Tao Chunfang took off her coat and put it aside: "We discussed it all in the kitchen, and no one mentioned it at the dinner table, so you didn't know. Now that I've told you, why are you still objecting?"
Qiao Dashan sighed: "What can I object to? It's all because I'm too useless. As the eldest son in the family, I can only support you by doing odd jobs now."
Tao Chunfang crawled into bed: "Don't think so much, go to sleep early. You have to go to work tomorrow morning! If Xiaoshan doesn't come with you, you'll have to do more work tomorrow."
It's going to be windy and rainy again these next few days, and your back is acting up again, so take it easy when you're working and don't overexert yourself.
"Mmm!" Qiao Dashan responded, then reached his hand into his wife's blanket: "The little one's asleep, isn't he? Tonight we..."
"Aren't you tired?" Tao Chunfang asked, blushing.
"What's so tiring about this? It's nothing compared to the work I do."
"Then it's up to you."
...
Qiao Xiaoni lived in the west wing. She couldn't sleep for the first two days, but now, lying in bed, she was drifting off to sleep. Thinking about selling vegetable pancakes tomorrow, she decided that she absolutely had to persuade Li Meihua to put more oil into the filling the next morning...
The next morning, before dawn, the sound of chopping vegetables came from the kitchen. Qiao Xiaoni was startled awake and grabbed the clothes that were lying to the side to put on.
Having gotten used to wearing them, she didn't find the patches on the clothes an eyesore. Qiao Xiaoni had several pieces of clothing in her closet without patches, all very clean. They were probably meant for school; she usually wore these old clothes at home.
In those days, only slightly fewer people in the city wore patched clothes. In rural areas, almost every household practiced mending and washing clothes, keeping them new for three years and old for three years...
She put on her shoes and skipped into the kitchen, where she saw Li Meihua putting salt into a basin: "Mom, hurry up and put it down for me, I'll do it in a bit."
Tao Chunfang, who was sitting on a bench adding firewood, turned around and said, "Why are you up so early? Why don't you sleep a little longer? Mom and I are fine here."
"Sister-in-law, why didn't you call me when you got up?" After saying that, she went over and took down the salt jar.
Li Meihua: "This is such a big bowl of filling, I'm afraid you won't be able to mix it well, let me do it!"
Qiao Xiaoni rolled up her sleeves and, just like last time, washed her hands in the basin. She hurriedly got up, saying she hadn't washed her face yet, but would wash it later.
"Mom, I want to talk to you about something."
"When did you ever speak to me like that, kid?" Li Meihua teased. "I'm not used to it anymore. So, what do you want from me? Do you want some pocket money? It's rare for us to go to town today, so I'll give you two cents to buy some snacks!" With that, she took out the money she had prepared from her pocket.
She remembered it when she got up early in the morning. It had been a long time since she had given her daughter pocket money, so she decided to go to town today and let her buy something to eat.
Tao Chunfang watched the two cents from the side, feeling an inexplicable jealousy... The old lady had never given her daughter two cents before...
Qiao Xiaoni saw all of this and took the two cents that were handed to her: "Since you're giving it to me, I'll accept it. I'll use it to buy some good food for Manli in town. Consider it a gift from your grandmother."
These words dispelled the lingering resentment in Tao Chunfang's heart. She realized that her earlier thoughts were truly inappropriate. Qiao Xiaoni was her mother-in-law's biological daughter; what was she jealous of?
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