Chapter 3
In the past, her mother-in-law would beat and scold her, but now she suddenly gave her meat and told her not to let the child suffer.
Jiao Huilan was flattered, but at the same time, her heart was in turmoil.
What does mother mean? Why did she suddenly get such a big piece of meat? Is she planning to fatten her up and sell it for a good price, or is she planning something else?
Jiao Huilan was so panicked that her hands were shaking as she held the meat.
"Mom, I'm going to buy the abortion pills tomorrow and try to change the gender of my baby. Can you please not sell my baby?"
Zhen Zhen held his breath and asked, "When will I sell your child?"
Jiao Huilan burst into tears. "Mom, I know I'm useless. I didn't give birth to a big fat grandson for our Meng family. But this is my child after all. How can I not have some feelings for the flesh that fell from my belly? Can you please not sell her off? I will work like a cow or a horse in the future, working hard without complaint, and serving you well without fighting back!"
Zhen Zhen pinched his brows and almost fell asleep.
So, it is the hardest to be a good person!
She just saw that Jiao Huilan had to work in the fields with a big belly, didn't eat enough and looked malnourished, and was worried that her child would develop slowly, so she wanted to ask her to supplement. Who knew Jiao Huilan would think of her like this!
It was because the original owner had done too many evil things, and the bad reputation could not be washed away in a day or two.
Zhen Zhen patiently explained:
"Who wants to sell your child? You are so skinny, the child you give birth to will definitely be as skinny as a monkey. A skinny child will be hard to raise, and will cry and get sick. Who can I sell it to? Who is willing to spend money to raise a skinny monkey?"
It's a pity that a young girl has to learn how to make her daughter-in-law happy. What do you think of this?
Jiao Huilan forced herself to hold back her tears.
What my mother said makes sense. These days, every household is hungry and girls are really worthless. They can’t be sold at a high price.
If mother really wants to sell it, there is no need to buy pork for her to make up for the loss. Mother cannot do this kind of business that will make her lose money!
Jiao Huilan didn't dare to ask more questions and took the meat in to cook. Eating meat last year was still last year's thing.
Jiao Huilan hadn't cooked pickled mustard greens for a long time. Her hands were shaking when she was cutting the meat. She even sharpened the knife with a whetstone for fear of cutting the meat badly and wasting the pork belly with the right amount of fat and lean meat.
There was no oil at home, so she used fat to stir-fry pork fat. After a while, she stewed a big pot of cabbage and pork. The pot was bubbling with steam, and the fragrant meat smell almost blew the roof off. Jiao Huilan drooled and tears were about to come out.
Daya leaned on the stove to watch Jiao Huilan cooking, "Mom, the meat smells so good, Daya wants to have a piece."
Jiao Huilan glanced outside. "It would be terrible if your grandma knew about this! You, a little girl, can't eat a man's flesh, understand? The man has to finish eating first, and then it's your turn to eat the rest."
Daya nodded, not quite understanding.
Jiao Huilan brought a pot full of meat, covered it with the pot, and planned to make a paste with the remaining cornmeal at home.
"Is the rice ready?" Zhen Zhen came out.
Jiao Huilan was stunned. "Rice?"
"How blind! Didn't you see the rice I just bought in the rice jar?"
Jiao Huilan opened the rice jar in disbelief. There were actually four or five kilograms of rice in it. The rice was white and full. Jiao Huilan could imagine that it would be particularly fragrant when steamed.
She took a small bowl of rice and prepared to take it to the kitchen to steam it.
"Come back!" Zhen Zhen maintained his persona and glanced at the small bowl of rice with disdain, "What about the cat? Who will that be enough for? There is a man and three women in the family, and you have one in your belly. This little rice is not even enough to fill your teeth! Steam two bowls. If it's not enough, I'll think of another way."
Jiao Huilan didn't dare to say anything more and went in reluctantly.
It was already dark when Meng Daguo came back with the hoe. He walked to the vicinity of his home and suddenly smelled a strange aroma. Whose family was stewing meat? It was not New Year or any other festival, but there were still people in the village who could afford to eat meat!
The meat tasted so delicious that Meng Daguo's mouth watered and he swallowed it back several times.
