Chapter 46 Harboring Hidden Intentions "Horses and donkeys can produce mules!..."
Springtime farming activities mainly involve land preparation and sowing.
The work is done in pairs. One person sows the seeds in front, while the other person pulls a special tool called a "roller" to compact and retain the soil. Pulling the roller is not too tiring and does not require any skills. As long as the person does not pull it off course, the two stone rollers of the roller will follow the furrows left by the sowing.
This is the work that Li Ming assigned to his youngest daughter-in-law.
In the past, Deng Xia would always come to him begging for an easy job for her daughter. Now that she had made a promise to do what her parents had made before, Li Ming could only follow suit. However, he was always fair and just, so even if he arranged an easy job for his daughter-in-law, he would still give her the same amount of work points and wouldn't overcharge her.
Anyway, this girl only has one mouth, and even with her dog, she won't eat much food. Besides, the Li family doesn't rely on their wives to earn work points.
Zhong Ying was happy to have some free time, and after work she went back to her parents' home as she had said yesterday.
"I'm back for dinner!" Zhong Ying announced loudly as she entered the door, carrying brown sugar.
Deng Xia and Miao Xiuyun immediately came out of the kitchen, both of them surprised and delighted.
A little figure rushed out of the main room, calling "Auntie, Auntie" like a chick, and ran over to hug Zhong Ying's leg.
Zhong Ying gently rubbed Zhong Guoqiang's head, thinking, "He's definitely the best son in the Zhong family."
"Sister!" Zhong Xin strode over as well.
Zhong Chunsheng looked at his daughter with excitement, and the sense of loneliness in his heart dissipated a lot with Zhong Ying's return home.
"Your in-laws don't have any objections to you coming back for dinner, do they?" Deng Xia asked, happy but also worried.
Zhong Ying waved her hand, "No, they said I can come back whenever I want, as long as I let them know in advance, and they won't cook for me at home there."
Miao Xiuyun was genuinely happy. "Good, very good. Not many people can be so carefree after getting married. My little sister is truly blessed."
Old Zhong chuckled and said, "Alright, then come back whenever you want. We'll make sure you have plenty of food at home."
It swept away yesterday's sorrow.
"Is anyone there?" Deng Xia asked again, her tone cryptic.
Zhong Ying shook her head; Li Linshi had gone to "investigate the truth."
Deng Xia breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her daughter into the kitchen. "Miao'er, you can rest. Let Yingni help me out."
Miao Xiuyun nodded understandingly, leaving the mother and daughter alone.
Deng Xia held her daughter's hand and touched it all over, then carefully examined Zhong Ying's face.
Zhong Ying found her gaze strange and asked in confusion, "Mother, what's wrong?"
"I'm just checking if your hands are still warm and if your face is pale," Deng Xia said. Her hands were warm and her face was as rosy as usual, so she finally felt relieved. "I was worried all night, afraid that you had your yang energy drained. It's all my fault. I was so focused on getting over my grief yesterday that I forgot to remind you about the things you should tell your daughter's family before you get married..."
Zhong Ying quickly understood and suddenly felt a little embarrassed. "Mother, you're overthinking it!"
“It’s not that I’m overthinking it,” Deng Xia lowered her voice, her face very serious. “He didn’t do anything to you, did he? You can’t let him do whatever he wants. You should resist. After all, you’re a widow now. It’s not good to be pregnant and not be able to explain yourself… Besides, who knows what kind of baby you’ll give birth to…”
Zhong Ying was both amused and exasperated. "How could that be? I'm a human, and he's a ghost. We're not even the same species."
“Then horses and donkeys can produce mules!” Deng Xia retorted in disagreement.
Zhong Ying was speechless, "..."
That makes so much sense; she couldn't refute it for a moment.
Deng Xia continued, "And isn't there that word, something like 'having a wicked intention'?"
“…Holding ulterior motives,” Zhong Ying felt as if three invisible vertical lines had appeared on her forehead. “It means having something unspeakable or a bad idea hidden in one’s heart, not literally having any evil intentions.”
When Deng Xia realized she had made a mistake, she looked embarrassed. "Oh, I see. It's true that you know more after you've been educated. It's a good thing you went to the village school back then. It was useful. Education is good. People should still study..."
People are really busy when they're embarrassed; Deng Xia's lips were practically fighting each other.
Zhong Ying chuckled, "So, Mom, don't overthink it, it's impossible."
When she forced Li Lin into marriage, her only goal was to avoid having children. Besides, they weren't really husband and wife; they were just acquaintances or friends. It was all very innocent.
