Chapter 159: Chapter 89: Eldest Maternal Aunt Is Still the Best (Part 2)

Juhua quickly said, “I had two bowls. Grandma, you just sit and talk with Mom. I’ll help.” She then dragged a small stool over, placing it beside her eldest aunt, close to the stove opening where it was warmer.

The old lady simply couldn’t sit still and refused to just sit around. She insisted on helping Mrs. Yang prep the vegetables—they had just pulled up a good amount of green garlic shoots and scallions, and had also harvested several heads of yellow-heart cabbage.

While chopping meat on the cutting board, Mrs. Yang said to Juhua, “Juhua, go tell your dad to catch and clean some loaches. We’ll cook them the same way we did last time so your grandma and eldest aunt can try them. That pig’s blood with pickled vegetables is also great. There are only a few blocks left, so let’s cook them all today. They’ll go bad if we don’t cook them soon; even in this cold weather, they won’t last much longer. As for this meat, let’s stew it with garlic—Laicai was craving meat stewed with garlic last time and didn’t get any. Today, we’ll let him eat his fill.”

Juhua gave a word of agreement and went out to find her dad. He was by the pigpen, watching the pigs eat with a goofy grin. She told him about preparing the loaches, and Zheng Changhe readily agreed, heading off to clean them.

Juhua scooped some pickled cabbage out of the pickling crock, then took out the blocks of pig’s blood that were soaking in water. She and her mom then got busy in the kitchen.

While cooking, Mrs. Yang asked Ms. Zhang, “Sister-in-law, have you heard back about the girl from Old Wang Village that Laifu met with? If they’ve approved the match, we need to start preparing to get this matter settled quickly.”

Ms. Zhang said indignantly, “What match? I have no idea who told them, but they heard that your eldest brother opened a shop at the market, with Laixi running it. They said they’ll only agree to the marriage if we give that shop to Laifu. Can you believe the nerve? It’s not even a sure thing yet, and they’re already helping us divide our property!”

Mrs. Yang flew into a rage at this, banging her spatula against the wok. CLANG! CLANG! “How could we possibly marry into a family like that? That’s not a marriage, that’s inviting a plague into the house! They’d turn our home into a chaotic mess.”

Mrs. Wang puffed out her cheeks and added, “That’s exactly what I said. Never mind what the girl is like; with parents like that as in-laws, they’d do nothing but stir up trouble in their son-in-law’s home.”

Ms. Zhang sighed. “His father and I weren’t happy about it either, so we’ve just dropped the matter. Actually, Laifu’s master, Wang Jinhua, has a daughter who’s a very good girl. The problem is, she’s their only child, so they’re planning on having her marry a man who will move in with them to take care of them in their old age.”

Mrs. Wang immediately cried out in a loud voice, “Don’t you dare say such things! After all the trouble we went through raising a son from a baby, you want to just give him away to another family? Absolutely not! Don’t you get any foolish ideas, and you’d better warn Laifu not to do anything stupid. His father would never agree, and I certainly won’t. If you two are muddle-headed enough to consider this, I absolutely will not allow it.”

Ms. Zhang quickly forced a laugh. “I was just thinking out loud. Grandma, you always jump to conclusions at the slightest rumor. I’m his own mother, you think I’d really give my son away? Don’t shout like that, someone might hear. If word gets back to his master, he’ll be offended—it’s a pitiable situation, them not having a son. Besides, this whole business of a man marrying into his wife’s family has to be by mutual agreement anyway.”

Mrs. Yang also chuckled. “Mom, if you don’t agree, then that’s that. Let’s not say any more. The way I see it, just because a man marries into his wife’s family, does that really make him their son? That’s nonsense. Can someone else just claim a child you carried for ten months? It’s just that nobody wants their son to spend his life taking care of another family’s elders.”

Mrs. Wang sighed and said to them both, “You two don’t understand. It’s far more complicated than you think. When a man marries into his wife’s family, endless complications can arise after children are born. It’s not something you can explain in a few words. And it’s not necessarily a windfall for the wife’s family; it can cause them plenty of trouble, too. For example, say he becomes successful later in life. His birth mother might get resentful and start showing up to cause a scene. Can the son just ignore his own mother? But the wife’s family will certainly have something to say about it—’You married into our family, which makes you one of us. Your birth mother is just a relative now, so what right does she have to be greedy for our family’s assets?’”

Her speech had both Mrs. Yang and Ms. Zhang nodding repeatedly. “No wonder no one is willing to let their son marry into his wife’s family,” Mrs. Yang said.

Mrs. Wang stood up to wash vegetables, saying to her daughter-in-law, “You should just go ahead and build another three-room section, so each of the two brothers has their own. You have to treat them equally. That way, there won’t be any fights when it’s time to find them wives. As for the shop, you and your husband should hold onto it for now. When you have more money, buy some land. Then you can give the land to one and the shop to the other. That would be fair!”

Ms. Zhang grumbled, “Children are just a debt you have to pay.”

Mrs. Wang laughed. “You’re saying this with only two sons? What about families with four or five? They all get through it somehow. By the time all the sons are married off, the old couple has been worked to the bone.”

Juhua sighed as she listened. Her own brother had already faced a great deal of frustration over his marriage prospects. Life must be truly difficult for families with two, three, or even four sons. The expense was secondary; the real challenge was finding an agreeable wife.

As she listened to their chatter, she poured the chopped pickled vegetables into a clay pot, then sliced the pig’s blood into small cubes and arranged them on top. Since the pickles were already salty, she didn’t add any salt, just some lard, chili powder, and ginger. She then set the pot on the charcoal stove to simmer. The family had a good supply of lard these days; they had rendered two whole jars from one large pig.

When she finished and had a moment to spare, she thoroughly cleaned the long work table, organized everything, and put away some of the unused jars and pots. They had bought a great many jars, pots, and clay casseroles back when they were in the pork offal business, and now the house was full of them.

Juhua saw her eldest aunt was burning firewood and said to her, “Eldest Aunt, you should save some of the good embers. Just put them in that small jar to smother them.” She pointed to an earthenware jar in a corner of the stove.

Ms. Zhang couldn’t help but laugh. “I always say, Juhua really knows how to run a frugal household. You think your aunt needed you to tell her? I’ve already saved plenty of embers.”

Mrs. Yang laughed too. “In this cold weather, we use a lot of charcoal since we like keeping a stove going for warm food. It’s no surprise she’s keeping an eye on it.”

Listening to her eldest aunt, Juhua looked at her slightly sallow face and felt a special fondness. ’Eldest Aunt really is wonderful!’ she thought. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian.com to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep