005, Lu Family
005, Lu Family
As the sun sets and smoke curls up, the whole village exudes a calm and peaceful atmosphere.
At this time, many people who had gone out returned home one after another. The men were repairing farm tools in the yard, or gathered in groups of three or four to chat. The children were playing at the doorstep, and the women were cooking in the kitchen.
A woman from a certain household saw the Lu family of three coming back from outside. Seeing the young man walking between two adults with a bright smile on his face, she asked with a smile, "Qilang, have you gone to the city with your father again?"
He was the seventh among his brothers, so the adults in his family would call him Qilang, and some adults in the village would follow suit. When he heard someone calling him, Lu Mingfei tilted his head back and replied with a smile on his face: "Yes, auntie, my father and I went to sell things. Is your family's meal ready?"
"We're working on it. Want to come over to our house and play?"
"I'm going home with Daddy and Mommy first, and then I'll come to Auntie's house to play next time."
"Okay, haha."
Their home is at the end of the village, and they have to cross the entire village to go home.
Walking around the village with his parents, Lu Mingfei would greet the familiar faces he encountered. As early as the age of one or two, when he could speak, he could accurately call out the names of every adult he met in the village. Perhaps because of this, the adults in the village especially loved to tease him.
At this time, Lu Youtian and Liu Sanniang saw their child acting like a little adult, with smiles on their faces. When they saw people from the village, the couple would greet them and occasionally respond to their words. Over the past few years, thanks to their son, they had become more familiar with the villagers.
The only difference is that the relationship with my family is not as good as with people outside. Thinking of this, Lu Youtian felt a little helpless. But there are some things that he still can't change despite his efforts.
***
By the time the three of them returned home, everyone else in the family had already returned.
White smoke was coming out of the kitchen chimney, and it was obvious that someone was cooking inside. The adults and children who had returned were waiting here for food.
Like many families that hadn't split up, the Lu family mansion, which hadn't split up to this day, had many mouths to feed. Old Man Lu and Wang had four sons and one daughter. The four sons were born first, and the only daughter was the last child born.
The four sons were the eldest, Lu Youfu; the second, Lu Yougui; the third, Lu Youtian; and the fourth, Lu Youliang. Each of the four brothers subsequently married. The third, Lu Youtian, and his wife, Liu, had only one son. The eldest, Lu Youfu, and his wife, Sun, had four sons. The second, Lu Yougui, and his wife, Xiao Wang, had three daughters and one son. The fourth, Lu Youliang, and his wife, Chen, had two daughters and one son.
Now Chen is pregnant again, and the couple will soon have another son or daughter.
A few years ago, Lu Wuniang, the youngest daughter of the Lu family, married the steward of a nearby farm and gave birth to three sons and a little daughter. Because her parents' home was not far away, she would often return to visit relatives.
So on the Lu family's side, the number of people who need to eat alone adds up to twenty-two.
"Third Uncle."
"Third uncle."
When the children playing at the doorstep saw their uncle coming back with a load on his shoulder, they all gathered around him, staring at the basket to see if there was anything delicious hidden inside.
Lu Mingfei hid the remaining half of the pancake in a small basket inside the big basket, so when he saw his cousins coming over, he felt a little nervous, fearing that these naughty kids would lift the lid and look through the contents.
"Hey, you're all back?" Lu Youtian replied to his nephews with a smile, and then he carried his load into his yard. Seeing his parents, two brothers and younger brother all there, he smiled and greeted his family, "Aye, mother, I'm back."
Sitting in the yard was an old lady with gray hair, hunched back, and a serious face. She was Mrs. Wang from the Lu family and also the current head lady of the Lu family mansion.
Old man Lu sat in the yard smoking his pipe, puffing away. When he heard his son calling him, he gave a soft "hmm" as a response.
As soon as she saw her third daughter-in-law and her grandson coming back from outside, Mrs. Lu started scolding her: "All you do is run outside all day? There are so many chores around the house, and you don't even help out. If everyone in the family were like you, how could we survive as a family?"
Faced with her mother-in-law's accusations, Liu Sanniang was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head, not daring to speak in her defense. Actually, her two sisters-in-law were cooking today, and she and another aunt were resting. It would be their turn to cook tomorrow, so she dared to run to the village entrance to wait for her husband and children to return. But when she returned, she was faced with her mother-in-law's scolding again.
In fact, Lu Mingfei knew very well that his grandmother's words were a veiled criticism. On the surface, she was scolding his mother for going to the village entrance to pick them up, but in reality, she was scolding him for not helping with the housework at home and running off to the city to play with his father.
But he was still young, so he pretended not to understand what the adults said.
"Grandma, Daddy and I are back." However, Lu Mingfei couldn't bear to watch the old lady scolding his mother. He immediately picked up the pork on the basket and rushed to the old lady excitedly, forcing the pork into her hands. "Grandma, look what we bought?"
