NOVPUB
Chapter 190: Chapter 183: The In-laws Come to Help (Part One)
As she busied herself in this way, the time had entered August, and Shen Yunfang had been pregnant for four and a half months, with just a slight protrusion beginning to show at her lower abdomen. If one wasn’t paying close attention, it still wasn’t noticeable.
However, bending over and squatting had become somewhat difficult for her. Thankfully, all the wheat in the fields had been harvested, and next up was the corn, which didn’t require her to stoop.
The few young daughters-in-law in the village, who got along well with Shen Yunfang, knew about her situation and would come over to help her with some work when they were free, so she hadn’t been overworked.
What Shen Yunfang hadn’t expected was that her in-laws would actually take the initiative to come over to ’help’ her at this time.
That day, as Shen Yunfang had just come down from the mountain, she saw someone loitering at her doorstep. As she walked closer, she was surprised to see it was her mother-in-law Qiu Shuping and her sister-in-law Li Xianghe.
"Mom, Xianghe, what brings you here?" Shen Yunfang asked as she approached. Although she didn’t feel like greeting anyone, these two indeed were Li Hongjun’s mother and sister. Even if she wasn’t happy about it, she had to greet them now that she had seen them.
Qiu Shuping saw that her daughter-in-law had a moment of discomfort, which was understandable considering their last meeting had not been very pleasant. Now that she had taken the initiative to visit, she felt somewhat embarrassed.
Qiu Shuping hadn’t spoken yet when Li Xianghe began to complain discontentedly.
"Second sister-in-law, aren’t you pregnant? Shouldn’t you be resting at home instead of wandering around aimlessly? Mom and I have been here for a good while, unable to even get inside the gate."
Shen Yunfang raised an eyebrow. Did she now need to report her whereabouts to her younger sister-in-law? She doesn’t own the place.
"Xianghe, what you’re saying is completely unreasonable. Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I don’t need to eat or work, does it? Besides, you and mom didn’t send any word before coming. Do you expect me to sit at home all day doing nothing, just waiting to open the door for you?" She replied with no small amount of impatience.
This sister-in-law of hers was actually three years older than her, nearing twenty this year, and shared the same character as her mother-in-law, both being rather haughty and disdainful. If Shen Yunfang didn’t stand up for herself from the start and let them walk over her now, who knew how they’d act in her presence in the future. Besides, she didn’t live with the Li Family, so she wasn’t afraid of offending them.
"Oh, why is my second sister-in-law being so fierce with me right off the bat? I’m just speaking out of concern for my mother," Li Xianghe retorted with a snort, looking aggrieved but her eyes flitted between observing her second sister-in-law and her mother’s expressions.
"Enough, both of you stop arguing. We’ve been standing at the gate for a full hour, not worried about being a laughingstock? Let’s go inside quickly; if there’s anything to discuss, we can talk in the house," Qiu Shuping said, pursing her lips and continuing to play the role of the dignified mother-in-law.
Shen Yunfang looked at the two of them, pondering over the purpose of their visit. She took the house key out of her pants pocket and stepped forward to unlock the gate of her courtyard with a click.
Last year, whether it was Li Hongxing or Qiu Shuping who came by, she didn’t let them into her house but instead led them to her eldest uncle’s home. That was because she wasn’t officially married into the Li Family yet, not having tied the knot with Li Hongjun. At the time, both Li Hongxing and Qiu Shuping weren’t truly her relatives. She felt it was appropriate to bring them to her eldest uncle’s house and let the elders of the Shen Family entertain them. Now, however, she was married to Li Hongjun, making Qiu Shuping and Li Xianghe her legitimate in-laws, even family, so there was no reason not to let them into her home.
Shen Yunfang led the two into the house and had them sit down.
"Mom, how did you come? Why didn’t you send me a message in advance?" Shen Yunfang asked as she ushered her mother-in-law to sit on the kang bed, then picked up the thermos from the table, poured a cup of hot water and handed it to her mother-in-law.
Although she was well aware that her mother-in-law disliked her and seemed to always be looking for reasons to pick on her, she was Li Hongjun’s mother. Even if she didn’t like her, she had to show respect on the surface. Such is the sorrow of being a daughter-in-law.
"How else could they have come? They walked, of course. Ah, don’t you go pouring me hot water, with this weather you’re still bringing me hot water? Go quickly and fetch me and your sister a basin of cold water. We can wipe ourselves down. We’ve been walking all morning in this scorching heat and our clothes are soaked with sweat," Qiu Shuping ordered her daughter-in-law to serve her.
