After asking around, the group of old ladies found out that Lu Lin had asked for leave for Jiang Chunzao. They were envious and jealous. The next day when they were threshing wheat in the field, the old ladies gathered together and started whispering to each other again.
"Oh, if it weren't for that, it's because Mr. Lu loves his wife so much. Look at the barley harvest. The team gives ten work points a day. Such a good thing doesn't come around once a year.
The third son of the Lu family said he didn’t want it, so he just gave it up.”
"Yes, ten work points a day is more than one dollar."
"The third son of the Lu family is an officer in the army. He has a high salary and does not need this little money."
A woman in the village sighed:
"Hey, we are all women, why is Jiang Chunzao so lucky?"
"Needless to say, people are naturally jealous."
"Tsk, even if Jiang Chunzao is lucky, she doesn't have to show off like that. She spends all day either taking her two children to visit her parents' home or fooling around at home."
Lu Gousheng's wife, who had a feud with Jiang Chunzao before, had a long and thin face as if she had just come out of a vinegar jar, and she was full of sourness.
When the women nearby heard what she said, they all smiled with their mouths shut. Everyone in this village knew that a few days ago, a leftover wife from the mainland had a wicked heart and coveted the good things that Jiang Chunzao had bought from the county town, and she wanted to steal them.
Not only did they fail to rob, but they were also beaten up by Jiang Chunzao. They took a group of old women to carry the things home obediently. On the way, they were seen by their husbands. When they returned home that night, they were beaten several times by Lu Gousheng.
Seeing that everyone was laughing secretly with their hands covering their mouths, Lu Gousheng's wife shouted unhappily:
"What are you laughing at? I was wrong. There are so many young wives in Lujia Village, and none of them is as lazy and greedy as Jiang Chunzao."
What Lu Gousheng's wife said was heard by Changshan's wife who came over with wheat. Changshan's wife got angry and put down the wheat in her hand and said angrily:
"Why are you here instead of working hard? You just hang out together and gossip about other people all day long! How can you not gossip about other people? Will it choke you to death?"
Because Changshan's father-in-law was a senior cadre in the brigade, the old ladies were afraid that Changshan would go home and report to her father-in-law, so they kept quiet and worked honestly.
~
Because the weather was good throughout the year, after the wheat harvest, the warehouses in Lujia Village were filled with wheat. The team leader led the village cadres to walk around the warehouse several times, and everyone was smiling.
Everyone in the village said that this year was a year of bumper harvest. When the public grain was paid, every household would be able to get twenty kilograms more wheat than in previous years. When the brigade distributed the grain, this family would have a good life.
The wheat harvest is over, but the villagers are not idle either. After the team leader has had his fun, he still has to lead the villagers to plant this year's corn while it is still early. By the autumn, the villagers will still be counting on the corn harvest to make a living.
Lu Lin worked day and night with the young and old in the village for several days, and finally planted the corn before a summer rain.
These past few days, with the wheat harvest and seeding, Lu Lin was basking in the scorching sun every day. By the time he finished his farm work in Lujia Village, he was tanned all over. In addition, he was not talkative, so he looked like an ice lump standing there.
Jiang Chunzao maliciously teased Captain Lu that he was a stone-cold fool, but that night Captain Lu held him down and gave him a good beating on the bed.
The next day, Jiang Chunzao climbed out of bed with a grin on his face. Captain Lu had already chopped a pile of firewood in the yard. The wheat harvest in the village was over and Lu Lin's vacation was about to end, so he had to return to the army early the next morning.
Last night, the two kids kept asking their dad to take them to the county town to buy picture books. They had finished reading all the picture books that Lu Lin had brought back. Lu Lin chopped the firewood, swept the yard, repaired the chicken coop and fence at home, and after breakfast, he took the two kids to the county town.
Jiang Chunzao stayed at home and made some dough to make cabbage and pork dumplings for Lu Lin.
Lu Lin has loved eating dumplings since he was a child, especially meat-filled dumplings. Every time his family made meat dumplings, he would eat them all up.
Jiang Chunzao thought that Lu Lin would leave early the next morning, and there was nothing delicious to eat in the army, so he picked the freshest cabbage from the vegetable garden, washed it and used it as stuffing. There was plenty of rain this summer, and after several heavy rains, the vegetables in the vegetable garden were growing tall, and even the pumpkin seeds that had just been sown had sprouted early.
Jiang Chunzao saw that the weeds in the vegetable garden had also sprouted, so he went back to the house, took out a small straw hat, put it on his head, and used a small shovel to clear the weeds in the vegetable garden thoroughly.
Jiang Chunzao had just cleared the weeds in the vegetable garden when Changshan's wife came to visit with a basket of tomatoes. Seeing her like this, he laughed:
"Chun Zao sister, you really don't look like a young wife who has become a mother. You look more like a female student studying outside."
Who says it’s not true? We were students back then too.
Jiang Chunzao held the teacup, grabbed two pieces of rock sugar and sprinkled them into the poured plum juice, then handed it to Changshan's wife with a smile.