How long had he not eaten meat? His biggest dream in life was to have a full meal and then a hearty meal of meat.
It’s a pity that his family is running out of food. While others eat meat, he eats bran. He is destined to be too hungry to sleep tonight.
Meng Daguo walked into the yard with a hoe on his shoulder, looking depressed.
"Dad." Daya ran out to greet him.
Although Meng Daguo favors boys over girls, he still loves his only daughter very much.
"Where's your mother?"
"Dad, Mom and Grandma are waiting for you to eat in the house."
The aroma of meat went straight into Meng Daguo's nose. He sniffed several times spinelessly before going to the kitchen with a gloomy look, preparing to continue eating bran today.
As soon as I entered the room, I saw a whole big pot of food on the table. When I took a closer look, it turned out to be cabbage stewed with meat!
The smell of meat is from his home!
Meng Daguo was shocked and asked, "Mom, where did the meat come from?"
Zhen Zhen recited the lines he had prepared long ago.
"Isn't your second uncle teaching in the county? I know him in private. Mom went to the city to find him today and asked him to pawn my only gold earring. Now, I went to the black market and bought some rice and meat."
Jiao Huilan never thought that her mother-in-law would dare to go to the black market, let alone pawn her earrings!
Country people don’t have proper jewelry. My mother-in-law treasures her earrings very much and wears them wherever she goes to a banquet. But now my mother-in-law has pawned her earrings?
Meng Daguo's face also changed. He fell to the ground and knelt, regretting and feeling sad. "Mom, I am an unfilial son! I am incompetent and I couldn't let you live a good life! I also made you starve and use your only earring as a supplement to the family income!"
In any case, Zhen Zhen was quite satisfied to hear this. Although this eldest son was foolishly filial, people who were foolishly filial were easier to reform than those without conscience.
Among all the children, the eldest son was the most filial to Grandma Zhen. He would rather starve himself than let his mother suffer.
In the original novel, the third brother Meng was suppressed by the male protagonist and went bankrupt, the second brother Meng was afraid of spending money and hid himself away from people, and when Mrs. Zhen was hospitalized, it was Meng Daguo and her youngest daughter who took care of her personally.
But Mrs. Zhen gets annoyed whenever she sees her eldest son. Whenever the eldest son buys something for her, she insists that it was bought by the younger son. She also always tells others that the eldest son is unfilial, cowardly and useless!
In short, no one can look down on Meng Daguo!
It is often like this: the less valued a child is, the nicer he or she will be to his or her parents in order to get their attention and love.
Zhen Zhen helped him up and said earnestly:
"Daguo, I am a country girl with little education. I am not good at expressing my feelings. Now that we are talking, I will tell you straight out. Although it is true that I favor your third brother, I also love you in my heart. This time when the family ran out of food, I sold my earrings because I couldn't bear to let you go hungry and I didn't want your wife and your two children to go hungry."
Meng Daguo's eyes were filled with tears. It was the first time that his aunt didn't scold him during the meal. She even said that she loved him in her heart.
Maybe he is stupid, he didn’t even realize it before!
Zhen Zhen continued:
"Otherwise, why would I choose to pawn my earrings when the second and third children were not around? Wasn't it because I wanted to take advantage of their absence to give your family of four a good rest? You should be able to sense my good intentions!"
Meng Daguo nodded eagerly, "Yes! I can!"
Jiao Huilan felt a lump in her throat. She never expected that her usually fierce mother-in-law had this side. It seemed that she had misunderstood her mother-in-law too deeply in the past.
"As for the earrings...when you become rich in the future, or when our eldest daughter grows up and makes money, you can buy them for me!" Zhen Zhen said slowly.
Ask them to draw a cake first, and then redeem it slowly later.
Meng Daguo: "Mom, I will buy you ten earrings in the future!"
Daya: "Grandma, I'll buy you a hundred!"
Meng Daguo glared at Daya. Why was she trying to snatch from him in this situation?
Daya pursed her lips and thought her father was really stingy. He only bought ten earrings, so why was he arguing with her?
Zhen Zhen was satisfied: "Okay, let's eat!"
