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Jiang Sheng’s father Jiang Yong and his mother Jiang Wang Shi came to the house. Jiang Sheng did not come with him. Jiang Wang Shi came to the door carrying a basket. In the basket, you could see a piece of pork weighing about two kilograms, and some dried fungus.

Since Jiang Wang Shi entered the yard, she couldn’t see enough. She put down the basket and said,  “Jiang Sheng didn’t even come home to say that his in-laws were moving. If I hadn’t gotten up early today and rushed the ox cart to Zhoujia Village, the head of the family and I wouldn’t have known that our in-laws had moved. This is a moving gift. Even though the in-laws’ family is affluent and doesn’t care about this, it’s still something good that we can offer. Please don’t look down on it.”

Zhulan could hear the strong undertone of the complaint. Jiang Wang Shi was blaming them for not informing them about the move. And there was one particularly harsh sentence as if she thought Zhulan had a good temper. “You’re saying this, then I have to speak up. There are two types of in-law relationships: those who share joys and sorrows, and those who scatter in times of adversity. Naturally, the treatment for those who scatter is different. Do you agree with this reasoning, in-law?”

Jiang Wang Shi’s face turned red. Although Yang Shi didn’t curse, her words were even more unpleasant than cursing. Wasn’t she indirectly criticizing the Jiang family? Who would have thought that the incident last time was all baseless rumors. However, it was true that she and her husband had acted unfairly.

She was angry just now. The first reason was that the Zhou family had not notified the move and they did not regard the Jiang family as their in-laws. The second reason was that her son had moved into his in-law’s family home and would look after the house for the in-law family in the future. They were also people who wanted to show their face in the future. It was now impossible to live with his youngest son. How could she not feel angry? She believed that the Zhou family was not authentic. The third thing was the jealousy in her heart.

As a woman, she really envied the Yang Shi. She used to look down on her, but now Yang Shi was superior. This growing gap was like a mirror, which increasingly reflected her dark and ugly side.

Jiang Wang Shi put out the fire and didn’t know how to speak for a moment.

Li Shi enjoyed listening very much. Her mother-in-law was amazing. Jiang Wang Shi was so ashamed that she could only say a few words. When would she learn such skills from her mother-in-law?

Zhulan had no favorable feelings towards the Jiang family at all. She and Zhou Shuren never regarded the Jiang family highly and were unwilling to lower their standards to quarrel with them. However, that didn’t mean they would tolerate everything. Addressing Li Shi, she said, “We’ve accepted your congratulatory gift. It’s getting late, and if the head of the household isn’t feeling well, we won’t keep you and your mother-in-law any longer.”

Jiang Yong remained silent from beginning to end. It was because Zhou Shuren couldn’t get up from the kang, so Zhu Lan took care of the reception herself.

Jiang Yong turned pale with embarrassment. They were being sent off by their in-laws. Shouldn’t he be happy that the Zhou family let them in instead of blocking them out?

Boss Zhou knew that his mother was not angry because she felt that the Jiang family was not worthy of being angry. When he saw his mother picking up the teacup again, he stepped forward and said, “Uncle, please come this way.”

Jiang Yong’s face turned pale and red, and he tensed up. He stood up and glared at the old woman, “Why don’t you leave and wait for others to chase you away?”

Jiang Wang’s face reddened even more. At her age, if her husband didn’t show her any respect in front of the younger generation, how could she face others in the future?

Zhulan eyes showed disdain. What kind of skill was it to scold a woman? She detested the practice of blaming women for everything.

Zhulan was not afraid at all that the two of them would get angry and go back to Zhoujiacun to target Xuemei. These two people were smart enough not to dare.

Zhulan waited for Boss Zhou to send people back and looked at Boss Zhou. Boss Zhou cleverly said: “Mom, the direction uncle and aunt are going is not back to Zhoujia Village.”

Zhulan raised the corners of her lips. The Jiang family couple were quite smart, “Well “

Boss Zhou felt that when his mother got angry, she was much more ruthless than his father. His mother’s words cut straight to the heart and tore people’s faces apart, while his father was more direct, at least not causing as much inner turmoil. When Jiang Sheng’s parents returned home, he had to vent his anger alone, or he would fall ill.

When Zhulan saw Second Zhou come in, she said, “I was just asking your eldest brother to look for you.”

“Mom, did you need something from me?”

“Yes, your father and I discussed it yesterday. The house is too big, and our family is a bit lacking. Since we haven’t sold any grain and have enough to eat, I want you to find four big dogs. Put two in the front yard and two in the backyard. Make sure to find fierce ones.”

Second Zhou thought about it quickly. Thinking about who had a dog, “Mom, dogs are not cheap. An adult big dog costs about one or two silver.” 

These days, aside from hunters, those who could afford to raise dogs in the village were mainly using them to guard their homes. Families who could afford to keep dogs usually had a decent financial situation, so purchasing dogs wasn’t cheap.

Zhulan took out five taels of silver and said, “If you want to buy it, you must be strong.” 

Second Zhou was more enthusiastic about buying dogs than cows. He just loved dogs. He had wanted to raise them since he was a child but had never mentioned it. Now, with four dogs to raise, his wish was fulfilled. Even if his mother hadn’t mentioned it, he had been thinking about bringing it up for some time.

Zhulan had a lot of things to do. She needs to cut down the cabbage left by the Zheng family, make pickle sauerkraut, spicy cabbage, and put the rest in the cellar. The large vegetable garden would not be finished in a few days. 

The vegetable garden of the Zhou family’s old house did not need to be left to Xuemei and his wife. They also grew a lot of vegetables in the rented house. The vegetable garden of the old house was left to the boss to bring back. With the help of Xuemei and his wife, the boss could do it himself.

Spinach couldn’t be stored for long, so after picking it, they dried it and stored it in cloth bags, placing them in a dry room. The Zheng family’s house was spacious and had been standing for many years, with no dampness at all, providing ample space for Zhu Lan to store the spinach.

Even the smallest children followed along and helped with the work.

Sun Shi also wanted to help, but Zhulan refused. In the end, Sun Shi couldn’t compete with Zhulan and took over the cooking job.

At noon, Second Zhou came back with four dogs. Second Zhou walked to buy the dogs. When he came back, he led the dogs into the village. The four big dogs were particularly fierce. Everyone in the Lijia Village knew that the Zhulan family bought the big dogs. They didn’t even dare to go near the house anymore.

Zhulan’s family had been busy for three consecutive days before finally finishing work in the vegetable fields. Their courtyard was filled with strings of radishes and cherry tomatoes. As for the spinach, they dried it directly on the kang. With the spaciousness of the Zheng family’s house, there was enough room for Zhu Lan to manage everything.

In the following days, Boss Zhou and Second Zhou took their daughter-in-law to collect firewood on the mountain. Lijia Village was located closer to the mountains than Zhoujia Village, and this mountain forest was very deep.

Boss Zhou and Second Zhou did not dare to go deeper.

In the blink of an eye, November arrived. This year’s first snow was a bit later than last year’s, and it wasn’t as heavy. It was just a light dusting of snow that would disappear with a gust of wind.

Xuemei came to the house with her son and daughter. The two children were the most excited to come. They couldn’t stay any longer as soon as they entered the door and started following Mingteng to play with him.

Zhulan asked, “How come it’s snowing today?”

Xuemei complained, “Mom, what kind of snowy day is this? It’s just a light dusting of snow.”

“Light snow is also snow, what’s the matter today? You came alone, why didn’t Jiang Sheng follow?”

Xuemei said, “Jiang Sheng’s mother fell ill, so Jiang Sheng went back home. It just happened that he could give me a ride to the entrance of Li Jia Village. If everything is fine, he’ll come back tonight to pick up the rest of us.”

Zhulan understood that this was because the son-in-law did not want to take his wife and children back to suffer. Their son-in-law no longer trusted his parents.

Xuemei didn’t see her dàsǎo, “Mom, where is dàsǎo? Why isn’t wàipó here?”

Zhulan said: “Your wàipó and Li Shi’s mother got along very well. After breakfast, she and Li Shi went back to Li’s house. At noon they will come back.”

Xuemei was envious of her dàsǎo. This was the third time she had come back since her parents moved. She was envious that her dàsǎo could return to her parents’ home at any time. However, although she couldn’t come back home often, she could still eat the food cooked by her dàsǎo every day.

It was all because the children at home were used to having lunch. After eating pastries for two days, they got tired of them. Why didn’t they eat at her house? It was simple: they found her cooking not tasty enough. Her dàsǎo had spoiled the appetites of the children, and this was just a reflection of the good conditions at her parents’ home. If they were at another household, having something to eat would be considered good enough.

In the end, a compromise was adopted. Her dàsǎo made lunch for the young students in the morning and then put it in their house to heat it at noon so that they could have a hot meal when they came back at noon.

Her dàsǎo always cooked more. Xuemei knew that it must be her mother’s instructions. Their family couldn’t afford to have three meals a day like her mother’s family, so her mother deliberately subsidized her.

Thinking about it this way, Xuemei was moved by the fact that children with mothers were different from children without mothers.

Boss Zhou came in and said, “Mom, Old Man Zhang’s second sūnzi is back.”

(End of Chapter)

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