NOVPUB
Chapter 191: Chapter 184: In-laws Come to Help (Part 2)
Shen Yunfang exchanged a basin of warm water and took a new towel, only to see her mother-in-law and sister-in-law pulling at her towel blanket, apparently arguing about something, as soon as she entered the room.
The problem was she always stored her towel blanket in the cabinet during the daytime. Shen Yunfang glanced around the room, fuming inside. What kind of relatives were these? They were more like robbers.
Visiting her daughter-in-law’s home for the first time, these two were rummaging around so brazenly, evidently not considering themselves outsiders.
"Mom, what are you doing with my blanket?"
Qiu Shuping got a fright from her daughter-in-law’s sudden appearance and remembered she’d been so focused on fighting with her daughter that she’d forgotten this wasn’t her own home, and that she was fighting over her daughter-in-law’s belongings. no𝚟𝚙u𝚋.c𝚘m
"This thing fell out of the cabinet, so I just picked it up for you," Qiu Shuping’s mind was quite quick, and she immediately made up a lie. Then she remembered what her daughter-in-law had just said, "Blanket? You’re saying this is a blanket?"
"You must be lying. Let go, Mom, I want to open it up and see," Li Xianghe was somewhat skeptical; after all, there were now people who didn’t have cloth coupons and bought several towels to dye and make into clothes to wear at home. She wanted to open it to see if there were any seams.
Towel blankets were not yet common in the area, being so remote, some people hadn’t even heard of them, let alone seen one. Following the force of Li Xianghe’s hands, the two women stretched out the towel blanket together, each holding an end.
Li Xianghe felt the surface of the blanket and exclaimed, "Ah, there really aren’t any seams."
Qiu Shuping felt the texture, satisfied, and looked at the color, satisfied too. The only issue was that the pattern was a bit plain. It would have been nice if instead of red checks, there were large flowers on it.
"Sister-in-law, I like this blanket, give it to me. It’s even red, perfect for when I get married. I could use it," Li Xianghe watched her towel blanket with glee, afraid her mother would compete with her for it, she quickly took the initiative to openly ask her sister-in-law for it.
"You’re getting married?" Shen Yunfang was quite surprised; she hadn’t heard anything about it.
"Don’t listen to her nonsense, there’s not even the first stroke of a character set for that yet," Qiu Shuping glared at her daughter. "But this blanket’s color is really vivid red; it would definitely be unbearable to use in the summer. Look at us, your father and I have lived to this age, and we have never seen such a good thing. I wonder if we’ll ever get to use such a luxury item before we close our eyes for the last time," she said, her eyes shifting towards her daughter-in-law.
Shen Yunfang could easily understand her meaning; her mother-in-law also had her eye on the blanket but was too embarrassed to ask for it directly like her sister-in-law, so she was hinting at it.
Shen Yunfang placed the basin she was holding onto a stool, walked over, and forcefully pulled her blanket back. Then she said with a smile, "This one I’ve already used, so it wouldn’t be good to give to someone else. I actually saw this in the department store when I once visited the county. I saw that both you, Mom, and Xianghe fancy it. Just perfect. When you have time, Xianghe, you can take mom to the department store in the county and buy one together." After saying this, she folded the towel blanket a few times and stuffed it into the cabinet.
Li Xianghe, seeing her sister-in-law put the blanket away, got anxious and thought about grabbing it back, but as soon as she moved, Qiu Shuping beside her held her back and shook her head, giving her a meaningful look.
Qiu Shuping had a purpose for this visit; they had only just arrived, and getting into a fight with her daughter-in-law right away would make it impossible to stay anymore. After all, this was Gaijiatun, not Taoshu Village, and the house bore the Shen surname, not the Li’s.
"All right, it’s good that your sister-in-law put it away; we don’t want to soil it now with our sweaty hands," Qiu Shuping said as she pulled her daughter over to the washbasin. "Come on, let’s wash up first." As for the towel blanket, there was no hurry. She was going to stay for a few days, so there was no way she wouldn’t get her hands on it before leaving. Qiu Shuping was very confident.
Shen Yunfang had packed up, and seeing that the mother and daughter had already started washing, she glanced at the time and said, "Mom, you must be hungry. Let me go to the brigade to ask for leave, then I’ll come back and make you some food."
Taoshu Village was not close to Gaijiatun, and it would take about four to five hours to walk. Even though it got dark later these days, the two of them would need to start heading back around two or three in the afternoon. Plus, with visitors from her husband’s family, it wasn’t right for her not to stay with them, so she had to ask Uncle Shen for a half-day off.