Jiao Huilan glanced at the braised cabbage with pork, swallowed her saliva, and quietly left.
When she was at her mother's house, she would not eat at the table. She would always wait until her brothers finished eating before eating their leftovers. But in those days, everyone was starving, so where could there be leftovers? Often, when she sat at the table, she could not even get a piece of bread, and could only lick the bottom of her brothers' bowls.
She had a big appetite, and after she got married, her mother-in-law always complained that she ate too much. Jiao Huilan was scolded several times and never dared to sit at the table to eat again.
Zhen Zhen screamed at her, Jiao Huilan was busy for a long time and now she's leaving? Yes, I still remember that every time the family made delicious food, the original owner would not let Jiao Huilan sit at the table, for fear that his daughter-in-law would eat two extra pieces of meat.
"Old man, please sit down and eat with us."
"Mom, I'll wait until Daguo finishes eating before I eat."
Meng Daguosi didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Women in Batou Village had never sat at the table to eat since ancient times. Men ate first, then women. Isn't this natural?
Unexpectedly, Zhen Zhen's face suddenly darkened, and she slammed the chopsticks on the table with a snap.
"Eat after we finish? Do you still expect there to be any food left? If you don't have food, you'll have to go hungry. Do you want others to say that I, Zhen Guizhi, abuse my daughter-in-law?" Zhen Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and said slowly, "The situation at home is not good, but no matter how poor we are, you still have food to eat. We in the Meng family don't have the rule of letting pregnant women go hungry!"
Meng Daguo nodded obediently and said, Mother is right. If Mother says there is, there is. If Mother says there is no, then there is no.
It's strange. Didn't my mother dislike his daughter-in-law the most before? She was afraid that her daughter-in-law would eat one more bite. How come she suddenly became nice to her son-in-law?
Jiao Huilan was flattered and sat down next to Zhen Zhen with her belly in her hand. She didn't dare to pick up her chopsticks and even signaled to Daya with her eyes not to eat meat because it was disgusting.
Zhen Zhen couldn't bear it anymore, so he simply picked up a big chopstick full of food for her, and also picked up a chopstick full of food for Daya. Seeing Meng Daguo holding the bowl and looking at him eagerly, he also picked up some food for his eldest son who was over 200 months old.
Daya’s eyes are bright and plump, it’s time to eat some meat!
Jiao Huilan had never expected that her mother-in-law would pick up food for her. She had been married for so long, but her mother-in-law had never done such a thoughtful thing.
She glanced at her mother-in-law and saw that she still had a sullen face. She thought that her mother-in-law was really sharp-tongued but kind-hearted. She must be filial to her mother-in-law and buy her the most expensive coffin when she died.
Jiao Huilan and her daughter worked hard.
I must be dreaming, right? Even in my dreams, I wouldn’t dare to eat such delicious meat! This big pot of meat, I can eat as many pieces as I want, it’s really too luxurious!
The meat today was too fatty, so Zhen Zhen couldn't eat much and quickly put down the bowl. However, Jiao Huilan ate two bowls, Meng Daguo ate four bowls, and even Daya ate a large bowl.
The rice jar was as big as a bowl, and half a pot of rice was steamed, which was about one and a half pounds. In the previous life, Zhen Zhen could eat it for several days, but now he ate it in one meal. Who knows how many years those 5 tons of rice can last.
Meng Daguo and Jiao Huilan even dipped the leftover cakes from the morning into the soup.
Jiao Huilan specially saved the remaining soup, intending to make soup with it tomorrow morning.
Several people ate until their mouths were full of oil, and they were happier than during the Chinese New Year.
Even though we had meat to eat during the Chinese New Year, we were never full. When the whole family got together, and there were three old men with them, no matter how much meat we had, it was never enough.
It's nothing like tonight! They give us as much as we want, as if the meat is worthless!
Meng Daguo felt relieved, but when he thought that this was exchanged for his mother's earrings, he was no longer happy.
Zhen Zhen said, "Daya ate too much today and I'm afraid she won't be able to digest it. You can take her for a walk in the yard to prevent her from getting an upset stomach at night."
It was the first time that mother cared about Daya. Meng Daguo smiled shyly on his dark face, "I know, mother."
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