Chapter 100 Chapter 100 Returning to My Mother's Home
On the first day of the New Year, Yu Li woke up to the sound of firecrackers outside.
The air was chilly and I could feel the cold air when I stretched my hand out from under the quilt. But listening to the sound of firecrackers outside, the cold seemed to have some special meaning, making people full of hope for life.
Yu Li threw back the quilt, got out of bed, took his clothes and ran to the screen to change.
When she changed her clothes and came out, she saw Fu Wenxiao had also woken up. He was sitting on the bed, his back leaning against a large pillow, his hair loose, and he looked a little sleepy.
"If you are sleepy, just continue sleeping." Yu Li said to him.
Fu Wenxiao smiled at her and said, "I won't sleep anymore. I'll go to wish mother a happy new year with you later."
Yu Li didn't understand the meaning behind these words, so he said nothing more. He handed him the clothes on the box and told him to put them on quickly to avoid catching a cold and getting sick.
After they had taken care of themselves, they went out to wash up.
In the kitchen, Zhou was already there making breakfast. Two children were sitting beside her, eating a piece of soft baked sugar cake.
They went to bed early last night and woke up early too.
Seeing Fu Wenxiao and Yu Li appear, Zhou went to get them some hot water to wash up, and said with a smile: "I thought you guys would wake up soon, so I made some mixed rice, and you can eat it later."
Having had a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner last night, I had something simple this morning.
This mixed rice is made by throwing some leftover food scraps from yesterday’s New Year’s Eve dinner into the pot and stewing them together, then adding steamed rice, and then it becomes mixed rice.
It contains both meat and vegetables, is nutritious and tastes very good.
After breakfast, the younger generations kowtow to their elders to wish them a happy new year.
Yu Li had the original owner's memories and knew that according to custom, one had to kowtow to the elders on New Year's Day. If they were the people from the Yu family, she would ignore them. If they dared to ask her to kowtow, she would let them kowtow first.
But if it's Zhou, it's no big deal if you bump into her once.
But Zhou did not let them kowtow. Instead, she pulled them to sit down and gave them the red envelopes she had prepared.
She smiled and said, "This is for you. I wish you a happy new year and a healthy and smooth future."
Yu Li and Fu Wenxiao both accepted her red envelopes and said, "I wish you good health!"
When it was the turn of Fu Yanhui and Fu Yansheng, brother and sister, Zhou asked them to kowtow to Fu Wenxiao and Yu Li, and both of them gave them red envelopes.
This red envelope is from Yu Lifeng, and there is one or two taels of silver in it.
"Thank you, little uncle and little aunt. I wish you good health and all the best!"
Two children dressed like New Year dolls knelt in an orderly line, speaking auspicious words in their baby voices. They were very adorable and made people love them even more.
This made Yu Li feel like he had given too few red envelopes, so he patted everyone's head.
After paying New Year’s greetings, it was soon noon again and we continued eating and drinking.
The Chinese New Year is a time for people to eat and drink. It is also a rare day of leisure for farmers throughout the year. Everyone is smiling, and the family gets together, eating melon seeds and peanuts, chatting, and the day passes like this.
The second day of the Chinese New Year is the day when married women return to their parents’ home.
Early in the morning, Zhou prepared gifts for Yu Li to take back to her parents' home.
There were a lot of things in a basket, including half a cooked chicken, a few rice dumplings, some fried food, eggs, sugar cakes, etc. There were even a few onions and garlic pulled from the ground, which were washed and stuffed into the basket. From one end to the other, the onion leaves and garlic leaves overflowed from the basket, allowing people to see them clearly.
Yu Li asked in confusion: "Mom, why do you need to bring some onions and garlic?"
Forget about the other things, the onions and garlic sandwiched in there look weird. Are they trying to add some green?
Zhou smiled and said, "Scallions make children smart (cong) and garlic makes adults thrifty (garlic). We add these two when visiting relatives here to represent blessings to relatives, especially those who have children. Onions and garlic are even more indispensable."
Yu Li suddenly realized that he had never expected these customs to be so interesting and have so many meanings.
She felt that although the world was very backward and had many bad things, it also had many things that people liked. The people living on this land lived seriously and steadily, following the footsteps of their ancestors.
After preparing everything, Yu Li and Fu Wenxiao went back to Yu's house together.
When I went out, I saw many young wives carrying baskets and going back to their parents' homes with their husbands, or elderly ladies taking their daughters back to their parents' homes to visit relatives.
Generally, for those aunts and grandmas whose children have already started their own families, it doesn’t matter whether they go back to their parents’ home or not. If they go back, it’s just to visit their family.
This is purely a visit to relatives.
When seeing Yu Li and Fu Wenxiao walking together, an old lady greeted them with a smile: "Xiao brother, Li mother, you are going back to your mother's home."
Yu Li replied politely.
Fu Wenxiao smiled at the other party.
This smile made the old lady feel dazzled, and the daughter beside her blushed and dared not look at her any longer.
After they walked away, both mother and daughter could not help but sigh that Fu Shulang was so handsome. They wondered how Zhou could give birth to such a handsome son.
Unfortunately, none of them had seen Zhou when she was young. Now Zhou is no longer young. Although she looks much younger than other women of the same age in the village, she has a gentler personality and has a bit of bitterness on her face due to the worry she has been having over the past few years.
It was only in the last few months that she seemed to be living a more comfortable life. Her face looked much more relaxed, and one could see some of her youthful beauty.
"Someone once said that Fu Shulang was ugly. I don't know which black-hearted person spread this rumor." The old lady muttered, "They just can't stand him, right?"
You haven't even seen this person, but you speculate that he or she is so ugly because of illness. Isn't that nonsense?
Even if his appearance was really damaged due to illness, it is not a reason for such rumors to spread, right?
The aunt's daughter heard this and said, "It's probably because Li Niang is doing well, is pretty, and is very capable. Some people are naturally jealous of others, so they spread the rumor randomly."
Otherwise, it is really hard to find any flaws in Yu Li, so one can only attack her for marrying an ugly man.
It just so happened that Fu Shulang was a well-known sickly person, and whatever he said was always right.
The old lady said "Puh" and realized that those who spread the rumor really had bad intentions.
Then she added: "Although Fu Shulang is good-looking, a man can't just be judged by his face, he also has to have ability. Compared to Fu Shulang, I think Li Niang is the most powerful. If you can have half of Li Niang's ability in the future, I will be happy."
Her daughter was speechless after hearing this, "Mom, your expectations of me are too high, aren't they? How can I do half of what you have done?"
I'm afraid I can't even lift a finger.
At least she didn't have the strength to kill the pigs, nor could she keep the pigs quiet.
Her mother clapped her hands and said, "You are useless. Women should be as capable as Li Niang! If that doesn't work, you can learn from Li Niang's sisters. Jin Niang and the others are also very good. I heard that Jin Niang and Liu brought back a lot of New Year's goods before the New Year. They must have made money, otherwise how could they afford to buy so much?"
Nowadays, when villagers chat, they always like to mention the daughter of the second branch of the Yu family.
In the past, everyone felt sorry for Yu Lao Er, because he only had four daughters and no son to be buried with after his death.
However, as the lives of the second branch of the Yu family became better and better, such words were rarely said. After all, not everyone is so pedantic, especially the farmers who live a hard life. Compared with what happens after death, what happens before death is more important to them. People care more about living in the present. Living a good life is the serious thing, and everything else is empty.
What's the point of breaking the pot when you don't have a son? Just wait until you are about to die.
The Yu Jin sisters are becoming more and more capable, and the second branch of the Yu family is living a better and better life. Everyone can only envy the second branch of the Yu family and their wife for raising such capable daughters.
Anyway, my daughters are still young and can stay at home longer to bring more income to the family.
Moreover, daughters are generally more supportive of their parents' families, so there is no need to worry that they will not ignore Yu Laoer and his wife after they get married. There are many examples of daughters providing for their parents in their old age if they are capable.
Everyone knows all about these things.
Some people even think that raising a capable daughter is better than raising ten cowardly and useless sons.
**
Along the way, the couple met many villagers, and everyone greeted them warmly.
Even if the two of them were not so enthusiastic, they did not care. Perhaps it was because they were good-looking people, and as long as their behavior was not too bad, everyone would be understanding.
When I arrived at Yu's house, I met Aunt Feng and her daughter.
Aunt Feng greeted Yu Li warmly, took her hand and smiled lovingly, more enthusiastic than ever before, which made Yu Li a little confused.
It wasn't until Aunt Feng said that after the Chinese New Year, her daughter Yuanniang wanted to learn embroidery from Yuyin that I finally understood.
"Your Ah Yin is a good girl. She said that any girl in the village who wants to learn embroidery can go to her and she will teach them." Aunt Feng said with emotion, "From what she said, it was your mother-in-law who asked her to teach. Your mother-in-law taught her embroidery and asked her to teach the girls in the village when she is free. Anyone who wants to learn can..."
