30.030 No wonder they're father and son.
The two parted ways at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative. Su Yu went to the tofu shop and got a block of tofu. She went back and cleaned the fish scales and gutted it, then sprinkled some salt on it and marinated it. She soaked the tofu in water.
"Mom, I'll stew the fish when I get back at noon, so don't bother cooking it." The old lady was reluctant to use oil when cooking, so she didn't trust her to cook the fish.
The old lady responded and asked her youngest daughter, who was about to leave, "When is Xiao Ning coming back?" She wanted to wait for her son-in-law to come back so he could take the old man to the hospital for a check-up. If he was feeling better, they could go home. They had been staying here for over ten days, and she wondered if anyone had watered the vegetables in her garden.
“I don’t know the exact time either, it’s at most ten days, he’s been gone for eleven days.” Su Yu wondered why so many people were asking Ning Jin when he would be back today. “What do you need him for? Just tell me, maybe I can handle it without him.”
“Then I’ll wait for him to come back. You’re not strong enough to do it,” the old lady refused.
"Fine, I won't say anything then." Su Yu packed her things and went to work. When she arrived at the office, she noticed that her senior colleague, Qin Lihong, had cut her hair short and looked quite neat. She leaned over and asked, "Sister Qin, where did you get your hair cut? It looks really good."
"Beautiful?" Qin Lihong touched her hair awkwardly. "You want to sell your hair too? Your hair is so black and shiny, it's a shame to sell it."
Her black hair was indeed beautiful, but now that she didn't have shampoo, Su Yu used soap to wash her hair, which made it very rough and painful to comb. Besides, she wanted to change her look.
She went back home for lunch and sat in front of a small round mirror to look at the person in the mirror. She had a round face, chubby cheeks, and big eyes. She had the typical good looks that old people talked about. She had a shiny black braid, and if you didn't look at her eyes, she had an innocent and quiet temperament.
After getting off work in the evening, she went to the hair salon that Qin Lihong had mentioned and sold her waist-length hair for seven yuan. She then had the stylist trim it according to her instructions. When she looked in the mirror afterward, she was indeed very different from the quiet woman she had been at noon.
"Have you seen enough? You've been staring for a whole meal." Su Yu couldn't help but chuckle, raising an eyebrow and smiling at the four people at the table.
"Something looks off." Yu Anxiu took another look.
"She doesn't look like my mom, she looks like an aunt I don't recognize," Xiao Yuan commented.
"Looks good." Ping An nodded with an eye for style, and even touched his short stubble.
Su Yu looked at the other person who hadn't spoken, "Father, what do you think?"
"She doesn't look like my daughter." Su Changguo took a closer look. Her eyes and nose were still the same, but after cutting her hair, it was as if her facial features had changed. The liveliness in her eyes was now uncontrollable.
"I'll buy a new outfit tomorrow, so Ningjin won't recognize me when he comes back. In just half a month, my wife has not only been promoted but also changed." When Su Yu heard the word "unlike," she no longer felt the panic she had when she first arrived. Everyone around her noticed her change, but each person gave her a reasonable explanation for it, so she didn't need to explain at all.
Two days later, Ning Hua visited again and almost didn't recognize Su Yu. After entering the house, he thought she was a guest of his third sister-in-law. He nodded and greeted her before hesitantly calling out, "Third sister-in-law?"
“It’s me, eldest sister. Are you here to see Ping An?” Su Yu asked cheerfully.
"Yes, your brother-in-law is back. Ping An hasn't been to my house in a long time. Let's invite him for a meal." She paused, then remembered her main purpose and asked, "Is Xiao Yuan home? Let him go with Ping An so he can get acquainted with the place."
"They were doing their homework inside, and I called them to wait a moment." Actually, she was looking at the comic books she bought from the recycling center.
She pushed the door open and saw the two of them nervously hiding their comic books in their clothes. "It's me, Ping An. Your aunt wants you to come to her house for dinner. Come out and talk to her. Xiao Yuan, come out too."
The two of them hid the comic book under the blanket before coming out. Ping An went over and called out to his aunt, while Xiao Yuan stood at the door without saying a word.
Ninghua repeated, "La Ping'an is about to go out."
"Wait a minute." Ping An stuck his bottom out and struggled to stop his aunt from leaving. "Let me ask Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yuan, are you going to my aunt's house for dinner? I'll share your grandparents with you, and I'll share my aunt with you too."
Ning Hua: "..."
Su Yu: "..." No wonder they made up so quickly, it turns out they reached an agreement.
Xiao Yuan shook his head. He could tell that Aunt Ping An didn't like him very much. "I'm not going. I'll stay home and eat my mom's chive pancakes and egg drop soup."
