"Coming, coming, let's eat," Chen Lihua called out softly, then picked up her chopsticks and took a bite of braised pork.
Da Bao and Xiao Bao waited until Xu Yan sat down at the table before picking up their chopsticks to eat. Chen Lihua thought they were more and more sensible, "much more obedient than your little niece."
"Hmm?" Xu Yan swallowed the food in his mouth, glanced at her, and said, "Little niece?"
Chen Lihua glared at her, "You've only been here for half a year, how could you forget your family?"
I swear to God!
These things were never mentioned in the original text, and strangely enough, the original owner didn't have a little niece in his memories either!
Xu Yan quietly recalled again and realized she hadn't. So when Chen Lihua glared at her again, she reached out and hugged her arm. "How could I forget? But she's so well-behaved, who knows which niece you're talking about?"
After saying that, she pretended to be angry and snorted, "Next time I go home, I'll definitely tell on you."
“That’s all you’re good for,” Chen Lihua said, then continued eating.
Xu Yan secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her mother had been brushed off.
After finishing dinner and cleaning up, it was almost dark.
Li Aihua brought Xiao Shuanzi to return the bowl, but she didn't bring an empty bowl; she brought a bowl of homemade chili sauce.
“Everyone in the village says my pickles are delicious, so I brought them over for you to try,” Li Aihua said, then shyly rubbed a corner of her pickles, “Please don’t mind them.”
“How could that be? Your sister-in-law’s pickles are famous throughout the village,” Xu Yan said with a smile as she took the bowl, then took two pieces of candy from her pocket and stuffed them into Xiao Shuanzi’s hand. “My parents are here right now, so let them try our Qingshan Brigade’s specialty dishes.”
Li Aihua initially felt the food was shabby, but after walking a few steps outside, she even considered going back to pour the vegetables back into the pickle jar.
When someone brings you a bowl of fragrant meat, what's wrong with her just giving them a bowl of vegetables?
But simply taking the empty bowl over like that doesn't seem quite right.
After much deliberation, I stepped into the Xie family's gate.
She had guessed Xu Yan's expression, but she never expected her to say that. Her mood improved a lot, as if her own dish wasn't so bad after all.
“Yes,” Chen Lihua, who had been watching Xu Yan, smiled and replied, “I should thank you for bringing it over.”
Li Aihua suddenly felt a little embarrassed.
In this remote and impoverished place, few people from big cities come here, so the villagers feel quite awkward when they suddenly see polite and elegant outsiders.
Xiao Xu and the other educated youths have been together for a year, and now she's married to Xie Laosan, so she's considered a member of the Qingshan Brigade, but her mother...
"Thank you for the meat," Li Aihua said, clutching the hem of her clothes. "You're really good at cooking, as expected of someone from the big city."
Chen Lihua glanced at Xie Zhuo and smiled, "I think it's good too."
Li Aihua didn't notice her little trick. She was thinking to herself, "Wow, people from big cities are just different. They don't even show any humility when they're praised."
“I heard that you helped out when Yan Yan and Xie Zhuo got married a couple of days ago,” Chen Lihua changed the subject. “Thank you so much.”
“It’s alright, it’s alright, we’re all from the same village and neighbors,” Li Aihua said. “It’s only right to help each other out.”
She becomes quite talkative when this topic comes up.
She recounted how Xie Zhuo had stayed up all night waiting to pick up Xu Yan, and about some of the things that happened on the way to the wedding.
Chen Lihua and Xu Cangsong listened very attentively.
This was the first time Xu Yan had heard that Xie Zhuo hadn't slept all night. She looked at Xie Zhuo, who was walking into the house. Xie Zhuo seemed to sense something and turned to look at her as well.
By the time Li Aihua left, it was completely dark. Chen Lihua took a flashlight and escorted her and Xiao Shuanzi to her doorstep, just so she could hear more about her daughter's life in the countryside.
Upon hearing that Xu Yan had fallen into the water and nearly drowned, Chen Lihua clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
When they got home, he grabbed Xu Yan and hugged her for a long time.
"What's wrong?" Xu Yan gently patted Chen Lihua's back.
"It's alright, my darling, you've suffered." Chen Lihua touched Xu Yan's face.
"Huh?" Xu Yan didn't quite understand what she meant at first.
After Chen Lihua went back to her room to sleep, she realized that Li Aihua had probably embellished some of the original owner's stories.
For the next few days, it was basically the same as the second day after Xu Yan's parents arrived: the whole family would go to the fields in the morning to help Xie Zhuo with his work, and then go home together after they finished.
At first, some people in the village said it was just for show.
But they did the same thing for the next two days, the third day, the fourth day, and for a whole week, and then nobody said anything.
"It seems that Xie Laosan's father-in-law and mother-in-law have really accepted him."
"What can you do if you don't accept it? You're already married!"
"Why can't I have such a good in-law family?"
"Someone like you? Go take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror."
Wang Ermazi, who was standing nearby, heard them discussing Xie Zhuo and spat to the side with his eyelids drooping.
He felt he needed to talk to Xu Yan's parents.
This marriage was clearly his, but Xie Laosan interfered, and that's why Xu Yan married him.
Xie Laosan's family has two burdens; they just want to leech off their family. It's a living hell. They agreed to let Xu Yan marry Xie Zhuo, but she might as well have married him!
Thinking this, Wang Ermazi slowly strolled towards Xie Zhuo's house.
It's still early. Apart from Xie Zhuo's family and the other educated youth at the educated youth settlement, everyone else is working in the fields.
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