As for why Zhou didn't teach personally, it is understandable. After all, Fu Wenxiao had been in poor health before, and Zhou had no time to spare just to take care of him and two children.
Not to mention, Fu Wenxiao needs to rest, so we can't let anyone go to the Fu family to disturb him, right?
Now Zhou has taught Yu Yin, and Yu Yin is equivalent to Zhou's apprentice.
What Yu Yin did was also Zhou's idea.
Yu Yin had been with Zhou for a long time and knew that Zhou was a very kind-hearted person. She also felt that the girls in the village had a hard life. Many girls were ignored by their families, who thought they were useless and worthless.
Seeing their situation, Yuyin thought of herself and her sisters.
She was also willing to teach the girls in the village embroidery, hoping to find a way out for them. No matter what, if they could make money by embroidery, their families would no longer ignore them. Once they had some money in their hands, they would feel more confident.
After hearing this, Yu Li said, "This is what should be done."
Aunt Feng couldn't help laughing when she heard this, knowing that the daughters of the second branch of the Yu family were all kind-hearted girls. Only those who were blind would think that girls were money-losing goods and keep torturing them.
Now that they are living a good life, I would like to come and take advantage of the situation, but see if they are willing.
As they were talking, they saw Chen carrying a basket and taking her daughter out to go back to her parents' home. When they saw them, both mother and daughter were stunned.
Chen reluctantly greeted them, "Li Niang, you're back."
Yu Li hummed, without looking at them for long, said goodbye to Aunt Feng and her daughter, and took Fu Wenxiao towards the second branch of the Yu family.
Chen looked at Fu Wenxiao who was accompanying Yu Li back to her parents' home, and then looked at herself. She couldn't help feeling sad that there was no man in her family willing to accompany her back to her parents' home.
It wasn't that her husband or son had died, but she was unwilling to go to either of them. She said that Qingxi Village was too far away, there was no boat, and it was too tiring to walk there. It would be better to wait until after the Chinese New Year and then go to the county town to visit the Chen family.
Chen Xiucai is from Qingxi Village next door. Every Chinese New Year, he would bring his family back to the village to celebrate the New Year.
The more Chen thought about it, the more upset she felt. Suddenly, she grabbed her daughter and turned back home.
"Forget it, let's not go."
If she and her daughter went back alone, her elder and younger sisters-in-law would see them and they would probably say something sarcastic, which would make her feel uncomfortable, so she decided not to go back.
Yu Qin did not try to persuade him after hearing this.
She was very afraid to go back with her mother because her mother would tell her uncle and others about her marriage to her cousin.
In fact, she had never wanted to marry her cousin. As for who to marry, she was also at a loss. She didn't know who she could marry. But a while ago, her cousin Yang Hui asked her if she wanted to marry into the Yang family. A half-brother of her cousin's family, the Yang family, had not yet married...
Although Yuqin was not smart, she knew that the reason her cousin's wife said this was because the eldest wife of the Yang family only gave birth to a daughter, her cousin, and no legitimate son, so she adopted a bastard son from the concubine.
But after all, he was not their own child, and they were worried that he would have ulterior motives in the future, so they wanted to marry him off to a wife who was of the same mind as them.
If Yuqin married him, she would naturally stand on the side of Yang Hui and her daughter.
In addition, Yuqin's family has two brothers who are studying in the Chen family. If they succeed in the exams in the future, the Yang family will also benefit. The Yang family is also satisfied with this marriage.
**
When Yu Li and Fu Wenxiao entered the second house of the Yu family, everyone in the second house was waiting for them.
Today is the day when a married daughter returns to her parents' home. Yu Laoer and his wife attach great importance to this. After all, she is the first daughter to get married, and maybe she will bring a son-in-law back. Although they don't know whether they can repair their relationship with their eldest daughter, they also want to treat them well.
They started working early in the morning and looked towards the door from time to time.
The three Yu Jin sisters were more calm. Of course, they welcomed their eldest sister and brother-in-law back, but they were not as nervous as them.
Yu Zhu was sitting under the eaves eating melon seeds. When she saw Yu Li and the other person come in, she suddenly jumped up.
The little girl's clear voice rang out in the Yu family: "Dad, Mom, second sister, third sister, eldest sister and eldest brother-in-law are back!"
