In the village, in the Xie family courtyard——
"Yeah? Are you back?"
Hearing the sound of the courtyard door being pushed open, He Erniang poked her head out of the kitchen and saw He Juanhua walking in with a bamboo basket on her shoulder and a twist of her waist.
He Juanhua smiled and nodded in response: "You're back? Where's Jianshan? Isn't he in the house?"
Seeing that the yard was empty and the men in the house were nowhere to be seen, He Juanhua asked.
"Jianshan has gone out, Mingchi and his father are in the backyard. I don't know what they are doing. I can't bear to watch, but Xiaolin and Xiaotong followed them happily to watch." He Erniang said, wiping the water from her hands and walked into the yard.
She reached out and took He Juanhua's hand, lowering her voice and asking, "What do you think?"
He Juanhua also imitated He Erniang and lowered her voice a few degrees before saying, "When I went there, the girl had just gotten up. We chatted for a few minutes, but didn't say anything."
When He Juanhua said this, she kept looking at He Erniang, observing the changes in her expression.
"It was almost noon when you went there, right?" He Erniang looked at the sky outside the courtyard wall.
Farm workers could roughly guess what time it was just by looking at the sun. When He Juanhua left, the sun was almost directly overhead, so it was almost noon...
He Juanhua coughed lightly before continuing, "Yes, it was almost noon. When I knocked on the door, a little girl came to open it. She was rubbing her eyes, and it looked like she hadn't even opened them. The yard was also very quiet..."
When He Juanhua talked about this, her expression was quite dissatisfied...
At home, I sleep until almost noon before getting up. If I get married, I will also sleep like this... There are still a lot of things to do at home, and I have to take care of my husband. After I have a baby, I will only be busier.
This kind of laziness is not good...
Moreover, she had heard that the eldest daughter of the Hua family was raised by her grandmother and had never dared to do any rough work. She did not believe these hearsays at first. Moreover, she had also met the old lady of the Hua family. She did not look like a kind person, nor did she seem like the kind of person who would love her granddaughter and neglect her grandson.
However, when she saw the flowers, she slept until noon before slowly getting up. He Juanhua now believed it even more.
If she hadn't been spoiled, how could that girl from an ordinary family sleep until that hour...
What He Juanhua is worried about now is that if the person marries into her family and turns out to be lazy and greedy, she won't be able to get along with him and won't serve him well...
He Juanhua thought about it and couldn't help but look up at He Erniang again, wondering what her mother thought about this matter.
After being together for so long, she certainly knew that her mother liked girls who were more diligent...
He Erniang's brows were indeed furrowed, but she didn't know what she was thinking about, and her brows relaxed again. She said, "It's normal for a little girl to be a little sleepy. Besides, several adults in the family passed away not long ago, so she probably doesn't know what to do."
He Erniang said this and sighed.
He Juanhua's heart was a little lifted, and she looked at He Erniang with some confusion.
What does her mother mean by this...?
She was wondering when He Erniang suddenly reached out and patted her shoulder, saying, "Don't think too much. When she gets married, the yard at home won't be big enough for her. The second child said he wanted to move out and live on his own. I agreed. We can find a place in a nearby vacant lot and build a new house there so that they can live separately."
"Mom?!" He Juanhua became unhappy when she heard it and cried out in a low voice.
If the second child moves out, what will happen to the main house? Will he still live with his parents? What about the issue of retirement? And what about the money for the second child to build a new house? It can't be that his parents still have to pay for it!
The second son had already spent five taels of silver on marrying his wife. Back then, when she married, the betrothal gift was only two taels of silver, not even half of the second son's wife's. Now, she had to move out as soon as she got married...
The more He Juanhua thought about it, the more unbalanced she felt.
Mother is too partial to the second child...
He Erniang was also a shrewd person. How could she not know what the eldest daughter-in-law was thinking? Her originally good expression became a little gloomy, but she still explained:
"What I said just now might not be very clear. What I meant was that it was the second son who proposed to move out. Although I agreed that the couple could live out, his father and I would not pay for the house construction. He had to bear the cost himself. I explained all this to him, and he agreed.
If you and the eldest brother also want to move out, his father and I won't say anything. But just like the second brother, his father and I won't pay for the house. If the eldest brother is capable of moving out, I naturally have nothing to say."
When He Juanhua heard her words, she knew that her mother was angry. Her face turned red and white, and she felt embarrassed as if she had been exposed. She clenched her hands and was at a loss as to what to do.
Her little thought was clearly seen by her mother, making her feel ashamed...
He Erniang naturally knew this. She had also served her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law seemed easy to get along with in the eyes of outsiders, but only she knew how difficult it was to get along with her own mother-in-law.
I thought my mother-in-law was in good health and would have to live for many more years before she died, but I didn't expect that she would just die in an accident.
Now, she was happy and relaxed. She didn't have a mother-in-law to serve. Two of her four sons had grown up, and the second son was about to get married. She didn't want to deal with the evil mother-in-law's tricks. She just wanted to raise her two remaining sons peacefully and comfortably. She felt relaxed and didn't want to compete with her daughter-in-law...
He Juanhua swallowed and said uncomfortably, "Mom, that's not what I meant. Don't be angry. My eldest brother and I don't want to move out. Besides, Xiaolin and Xiaotong are still young. I can't take care of them by myself. How could I do it without you?"
He Juanhua said flattering words.
He Erniang felt even more unhappy after hearing this. She frowned and said nothing.
When she's alive, she serves the elders and the young...
…
Hua Shi had no idea what was happening at the Xie family, and he had no idea about the little thoughts of He Erniang and He Juanhua.
At this moment, she was completely focused on her fish pond, thinking about how to take good care of it...
I was weeding in the backyard when Xie Mingchi suddenly came to my door around two or three in the afternoon. It seemed that he had heard about the dead wild boar by the stream and came to take a look.
"Don't worry, nothing's wrong here. The stream looks close, but it's actually quite far away. Even if the wild animals in the mountains run down the mountain, they can't possibly come here to cause trouble."
Hua Shi was full of confidence when he said this to Xie Mingchi.
Xie Mingchi seemed to have sensed something amiss, and his brows were furrowed tightly, not relaxing...
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