"What leave do you need to ask for? Your sister and I are not outsiders. Just make us some food and then go to work. You don’t need to fuss over us," Qiu Shuping hurriedly intervened when she heard her daughter-in-law wanted to take leave to stay with them. She laughed to herself, thinking once her daughter-in-law went to work, she could thoroughly inspect her younger son’s household and know exactly what they had.
Shen Yunfang checked her watch. She would already be late for work now, and after making them food and waiting for them to finish, what would be the point of going? It would be time to finish work. So, she explained her current work situation to the two of them.
Upon hearing this, Qiu Shuping frowned, and her gaze towards Yunfang cooled, "Yunfang, not to criticize you, but although you are pregnant now, we villagers are not that precious. Isn’t every pregnant woman still working in the fields? Why can’t you work? You’re an adult, and you only earn five points a day. By the end of the year, it’s uncertain whether what you’ve earned will be enough to get your grain. Can you really rely entirely on Hongjun to support the family? Do you know how hard it is for him to earn that little salary outside? Why don’t you know how to cherish him?"
She felt distressed thinking about how her son’s hard-earned wages were squandered by this woman.
Yunfang held back, rehearsing the words on the tip of her tongue before carefully speaking, "Mom, it’s not that I can’t work. It’s that Hongjun won’t let me do anything. Before he left, he specifically talked to the team leader to arrange a job for me. I can’t go against him, right? He was already uncomfortable living here in Gaijiatun. If I don’t listen to him as well, won’t he feel even more embarrassed? Don’t you agree, Mom?"
Yunfang really wanted to give her mother-in-law a piece of her mind, to tell her to mind her own business. They had already divided the family property. How she wanted to live her life was her business. Her man hadn’t even said anything; what did anyone else’s opinion matter, especially when they were so bossy in front of her? But from time immemorial, daughters-in-law have never fared well in battles with their mothers-in-law. If she argued too directly with her, no matter whose fault it was, she might end up being blamed in the end.
"Hmph, it was you who insisted on coming back to your parents’ house to live. Otherwise, would my second brother feel embarrassed at all?" Li Xianghe rolled her eyes exasperatingly.
She was very unhappy about her second brother living here with his wife. The rumors in Taoshu Village were nasty, saying that her parents were biased and didn’t divide a house for their second son during the family division, leading to the son becoming an "inverted door" son-in-law. These rumors also indirectly affected her own marriage prospects. Before, people were constantly coming to their house to set her up on dates, but since her second brother got married after the New Year, the ladies who came to their house were just there to watch the spectacle; no one introduced her to potential suitors anymore.
Even Sister Sisi had become distant from her, no longer sharing nice things with her, all because of her second brother’s marriage.
"Xianghe, I really don’t like what you’re saying. When our parents divided the property, they didn’t give a single room to me and your second brother. If I don’t come back to my parents’ house, where should we live, on the street?" Yunfang said with a stern face.
"Why wouldn’t there be a place to live? You were living just fine in the side room before the division; why can’t you live there after?" retorted Li Xianghe defensively.
"Really interesting, if the side room is so livable, why doesn’t anyone from your Li Family, from the oldest to the youngest, live there? When Dad divided the house, he said there was no share for us. As his children, even if we felt uncomfortable, we bore it. It’s natural for parents to have their favorites among their children, and we can’t say anything about it. Besides, the house was built by our parents’ hard work throughout their lives; it’s their property, and they can divide it however they like. We have no complaints, as that’s human nature. However, Xianghe, if you speak like that, I won’t be happy. According to your logic, my husband and I should just accept being wronged and gossiped about. In that case, I’ll go to Dad right now and ask him to divide the property again, in front of all the villagers, to see if it’s true that only the eldest and the youngest can live in the main house and only we second children are destined for the side room."
"What nonsense are you talking, child? If you’re going to carry on like this, you’d better go back to your own home right now." Watching the impending argument after barely ten minutes inside, Qiu Shuping quickly nudged her daughter, then addressed her daughter-in-law, "What are you getting so proud of? Your sister is young and doesn’t know how to speak properly; how can you as her older sister-in-law be just like her? And stop bringing up the house all the time. You didn’t say anything when we split the assets, so drop this constant talk about it now."
She knew that because of the house issue, her second son and his wife were very dissatisfied with them. And whenever the subject of the family division came up, the second daughter-in-law always mentioned the house to shut her up. She had learned her lesson; the second daughter-in-law was set on having a separate household. Even if she wanted her second son to move back, he and his wife wouldn’t agree. Besides, there really was no place for the second son at home, so she thought it best not to bring up the matter again.
Softening her tone, Qiu Shuping continued, "Mom knows that you and your second brother were hard done by when we divided the assets, but that’s because our family was facing difficulties. Moreover, your second brother is the only one earning a salary in the family. This year, you don’t need to give your father and me money every month; just save it up for a house. Your father and I have been thinking about that for you."
