128. 128 Consistent opinion
The difference between Northeast and Northwest is only one character, yet they are worlds apart. If neither party is interested, they might only see each other once a year, with only envelopes passing between them. They got married peacefully in mid-July. Five days after the wedding, Su Yu Ningjin took a car back to the Northwest. She didn't return to the Northeast until three days before Er Ya's wedding at the end of November, when she met the newlyweds for the second time.
"Mom and Dad, I've aired out the blankets and cleaned the room. You can go back to your old room." Ping An handed the key to his dad. He and Xiao Qi had moved to the research institute, and now the house was empty again.
Su Yu plans to buy a house after Er Ya gets married. When she bought the house, she chose a large yard with few bedrooms so she could keep her dog. Now that Ping An is married, Xiao Yuan can no longer sleep on the same kang (heated brick bed) with Ping An when he comes back for the New Year. If she doesn't buy a new house, Xiao Yuan will have nowhere to sleep when he comes back.
Ping An grinned, showing off his teeth, and said, "Mom and Dad, you're going to be grandparents! We just found out a few days ago. I didn't send you a letter because I was thinking you'd be coming over."
"My goodness!" Ning Jin slapped his thigh in surprise. "Son, you're so quick! You got married this year and have a baby next year. How many months along are you?"
"It's not even been two months yet, she might give birth at the end of June next year."
"Good news, good news! I was wondering why I hadn't seen your wife. Turns out she's at home resting during her pregnancy. Your mother and I will go see her tomorrow. She's still working at the hospital." Ning Jin thought for a moment and said with annoyance, "What bad luck! I didn't know beforehand, and I didn't bring much with me."
“She’s still at work, so she didn’t come. She’ll come over after get off work this afternoon. She’s a doctor herself, so she knows her own body well and said she doesn’t need to take too many supplements.” Ping An looked at the person who hadn’t spoken yet. “Mom, my mother-in-law said that pregnant women can’t attend weddings because it’s bad luck for the newlyweds and will offend the wedding goddess. So Xiao Qi won’t be going to Er Ya’s wedding the day after tomorrow.”
"I've heard that saying before, it's better to avoid it."
When Cui Qizi returned home from get off work in the evening, Su Yu was already stewing chicken soup. Hearing her voice, she went out to greet her: "You're back. Are you cold? Come inside and warm up."
"Mom, are you cooking? I'm in for a treat today. Ping An has said several times that the food from our hometown is delicious, and Mom's cooking skills are even better. I smelled the aroma as soon as I entered the alley. I'm so hungry. I'll stay in the kitchen for a while and take a few more breaths of the fragrance before eating." Before she finished speaking, she went into the kitchen, sat in front of the stove, warmed her hands by the fire, and added more firewood when it was almost gone.
Su Yu asked her if she had any cravings or anything in particular. As someone who had never given birth, she knew very little about pregnancy, and the conversation was rather superficial. Fortunately, it was also her daughter-in-law's first pregnancy, and she had no experience with pregnancy.
"I haven't had any symptoms of food poisoning yet, and my taste is no different from before I was pregnant. My belly isn't showing any curve either. I'm starting to suspect that I'm having a false pregnancy."
"This is the child giving you time to adjust to him." Su Yu saw that the chicken soup in the pot was ready to be served. She asked Xiao Qi if she wanted to drink some soup to warm herself up. There were still two dishes to cook, and it would probably be another 10 or 20 minutes before dinner.
Cui Qizi hesitated for a moment, then tried to relax and gracefully took a bowl to ladle out the soup. Urged by her mother-in-law, she carried the bowl back to the main room. Once outside the kitchen, both women breathed a sigh of relief. The two women, who hadn't known each other much, tried to treat each other like acquaintances and relatives, feeling awkward and cautious.
On the 26th of the eleventh lunar month, Su Yu, Ning Jin, and Ping An went to Er Ya's house to help her with her wedding preparations. The groom came to pick up the bride on the morning of the 28th, and the bride's family held a banquet for the guests on the 27th. There were very few guests; Er Ya's friends, colleagues, classmates, and Su Yu herself, the three of them, didn't even fill three tables.
Su Yu sent the new cotton quilt at the beginning of winter. The quilt cover was sewn by a woman who could sew all four corners perfectly. Er Ya didn't ask anyone for help until Su Yu went to her house on the 26th.
"I'll sew it? I'm not good with needle and thread, and I haven't made clothes in years." Su Yu was a little flustered as this was the first time she had faced something like this.
