Having accomplished a great task, Lu Jiaxin was in a very good mood: "Xue Mao, to celebrate my rebirth, let's have a good meal today."

Hearing that they had to eat out again, Xue Mao felt his scalp tingling and said, "Sister Xin, let's not eat out. I'll go to the market to buy some good food and cook it myself at home."

He is so idle that he is about to molder and dares not spend so much anymore.

Lu Jiaxin can also cook. In fact, she had never cooked before college. After college, she lived alone and started to learn to cook. Later, she went to study in a romantic country and her cooking skills improved greatly. There was no other way. If she didn't cook for herself, she would have to eat bread every day.

"Okay, buy more meat."

Xue Mao went to the market and bought a chicken and three pounds of meat. When he got home, he didn't rush to cook, but boiled medicine for Lu Jiaxin first.

When she smelled the medicine, Lu Jiaxin couldn't concentrate on her studies. When the medicine was ready, Lu Jiaxin pinched her nose and drank it.

At first, she had no experience, and her mouth was full of bitter taste after taking the medicine. She rinsed her mouth with water, and it took a long time for the taste to dissipate. Later, she became experienced, and she quickly rinsed her mouth after taking the medicine and then put a piece of milk candy in her mouth, and the taste of the medicine would soon go away. After using this method, taking medicine no longer felt like torture.

Lu Jiaxin looked at the fat chicken and said, "Xue Mao, let's stew half of the chicken in soup and braise the other half with potatoes and chicken!"

"good."

As soon as the chicken was put into the stew pot, Lu Jiajie's voice was heard outside: "Jiaxin, Jiaxin, open the door, it's me."

Xue Mao ran to open the door, welcomed the person in, and whispered, "Fifth brother, Sister Xin is studying in the room."

"Xinxin, Xinxin, come out quickly, I brought some delicious food."

When Lu Jiaxin heard his call, she wondered why he was delivering things at this time. After coming out, she asked, "Fifth Brother, don't you want to go to work?"

"It's okay. I took half a day off."

Lu Jiaxin felt that he was not very active at work. How could he ask for leave so easily? But as a younger sister, and because he was running around for her own business, she couldn't say anything.

Lu Jiajie said, "Xinxin, each of the crabs in this basket weighs more than half a pound. We'll have steamed crabs for lunch and spicy crabs for dinner. We'll use the remaining crab roe to make buns tomorrow morning."

Xue Mao said in a disheartening tone: "Fifth brother, I'm taking medicine now. I can't eat crabs because they are cold."

Lu Jiaxin's good mood disappeared instantly, and she looked at Xue Mao with resentment. If he hadn't said anything, she would have eaten it. But now that he said this, she didn't dare to touch it no matter how much she liked it.

Lu Jiajie slapped his head and said, "Oh, I forgot about this. Xue Mao, then steam six crabs later and make the remaining six into spicy crabs tonight."

He and Xue Mao are both big eaters, so three crabs each are no problem.

Lu Jiaxin smiled and said, "Steam four for lunch, and take the rest back to your sister-in-law and Qiangqiang later. I just stewed a chicken today, so you can have a bowl of it later."

Lu Jiaxin said with a smile: "Fifth sister-in-law is very careful with her money, she would never buy crabs for the children. You should keep your little pocket money, otherwise she will quarrel with you again if she finds out."

Lu Jiajie was speechless and could only say that a penny can make a hero fall.

Lu Jiaxin knew that he was very concerned about his reputation, so it would be fine if it was normal, but this time she didn't avoid it: "Qiangqiang and Xiaofeng have lost a lot of weight recently, so we need to feed them more good food. It's not convenient to give them extra meals at the Ma family's place, so bring them to my place to eat on the weekend."

Lu Jiaxin knew everything about him. Because of family planning, Ma Lili was forced to get sterilized after giving birth to Xiaofeng, and the original agreement was no longer valid.

This is the national policy, not the Lu family's going back on their word. Although Ma's father felt bad, he had to accept it. But Ma's eldest sister felt unbalanced. As a daughter of the same family, Ma Lili lived in her mother's house of more than 50 square meters, and her children were taken care of by her parents. Because she lived comfortably, she looked like a grown-up girl. On the other hand, she not only had to endure the exclusion of her mother-in-law and her sisters-in-law, but also had to squeeze a family of five in a 20-square-meter house. Because she felt unfair, she often brought her children home last year, and she always used words to squeeze Lu Jiajie and Ma Lili.

In the past, Sister Ma would also say sour words, but she would only reply two or three times a month, and Ma Lili, as a vested beneficiary, endured it. But in the spring, Sister Ma suddenly proposed to adopt her youngest son back to her parents' home to take over the Ma family.

The lack of a successor to the family line was a major concern for Ma's parents, and after hearing her words, their attitudes changed drastically. However, Ma's brother-in-law's parents disagreed, so the matter remained stuck.

Since Sister Ma announced the adoption, she not only handed her youngest son over to the care of Ma's father and mother, but also brought the other two children back for dinner every now and then.

Ma Lili paid for food every month, but Sister Ma never gave her any money. The food expenses did not increase, but the number of people eating increased, and the food quality dropped sharply. Qiangqiang and Xiaofeng sometimes did not have enough to eat, which made Lu Jiajie and Ma Lili very distressed.

Even so, Sister Ma was still not satisfied and asked Ma Lili and Lu Jiajie to move out. Ma Lili did not refuse, but she also had a condition, that is, Xiaopang must be changed to Ma and the household registration must be registered under the name of his parents, and then she and her husband would move out with the child. Before that, she would not leave.

Because of this incident, the relationship between the two sisters became strained. Ma's parents were relatively clear-headed about this matter and said that they would only allow them to move back with the child if the child was registered under their names. But Ma's brother-in-law's parents refused to give in, so this matter could not be done.

Lu Jiajie was reluctant to take the food back: "If you take the food back, your Fifth Sister-in-law and Qiangqiang won't be able to eat much."

It's not that he doesn't love his wife and children, but the problem now is that his father-in-law and mother-in-law are partial to Yan Xiaopang and always give him all the good things first.

Lu Jiaxin was startled. She didn't expect the conflict to be so deep. She said, "How about this? You bring your fifth sister-in-law and the two children to my place for dinner. I just think it's a bit lonely to have dinner with Xue Mao alone. If they come, it will be lively here."

Seeing her say this, Lu Jiajie stopped being polite. Being too polite would make him seem awkward. “Okay, I’ll pick them up after get off work.”

After dinner, Lu Jiajie went back to work.

Xue Mao asked in confusion: "Sister Xin, there are twelve crabs. We ate four at noon, so there are still eight. There are only six people in the Ma family, and there are two more. Why did Brother Jiajie say that the fifth sister-in-law and the two children can't eat them? Lu Jiaxin briefly told the Ma family about the matter. Every family has its own problems, and she herself is a mess, so she won't say anything about the Ma family.

Xue Mao couldn't help but think of his own affairs, and said with some discomfort: "Sister, blood relatives, why would you be so calculating for a little money?"

"Because of selfishness and greed."

(End of this chapter)