Meanwhile, at the Li family's house, dinner was served. Li Rou's family had already returned to the county town, and Zhong Ying had gone back to her parents' home. At the dinner table, only Li Ming and Liu Hongyan, the elderly couple, and the two families of the eldest and second sons were present.
As usual, after dinner, the wives quickly cleared away the dishes. Li Rongshi, along with his wife Nie Jinfeng and son Li Guangfu, went back to their own residence. Li Gangshi's family also went back to their rooms.
"Xiuyun, you'll sleep with your brother and sister tonight," Tian Mei said.
Li Guangzong was somewhat unhappy, "I want to sleep in my parents' room."
“No way,” Tian Mei said sternly. “How old are you? You still insist on sleeping with your parents. Your sister is younger than you and can sleep by herself.”
Li Guangzong looked at his younger sister Li Xiuqing, who was pouting and looking unhappy, but still let his older sister Xiuyun lead him to the side room to sleep.
Tian Mei and Li Gang returned to their room in the northwest corner.
Li Lin hesitated for a moment, but his desire for the truth overcame all his concerns. He lifted his foot and walked to the outside of his elder brother and sister-in-law's house.
"I told you before, don't say those things in front of the children!" Tian Mei couldn't help but scold after closing the door.
Upon hearing this, Li Lin's gaze froze, his dark eyes filled with astonishment, unable to believe that his respected elder brother would do such a thing.
But then, Li Gangshi's words struck Li Linshi like a heavy blow, making him realize the truth completely.
"What's the big deal?" Li Gangshi said with a hint of contempt and indifference. "That's how it is. If Zhong Ying hadn't married into the family, and since Fourth Brother is already dead and has no children, who else could the house next door go to but Guangzong?"
With no outsiders around, Li Gang felt less restrained and no longer needed to put on a friendly and approachable smile, so he spoke freely.
Li Gangshi said with a puzzled look, "But how could my parents agree to let that girl Zhong Ying marry into our family and become a widow? Isn't that ridiculous? They let her go back to her parents' home whenever she wants. Anyone who doesn't know the situation would think that our family owes her a lot."
Speaking of this, Tian Mei was also quite puzzled, "Yes."
“But I don’t think Zhong Ying is as bad as outsiders say,” Tian Mei said, recalling what happened during the day. “I didn’t have much hope and thought she would fight for it again, but she just agreed. From now on, my second son’s wife and I will be in charge of the kitchen and cooking.”
Li Gang didn't care much about women's affairs and just gave a perfunctory reply.
After a long pause, Li Gang clicked his tongue, shook his head and sighed, “Sigh, why did my fourth brother, a good college graduate, not stay in the city to get a job? What’s that word? Ups and downs! As soon as he came back, the commune members stopped recognizing me and started recognizing him. They used to praise me as the right person to succeed our father and that I would be the leader of the production team from now on.”
“Good heavens, the moment Fourth Brother came back, it was like a golden phoenix had returned. Everyone was so eager to have him take over from Father.” Li Gangshi gritted his teeth, his jealousy and resentment undisguised. “But what a person is destined to have is predetermined. What’s mine will eventually be mine.”
Li Lin stood there stunned, never imagining that his elder brother would harbor such malice towards him.
He opened Pandora's box and saw the hidden side.
Li Gangshi and Li Linshi were ten years apart in age. When Li Gangshi was helping his parents with farm work, Li Linshi was just a child.
Although Li Linshi was closer to his second brother and third sister who raised him from childhood, his eldest brother still held a place in his heart. Every time he called out the name "eldest brother," it was filled with affection.
Li Linshi suddenly found it laughable, utterly laughable.
How much power can a production team leader have? It's not like he's some kind of local emperor. Why did my eldest brother take it so seriously? He's educated too, having completed three more years of junior high school in town than my second brother. Doesn't he know there's a bigger world out there outside the village?
His clenched fists trembled uncontrollably, a manifestation of his barely suppressed resentment. Then, as if remembering something, Li Linshi let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
Actually, it wasn't entirely without clues. When he ranked first in his grade and was selected for the county's middle school, and when he was admitted to university, his family was happy for him. Only his eldest brother looked surprised in addition to his happiness.
What's so surprising? Surprised that the younger brother has gone further and higher than the older brother?
Li Linshi was heartbroken, realizing that his brothers were only now showing their true colors.
A cold, black fire seemed to be burning in his chest. Li Linshi gritted his teeth, left home, and went to his second brother's house, determined to see for himself and the true colors of his relatives.
Li Rongshi and Nie Jinfeng were also talking.
"Why now of all times? Of all the times!" Nie Jinfeng said bitterly. "We've been waiting for four years! Four whole years! And now that I'm finally pregnant again, there's still the possibility that she'll be adopted away!"
