NOVPUB
Chapter 159: Chapter 153 War Begins
In the afternoon, Shen Yunfang was in the house giving Li Hongjun a massage. His leg had been dangling all morning; the injured leg was swollen, aching, and uncomfortable. Seeing this, Yunfang insisted he lie down. She then propped up the leg with the cast using a cotton quilt and sat on the bed to massage his thigh to help improve circulation and ease his discomfort.
"We don’t have much on tomorrow, so let’s go to the county hospital for a check-up," Yunfang suggested to Hongjun.
After all, the trip from the provincial city to home had been exhausting. Furthermore, because of the wedding these past two days, he hadn’t had proper rest. She wouldn’t feel at ease without having a doctor look at him after such a long time.
"Mhm," Hongjun’s facial expression eased. Having his injured leg massaged made the muscle relax, and it hurt less.
"Then let’s head back to Gaijiatun the day after tomorrow," Yunfang went on to request.
Hongjun opened his eyes to look at her, "I’m not comfortable living here." It was a statement, not a question.
"Yeah, it’s not as comfortable as home." Here, she couldn’t make decisions on her own and had to watch out for others’ nitpicking at any moment. It would be too exhausting if they had to live like this in the future.
"Mhm," Hongjun closed his eyes again.
"You promised. I’ll start packing in a bit," Yunfang said, excited.
They were chatting intermittently when suddenly a shrill female voice came from outside, "Old Lady Qiu, we’re slaughtering a pig later. If you want to buy some meat, you’d better hurry up."
Yunfang listened for a while. The woman’s voice rose again, but this time she wasn’t shouting towards their yard; she must have gone to inform someone else.
Yunfang looked down at Hongjun, her eyes sparkling, "Do you want to eat pork?"
From the wedding yesterday to today, she had not eaten meat for five meals and was now craving it.
Hongjun chuckled and rubbed her head, amused by how changeable his wife was, sharp-tongued one moment and childlike the next. 𝘯𝘰𝑣𝘱𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
"If you want to eat, then buy some. There’s still a little money in my pocket."
Yunfang raised an eyebrow. He still had money? Guided by his direction, she found the little bit of money in his pocket. It wasn’t much—three yuan and sixty cents in total.
It made sense since he had sent almost all of his money to her in the past few months, keeping only some pocket change.
Hongjun was somewhat embarrassed, "I’ll be on assignment in November, and haven’t received my salary yet. I’ll have money once I rejoin the team."
Yunfang flicked the money in her hand, "I won’t accept this. Our family won’t allow you to have personal savings."
"Alright, from now on you handle all our money," Hongjun said gently.
"That’s more like it. Okay, I’m off to buy the pork," Yunfang said, satisfied. She kicked the money into her pocket and, despite insisting on massaging Hongjun’s leg for a while longer, eventually stopped, put on her shoes, and got down to go purchase the meat.
Yunfang first went to her mother-in-law’s room. Qiu Shuping and Wang Dan were sitting on the bed sewing shoe soles, with Sandan crawling all over the bed.
"Mom, I heard that someone in our village is slaughtering a pig today. We should buy some; Hongjun needs to replenish his nutrition right now," Yunfang announced her intention as soon as she walked in.
Shuping and Dan both paused their tasks.
"Why are you always so greedy? Do you know how much a pound of pork costs? Can you earn enough for a pound of pork in one day? You’re always so careless, craving this and that. Don’t use my son as an excuse. My son grew up just fine without eating much meat," Shuping scolded sharply.
Yunfang’s eyebrows shot up on the spot. However, remembering this was her mother-in-law and that arguing wouldn’t reflect well on her, she forcefully suppressed her anger, "Mom, what are you talking about? If you don’t care about your son, just say so. I’m your daughter-in-law; I can’t criticize you. But why blame me for everything? Besides, we’re still family. Hongjun has also contributed money to you before, so what’s wrong with asking you for money to buy some meat?" In truth, she hadn’t planned to ask Shuping for money, but she got upset with Shuping’s implications, and now she felt she had to demand it.
"Did he give you less money? Don’t think you can confuse me. If you have the money, go buy the pork. You can eat it yourselves; I don’t crave it. Don’t even think about getting money from me for it—I still need to pay for my son’s schooling, and my daughter isn’t married off yet," Shuping repeated her usual stance.
