The following days were spent visiting relatives to offer New Year's greetings or receiving relatives who came to visit.
Because Zhao Sufang's biological mother lives in western Sichuan, and she had a falling out with her second uncle Zhao Hairen, she had no family to visit.
Li Jin had several relatives to visit for the New Year, including his aunts, uncles, and sisters. He didn't finish all his visits until the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, leaving only his third and fourth aunts' homes unvisited.
These two women were his sisters. He planned to simply let them in and out as a courtesy, and didn't intend to have them stay for dinner.
Aunt Li San and Aunt Li Si married into the same village, and their husbands were cousins, so the two families lived not far apart.
They went back to the wife's family home on the second day of the Lunar New Year to pay New Year's visits. When they went to visit the eldest brother, Li Jin, they found the gate locked. They asked the neighbors and were told that the family had gone to the county to pay New Year's visits to the county party secretary.
The two sisters ran into a brick wall. Aunt Li said indignantly that it must have been Zhao Sufang who did this. Knowing that her aunts were coming to visit their parents' home on the second day of the Lunar New Year, she deliberately went out today.
Aunt Li Si wasn't angry. She was shocked that her eldest brother's family could pay New Year's visits to the county party secretary. She quickly stopped Aunt Li San, who was still cursing, and pulled her back home.
Today, Li Jin came to pay his New Year's visit, and Li Sigu was in a particularly good mood. She held onto her eldest brother and wouldn't let him leave. She quickly asked her husband, Qu Jinlong, to accompany Li Jin while she busied herself preparing lunch.
When Li Jin insisted on leaving, Aunt Li's eyes welled up with tears. "Brother, are you becoming distant with me? Why won't you even eat a meal at my house?"
Seeing the fine lines around his youngest sister's eyes, Li Jin's heart softened. "Just a simple warm-up is fine, don't make it special!"
Aunt Li happily agreed, and said in a crisp voice:
"Hey, brother, why don't you sit inside and have some tea and a smoke? Jinlong, quickly brew that jasmine tea you bought before the New Year for me!"
Qu Jinlong was not as clever as Li Sigu; he was a very quiet and honest young man.
Because of the significant age difference between her and her brother-in-law, she was slightly reserved in front of Li Jin, only offering to refill his tea and light his cigarette.
Li Jin asked him briefly what he had been doing lately, how his children were doing in school, and how his elderly parents were doing.
As the two were talking and exchanging questions, a shrill female voice came from outside the window:
"Oh, big brother's here! Why don't you come inside?"
Aunt Li quickly put down her work and went out to greet him, saying loudly, "Third Sister, my eldest brother just went to your house, but it was locked, so he came to my place first."
As she spoke, she tugged hard at Li Sangu's clothes and whispered, "It's the New Year, and your brother has come all this way, so don't make things difficult for him!"
Aunt Li's face was as cold as ice. She flung Aunt Li's hand away and shouted, "Bullshit! Who's looking for trouble?"
With that, he turned and went inside.
Qu Jinlong was refilling Li Jin's tea when he saw Li Sangu trotting into the room. He quickly called out, "Fifth Sister-in-law is here!"
Li Jin remained unmoved. Li Sangu sat down on the kang (a heated brick bed) in front of him and brought up the old matter again, "Brother, it's not that I'm criticizing you as your sister..."
Before she could finish speaking, Li Jin coldly interrupted her, "Then don't say anything!"
"ah……"
Li Sangu was a little stunned.
"Wh-what..."
Li Jin said seriously, "It's the New Year, and I haven't even drunk a drop of water from your house, so you don't need to lecture me!"
Pointing to two boxes of pastries on the ground, she said, "Here, those are for you. Take them!"
This is a blatant attempt to drive her away.
Li Sangu's face flushed red from the humiliation inflicted by her own elder brother, her lips trembled for a long time, and finally she simply gave up in desperation:
“Li Jin! It’s fine if you look down on me, but our parents raised you! You didn’t even invite them over for New Year’s Eve dinner. Do you know how our mother spent the New Year? Her eyes were swollen from crying…”
Aunt Li was standing at the door. She hadn't planned to go in and get involved since she saw that Li Jin had suppressed her third sister.
But she never expected that Aunt Li would suddenly erupt and point at Li Jin's face, unleashing a torrent of abuse.
This terrified Aunt Li Si, who rushed into the house to stop her. Aunt Li San was quite strong and shoved her sister out.
Qu Jinlong reached out and caught his staggering wife, asking with concern, "Are you alright?"
This sister-in-law and cousin-in-law always has such a fiery temper; I really don't know how Fifth Brother Qu Jinkui manages to live with her.
"Since you feel so sorry for your mother, why don't you take her home?"
"Uh-huh?"
“Now men and women are equal. We were raised by the same parents. I didn’t spend a penny of my family’s money when I got married and had children. On the contrary, you come home crying and making a fuss every few days. You must have gotten a lot of money from your parents, right?”
Li Jin said calmly, and Li Sangu's face turned red and then pale, then red again, after being hit where it hurt.
"Your parents treat you like this, shouldn't you take care of them? You love our mother so much, why don't you take her in and raise her yourself!"
"I, I, I am a married daughter. A married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl; since ancient times, it has been the son's responsibility to care for his parents in their old age and see them off in their final days!"
Li Sangu argued vehemently.
"Since you're talking about tradition, let me ask you this: married daughters aren't supposed to come back to their parents' home and cause trouble. How do you handle this?"
Li Jin showed no mercy and completely exposed Li Sangu's shamelessness.
Seeing Aunt Li San run away crying, Aunt Li Si's expression also turned sour. She forced a smile and said, "Big brother, you see, Third Sister has always had this temper since she was little, don't take it to heart..."
Li Jin sighed deeply. They were siblings born of the same mother. If anyone could tolerate each other, they would sever their relationship like this.
"Yuhan, there's no need to say anything more. I understand what you're thinking. The food factory is short-staffed. We'll start work on the eighth day of the new year. Have Jinlong go for the interview. He should be able to get hired without any problems."
Li Jin waved his hand, ready to say goodbye and go home; he didn't even want to eat anymore.
Aunt Li grabbed her eldest brother's arm, her eyes glistening with tears, "Brother, that's not why I wanted you to stay for dinner..."
Just like when she was a child, Li Jin gently patted her head, his tone as if coaxing a child, "I know, I know."
In the end, we didn't get to have the meal.
The couple watched Li Jin's bicycle figure gradually disappear from sight before heading home.
Seeing his wife looking downcast, Qu Jinlong comforted her, "Don't be sad. Didn't your older brother agree? You always say that your older sister's son, Chaochao, got rich by following Xiang Dong. Now I'm going to work with my older brother too, and I can earn money too."
Aunt Li didn't say anything. Although she got what she wanted, she didn't know why, but she still felt a little uneasy.
Halfway through Li Jin's journey, a light snow began to fall from the sky.
When he arrived at Li Xiangdong's house, the snow outside had fallen heavily, and a thick layer of snow had accumulated on the ground, rooftops, and tree branches.
Before he even entered the door, Li Jin could hear laughter and cheerful chatter coming from inside.
His initially dejected mood immediately improved. He put his bicycle in the doorway, stamped the snow off his feet, and then went inside.
A rich aroma of meat wafted over, making Li Jin's mouth water.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com