"Then I won't go either." Ping An pried his aunt's hand away and ran back, afraid that his aunt would kidnap him. "Auntie, I'll come to your house for dinner tonight. Please save me a bowl of meat." He wanted to eat at both places.
“Your cousin will share with you tonight, so you won’t eat much. Go for lunch, I’ve stewed some chicken.” Ning Hua continued to persuade her. Her main goal was to lure Ping An out to ask about Su Yu. Judging from her mother’s words, the two were almost at each other’s throats. She was worried that with Su Yu’s personality, she wouldn’t go to her mother’s birthday party, which would be embarrassing and give outsiders something to laugh at.
Mainly, she also wanted to get some relief from the situation. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law sometimes argue, so how could they stop seeing each other? She heard that Su Yu hadn't been to the old house for a month or two. When her younger brother, that bastard, went back, he either borrowed a bicycle or picked a fight.
"Go ahead, I'll save the chive dumplings for you, you can eat them later tonight." Su Yu told Ping An to go with his aunt, since she couldn't get anything done by dawdling.
"That's fine too." He went out with his aunt. On the way, he heard his aunt ask him if his stepmother had scolded his grandmother at home, why he didn't go to his grandmother's house for meals, and whether his stepmother didn't want him to associate with his grandmother.
"No, none at all." Ping An said impatiently, shaking off his aunt's hand and running ahead. "Auntie, hurry up, I'm starving."
When it was time to eat, and he finally got to nibble on some chicken, his aunt started asking Xiao Yuan how long his maternal grandparents had been staying at their house, what dishes they had cooked during that time, and whether they had talked about his grandparents...
"Auntie, my mom said kids shouldn't meddle in adult matters, and don't ask me about your adult affairs either, I don't know anything about them." Ignoring his aunt's frozen face, he picked up a piece of chicken, which seemed to be from the breast, with too much lean meat. "I only know one thing now, Auntie, your chicken stew isn't good. It's not as flavorful as my mom's. Look, there's not even a scallion, let alone peppercorns. It only tastes like meat, and it's a bit fishy. I can't even chew this piece."
He picked up another chicken wing and continued, "When you go to ask my mom for something, ask her for some scallions and garlic to plant. Remember to buy star anise, cinnamon, and bay leaves. They'll make both chicken and pork stews smell especially good."
"If you don't like it, then don't eat it." Ping An's cousin got angry. He hadn't even complained about Ping An taking the meat from him. He was swallowing his food and still finding fault with it. What kind of person was he?
"My aunt invited me over for dinner, and my mom is also making chive pancakes at home." He actually regretted it a little, because they also make pork chive pancakes at home, which are much more fragrant than this chicken and mushroom stew.
Ning Hua felt aggrieved. How could her nephew have become like this? She scolded her son for continuing to argue, and took another chicken wing from the bowl and gave it to Ping An. "You can't tell others what we, your aunt and nephew, are saying. Your parents don't say anything, and your aunt will invite you to dinner again next time."
Ping An lowered his eyes and agreed. As a result, when he got home after dinner, he poured everything out. His father had always told him that anyone who told him not to tell his parents must be saying something bad. Now that his father wasn't home, he told his mother.
"Good child." Su Yu praised Ping An, thinking that her sister-in-law was being too forward. Could this be the Ning family's heirloom gene? Passed down to daughters but not sons? She even inquired about how Ping An treated her parents.
She met Ningjin twice more after that, but she would make an excuse to leave after only a few words. She didn't even acknowledge her real mother-in-law, let alone this sister-in-law with whom she had a less close relationship.
"Su Yu, look, isn't this you?" Wang Xiaoxia leaned over Su Yu's desk, holding a newspaper, and pointed to the person in the newspaper to compare with her. "It's you. It says 'diving into the water to save someone,' and it's our cannery."
"The newspaper is here!" Su Yu said with delight as she took it. Taking advantage of the factory's publicity campaign, her story of jumping into the water to save someone was featured prominently, and the phrase "Su Yu from the Logistics Department of ×× Canned Food Factory" appeared repeatedly.
"I want to buy several copies so I can show them off to my grandchildren later." Getting on the newspaper in the 1970s was more difficult than getting on television in the 21st century.
"You kept it a secret pretty well. We're such good friends and you didn't even tell me." Wang Xiaoxia glared at her, pretending to be angry. But before they could even look at each other for a moment, she couldn't help but laugh. "Come on, come on, our logistics department is in the newspaper. Come and see, it's such a great honor." She was promoting Su Yu's work.
