"Mother!" Lu Yu pushed open the door and rushed into Wang Lan's arms. Her hands trembled as she tried to touch the cloth wrapped around her mother's face, but then pulled back. She looked her mother over carefully, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Mother, I was so worried. How could a wild boar have come into our house?"
Wang Lan's face and right arm were covered in thick bandages, and her right thigh was strapped with a splint, indicating that she had injured a bone.
Lu Yu's eyes were red and swollen, clearly from crying, and she couldn't stop crying when she saw people.
Wang Lan raised her left hand to wipe away her tears, looking worried. "Don't cry, Mom is fine. It's only the first day of the Lunar New Year. Why did you come back?"
The old folks said that married daughters shouldn't spend the New Year at their parents' home; it's considered taboo. They've heard that it brings bad luck to the parents' home. She's not afraid of that, but Qin Xiaozhou is in charge now, and she's injured, so she's worried that Qin Xiaozhou might be unhappy.
Lu Yu understood her concerns and tucked the blanket in. "Don't worry, it was Brother Dayun who came to pick me up. Eryun said it was my niece-in-law's idea. I originally wanted to come tomorrow, but I was worried. It just so happened that Dayun and the others came to pick me up, so I came back."
After saying that, Lu Yu felt a little flustered again, "Mother, does it really bring bad luck to a married daughter's family if she spends the New Year at her parents' home?"
This saying has been passed down since ancient times. Wang Lan didn't know if it would really bring bad luck. "Xiao Zhou isn't someone who pays attention to these taboos, so just stay here in peace. It's the dead of winter, so stay for a few more days."
Lu Yu lowered her head and said, "I'll go ask."
Wang Lan hadn't seen her daughter for several months and missed her terribly. "Is your son-in-law treating you well? How are you doing in their family?"
"Yes, very good." Lu Yu blushed, embarrassed to look at Wang Lan. "He treats me very well, and my father-in-law never puts on airs. There's a newlywed woman next door who married in two months earlier. She's not from a wealthy family, but her mother-in-law makes her stand in front of the family rules every day until the middle of the night. She has to wash her hands by the river in the dead of winter, and her hands are covered in chilblains. She's often beaten and scolded. It's terrifying to watch. Fortunately, her husband is a good man, but he's bound by filial piety and can't disobey his mother. In private, he can only advise his wife to be more obedient to his mother and comfort her that she'll get through it in ten or twenty years and eventually become a mother-in-law herself."
“Women in this world have a hard life. Getting married is like choosing a new home. It’s good that you didn’t get married back then. If you had gone to Li Yang’s family, you would probably be in the same situation as your neighbor now.” Wang Lan patted her daughter’s hand. “Your son-in-law is good to you, which means you are lucky. Don’t think about the past. Live a good life with your son-in-law and have two children. You don’t have a mother-in-law, so you will have to endure ten or twenty years of hardship less than others.”
Lu Yu shook her head. "He said I'm still young and it's not suitable for me to have children now. We should plan for children in a couple of years."
"How can this be!" Wang Lan exclaimed in surprise, utterly bewildered. "People usually have children at seventeen or eighteen after marriage. You're already eighteen. If you don't have children soon, people will say you're infertile, or—"
A thought flashed through Wang Lan's mind, making her heart pound: "Did your son-in-law find something when he took your pulse? Is there something wrong with your body? Is it that you can't get pregnant?"
In this era, what's the difference between a woman who can't have children and being sentenced to death, or at least a suspended death sentence?
If a man cannot have children for seven years, he can divorce his wife. Even if he does not divorce her, he can marry another woman. A woman who cannot bear children must serve her husband's family for the rest of her life, working like a beast of burden. Even after she dies, she must obtain the consent of her clan to be buried in her husband's ancestral grave. Otherwise, she will truly die without a burial place.
Wang Lan's face turned pale. "Yu Niang, did the young master say anything else?"
Lu Yu froze, her face deathly pale, her eyes red-rimmed, her lips trembling, her hand gripping her mother's hand tightly as if grasping at a lifeline, "Mother... Mother, I... I have such a miserable life."
Wang Lan grasped her daughter's hand in return, saying, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Mom will think of a way."
Her heart was pounding, and she felt both cold and hot all over. “Here’s what we’ll do: go find Xiao Zhou. There’s a female doctor in her embroidery room. When spring comes, you can make an excuse to go to the embroidery shop to look at the patterns and have Xiao Zhou take you to see her. Let’s not panic. Many women are weak, but with proper care, they can still have children. I can have children, and your older brother can have children, so there’s no reason why you can’t. If she’s really not feeling well, we’ll just take some medicine and take good care of her health.”
After saying that, she pointed to the bedside table, opened it, and took out a few pieces of silver, which weighed eight taels. "This is the money Xiaozhou gave me last night as a token of respect. Take it and buy some good things to eat."
She has food and drink at home and doesn't need to spend any money.
Lu Yu put the silver back in the cabinet. "Mother, I have money. I haven't used a single penny of my dowry money. My husband takes care of all the household necessities, and I don't go out. There's no need for me to spend money."
Wang Lan was still shaken. She sent Lu Yu to visit Qin Xiaozhou. As soon as she arrived at the front yard, Li Changpu found an opportunity to come over. "Have you seen your mother-in-law? Don't cry anymore, or your eyes will hurt. I'll put some cool water on them to make them feel better later."
Zhao Fang saw the young couple from afar in the kitchen. They looked very harmonious, which made her feel relieved. If her sister-in-law was doing well in her husband's family, her mother-in-law would be happy, and if her mother-in-law was happy, her life would be even better.
Dr. Li stroked his beard and laughed, "Changpu, hurry up and pluck all the chicken feathers. Dayun is waiting to stir-fry some chicken."
Li Changpu, visiting as a son-in-law for the first time, naturally wanted to make a good impression. He was just plucking chicken feathers in the corner and would be fetching water from behind the old house later.
The Lu family originally used bamboo to bring water to the corner of the courtyard, where there were two large water vats. Last month, the stream behind the house froze over, and the water could not flow through, so they had to fetch water from the stream. These days, they have to break the ice to scoop up the unfrozen water, making fetching water a heavy task.
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