The watermelon planting has been sorted out. It's early March now. Jiang Shuhe is in charge of turning the fields, and Brother Mu is in charge of using fish intestines for composting. Yi'an is free for the time being.
Once her older brother brings back the watermelon seeds, she will start cultivating the seedlings.
"Second sister-in-law, eldest sister, Mother said you should come over for dinner tonight."
Mu Yi'an looked at Jiang Lan, who was dressed in a radiant outfit. She was wearing an embroidered, high-necked, light green ruqun, which was quite appropriate for the season and full of the breath of spring.
"Okay, we'll be there in a bit."
Mu Yi'an and Jiang Lan had nothing to say to each other; their values were incompatible, and they were not on the same path.
Jiang Lan had already delivered her message; she and Mu Yi'an were simply at odds and had nothing to say to each other. Without lingering, she turned and slowly left. However, along the way, she attracted the envy of the village's young women and wives, who all thought Jiang Lan's dress was beautiful, and the silk flowers in her hair were lovely. They also envied her for finding a good family and marrying into a wealthy household in the county town.
"Second sister-in-law, who's coming?"
Jiang Qi was reading in her room while the children were taking a nap.
"Jiang Lan is here. She said our mother wants us to come back to the old house for dinner tonight. Is today some special day? It's not even our parents' birthdays."
"I can't think of any, and I don't remember any particular day like that?"
Mu Yi'an and Jiang Qi couldn't understand why Jiang's mother wanted them to go back to the old house for dinner. They decided to stop thinking about it and just take some things over there to find out.
"Jiang Qi, I'm going to my cousin's house next door to get some rapeseed. When the children wake up, please let them have some water."
"Okay, sister-in-law, you go ahead. Your aunt is a very nice person."
Mu Yi'an took a bag of pastries to the neighbor's, as it wouldn't be appropriate to show up empty-handed.
Is my aunt home?
"Who is it? Come in."
"Aunt, do you have any extra rapeseed at home?"
"It's from Shuyun's family! Come in quickly! There are plenty of rapeseed seeds. We save a lot every year, and we can't use them all."
Wang Zhongshi's wife, Du Sanniang, was in her forties, rather plump, and spoke quickly and directly.
“That’s great. I just finished preparing my vegetable garden and realized I didn’t have any seeds, so I thought I’d ask my aunt.”
Mu Yi'an placed the pastries in her hand on the table, always believing that it's never wrong to be polite.
"Come on, they're all here. I planted a batch yesterday. What kind of seeds do you want? Pick them yourself."
My aunt was a very generous person. She took out a bamboo basket containing various vegetable seeds wrapped in straw paper.
As she spoke, her aunt opened each of the paper packages one by one.
"Shuyun's wife, these are cucumber seeds, eggplant seeds, pumpkin seeds, tomato seeds, cabbage seeds, scallion seeds, radish seeds..."
Mu Yi'an looked at the paper packets that his aunt opened one by one and was full of admiration. So many rapeseed seeds, cleaned so well, and with plump kernels. You can't help but admire them. There are really masters among ordinary people!
"Auntie is amazing! The rapeseed she saved is even better than what you buy in stores!"
"Right? Let me tell you, in our Jiangjia Village, you can't find anyone better at handling rapeseed than me. It's true, and I'm not just praising myself."
The aunt-in-law thought Shuyun's wife knew her stuff; she wouldn't give her family's rapeseed to just anyone.
"It really is good, I'm telling the truth."
Although Mu Yi'an was taken aback by her aunt's bluntness, she quickly recovered and sincerely praised her.
The two got along quite well, and Mu Yi'an took some of each kind of seed, enough to plant two crops, so she could save the seeds herself later.
After taking the seeds, Mu Yi'an didn't keep them for long. She went back and planted them quickly because she was going to the old house for dinner later and needed to help with the cooking beforehand. She couldn't just wait to eat something ready-made.
"Shuyun's wife, you can't bring anything next time you come."
"Okay, I'll remember that, Aunt. I'll go back and plant the rapeseed first, and I'll come back to chat with you again when I have time."
"Okay, hurry up and plant them, the season waits for no one. Come and visit often in the future, bring the children and Jiang Qi, don't always stay at home and never go out."
Jiang Qi's aunt didn't think there was anything wrong with her getting a divorce. She reasoned that a woman wouldn't choose divorce unless she was absolutely forced to.
"Thank you, Aunt. I will talk to Jiang Qi."
Mu Yi'an smiled and said goodbye to her aunt, then took the rapeseed home.
After arriving home, Shao Ming looked after his younger siblings in the yard, while Mu Yi'an and Jiang Qi went to the vegetable garden outside the yard to plant the vegetable seeds. It had rained a couple of days ago, so the soil was still very moist.
"Okay, we'll plant the rest in a few days. We can't plant them all at once; we have to plant them at different times."
"Second sister-in-law, shouldn't we cook a meal for Shuhe and his brother?"
Jiang Qi was thinking of having dinner at the old house that night, but there were still farmhands working there.
"No need. I'll get some rice and a few eggs later and have your second brother take them to your third uncle's house. Let the two brothers eat at their own home tonight."
"That's fine too. Otherwise, they'll feel inconvenienced if we're not home."
After they finished speaking, the two went to get the grain and eggs, and asked Jiang Shuyun to run them over, as well as Jiang Sanshu's children, and to inform Jiang Shuhe.
Mu Yi'an took some more food and put it in the basket to take to the old house later. They weren't going to eat and drink for free, and they didn't want to listen to Jiang Dasao's sarcastic remarks.
The group arrived at the Jiang family's old house, where Jiang's mother was killing a chicken in the yard.
"Mom, we're here. Is there anything else we haven't done? I'll take care of it."
Jiang Qi saw her mother busy in the yard by herself, so she quickly went over to help.
"There's nothing else to do. Once we've cleaned this place up, everything will be fine."
When Jiang's mother saw the basket her second daughter-in-law was carrying, she knew that she had brought food.
"Mom, why did you suddenly decide to call us over for dinner?"
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