Wang Gui sat for a while, swallowing his saliva dozens of times, then got up to go back. If he didn't go back soon, the Lu family would be eating, and he had his pride; he wouldn't take advantage of a meal for nothing.
Qin Xiaozhou stopped him from leaving. She knew Wang Gui treated the Lu family well and wasn't stingy with the meal; she wouldn't have let Li Fengxian eat there. Seeing Qin Xiaozhou's enthusiasm, the other members of the Lu family dared to invite Wang Gui to eat at their home.
The table was piled high with food: three large bowls of brown sugar steamed buns, pork bone stew with bamboo shoots, and stir-fried wild vegetables with pork cracklings, plus a few leftover meat buns and a bowl of stir-fried pork with dried chili peppers. The dishes were truly served in bowls; the Lu family was large, and they needed to fill the bowls to be full. However, there wasn't much stir-fried pork, as the Lu family had been depleted for a year and a half and couldn't suddenly eat too much meat, or their stomachs wouldn't be able to handle it.
Wang Gui was speechless with surprise as he looked at the table full of food. Even poor families in the village couldn't afford such a lavish New Year's feast. Rumors were circulating that the new bride of the Lu family was a glutton and ate alone. This food was too extravagant; no family's wealth could withstand such extravagance.
Everyone was a little hesitant to move. Qin Xiaozhou gave each person a brown sugar steamed bun, saying, "Eat quickly, it's best to finish them tonight."
Another meal?! Wang Lan felt a pang of heartache; how much would this meal cost?! But she dared not speak.
Qin Xiaozhou ladled a bowl of bone broth for Xiao Si. Xiao Si was very well-behaved, and she liked him quite a bit. She touched his face and said, "Drink up."
"Waaaah..." Xiao Si cried in fright and hid in Zhao Fen's arms.
Zhao Fen was embarrassed. She coaxed Xiao Si a few times, but fearing that Qin Xiaozhou would be angry, she could only plead on behalf of her son: "Daughter-in-law, don't be angry. He's still young and doesn't understand anything."
Qin Xiaozhou waved her hand, not caring. Ah Jin was a brat who needed to be taught a lesson, but Xiao Si was just a truly clueless baby, only ten months old, unable to speak, and pitifully thin like a monkey. If she were to hold a grudge, she would truly become a vicious shrew.
Lu Yan was still a child, and she couldn't resist such a sumptuous meal. Moreover, she always thought that her sister-in-law was a good person and not at all like the vicious people said. She didn't know why the villagers all said that her sister-in-law was bad. Those people were really blind. She picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks and said, "Sister-in-law, this meat is really delicious."
A bite of brown sugar steamed bun followed by a sip of bone broth—it was so delicious it made your tongue tingle. Add a bite of wild vegetables, and it was heavenly. Lu Yan's mouth was full of oil, and her eyes sparkled. "The steamed buns are so delicious, so sweet! Sister-in-law, will there be any more tomorrow? My second brother and I dug up a lot of bamboo shoots today, and we can sell them for money tomorrow morning."
Does this mean we'll have to eat wild vegetable buns tomorrow? Lu Yan suddenly felt very sad and reluctant to eat.
Qin Xiaozhou put some meat on her plate, saying, "You won't go hungry. Don't worry about supporting your family at such a young age. If you can't sell the bamboo shoots tomorrow, you'll have to wait until the next market day."
Hearing that she wouldn't go hungry, Lu Yan happily started eating, but she was a little sad because she couldn't sell the bamboo shoots. She and her second brother had been busy all day. "What should we do with those bamboo shoots?"
"We can make dried bamboo shoots or pickled bamboo shoots," Qin Xiaozhou thought, considering how to cook bamboo shoots. "Does anyone know how?"
She really doesn't know how to do that.
Wang Lan was thrilled to finally have something to do, saying, "I'll do it, I'll dry bamboo shoots tomorrow."
The elderly are most afraid of being useless to their families, of being disliked by their children and grandchildren, and of becoming a burden to their families. They are happy to have something to do that can help.
After everyone had eaten their fill, Wang Gui sighed, "Grandniece-in-law, you need to be frugal. Eating so much in one meal will empty your stomach in two days. You need to think more about the future. You can't just think about being full for a day or two and squander money. When you have food, you should also think about when you don't. You need to save the money from selling the bamboo shoots. Your mother-in-law and brother-in-law need money for their medicine."
Qin Xiaozhou knew that Wang Gui had no bad intentions, so she nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside. Lu Yunfeng put down his chopsticks and went out, followed closely by Qin Xiaozhou. Grandma Ajin, along with her two sons and the village chief, came to demand justice. Pointing at Qin Xiaozhou, she cried, "Village chief, this vicious woman tried to break my legs! I'm so old and she's being bullied by an outsider! You have to stand up for me! My Ajin was even burned by her fire! Oh dear, I can't go on living like this!"
Qin Xiaozhou leaned leisurely against the gate frame of the courtyard. "Your grandson stole something and blames my house for lighting the fire? Come on, come and see this scoundrel putting on a show! Today's performance is about a grandson stealing food and getting burned, and then his grandmother lying down and trying to extort a bowl of meat from him! Come on, come and watch the show, it's free."
Grandma Ajin paused, her throat tightened, and she opened her mouth but could no longer speak.
Qin Xiaozhou persisted, "You're practically buried in the ground, and you still don't listen to reason. Have you survived your whole life by extorting money, throwing tantrums, and relying on handouts? No wonder you raised your grandson to be such a bad person. Like father, like son, he's a thief at such a young age."
A-Jin's father, Wang Xing, was furious. Pointing at Qin Xiaozhou's nose, he shouted, "How can you, a woman, use such foul language—"
"Pah!" Qin Xiaozhou slapped his hand. "Isn't your mother a woman? She's so old, yet she has no shame. She's always eyeing the little things in other people's kitchens. She doesn't discipline her grandson properly. He's just like her, with his squinting eyes and grinning. He doesn't work hard to support himself. He just wants to scrape food out of other people's mouths to get by. He only deserves to eat what's in other people's teeth."
Grandma Ajin rolled her eyes and almost fainted.
As expected, the villagers who came to watch the spectacle returned.
The village chief tapped a stone with his pipe, quieting the noisy scene down. "Alright, stop making a scene. Every day it's either this family causing trouble or that family arguing. Can't you just calm down?" Then he said to Qin Xiaozhou, "Now that you've married into the Lu family, you're one of us from Wangjia Village. You need to get along well with your neighbors and stop causing trouble every day."
Qin Xiaozhou put away his fierce expression and spoke to the village chief in a gentle tone, "I know the village chief is the fairest person. We are not at fault in today's matter, but Grandma Ajin just won't let us go."
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