"Daddy and I bought some meat!" He shouted the last sentence loudly, making sure the whole family could hear it! He didn't believe that other people in the family didn't want to eat meat!
When the old lady saw clearly what was stuffed into her hand, she immediately slapped her thigh and cried out: "Oh, it's not a festival, why are you buying meat?..." It would be better to save the money for her eldest grandson's education.
This time, before the old lady finished howling, Lu Mingfei interrupted her and said innocently to her and the grandfather who was watching them, "Grandma, you and Grandpa have been tired and thin lately. I asked Dad to buy some meat and bring it back home to nourish you and Grandpa."
The grandson's filial words blocked the rest of the old lady's words in her throat, and she was stuck in the middle of it. She couldn't say whether to scold her or not.
Just when the old lady wanted to continue howling, Old Man Lu beside her spoke up and stopped his wife from crying any further. He said to his third son and grandson who had just returned, "You're glad you're back. Go drink some water and take a rest."
Lu Youtian wanted to explain on his wife's behalf, but before he could open his mouth, the woman standing behind him reached out and pressed his arm. He understood that she meant to keep his mouth shut, so he suppressed the words that were on his mind. He simply agreed to the old man's words, said "OK," carried the burden back to their room, and put it away before leaving.
When Lu Mingfei returned home, he learned that his eldest cousin, who was studying abroad, had also returned. There was only one reason for his cousin to return home: he had run out of money and was asking for more. His heart sank when he thought about how the little money he and his father had worked so hard to earn, before it even warmed up, was now in his grandmother's hands, and thus in his cousin's hands.
Sure enough, when she saw his father putting the things out, the old lady asked them how much money they had earned from selling the goods that day.
"I made fifty-eight cents from selling goods today, spent ten cents on meat, and bought some scraps of cloth at the cloth shop. The rest of the money is all here." Lu Youtian hesitated for a moment and chose to hide the fact that he had eaten sesame cakes with the children at noon. Otherwise, if the old lady knew about it, there would be trouble again.
Old Mrs. Lu took the purse, weighed it, opened it, took a look, and said, "It's not a festival, why are you buying cloth? You just spend money recklessly when you go out! You don't know how hard it is to earn a few dollars!"
Buying meat would be fine, but spending money on cloth?! Is it money with nowhere to spend it or what? Thinking of this, the old lady became even more unhappy, and the look in her eyes as she looked at her third son was like a knife.
"Mother, it's not a whole piece of cloth, it's scraps. We bought them to make hairpins. Today's hairpins are selling well. The hairpins we collected before are almost sold out. We have to make new ones and sell them together." Lu Youtian corrected his mother who had deliberately distorted their words. The whole piece of cloth and the scraps of cloth had completely different prices and two different uses. They bought the scraps of cloth to make hairpins and sell them, not to make clothes for themselves.
Old Mrs. Lu, who was still looking for a reason to teach her son a lesson, was choked by her third son's words.
How could Lu Mingfei not know that the old lady always liked to deliberately distort what his father and mother said, saying things that clearly didn't mean that. Even his father, who had a soft personality, had learned to defend them.
This time, before the old lady could continue to pick on his father, Lu Mingfei came to pester his grandfather, saying, "Grandpa, let's cook the meat and eat it. The butcher also gave us several large bones. We can use the bones to make soup." He knew that if the meat was cooked, the three of them might not be able to enjoy a sip. But if the bones were used to make soup, they could at least each have a bowl.
"You only know how to eat all day long. You don't need firewood to make soup? You have a mouth and all you know how to do is eat, eat and eat all day long!" The old lady over there said.
"..." Lu Mingfei, in his two lifetimes, this was the first time he had seen such a disappointing old lady!
The grandson's interruption reminded the old lady of something. She said to her third son, whom she always disliked, "Third son, the farm where the eldest son works is looking for temporary workers. The wages are fifty coins a day, which is much more stable than selling things in the city. Starting tomorrow, you can go to the farm with your eldest, second, and fourth brothers to work. You don't have to go to the city to sell goods."
Lu Youtian opened his mouth but still responded, "...Yes, mother." He knew very well that his mother said this to him. In fact, it was already discussed by the family. Even if he said he didn't want to go, no one would listen to him.
However, he thought that it was not far to go to the farm to work, and his son would not have to follow him so far to the city, which was also a good thing.
When Lu Mingfei heard his grandmother's suggestion, he knew full well that the old lady had sent his father to work on the farm because she and the others in the family had always suspected that his father was hiding the money from selling goods outside. That was why they wanted all of their sons to work on the nearby farm so they could keep their wages. Otherwise, his father could earn more money selling goods outside than he could earn as a laborer at the landlord's house. Why didn't the old lady and the others in the family send his father out to work?
Thinking that he had lost the chance to go out for a walk every day, he felt so angry at the old lady who had deprived him of the chance to go out!
But now that his father has agreed to go, there is no point in him saying anything.
But the only consolation was that his grandfather still agreed to take the meat to the kitchen and cook it for everyone to eat.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