"Su Yu, you've kept this a secret for too long! This is a good thing, why are you still so tight-lipped? We didn't realize you were such a low-key person." Everyone teased her, unaware that a reporter was interviewing her.
She didn't deliberately hide it, but she didn't feel there was anything to brag about either. It was all just a coincidence. There are countless people doing good deeds, and she was only able to be interviewed thanks to the factory.
"Here you go." Su Yu handed the newspaper to the old man leaning back in his chair. "The newspaper you wanted is here." She pointed to the section where it was.
“You don’t need to tell me, I can read.” Old Man Su interrupted her. He was able to become the village chief because he was literate.
"How many copies did you buy? Ten? Then give me seven, since you don't have anyone to give them to anyway." Old Man Su counted out three newspapers and stuffed them into Su Yu's hands, then asked with a beaming smile, "When is my son-in-law coming back?"
"You're back, Father." Speak of the devil, and he appears; Ning Jin is already outside the door.
"Come on, come on, Xiaoyu's in the newspaper, and she got a promotion! Didn't you know?" He was so proud of himself. He told his son-in-law the whole story from beginning to end, so that no one would ever say that his daughter's job was bought by Ningjin again.
"Good people get good rewards, she deserves it." Ning Jin also expressed his happiness, but when he heard Ping An say that evening that his aunt was asking about his family and not letting him tell his family, his happy mood vanished completely.
After all, they are siblings, and he could tell what his older sister was thinking as soon as he heard it. His mother's birthday was the day after tomorrow, and he guessed that Ning Hua would come again in the next couple of days.
Sure enough, when he returned from taking his father-in-law to the hospital, he saw his older sister enter the alley. "Sister, wait a moment, I have something to tell you. I'll take my father home first and then come out."
"Dad? He's calling me that so affectionately," Ning Hua thought to himself, clicking his tongue inwardly. He'd never seen his own father act this way. He must be under some kind of spell.
"Big sister, if anything happens at home in the future, just come and ask me. Don't go to Su Yu. Apart from my father-in-law breaking his leg, she's not involved in anything else. I'm just dealing with a bunch of messy things. I'm not home every day. It's not easy for her to raise a child and take care of the family alone. If it's something to do with Mom and Dad, talk to me. If I'm not home, talk to my older brothers. They're sons too." He married Su Yu, and at first, she benefited from it. But in just six months, the situation has reversed. He's afraid that if things get any more chaotic at home, she'll upset him and want a divorce again.
Ninghua told her younger brother that it wasn't as difficult as he thought. Her husband was also out driving cars, so she had the most say. She couldn't be more comfortable staying at home alone. She didn't have to serve that stinky man. He only came back every two weeks, making it seem like she was keeping a lover and getting paid for it.
"You have your in-laws to help you take care of the baby, but did Mom help Su Yu?" Ning Jin waved her hand, telling her to go back and attend to her own family matters.
"My mom's birthday is the day after tomorrow. Come over for dinner after work, I'll pick you up." He asked cautiously, his arm around the woman who had half-closed her eyes, as he tossed the newly bought condoms into the basin.
Su Yu nodded, "You can buy whatever you want yourself. I won't interfere or ask questions. Don't expect me to worry about it. I'm just going to have lunch that day."
The men breathed a sigh of relief; they had been petty. Su Yu had never intended to refuse to go.
Ning Jin was good to her parents, so Su Yu didn't want him to make things difficult for his relatives. When he came to pick her up, she saw the empty bag in his hand and asked in surprise, "You didn't buy anything? Why don't you go to the factory and buy some oranges?"
"No need, I brought some good stuff."
As soon as Ning Jin entered the door, he opened the cloth bag, revealing a neatly folded newspaper. "Mom, this is definitely the best thing I've ever given you in all these years. Look, do you see this? This is Su Yu, your youngest daughter-in-law. A helpful and dedicated woman has married into our Ning family. Aren't you proud?"
“I feel that no matter how nice the gift is, it’s not as satisfying as buying it myself, so I didn’t buy anything. Here’s the money, you can buy whatever you want yourself.” Ning Jin stuffed five yuan into his mother’s hand. “You’re old now, enjoy your retirement. Don’t worry about the younger generation’s affairs.”
Ning Hua heard this sentence as soon as she entered the door. It sounded very familiar. Not long ago, that brat Ping An had used "adult matters are none of our business" to shut her up. But then he turned around and told his father what she said. At that time, he, the child, had become an adult again?
Zhao Guixiang thought that she and her youngest son were not destined to be together. She wanted to celebrate her birthday properly and have a filial son and grandson to enjoy her life. However, she did not expect that her youngest son would come back and make her unhappy as soon as he entered the door.
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