It took a whole day’s journey from Pingzhou to the mansion in Lijia Village. The journey back was a bit rushed. According to modern time, it was around four o’clock in the afternoon when the carriage entered the village. Everyone in Lijia Village knew about it.

Li Shi’s father, Li Cong, came running. When he arrived at the gate, Zhou Shuren was getting off the carriage. Without even catching his breath, Li Cong congratulated him, “Congratulations to the qīnjiā.”

Zhou Shuren quickly reached out and helped Li Yong up, “You are so polite, come and sit for a while.”

He really liked the character of the Li family, they were honest and simple, just see how tired and sweaty they were, the qīnjiā were really sincere, they just kept running after them without saying a word, even a man with such a dark heart was so moved.

Li Cong was indeed a little unsteady on his feet, so he sat down and pounded his legs, “I’m too old to run a few steps.”

Zhulan just got off the cart, “.”

How many steps was the distance from Li’s house to the mansion? One thousand meters, okay? Anyone would be out of breath if they ran all the way down!

Zhou Shuren was also speechless. His body was not able to run one thousand meters in one breath.

Boss Zhou helped Li Shi get out of the cart. Li Shi held a water bag in her hand and said, “Dad, take a deep breath and drink some water. You are sweating from running.”

Li Cong responded with a silly smile. Oh, he saw his fat daughter again. “I see you have gained a lot of weight since the last time you came back. Good, good, it’s good to be fatter.”

Li Cong believed that being fat meant eating well. Although the Li family members were all big in stature, none of them looked plump. His daughter was lucky. She was the plumpest daughter in the entire Li family and was very plump and white.

Li Shi, “.”

It hurts so much to see her biological father. She looked at him with resentment. It was because she inherited the physique of the Li family!

Second Zhou and several other families got off the carriage one after another, and Boss Zhou opened the door. They didn’t bring much luggage this time, just clothes for the next few days. There wasn’t much luggage, only less than two boxes per room, so they moved their things in quickly.

The hired carriage took the money and left. Li Xu Shi also arrived with her son and daughter-in-law. Zhulan looked in the distance and saw more people coming.

Li Xu Shi came over and said, “Qīnjiā Mu, I thought you guys should be back by now. We just cleaned the mansion the other day.”

Zhulan held Li Xu Shi’s hand and said, “Thank you, qīnjiā Mu.”

Li Xu quickly withdrew her hand, “My hands are all cracked, don’t want to hurt my qīnjiā Mu’s hand.”

Zhulan’s hands had been well maintained for two years and were very delicate. Li Xu Shi’s hands did have quite a few cuts. Zhulan held her hands again and said, “I don’t like what my qīnjiā mu said. Let’s go inside and talk.”

Li Xu Shi was indeed afraid that her mother-in-law would dislike her. She didn’t want to be disliked, but she didn’t expect her qīnjiā mu to dislike her at all. She responded loudly, “Ok!”

Li Shi looked at her mother’s grinning face and curled her lips in her heart. She had already said that her mother-in-law liked her the most and was most partial to her, but her mother still didn’t believe it and thought that she only reported good news and not bad news. Was she the kind of person who only reported good news and not bad news?

Li Shi quickly followed and came close to her mother, “Mom, you believe it now!”

Li Xu Shi, “.”

This fool, wasn’t this telling her qīnjiā mu that she had been asking about her daughter’s situation?

Li Shi was not afraid of her mother-in-law. She smiled and said to her mother-in-law, “Mom, my father has collected firewood for our family. I will go to light a fire and cook.”

Li Shi said to her mother again, “Mom, please stay for a while and eat too!”

Li Xu Shi was embarrassed. She really hadn’t eaten dinner. The Li family always had dinner after dark. If they ate later, they wouldn’t be too hungry at night. She stared at Li Shi, saying that she was everywhere. “Qīnjiā mu, this girl is outspoken. Don’t take it to heart. I’m going back first.”

Zhulan didn’t take it to heart. Li Shi was also worried about her parents. She hadn’t heard her talk about the Li family’s situation, but she could guess a little. Li Xu Shi’s hand proved her guess. The Li family had too many sons, all of them grown-up men. After paying taxes and selling some of the grain for a year, it was really not enough to eat. “Li Shi said exactly what I wanted to say. Let’s eat at home today. I’ve been away for so long, and we haven’t talked for a long time. I was in a hurry when I came back last time and I didn’t come to your house. I’m embarrassed!”

