Chapter 127 The trouble caused by the watch!
"I'm sorry, I slept so soundly this time and I have no idea what I did!" Su Mei said, rubbing her head in distress.
Huo Jianguo climbed up from the bed and replied while putting on his clothes: "It's okay, I'm your man, you can do whatever you want!"
He has now completely forgotten the cruel words he said when the original owner drugged him and wanted to do that with him a few months ago.
Both of them were early risers. When they got up, everyone at home was just getting ready to have breakfast and it was not yet time for them to go to the fields to earn work points.
The whole family was still sitting in the small room. The atmosphere was cold and lonely. It was obvious that they had not yet recovered from yesterday's quarrel.
Seeing the couple come in, Liu Cuiyun said to Huo Jianguo:
"Third brother, why don't you sleep a little longer? You've been on the bus for several days, you should rest more. You're not in the army when you get home, so it's okay to sleep for a while."
"No more sleep!" Huo Jianguo responded, and then said, "After we have breakfast, we still have to go to my father-in-law's house to visit."
"Why go now?" Liu Cuiyun looked puzzled, she muttered: "According to the rules here, we should go to visit our father-in-law and mother-in-law on the first day of the new year.
The Chinese New Year is only four days away. Why don't you wait until after the New Year to pay New Year's greetings? Going there so early when they haven't made any preparations, won't that just cause trouble for them?"
"How much trouble can it be? They are just on the other side of the river. Su Mei hasn't seen her parents for a year. My father-in-law and mother-in-law love their daughter very much and won't think it's a trouble.
It's been such a long time since we last met, it's only right that I go over and have a look when I come back, there's no need for so many rules!" Huo Jianguo said as he grabbed two mixed grain steamed buns and scooped a bowl of vegetable soup and handed it to Su Mei.
The breakfast was visibly simple. The mixed-grain steamed bun was black and no one knew what was mixed in it. Su Mei took a bite and found it dry and hard.
They just got home yesterday, and Liu Cuiyun prepared a welcoming dinner for them. Plus, the commune had just slaughtered a pig, so the dinner was a bit more sumptuous.
In the countryside during this period, farmers still had a relatively simple breakfast.
Mixed-grain steamed buns are actually considered pretty good. Some families can only afford to have thin porridge in the morning with barely visible rice grains.
Most families have to tighten their belts if they want to have food to eat all year round.
The Huo family received part of the allowance that Huo Jianguo sent back on time every month as a subsidy, so they lived much better than other people in the village.
After giving Su Mei the steamed bun and scooping up the soup, Huo Jianguo served himself some.
At this time, Liu Cuiyun had just finished feeding Huo Gang the egg custard she had cooked separately and stood up. She took the steamed bun and said:
"The third son is kind-hearted now. He knew his wife didn't eat anything, so he just brought it to her. I, your mother, worked hard to raise you, but you didn't get treated like this."
Although Liu Cuiyun said this with a smile, Su Mei saw Liu Cuiyun's expression and felt that her smile was clearly not in her eyes.
It seemed that was what she was thinking.
Su Mei wanted to hear what Huo Jianguo would say, but unexpectedly Huo Jianguo said nothing. He just stood up, stretched out his long hand, and took Liu Cuiyun's bowl.
He scooped a bowl of soup and placed it in front of Liu Cuiyun, stuffed another steamed bun into her hand, and then sat down to eat without saying a word.
Just a few simple actions left Liu Cuiyun speechless.
Cheng Erxi on the side kept looking at Su Mei's hands. It was the first time for her to see a woman wearing a watch on her hand. The watch was more fashionable and more beautiful than the bracelet on her hand.
I thought Su Mei was really lucky. She was not good-looking, lazy and stupid, and had been married for almost four years without a child, but she lived a life that any woman in the village would envy.
Everyone in the village said that Cheng Erxi was pregnant and that she could work with her head held high in the Huo family. She also felt that she was capable and was very satisfied looking at her three sons every day.
But when he looked at Su Mei again, Cheng Erxi felt annoyed again. He thought to himself, no matter how capable he was, it was of no use since he could never beat Su Mei's good luck.
This person is more annoying than others. Some people don't have to do anything, and people love them from the moment they are born.
Thinking about how he had been to the gates of hell several times and had worked hard to give birth to several sons for the Huo family, but his life was not as good as that lazy Su Mei, the more Cheng Erxi looked at the watch on Su Mei's hand, the more he felt that it was dazzling.
Perhaps because she was having such a good time at the Huo family, Cheng Erxi completely forgot about her swollen face from the fight yesterday. As she sat there, she suddenly said something out of the blue:
"This watch on my third sister-in-law's wrist is quite nice. It's not cheap, is it?"
At Cheng Erxi's reminder, the whole family turned their eyes to the watch on Su Mei's hand.
"It's okay, not expensive. After all, my man has a high allowance and he can afford it." Su Mei smiled faintly at Cheng Erxi while speaking.
Weird and eccentric? That didn't work with Su Mei. She would reply in the most irritating way possible, leaving Cheng Erxi speechless.
When Huo Jianguo heard Su Mei's words, he paused while chewing the steamed bun. He raised his head and glanced at Su Mei, thinking how come these three simple words "my man" sounded so powerful.
Although Cheng Erxi was speechless, the watch on Su Mei's hand still attracted the attention of the family. Huo Fugui, the father of the Huo family, was the first to be unhappy. He took a few bites of the steamed bun, and the more he ate, the more he felt disgusted, so he threw it on the table.
"What kind of madness is this?" Liu Cuiyun looked at Huo Fugui, then secretly glanced at the watch on Su Mei's hand. It was obvious that she knew very well why Huo Fugui was crazy.
Hearing this, Huo Fugui sighed: "A watch costs 200 yuan, and a steamed bun is 5 cents. 200 yuan can buy 4,000 steamed buns.
4,000 steamed buns are enough for our family to eat for half a year.
I'm not greedy for white flour steamed buns, but the money should be spent wisely. No matter how high your salary is, you should spend it frugally.
Life is hard enough, and how come you spend money without any calculation? Is this how I teach you to behave?
Su Mei is a woman who doesn't have a job. Why is she wearing a watch? Is she causing trouble for your father so early in the morning?"
Making trouble? No one knew who was making trouble for whom. Su Mei really didn't expect that just because she wore a watch, someone would find a reason to make trouble for her.
Seeing that Su Mei's watch was brought up again, Huo Jiandang saw that his wife was upset, and in order to help Cheng Erxi vent his anger, he quickly stepped in to add fuel to the fire:
"That's right, we have never seen any woman wearing a watch, not even the director of the Women's Federation. How can my third brother's wife wear something so weird? Aren't they afraid of being laughed at?
Third brother, you have married a wife and forgotten your mother. I have never seen you be so filial to our mother!"
The fire seemed to have successfully stirred up a sensitive and fragile nerve in Liu Cuiyun's heart. Her wrinkled face suddenly became so gloomy that it seemed as if water could drip out of it.
Seeing Su Mei being put on the fire again, Cheng Erxi finally felt happy:
"If you ask me, you can just spend twenty or thirty bucks to buy a silver bracelet and wear it. We don't have that kind of culture, so there's no need to put on a brave face and pretend to be cultured!"