Zhou's mother angrily walked out of the oven in the alley and came to Zhou Huaishan's house. She pushed open the gate and heard crying sounds coming from the room, so she walked into the main room angrily.
She walked to the door of the room on her left and saw Zhou Huaishan sitting on the edge of the bed with a sullen face, and Li Qiuyue leaning against the bedside crying out of breath.
"Pa!" She went in and hit Zhou Huaishan. "What's wrong? You can't live a good life anymore, right?"
When Li Qiuyue heard Zhou's mother's voice, she stopped crying, sat up straight, lowered her head and did not dare to look at Zhou's mother.
Zhou Huaishan rubbed his arm and said, "It's not me who quarrels with her, it's her who keeps nagging. She keeps nagging me when I want to take a nap, and she won't let me go up the mountain to work.
I am exhausted every day, and she is uncomfortable here and there, and sometimes she beats the children to vent her anger. Xiaoru and Xiaolin hide when they see her!"
After hearing this, Zhou's mother looked at Li Qiuyue with a cold face, "Isn't it just a dozen goose eggs? Is it worth making a fuss for a whole day?"
"Mom, I..." Li Qiuyue wanted to say that she was not doing it for the goose egg, but she felt that since they were both daughters-in-law of the Zhou family and both were pregnant, why did they give the child to Chunyan and not to her?
Then I thought about how I had gotten pregnant secretly...
Mother Zhou sneered, "Don't you know your own situation? And you still have the nerve to be angry that your uncle is partial to you and didn't give you any goose eggs? You're just short of the two dollars to buy goose eggs? I'll go get a basket of them right away and give them to you to eat slowly!"
"My mother told me at lunch that we should avoid the first and last taboos of the first lunar month and the twelfth lunar month, and we should also avoid the taboos during the New Year and other festivals, so that the coming year will be safe and smooth. You don't want to live a good life, but you insist on making trouble! What do you want to do?"
Zhou Huaishan looked up, "She said she doesn't want this baby anymore and wants to go to the hospital for an abortion!"
"What did you say? Everything was fine..." Zhou's mother was so angry that her eyes went dark. Zhou Huaishan hurriedly pulled a chair for her to sit down.
After hearing this, Li Qiuyue hurriedly said, "No, I was just saying it in anger..."
"Go ahead and do it!" Zhou's mother said with a dark face, "I don't care what you say. You'd better think it through while the month is still young. When the month is older, it will be a matter of life and death..."
"As the old saying goes, first-class people are taught with the eyes, second-class people are taught with the mouth, and third-class people are taught with the stick. You've been married for several years now, and I've taught you so much, but it seems like you've ignored all of it!"
"You were understandable for fighting when you didn't have enough to eat or wear warm clothes at home before. Now you live in a brick and tile house and have money to earn while sitting at home, and you are still fighting! Be content and open your mind. Think about yourself in the first half of the night and others in the second half. Don't just focus on the trivial things under your nose."
Li Qiuyue was a little unconvinced, "I didn't want to compete with Chunyan, I just felt..."
Zhou's mother exposed her mercilessly, "You are narrow-minded, and you only care about those trivial things. If Chunyan and Laoyao were like you, would you be able to live the good life you have now?"
Li Qiuyue's face felt so hot that it seemed like it was about to burn.
Zhou Huaishan felt a little embarrassed after hearing this, "Mom, I will tell her that I won't do it again in the future."
Zhou's mother snorted, "It's up to you. Try as you please. Sooner or later, our relationship will be gone." After she said that, she turned around and left.
"Think about it carefully. I'm really going to collect a basket of goose eggs for you and see how you can eat them!" Zhou Huaishan said this and hurriedly chased her out.
Thinking of the scene where Zhou's mother carried a basket of goose eggs to her, Li Qiuyue wanted to slap herself twice.
He wanted to chase after her but was too embarrassed, so he hurried to the window. He saw Zhou Huaishan holding Zhou's mother at the gate of the courtyard, saying something with an apologetic smile on his face. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Zhou's mother returned to Yang Chunyan's home and said to the others, "She was still crying when I went there! She felt uncomfortable that she had to be so secretive about having a baby, and she kept finding fault with the third child every few days.
The third child said that she wanted a son herself, and that she was looking for something to do after eating too much... I scolded both of them..."
The old man nodded. "It's time to scold them. It's the end of the year and they're still making a fuss!"
Mother Zhou looked at Yang Chunyan, "Yan'er, don't bother with her!"
Zhou Huaian felt uncomfortable after hearing this, and before she could answer, he said, "My Chunyan has a good temper, so of course I won't argue with her. If she continues to be like this in the future, I won't be able to control her."
Zhou's mother knew that if she pissed him off, he would be a scoundrel. "Mom knows, if she continues to be so stubborn in the future, we will just ignore them."
…
In a blink of an eye, it was the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month. Early in the morning, Zhou Huaian and Yang Chunyan picked up Zhou Yiding at the door of his house, and then went to Guanyin Brigade to pick up Zhao Meina and her brother and went to Ning'an together.
After crossing the bridge, it was already dawn. Zhao Xiaochuan looked curiously at the pedestrians on the road, as well as the occasional cars and trucks passing by.
They found that the weather in the county town was much warmer than in the mountains, and few passers-by wore cotton clothes.
The tractor drove into the yard of the guesthouse. Zhou Yiding carried him off the tractor and went to help Zhou Huaian deliver the food to the kitchen.
Huang Yongcai's restaurant will close tomorrow and will not reopen until the eighth day of the first lunar month. This time all he needs is a basket of vegetables and a few chickens and ducks. The guesthouse has prepared some goods, but will start delivering them on the fifth day of the first lunar month.
Yang Chunyan picked up the eggs and said to the three siblings, "Wait here for a while, aunt will come out after she brings the food in."
