenly felt a pang in her heart, as if she had said something wrong that had created a rift between the two brothers.
The second son's family was unhappy there, and his wife was also not used to the environment, so they left together.
After that, Song Chunxue never saw the second son's daughter again.
"Mother, why are you crying?"
Seeing her mother crying in front of her, and the crying getting louder and louder, the second son panicked.
He scratched the back of his head. "I haven't done anything heinous. What's going on here?"
Song Chunxue sniffed and quickly held back her tears.
"It's alright, it's alright. I was just thinking about how you're going to the army. Swords are merciless, and if things get unstable in a few years, there will be war. If you..." Song Chunxue gripped his arm tightly, "How about we don't go and just stay home and farm?"
"Actually, farming isn't that hard. Going to the military camp is really tough. I heard that in tough times there isn't even a place to sleep, and on rainy days you have to sleep in the ground. Can we not go?"
Although she also felt that the second son was unwilling to come later because he disliked her for being poor, had a bad temper, and was a nag, and wanted to completely get rid of his poor peasant background.
He wasn't as selfish as the eldest brother, nor as sullen as the third brother. Although he didn't like to work, he was also proud and ambitious, and eager to make a name for himself.
But after all, he was a piece of her own flesh and blood. Thinking that she would see him less and less in the future, she couldn't help but want to keep him.
The eldest son carried two bowls of coarse grain noodles into the house and saw his mother crying with tears and snot streaming down her face in front of his second brother. Moreover, the second and third sons were both wearing new shoes.
"Mom, you bought them both new shoes, why didn't I?"
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