NOVPUB
Chapter 165: Chapter 159: Moving Back to Gaijiatun
After the family division, once outsiders like Li Hongjun had left, he spoke directly to Old Li, saying that he and his wife were planning to move back to Gaijiatun that afternoon.
Li Wangcai’s lips quivered a few times, but he still said nothing. Sigh, the family had been divided, whether they moved sooner or later, they had to move. Just do it!
Thinking about the uncooked meat filling that was left, Shen Yunfang decided it would be perfect to make dumplings for a farewell lunch. 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
So, Shen Yunfang, along with Wang Dan and Li Xianghe, started making dumplings in the kitchen.
Don’t want to do it? Fine. The family’s been split anyway. Everyone can just fend for themselves. The meat filling was bought with her own money, if others didn’t want to help wrap, she would simply eat it herself and her own family.
So even though they were reluctant, the three of them hurried along and managed to wrap dumplings for the whole extended family before noon.
The Li Family only had cabbage, so they only made dumplings with pork and cabbage filling.
They had a satisfying meal at noon, and after Shen Yunfang finished washing the dishes and stood her last post in the kitchen, she went back to her room to start packing her things to take with her. In fact, there wasn’t much to pack, just a mattress and quilt that she had brought with her when she got married. Shen Yunfang found some rope, and with Li Hongjun’s guidance, it didn’t take long before their luggage was bundled and packed.
"You must be exhausted," Li Hongjun said, his voice full of concern.
He had seen all that his wife had done these past few days and remembered what his family members had done as well. Knowing she had suffered and felt wronged, he resolved to treat her twice as well in the future.
"It is quite tiring to take care of more than a dozen people alone. It’s somehow more exhausting than tending to all the chickens and ducks in my own yard," Shen Yunfang replied, speechless. She never felt tired feeding the pigs and chickens at home and always did it with energy. But after cooking just a few meals here, and even though it was nothing for her body now, she felt exhausted.
Perhaps it was mental fatigue. At home, seeing the chickens and ducks eat happily made her content; they were money, her vision of a good life, her hope for the future. But at her mother-in-law’s house, no matter how well she did, she couldn’t avoid being criticized at the dinner table. Maybe her mother-in-law thought belittling her daughter-in-law would elevate her own status.
For Li Hongjun’s sake, she had endured it all, thinking it was only for a few days and surely she could get through it. Once back at her own home, everything would be fine.
Li Hongjun didn’t speak but just looked at her and smiled. He wasn’t angry that she had compared his relatives unfavorably to chickens and ducks; in fact, he felt the same. Aside from his wife, there were three other women in the house, indeed everyday seemed like a drama. He just couldn’t fathom how his father and brother normally got through the days.
He didn’t realize that without his wife, those people were like comrades in a trench, sharing the same smells and never actually fighting with each other.
The two lay on the bare kang, chatting sporadically, waiting to take the cart back to Gaijiatun.
When the horse cart stopped at the gate, Shen Yunfang first carried the luggage onto it, then helped Li Hongjun up. After saying a word to Old Li in the west room, she left without looking back.
In the west room, Old Li sat on the kang, puffing on his pipe, while Qiu Shuping grumbled and cursed Li Hongjun for being heartless and Shen Yunfang for not being good, calling her a home-wrecker and a vixen, without a single kind word.
Once the sound of the horse cart faded, Li Wangcai let out a sigh and calmly said to his wife beside him, "Have it your way. It’s only been a few days since our son got married. How many times have you caused trouble for our daughter-in-law? Now our son has truly left, and his heart has departed with him. Just don’t come to regret it later."
Qiu Shuping abruptly sat up from the kang, crying out, "Are you blaming me now? What have I done wrong? Can’t I even say I disapprove of this daughter-in-law? If it weren’t for you wanting to repay some favor, could our Hongjun have found someone like her to anger me? What else could I do but divide the family? They say I can’t hold the balance, that I’m biased, but I was just frustrated. From the incident last autumn, to everything that happened at the provincial hospital, when has Shen Yunfang ever respected me as a mother-in-law? If I weren’t tough, she’d have taken advantage of me."
Li Wangcai sighed and let his wife carry on with her crying and fussing while he lit up his pipe again for another smoke.
Meanwhile, Shen Yunfang found herself unaffected by the cold as she talked with Li Hongjun about life at home. She had never felt such affection for Gaijiatun.
As the horse cart entered Gaijiatun, several villagers came out to chat with Shen Yunfang and take a look at her new son-in-law. Li Hongjun maintained a stern face, but he still answered everyone’s questions seriously.
