Looking at the various kinds of food on the oxcart, Shui Qing muttered, "I feel like a thief who steals from a house."
They carried this and that back home.
Fan Jin smiled gently and said sincerely, "This is a token of my mother's and brother's affection."
In the past, my parents-in-law were the same way, feeling sorry for Shuiqing, and would always give her meat, grains and eggs to take home to eat every now and then.
Back then, the family hadn't separated yet, and Mother controlled the whole family. All the food had to be distributed by Mother.
Mother said that the belongings of daughters-in-law who had not yet divided the family property should be handed over to the public treasury. However, when it came time to eat, she claimed that there was not enough meat to go around, so Shuiqing and her two daughters did not get their share.
A few years later, the father-in-law and mother-in-law realized that the food they had given as a subsidy would never reach their daughter's stomach, so they stopped giving it to her.
However, the mother thought that her father-in-law's family was stingy. Giving them meat, rice, and eggs in the beginning was just a formality, and they became increasingly harsh on Shuiqing later.
The father-in-law and mother-in-law were not happy with the mother's actions and words, and the two families basically had no contact.
After the family separated, Shuiqing was able to freely interact with her parents again.
Shuiqing thought to herself how lucky Fan Jin had let her bring lots of things home with her.
Then it occurred to me, was it because he knew that either her parents or her younger brother would pack things for her to bring back, and he was afraid that her parents would suffer losses, so he told her to bring more things?
She looked up at Fan Jinran's smiling face on the bicycle frame, and felt a warmth in her heart.
The winter wind wasn't too cold on my face.
By the time the oxcart returned to Shanshui Village, the sun was already setting.
Fan's mother and Sun Jinhua, with their sleeves tucked in, chatted with people under a big tree at the entrance of the village.
The other women were either sewing shoe soles or making hats, while only Fan's mother and Sun Jinhua were empty-handed and just chatting.
Seeing Fan Jin and Shui Qing sitting on the oxcart, Fan's mother's eyes were filled with anger, and she scolded them harshly: "What kind of behavior is it for a woman to run around outside all day long!"
"Was this how your mother taught you when you were a girl at home?"
Sun Jinhua was quick; she pulled up the tarpaulin covering the cart, revealing a pile of cured meat inside. Her eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Mom, look!"
My brother-in-law and sister-in-law bought a lot of cured meat!
Her shout drew the attention of not only Fan's mother, but also everyone else in the village.
Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Sun Jinhua said smugly, "Sister-in-law, this was all bought by my brother-in-law with his own money. He won't give me, his sister-in-law, any food, but he can't not give his own mother any, can he?"
Before Shui Qing could speak, Fan Jin frowned and said preemptively, "I didn't earn the money to buy this."
Sun Jinhua pursed her lips, "Are you trying to say that your sister-in-law bought it with her own money?"
Even if it was bought with money earned by my younger brother and sister-in-law, my mother-in-law is still my mother. I should at least give her half of what she eats to show filial piety!
“This wasn’t something Shui Qing bought with his own money,” Fan Jin said coldly.
Everyone stared in astonishment.
They didn't buy it with their own money, so how could it have fallen from the sky?
Fan Jin said unhurriedly, "This was specially prepared by my mother-in-law and brought back for us, mainly for her daughter and several grandchildren."
I was too ashamed to give the food my wife's family gave me to my own mother.
Upon hearing this, Madam Fan felt embarrassed.
It's one thing for Hu's mother to give cured meat to her own daughter, but for her to give it to her grandson as well! How is she, as the grandmother, supposed to feel about this?
Isn't this just making her look bad?
One of the women in the crowd immediately shouted, "Aunt Fan, you can't let your in-laws outdo you! She's feeding her grandson, who's your own grandson!"
"Didn't you always say they were from Old Fan's family? Now that someone from another family has sent a big basket of cured meat, shouldn't you, as their grandmother, show some appreciation?"
The women watching, eager for a good show, chimed in with their own comments and jeers.
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