Everyone hopes to have a son, but this time Nie Jinfeng hopes that the baby in her belly will be a daughter, and she really hopes it will be a daughter!
Nie Jinfeng was so angry that her chest felt tight, and she had nowhere to vent her anger. She paced back and forth, and finally gritted her teeth and pinched her husband's waist hard.
Li Rongshi cried out in pain.
Li Linshi arrived just in time to hear his second brother shout this.
Having vented her anger, Nie Jinfeng sat back down in her chair. "My parents have already said in front of everyone in the family that whoever has a second son will have to adopt him into your brother's family."
She touched her still flat stomach, her heart heavy with sorrow, "Even if I were pregnant now, I wouldn't dare tell anyone. Four years, four years of waiting for this child, how could I possibly let it go!"
Li Linshi himself didn't realize that he had breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that his second sister-in-law's vigilance was because she was afraid that the child would be adopted away.
He knew that Zhong Ying didn't want to have children. He observed how she treated her nephew Guoqiang, as if he were a stray animal. She would poke and touch him when she was interested, and throw him to Hongtang when she wasn't, completely abandoning him.
Li Lin sometimes felt that Zhong Ying was like a child who hadn't grown up yet, and had no idea about raising children at all.
Inside the room, Nie Jinfeng remained anxious, "I hope it's a girl, please don't let it be a boy..."
Li Rongshi stepped forward and grasped his wife's shoulders, as if giving her strength, or perhaps as if giving himself strength. He took a deep breath and said firmly, "Whether it's a boy or a girl, they are our children. I will never let the children call anyone else 'Mom'."
Nie Jinfeng looked up at her husband, "What if Father and Mother insist?"
“Then I still disagree!” Li Rongshi insisted.
Nie Jinfeng was quite moved. "Although you are the least intelligent among your siblings, you are neither as ambitious as your eldest brother nor as smart as your younger brother, and even your older sister is better at studying than you, I think you are a real man now."
Despite being praised, Li Rongshi's face fell. "Oh, so in your heart, I'm not as good as my eldest brother, nor as good as my fourth brother, and even Rou Ni'er is worse than me. I'm the worst among my brothers and sisters. I'm really sorry that I didn't let you get a good one."
Nie Jinfeng chuckled and tried to coax him, "Don't just listen to half of what I said. Didn't I just praise you for being a man?"
"Ha, I thought you already knew that," Li Rongshi said, pulling her hand. "Feel this, what am I if I'm not a man?"
"Is this what I meant? Don't try to be a pervert here..."
Li Linshi dared not listen anymore, turned around and left quickly. He had hesitated earlier because he was worried that he would hear some private things about his brother and sister-in-law's room.
——
After having dinner at home, Zhong Ying realized that it was getting dark. Deng Xia and Zhong Chunsheng wanted her to stay at their house, as her previous room was still empty. However, they were worried that their daughter would be blamed by her in-laws, so they kept quiet about it.
"Let your dad take you home. It's so dark, and the roads are difficult to navigate," Deng Xia said reluctantly.
Zhong Ying hugged her shoulders. "Okay, don't be sad again. We see each other every day in the same production team. I'll come home for meals from time to time. Sooner or later you'll get annoyed with me and wonder why this girl is coming home to freeload again."
Deng Xia glared angrily at her daughter, "I would never think that way! You think so badly of your mother!"
Miao Xiuyun and Zhong Xin watched from the sidelines, secretly amused.
Everything seems to be largely unchanged from before.
Zhong Chunsheng lit a candle and held it in his hand to light the way for his daughter. The father and daughter left the house one after the other.
As he walked further away, Zhong Chunsheng's initial enthusiasm gradually subsided. Although his daughter's return had eased the somber atmosphere at home, he still felt a lingering sense of regret.
“If she had married an ordinary man, he would be the one coming to pick her up by now…” Old Man Zhong sighed.
Zhong Ying saw the tall, slender figure at the intersection ahead, dressed in modern clothes, looking more like a visitor from another time than she did. A smile, oblivious to everything else, filled her eyes. "Hmm...who said he didn't come?"
Zhong Chunsheng jumped in surprise, like a cat with its fur standing on end. "He's coming?"
It also refers to "You know who".
Zhong Ying strode towards Li Linshi, only turning back to wave to her father, "Dad, you can go back now, you don't need to see me off."
Looking at his daughter's light and hurried steps, Zhong Chunsheng suddenly felt a real sense of vicissitude that his daughter had already married. Oh well, if the son-in-law is a little special, then so be it.
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Author's note: Don't worry, there won't be any "mules" (unreliable content). This book focuses on a pure couple's world without raising children.
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