"What matters is the auspiciousness, not the quality of the stitches. Aunt, please don't refuse. Your parents and in-laws have all lived long lives, your marriage is harmonious, and you have two sons who are college graduates. You couldn't be happier. Let my sister share in your good fortune." Da Ya didn't dare touch the auspicious needles and thread, and had her daughter Qiao Qiao hand over the sewing box.
Su Yu was surprised. After not seeing her for several years, Da Ya's speech had become more and more normal, and she no longer had the silly and miserable look she used to have.
"Let me state first that I am a second-time bride." Su Yu didn't mind being a second-time bride, but she was worried that Er Ya's mother-in-law would have objections.
“A second marriage is better than the first, Auntie, I don’t care about that,” Er Ya said.
Since she insisted, Su Yu didn't refuse anymore. She spent the whole afternoon in the house sewing festive quilt covers onto eight cotton quilts, and even received a red envelope from Daya.
"So many rules? I don't know anything about them. It's a good thing I don't have a daughter, otherwise I would have made a fool of myself."
“I don’t know either. This is what my mother-in-law Er Ya told me. She wrote down a list of things to keep in the dowry and I bought them accordingly. For example, my sister’s wedding head should have pine branches, and there should be four bamboo stalks without leaves. These are all the rules she told me.”
Hearing Da Ya say this, Su Yu felt relieved about Er Ya's marriage. She had met a reasonable and generous mother-in-law who didn't embarrass Er Ya when she disagreed with the marriage. After agreeing, she was worried that her daughter-in-law wouldn't know how to handle the wedding without the help of her parents and elders. She would have to worry about both her son and her daughter-in-law.
Er Ya's bad luck has turned into good fortune.
"Are you Uncle and Aunt Baozhi? Baozhi has mentioned you many times. It's great to finally meet you today. I wanted to invite you to dinner, but you weren't here. Please forgive me if there's anything I haven't done well in terms of hospitality. After the wedding, Lao Cai and I will host a banquet for your family. Baozhi said that her Aunt Su and Uncle Ning have taken good care of her. We are so grateful to you for being able to marry such an excellent and capable wife." As soon as Su Yu got out of the car, a pretty woman stopped her. After hearing what she said, Su Yu realized that this was Er Ya's mother-in-law. Her warm attitude showed no sign that she was unhappy about the marriage.
Er Ya was escorted to the room where her mother-in-law was receiving guests before she left to attend to other guests. A short while later, two people who claimed to be Cai Zhiran's uncle and aunt came to keep her company. Until they left, these family members who had accompanied Er Ya to her wedding were never neglected.
"Do your parents-in-law have any objections to this?" Ning Jin asked Ping An. He realized that his family hadn't been as considerate as Er Ya's in-laws in terms of entertaining his daughter-in-law's family.
"I haven't heard of it. I don't think so. The people who went to accompany us were my mom's teacher and my teacher. They must have gotten along quite well." Ping An laughed nonchalantly. "It's all in the past, so don't think about it anymore. Anyway, my wife is already married into the family. Even if she has opinions, it won't have any impact. Besides, we did our best. We just didn't have any relatives to help us."
After that, Ping An went back to work. Su Yu and Ning Jin stayed a few more days. They went to the countryside to buy free-range chickens, slaughtered them, and sent them to the house assigned to Ping An at work. The chickens were frozen in the refrigerator so that they could be taken out, thawed, and cooked whenever they wanted to eat them.
Su Yu liked the environment near the university, so the new house she bought was also near the university, symmetrically positioned with the university as the center, one to the south and one to the north of her old house. She left the keys with Ping An, asking him to find a few people to renovate it when he had time.
As the year drew to a close, Cui Qizi was almost three months pregnant. When she went back to her parents' home for dinner, her mother-in-law, Xu Qingping, asked her, "Are you spending the New Year at my house this year, or are you two spending it alone?"
“Why would we come to your house? We’re definitely going to spend the holiday with my parents. My parents and my brother will be coming here at the end of the year. Or are my older brothers going to their in-laws’ homes for the New Year? Do you and your dad feel lonely?” Ping An said bluntly.
Xu Qingping was taken aback for a moment, then said that both of her sons had come back because she thought it would be more lively if Xiao Qi came back too.
"No way, Mom, what are you thinking? A married daughter is already hoping to come home for the New Year in her first year. Aren't you afraid of what the neighbors will say?" Ping An got a pinch on the thigh, but he seemed not to feel it. He said whatever came to mind, becoming a block of wood who couldn't read people's expressions.