Grandpa Yu and his wife and the people in the main house next door heard the sound, and everyone looked unhappy.
They can't bear to hear anything about Yu Li now.
Unfortunately, even if they didn't want to listen, the noise from the second room next door continued to be transmitted over, forcing them to listen, which was very torturous.
Old Madam Yu angrily scolded her two daughters: "Why haven't the eldest and second aunts come back yet? You two damn girls, if they don't come back to see their parents, what's the point of having them!"
She now wished that her two daughters would return with their husbands and children as soon as possible, so that there would be no one paying attention to the main courtyard of the Yu family.
What's so good about the second room? The room is shabby and narrow, and there's not even a stool to sit on.
Old Man Yu smoked his pipe silently without saying a word.
Yu Lao Da and his sons stayed in the room, claiming to be reading, but no one knew whether they were really reading.
What happens in the main courtyard next door does not affect the second house.
After Fu Wenxiao and Yu Li entered the house, they greeted their father-in-law and mother-in-law, handed them the things they brought, and then gave New Year's red envelopes to several of their wives' sisters.
"Thank you, brother-in-law!"
The three girls smiled sweetly and thought that their brother-in-law was so nice, handsome and generous.
The red envelope was hard inside and you could tell there was one or two taels of silver just by touching it.
Fu Wenxiao smiled and said, "You're welcome. This is paid for by your eldest sister. It's the money that Li Niang earned."
All the money in the family is managed by Yu Li, and it is her decision as to how much to enfeoff. He is just a gigolo and now he needs support from his wife.
The three girls looked at him with wide eyes, their faces full of surprise.
Of course they knew that the eldest sister could make money, but it was the first time they saw a man mention this so frankly.
Aren't men generally as shy as possible? Even those men who are dependent on their wives have to act like the head of the family when they are out, for fear of being known to rely on their wives.
My brother-in-law is indeed an extraordinary man!
It was almost noon when Aunt Yu and Aunt Yu finally arrived.
When Mrs. Yu saw them, she finally smiled. But when she saw them walk in, touch the ground without even putting their things down, and turn around to go to the second room, her face instantly fell.
"What are you doing?" She cursed, "You little bitch, you're getting cocky..."
"Mom, it's New Year's Day, you can't curse at people. It will bring bad luck." Aunt Yu reminded her.
Old Mrs. Yu said angrily: “In that case, don’t do things that make me angry.”
"What's so annoying about this?" Aunt Yu disagreed. "We all know that you, Dad and Mom, don't like us, so we won't come to bother you."
Having said that, she took her husband and children and went straight to the next door.
As for Aunt Yu, she had already walked to the door with her son and daughter, fearing that if she was slow they would be caught by Old Lady Yu.
She was weak in character and could not get rid of the influence of her parents throughout her life, but she could not stand the Yu family making fun of her son's lame foot when she came back every year. Especially the children were ignorant and had a kind of naive cruelty. When they saw Sun Zheng, they called him a cripple and laughed at him for walking with a limp.
Seeing both of their daughters leave without even putting their belongings away, Mr. Yu and his wife were extremely angry.
But at this time, everyone in the big house hid in the house and no one came out to help them.
Mr. Yu tapped the pipe in his hand and finally spoke to his two daughters, "If you walk out of this door, don't come back."
The reaction of Aunt Yu and Aunt Yu was to leave without hesitation.
Back then, their parents sold them like commodities, and they lost their mother's home.
They will come back on the second day of the Chinese New Year, but it is just for show. After all, people have to take care of many things when they live in this world. They don’t want their children to be stabbed in the back in the future, so they still have to do what they should do.
Now that the Yu family has split up, they can come back to visit their brothers and their niece from their mother's side. It doesn't matter whether they visit these two elders or not.
So the two of them were not threatened at all.
As a result, Mr. Yu and his wife were naturally furious again.
**
With the arrival of Aunt Yu and Aunt Yu, the second room became more lively.
Everyone gathered together, and Yu Laoer and his wife were busy taking out some meat dishes that Yu Jin had bought before the New Year to add to their dishes.
Now that the family has split up, no one cares how much food she cooks. Yu Lao Er is not as cruel as Old Lady Yu. It is rare for the two sisters to come to visit, so naturally he wants to treat them well.
Fu Wenxiao, the son-in-law of the Yu family, sat and talked with Uncle Yang, along with Sun Zheng and Yang Bin.
Aunt Yu and Aunt Yu helped with cooking.