"Okay!" Zhao Meina held Zhao Xiaochuan's hand and stood next to the tractor. The three siblings looked up at the multi-story building.
"Sister, the houses in the city are so tall!"
Zhao Xiuna whispered, "This is a building. Dad used to say that their houses are all tall."
Zhao Xiaochuan pouted, "He doesn't want us anymore. I don't like him."
Others have mothers, husbands, grandparents, uncles, and aunts, but they don’t. The kids in the village say they are unwanted children and always bully them.
Zhao Meina touched his head and recalled that after her parents stopped sending money, the villagers were worried that she couldn't support her younger siblings and wanted to give Xiu Na and Xiao Chuan to someone else. She was also afraid that she couldn't support them at that time, so she almost agreed to send them away...
On the first day when the person who was going to take the child came, I felt reluctant to let him go.
Thinking that their parents had abandoned them and left, if they gave their younger siblings away, they would be the only one left here all alone...
The second sister spent a few good days with them and still remembered their kindness. Xiaochuan was so young that he couldn't even remember what his parents looked like. Every time he was bullied by the children in the village, he would go home and take their photos and call them "old man" and "mother", asking them why they didn't come back...
Later I stopped shouting. Every time I came back I would say they didn’t want me anymore and I didn’t want them anymore. I didn’t like them…
Yang Chunyan came out of the kitchen and saw the three siblings standing by the tractor, staring blankly at the guesthouse building. She waved at them with a smile, "Mina, bring your brother and sister-in-law to the cafeteria to eat steamed buns. The buns in the guesthouse have thin skins, large fillings, and taste great!"
Zhao Meina hurriedly said, "Aunt, we have had breakfast." She got up in the morning and cooked taro, ate it early and was waiting for them.
"Auntie hasn't eaten yet, come and eat with me." Yang Chunyan walked forward and pulled Zhao Xiaochuan and Zhao Xiuna into the cafeteria, and sat them at the table.
On the table were three plates of pickled vegetables mixed with red oil and two plates of salted vegetables.
Zhou Huaian brought a few baskets of steamed dumplings, and Zhou Yiding brought eggs and peanut porridge over, placing a bowl in front of Zhao Xiaochuan. "The peanut porridge is freshly cooked, and it tastes delicious."
Zhao Xiaochuan looked into the bowl and said, "Uncle Yiding, why don't I see any peanuts?"
"Little fool!" Zhou Yiding scooped a spoonful of sugar into the bowls of several people, "Peanut porridge is made by soaking peanuts, putting them in a stone mill, and then grinding them into pulp like soy milk, and then boiling them with water."
Zhao Xiaochuan: "Oh! I see. Aunt Su's family has a stone mill. My eldest sister gave one of the big fish Uncle Huai'an sent to them yesterday, and Aunt Su's family ground some tofu for us."
Zhao Meina said, "Aunt, Uncle Huai'an and Uncle Hongbing sent a lot of fish. I killed the rest and made them into pickled fish. I'll send them to you to try when they're ready."
Zhao Xiu Na: "Aunt, the pickled fish made by my eldest sister is very fragrant. We used to pick fish from the ditch and pickle them with salt. This time, we also added peppercorns and white wine. We should have added rice wine, but we don't have it here."
Yang Chunyan thought it might be her parents' way of doing things, so she smiled and praised, "Mina is really capable!" Then she picked up another bun and put it on their plates, "Eat the buns. It's a waste if you buy them but don't eat them."
Zhao Xiaochuan took a mouthful of soybean milk porridge and said, "Hmm! My elder sister said that we can't waste food. If we don't have food, we will be hungry."
Zhao Xiu Na finished eating a small bun and said, "The buns are delicious. Aunt, my elder sister planted wheat seeds on the mountain this year, so we will have flour to eat next year."
Yang Chunyan nodded. "It's better to sow wheat on the mountain land. Have you reserved the rice paddies?"
The three siblings had three mu of farmland and six mu of mountain land. Fortunately, the village cadres took care of the three siblings and allocated the mountain land and farmland near their home.
She felt that most of the village cadres these days were good, and those like those in Fangtian Brigade were still a minority. Most of the village cadres elected in the future would try every means to put money into their own pockets.
"I left some of it. I scattered the grass and flower seeds Aunt Su gave me. She said it can be used to fertilize the fields. The pig grass can also be dried and sold for money."
Huang Yongcai brought over a plate of salted duck eggs and said, "I made these salted duck eggs and brought them over as a side dish for you."
Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "Brother Huang's cooking skills are quite good! The salted duck eggs are soaked with butter that is flowing out!"
Huang Yongcai smiled and said, "This is simple. Use peppercorns, star anise, fennel, bay leaves... add salt and water, boil them, cool them down and pour them into a jar. Boil the duck eggs in white wine, dry them and put them in the jar. It will be ready after a month of soaking."
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian thought that it was similar to his mother's method of soaking salted duck eggs, "My mother seems to soak them this way."
"My mother-in-law taught me this method, too." Huang Yongcai said with a smile, "It seems that the methods of the elderly are all similar!"
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian asked him with a smile, "Come to our place for two days during the New Year. Let's go to the river to fish and catch sandworms."
"I may not be able to go during the Chinese New Year. This year, I spent New Year's Eve at my home, and on the second day I went to my mother-in-law's home to visit her grave... I didn't visit all my relatives until the eighth day when the tofu pudding shop opened." Huang Yongcai shook his head, "Chinese New Year is more tiring than usual!"
Zhou Huaian: "It's the same at my house. We all go to the old house on the 30th. On the first day, we go to my brother's house. On the second day, we go to my mother-in-law's house... Ding Ding Mao's house is the sixth day. If we go to my uncle's house again, it will be the eighth day." (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com