"Eat your food, or it'll get cold," Mr. Cui interrupted, trying to smooth things over for his wife. He couldn't help but glance at his son-in-law, unsure whether he was genuinely clueless or just pretending.
After dinner, Xu Qingping asked Ping An, "What will happen when Xiao Qi has a baby next year? Will your stepmother come back next year?"
“My mom is doing well at work and can’t come back. Mom, when Xiaoqi gives birth, can you lend me a hand? We can take care of Xiaoqi during her postpartum period together.”
As soon as he said that, all six eyes turned to him.
"Your mother isn't coming back? She's the mother-in-law, why wouldn't she take care of her daughter-in-law during her postpartum period? There's no way to reason with that. Xiaoqi has to go back to work after her postpartum period, and the baby needs someone to take care of it." Xu Qingping's angry voice was almost split in two.
"You're the maternal grandmother, so you should take care of her. Like you said before, Mom, my mom is my stepmother. I wasn't born to her. Raising me is already fulfilling her responsibility. Why should she take care of her stepdaughter-in-law? I don't have that kind of face. Besides, you were the ones who did all this beforehand. When we were discussing the marriage, you didn't take my stepmother seriously. Did you think that just because she's a stepmother-in-law, she should fawn over your daughter-in-law's family? Before the marriage, you wanted to trample on her, and now you call her your mother-in-law? My mom isn't that cheap." After holding it in for several months, he finally spoke his mind.
“She won’t help Xiaoqi with postpartum care and childcare, so she can’t expect my daughter to take care of her when she gets old.”
“Sure, I’ll take care of her. She raised me, and I’ll take care of her in her old age. I won’t let Xiaoqi take care of my mom anymore; I’ll do it all. My mom has her own son; she doesn’t need any children to take care of her in her old age.”
His nonchalant attitude stunned the other three. Mr. Cui glanced at his wife. During their previous meeting with his in-laws, he had assumed his mother-in-law would be his stepmother, even though his son-in-law had always spoken well of her. He and his wife had planned for the young couple to live separately after marriage, far away from his parents, so their daughter wouldn't have to endure her mother-in-law's mistreatment. That's why they had given him a hard time at their first meeting. Unexpectedly, his mother-in-law hadn't said anything, but his son-in-law had become agitated.
“Your parents are your grandparents, how can they just ignore everything? They didn’t even offer any support when their daughter-in-law gave birth and was in postpartum confinement.” Xu Qingping was angry that her son-in-law changed his attitude so quickly, but her daughter was already pregnant and couldn’t back out. Besides, this brat was completely devoted to her son-in-law. She thought for a moment and asked, “Is this what your parents think? If I go to take care of Xiaoqi during her postpartum period, the child will have our surname Cui and will call us grandpa and grandma.”
Ping An shook his head. "My parents haven't mentioned it. This is just my idea." He softened his tone, his voice no longer sharp. "I definitely won't let my mother take care of the child. Her job has a profound impact on the environment, and she's the section chief of the county forestry bureau. It's impossible for her to quit her job and come back to take care of the child. I'll have my father come and comfort the child. He raised me; he has experience, and he's also the child's grandfather." This was a rejection of the suggestion to change the child's surname.
"How can this be? What kind of father-in-law takes care of his daughter-in-law during her postpartum period?"
“My dad is here to take care of the baby, but I’ll take care of Xiaoqi during her postpartum period.” He looked at his wife and asked, “Xiaoqi, would you prefer me to stay with you during your postpartum period or have my mom come?”
"You come here." Cui Qizi made her choice readily. She felt quite restrained around her mother-in-law, having to think carefully before she spoke, which was exhausting. It was much better to have her husband take care of her.
"Get out of here, you good-for-nothing!" This blockhead is impossible to teach, it's infuriating.
The young couple were kicked out of the house. Xiaoqi kicked up clods of dirt, shrank her neck, and asked, "Is Mom angry? I'm talking about your mom."
“No, your mom is someone my mom doesn’t see very often. She wouldn’t get angry over a stranger. Besides, she’s more focused on her work and doesn’t care about household chores.” Ping An helped her up and apologized, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to argue with your mom. I just brought up the topic and it brought up what happened before. I have no problem with you either, because I married you, not your whole family.”
Cui Qizi's initial annoyance dissipated with his apology. She enjoyed her current family life as a couple, with her in-laws not interfering. She had to accept both the benefits and the drawbacks that came with it.
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