Changshan's wife had just walked under the scorching sun and was very thirsty. She took the sour plum juice handed to her by Jiang Chunzao, drank a big gulp in one breath, and sighed:
"This sour plum juice tastes better than boiled water. How can you say that you have a good life? Just say that you are making this sour plum juice. It takes so much effort. Among all the young wives in our village, only you have the time to make this sour plum juice."
Changshan's wife never received much education since she was a child, so her words were a bit rough. Jiang Chunzao understood what she meant. Once a country girl gets married, she will be with a man for the rest of her life. She will be busy at the stove and in the fields all day long, so she will never have the time to take care of herself or tinker with things.
Jiang Chunzao also held up a cup of sour plum soup and said with a smile:
"This is some sour plum soup I just made. I have two kids at home. They both like to drink this cold sour plum juice."
Changshan's wife also knew that Jiang Chunzao was good at raising children. She glanced at the small cabbages in the pot on the small table in the yard and said,
"Chun Zao sister, are you going to make dumplings or something?"
Jiang Chunzao smiled:
"Lu Lin has to go back to the army early tomorrow morning, so he just loves to eat these cabbage and pork dumplings."
Changshan's wife made a few jokes, took a few sips from the cup, and chatted with Jiang Chunzao about family matters for a while. Suddenly, as if she remembered something, she whispered:
"Sister Chunzao, you may not know yet, but the two daughters-in-law of your grandmother have been trying to separate the family these days."
Jiang Chunzao's house was separated from the Lu family's old courtyard by a wall, so how could he not know what happened in the Lu family? In the past few days, the Lu family had been in unrest every day, because Mrs. Lu was no longer as obedient as before and working at home. Old Mrs. Lu and Liu Hongyan were always making insinuations at home, and Mrs. Lu was fighting two of them alone, but she was not defeated.
These past few days, Jiang Chunzao saw Mrs. Lu go out occasionally, and she looked completely different from before, like a peasant slave who had risen up and become the master of her own house.
Although the third branch of the Lu family separated from the old Lu family, Lu Lin was still the son raised by old man Lu, and Jiang Chunzao could never gossip about the old Lu family to outsiders.
She could only smile at Changshan's wife and say nothing. Changshan's wife was not the gossipy woman in the village. She said this with good intentions, wanting to remind Jiang Chunzao to pay more attention to the family affairs of the Lao Lu family, so that if something big happened in the Lao Lu family, she, the daughter-in-law, would not be unaware of what had happened.
If the villagers knew about this, they would stab her in the back.
Jiang Chunzao also knew that Changshan's wife had good intentions, so when Changshan's wife was about to go home with her basket, he grabbed a handful of fruit candies bought from the county town and a small pot of homemade shrimp sauce for her.
Sister Changshan knew Jiang Chunzao's personality, so she didn't refuse. She just smiled and said:
"My two little brats have been eating all the good stuff from your house lately. Wait till I don't dare to come to your house anymore in the future."
"Okay, if my sister-in-law doesn't come to my house in the future, I will shamelessly go to yours."
Jiang Chunzao joked with Changshan's wife for a few words and then saw her off.
When Changshan's wife came home, Jiang Chunzao closed the door and went back to the yard to knead the dough, chop the meat and cut the vegetables to make the stuffing. By the time Lu Lin brought the two children home, the plump and round dumplings were already in the pot.
Lu Lin took the two kids for a walk in the county town for a day and bought several picture books that the two kids liked. Although the father and his two sons were sweating profusely from walking, they all looked very happy.
Jiang Chunzao put the hot dumplings in a bowl and took them out of the kitchen. Lu Lin was just wringing out a towel to wipe his face. Jiang Chunzao walked over and nudged Lu Lin with his elbow, saying with a smile:
"Captain Lu, the pork dumplings are out of the pot. You don't mind not having meat this time, do you?"
After saying this, Jiang Chunzao turned and left, leaving Lu Lin standing there with a raised eyebrow.
~
By the time Lu Lin washed his hands and entered the house, the hot dumplings were already on the table. In addition to the dumplings, there was also scrambled eggs with tomatoes and hot and sour shredded potatoes, which were Lu Lin's favorite dishes.
When Lu Lin saw that the table was filled with his favorite dishes, he knew that these were specially cooked for him by his young wife. His usually cold black eyes looked at people affectionately, and he even made Jiang Chunzao blush.
Jiang Chunzao hummed, touched the two kids' heads, and urged with a red face:
"What are you looking at? Eat your meal quickly or it will get cold!"
Seeing his young wife like this, Lu Lin agreed with a smile. As soon as the family sat down at the dinner table, a sound of ghosts howling and wolves howling came from the old courtyard of the Lu family next door, mixed with the cursing of old lady Lu.
"I'm not going to live any longer! I, an old woman, am not going to live any longer! This family is going to be turned upside down!
Oh, God, why don't you open your eyes and send a bolt of lightning to kill these unfilial bastards!"
Jiang Chunzao looked up and saw that Lu Lin, who was in a good mood just now, had a gloomy face in an instant.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