Shen Yunfang glanced at the disheveled state of the two and nodded her head, saying, "Okay, Mom, you and Xianghe take a seat in the room. I’ll go heat up some lukewarm water for you."
With Shen Yunfang gone, Qiu Shuping stopped putting on airs and stood up, starting to rummage around the room.
Li Xianghe was much the same, for it was the first time both of them had come to their second sister-in-law’s house, and they wanted to see if there were any nice things in her sister-in-law’s home.
There’s a door between the eastern room and the main room, but it’s only closed at night when sleeping. Shen Yunfang had hung a cloth curtain on the doorframe to serve as a partition during the day.
In truth, there didn’t seem to be anything really valuable in Shen Yunfang’s home. Right after she had moved in, there was indeed nothing worth mentioning. Later, when Shen Yunfang had made some money from selling things, she didn’t buy any nice items for the house. Instead, she mostly purchased tasty food that could be eaten because, deep down, she felt she wouldn’t live in this home forever. Eventually, after going to university, she was certain to leave. By then, having too many belongings would just be a hassle to deal with.
The layout of the eastern room was still the same, only the table had been replaced by Li Hongjun, and in addition to two rosewood chests on the Kang bed, there was also a tall cabinet standing to the side.
After getting married, the number of clothes and quilts in the house had increased, so Li Hongjun bought this tall cabinet while he was still around.
"Mom, there really isn’t anything nice in the second sister-in-law’s house," Li Xianghe flipped through a few things and quickly lost interest.
"Hmph, she’s an orphan, what good things could she have?" Qiu Shuping disdainfully said as she opened the cabinet.
"Yeah, my second brother’s salary every month must all be saved up by her. You have to ask her for more this time, Mom. I’m already twenty, and if I don’t dress up nicely, I’ll end up an old maid," Li Xianghe had long wanted to buy some floral fabric to make herself a pretty set of clothes, but her mother was too stingy to give her the money. That’s why she insisted on following her mother to her eldest sister-in-law’s house this time, figuring she could wheedle her into giving her some money to buy clothes.
"Oh, enough already, all you ever do is scheme, what’s the use? Up to now, you haven’t brought me a potential suitor worth looking at," Qiu Shuping said, her face turning a shade of envy as she felt the row of quilts in the cabinet, all made of cotton.
"How is that my fault? You’re not looking at the kind of rejects they introduce to me. I’d rather stay single forever than end up with someone who’s good for nothing." Whenever the topic of a potential suitor for Li Xianghe came up, she became unhappy. Was it wrong for her to want someone with good conditions? Yet all these years, the candidates her family introduced were either farmers or temporary laborers in the county – she wouldn’t settle for that.
"Sure, if you’re so capable, stay unmarried for all your life," Qiu Shuping said, though what she actually hoped for was that her daughter could marry a son-in-law with good prospects. That way, the family could benefit, and the girl wouldn’t have to suffer in the future, unlike her eldest daughter. Hence, none of the suitors who came knocking passed her evaluation. "Go and see what your sister-in-law is up to."
Li Xianghe reluctantly went to the door and lifted the curtain to look, "I don’t know what she’s up to; she’s not in the main room."
Turning around, she saw her own mother pulling something out of the cabinet, something red, "Mom, what’s that? I like it, give it to me." She hadn’t seen clearly what it was yet but already wanted it. 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝔭𝔲𝔟.𝖈𝖔𝔪
Qiu Shuping didn’t pay attention to her, her hands fondling a towel blanket, a smile deepening on her face.
"It’s not fabric, huh. I thought it was floral fabric," Li Xianghe rushed over to see, realizing it was a towel, having thought it was a piece of fabric. Touching it as her mother had, she too was conquered by the fluffy feel, "Mom, I want this towel. When I get married, it can be part of my dowry." She never considered that this item belonged to her elder sister-in-law, not her mother, because she knew that whatever her mother laid her hands on, she could get.
"What are you saying, such a big girl you are, always talking about getting married or not, isn’t that embarrassing?" Qiu Shuping glanced at her daughter disapprovingly, then looked contentedly at the towel quilt in her hand, "Forget about this one. The color is quite nice, it will be perfect for when your brother gets married." Although she didn’t really know what a towel quilt was, she was impressed by this ’big towel.’