Without a word, Yunfang pulled out the IOU, which was actually from the space, that Hongjun wrote to her for five hundred yuan and slapped it on the table, "It’s only right for your son to give me money, and paying debts is a matter of principle. To speak honestly, this money hasn’t been fully repaid yet. Mom, you tell me what to do now."
Qiu Shuping and Wang Dan were both illiterate, so they craned their necks to look at the debt note but neither dared to touch it, fearing that if the note was real, they would be blamed once they made contact with it.
Seeing their apprehensive behavior, Shen Yunfang lost the interest in arguing with them and carefully folded the debt note before putting it away.
"Alright, since you have no money for meat, then just nibble on cabbage stalks. I’ll use my own money to buy meat for myself," Shen Yunfang said and then turned and left the house.
She took a basin from the kitchen and went back into her room.
"Thank you for your hard work," Li Hongjun said as he held Shen Yunfang’s hand. He had heard some noise coming from his mother’s room and, although he didn’t know exactly what had happened, he could almost guess. He knew his wife had been wronged.
"It’s not hard work, serving the people," Shen Yunfang joked. But there was a key issue she needed to clarify. "First, tell me who called out just now. Where are they, and how do I get there?"
Shen Yunfang was determined to eat meat. Although she had some in her space, she couldn’t just take it out without a good reason. She was also willing to spend money on food; she never shortchanged herself. Besides, Li Hongjun was in such a condition, he needed the essence of life. If she didn’t eat well, how could she have it? With Li Hongjun physically weak, how could he recover his strength without good food? So, for both of their sakes, they needed to eat well.
From the few meals she had at the Li Family, she could tell they were reluctant to eat well. So, if she was to count on them to help Hongjun recover, it certainly wouldn’t happen. She had to do it herself.
"It’s Li Lai’s family. Not far from our house. Go out of the courtyard door, head north along the road until you see a T-junction, then go west, and it’s the third house," Li Hongjun gave her detailed instructions.
"Okay, then I’ll be going," Shen Yunfang said, having noted the directions, and then she left.
Once she left the courtyard, she followed the road north and, upon reaching the T-junction, turned west. Shortly after, she arrived at a courtyard filled with noise and commotion—it must be the place.
Shen Yunfang walked in with her basin.
"Oh, Hongjun’s wife, you’ve come to buy meat," someone recognized her as the new bride who had just married into Taoshu Village.
"Yes," Shen Yunfang replied, as she did not recognize anyone in the courtyard and it was inappropriate to call out to them, so she simply acknowledged their remark.
Those who had not attended the banquet the day before looked over at Shen Yunfang, pointing and whispering. "That’s the child bride from Old Li’s family."
Shen Yunfang remained composed as people looked her over; she was not lacking in any way and was not afraid to be seen.
"Come on, Uncle Lai will cut you a nice piece," Li Lai said with a smile.
"Thank you, Uncle Lai. How much are you selling the pork for?" Shen Yunfang asked with a smile.
"Eight fifty a jin," Li Lai replied.
The price was about the same as outside, Shen Yunfang nodded and said, "Uncle Lai, let me look around first, you can go on serving the others."
Several people in the courtyard were waiting to buy meat. She was not in any rush and didn’t see the point in offending anyone over such a small matter.
Hearing Shen Yunfang’s words, another young wife said politely, "It’s okay, you can go first. We’re not in a hurry. With such a big pig, we all can’t buy it out anyway." It was as if they weren’t worried Shen Yunfang would take all the good cuts.
Shen Yunfang stood beside them with her basin, smiling and saying she was in no rush. Being new to Taoshu Village and unfamiliar with everyone, it was an opportunity to chat.
The young wives started chatting, and as a result of the conversation, Shen Yunfang actually gained something; she learned that one of the wives had surplus chicken eggs and expressed a desire to buy twenty from her. The moment she heard this, the wife put her basin down on the ground, no longer waiting to buy meat, and ran home to fetch the eggs for Shen Yunfang.
When it was Shen Yunfang’s turn to buy meat, she looked over the remaining pork and said, "Uncle Lai, cut me two jins of pork belly, two jins of fatback, five jins of loin, a couple of blood sausages, a big bone, and a pig heart."
The bystanders were astounded. The newcomer wife of the Li family seemed inexperienced at running a household. The amount she was buying would add up to nearly ten yuan.
Shen Yunfang, with a basin full of pork, smiled and said goodbye to everyone before heading back home.
Yes, it was time to make something delicious for Li Hongjun.