Li Xu Shi was very happy, and she admired her deceased mother-in-law again. Her mother-in-law had a good vision. Not only did she find a good mother-in-law for her daughter, but she also found a good relative for the Li family. Her qīnjiā mu had become a Juren’s wife, but her attitude towards her had not changed. She had been holding her hand tightly, so kind. “Look, what my qīnjiā mu said is so outrageous. What is the relationship between our two families?”

Zhulan smiled and said, “Since my qīnjiā mu said so, you have to stay for dinner.”

Zhulan said to Li Shi: “Dinner is now up to you. Take out the roast chicken, braised pig’s trotters, and braised pork that you brought back from Pingzhou. Don’t be stingy.”

This was what Li Shi had planned. She had always had the final say on the family’s meals. This was the right given to her by her mother-in-law. “Ok.”

Zhao Shi and Dong Shi were both very upset. Zhao Shi said quickly, “Mother, I’ll go help my sister-in-law.”

Dong Shi also said, “Mother, I’m going there too.”

Zhulan waved her hand, “Xuehan, go and help too!”

Xue Han responded, “Ok!”

Li Xu Shi looked at her daughters-in-law. It looked like they were going to have a big meal at her daughter’s qīnjiā’s house today. Her qīnjiā mu even asked her little daughter to help, so her daughters-in-law shouldn’t stand around either. “You guys should go and see if you can help in any way.”

Li Xu Shi’s daughters-in-law were happy as they hadn’t eaten meat for a long time. They responded and went out.

Li Xu Shi felt sad. “I made a fool of myself, my qīnjiā mu. I now understand how hard it was for my mother-in-law. People say it’s good to be a mother-in-law, but I prefer to be a daughter-in-law. I didn’t feel tired at all because my mother-in-law worried about me before. Now I have to be thrifty. Life is obviously better now, but it’s still hard!”

Zhulan comforted her, “Everything will be fine. It will be fine after a few more years of hardship.”

Zhulan did the math for the Li family. If they helped cultivate the Zhou family’s land for a few years, at least all the unmarried people could get married, and they would have no problem having enough to eat in a few years. Of course, that was assuming there were no natural disasters or man-made disasters.

Li Xu Shi smiled and said, “Then I’ll borrow your qīnjiā mu’s good words.”

When Li Xu Shi saw her three dìmèi coming in, she thought that they were all cultivating the land of their qīnjiā mu, so it would be inappropriate for them not to come and take a look. Moreover, since their qīnjiā had become juren, it was natural for them to come and congratulate them.

Li Xu Shi looked at the baskets in the hands of her three dìmèi. She had just come here in a hurry and had never thought of picking some vegetables.

Li Xu Shi slapped her thigh and said, “Look at my brain. There weren’t many vegetables in the yard now that my iqīnjiā came back, and I actually forgot about it.”

Zhulan stopped Li Xu Shi who was going home to pick vegetables and said, “There are three baskets of vegetables brought by my qīnjiā shěnzi. It’s enough for us to eat. Please sit down, qīnjiā mu.”

Li Xu was stunned. “My dear in-laws, don’t you mean to stay for a while longer this time?”

Zhulan nodded, “This time we came back mainly to worship our ancestors and to attend to some family matters. Once everything is done, we will return to Pingzhou City.”

Li Xu Shi wanted to chat more with her qīnjiā mu, “Why aren’t you staying a few more days?”

Zhulan was stunned for a moment, “Didn’t my qīnjiā mu hear what Li Shi said?”

Li Xu Shi was a little dumbfounded. “No, she just told me how great Pingzhou is when she came back, and she didn’t say anything else.”

Zhulan thought that Li Shi probably forgot to show off because she was busy bragging about so many things. She was right. It was only after Li Shi returned to Pingzhou that she remembered the most important thing that she had forgotten to brag about. She regretted it very much.

Seeing that everyone was waiting for her reply, Zhulan said, “The head of the family will participate in the Spring Examination next year, so we have to go to the capital in advance and leave in a few days.”

Li Xu Shi’s heart was hesitant, and her voice rose a few notches, “Are you going to the capital?”

(End of this chapter)

---