Sun Fangniang and Yang Manniang went to talk to some cousins.
But they soon discovered that the conversation turned into Li Niang staring at them practicing some physical technique?
Let’s forget about Sun Fangniang. She and Yu Jin were doing business in the county town. When they had nothing to do at night, Yu Jin would drag her to practice together, so she had some basic skills. Only Yang Manniang had no basic skills at all, and her practice was crooked. It can’t be said that their practices were exactly the same, but they were completely unrelated.
Yu Li instructed the two of them.
Then bursts of screams rang out one after another, and those who didn't know the truth thought that something had happened here.
Aunt Yu, Aunt Yu and others were shocked and hurried to the open space behind the kitchen to see what they were doing. When they saw the scene in front of them, they were speechless.
"What are you doing?" asked Yu Xiaogu.
Yu Jin said: "We are strengthening our bodies. If we practice this, not only will we not get sick, but we can fight ten people at once."
These words made Yu Xiaogu laugh, "Are you joking?" She had never heard of any training that could allow a girl to fight ten people at once.
Yu Jin pointed at Yu Li: "My sister said so!"
Aunt Yu looked at the calm Yu Li, was silent for a moment, and then said to her daughter: "Man Niang, follow your eldest cousin and learn well, then I won't have to worry about you anymore."
Yang Manniang nodded with a bitter face.
Seeing that everything was fine here, Aunt Yu and Aunt Yu went back to the kitchen.
However, a few men who were talking came over to take a look.
Uncle Yang couldn't figure out what was going on, so he said with a smile, "What are you doing? Can it really help you stay healthy?"
Fu Wenxiao looked at Yu Li instructing the girls and said with a smile, "Of course I can."
"real?"
Uncle Yang and Sun Zheng looked at him. In their hearts, Fu Wenxiao was a very capable scholar. Even if he did nothing and just sat there, his demeanor made people believe in him sincerely.
Uncle Yang said, "If that's the case, then let's practice." Then he asked, "Can Brother Bin practice?"
Sun Zheng also looked at him.
"It's all right." Fu Wenxiao said calmly. As for whether they can persist, it all depends on themselves.
Yang Bin was young and curious about everything, and he clamored to practice with his sister.
He thought that by practicing this he would be able to become a hero in the storybooks, doing justice and helping the weak, and his face was full of anticipation.
Yu Zhu sneered and waved at the little cousin, "Come on, let me teach you. I've been learning for several months, so I can teach you some moves."
The child didn't know how dangerous the world was, so he followed her and learned from her.
In less than half a minute, Yang Bin ran away crying, saying that he would never learn again.
Yu Zhu curled her lips and whispered to her third sister, "Are all boys like this? Dad also gave up halfway through learning, and Brother Bin is the same."
Yu Yin smiled and said, "Maybe."
After practicing for a while, Yu Li let them rest.
Several girls were sweating profusely. The movements didn't look big, but when they practiced, they would break out in a sweat even in such a cold day.
The cousins sat together to drink water, rest and talk. They were all of similar age and were all girls, so when they got together they always had endless things to talk about.
In the past, before the Yu family split up, they didn't have such a free time because of Old Lady Yu.
Now, the adults don't care about them, just let them play and talk, so they are naturally more comfortable.
Yu Jin asked Sun Fangniang beside him in a low voice, "You are all here, is your father home alone?"
Sun Fangniang hummed, her expression indifferent, "I heard from Zheng Ge'er that his health was not good before the New Year, and we asked a doctor from the village to see him. He said that when his legs were broken, the injuries were too severe, and then he didn't receive timely treatment, so the damage was to the root, and I'm afraid he won't last long..."
Having said this, she lowered her eyes.
Ever since she went to work in the county town, her mother and brother told her not to worry about the family, so she didn't know about Sun Datian's situation.
When he returned for the New Year, he found that Sun Datian was so weak that he was about to die.
I’m afraid that soon after the New Year, their family will have to hold a funeral.
That’s great.
Sun Fangniang was very happy. After the funeral, she decided to observe mourning and not have to think about her marriage for three years. This way, she could follow Jinniang and do business wholeheartedly, earn more money, treat her brother's leg, and bring them to live in the county town.
At noon, a group of people sat together and had a lively meal.
After sitting for a while after dinner, everyone was finally ready to leave.
Yu Lao Er and Liu gave them gifts in return, which were more than enough, making Yu Dagu and Yu Xiaogu understand that the second house was living a better life now, so they were not stingy with the gifts in return.
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