NOVPUB
Chapter 217: Chapter 210 Uninvited Guest
That evening, Shen Jianjun and Shen Erzhu sneaked over to deliver the rice to Shen Yunfang. Of course, Yunfang paid for it immediately and then turned around to store all the rice from her cellar in her space.
She had purchased the rice to save for next year’s consumption, having heard that the treatment for military families was not very favorable. Like in the cities, they received a certain amount of grain each month. If they ran out, they’d have to endure hunger until the next month. Knowing that both she and Li Hongjun had hearty appetites and that she needed to eat well, she figured it was best to stock up on food while it was still available.
She had thought that after the autumn harvest, life would settle down. Yet, one thing led to another, and soon Yunfang felt almost overwhelmed by the succession of events.
In late October, Shen Yunfang faced the first wave of unexpected guests after the autumn harvest.
When Yunfang opened the door to find Li Hongxing, Wang Dan, and their family of five standing outside, she was taken aback, forgetting even to invite them in as she simply stared and asked, "Big brother, sister-in-law, what brings you here?"
Seeing it was the entire family of five, she ruled out anything happening to the Li Family elders.
"What’s wrong, not happy to see us?" joked Wang Dan.
"How could I not be? I’m more than happy. I’m just surprised," which was to say, she hadn’t anticipated a visit so soon after the grandmother and younger sister-in-law had left. "Well, come on, hurry in." She thought to herself how committed they must be, arriving at Gaijiatun at that hour—they must have set out around two or three in the morning the day before.
After letting everyone inside, Goudan, rubbing his runny nose, immediately started asking for food. "Auntie, I want to eat meat."
"Oh, you child, that’s so impolite! What a way to behave as soon as you enter your aunt’s house. Have I ever been stingy with you at home or what?" Wang Dan seemed embarrassed as she gave her oldest son a slap on the head before quickly changing the subject. "Even if you didn’t say anything, your aunt would still prepare something delicious for you."
"Oh, you haven’t had dinner yet? Just wait a bit longer, I’ll start making it for you right now," said Yunfang as she headed toward the main room.
The several individuals sitting on the kang didn’t budge, just waited expectantly for Yunfang to serve them their meal.
So early in the morning, Yunfang couldn’t be expected to cook meat, so she made a pot of cornmeal and sweet potato porridge, adding five eggs to it—one for each person—and served it with some pickled vegetables in small dishes.
The porridge was quickly ready, and Yunfang carried a big basin of it into the room for them.
"Alright, I didn’t want you to go hungry. It’s nothing fancy, but this should tide you over for now."
The group seated around the kang table all looked disappointed upon seeing that she had brought a basin of thin porridge.
"Auntie, I don’t want porridge; I want meat," complained Erdan, his tears nearly falling as he looked at the basin of porridge.
On the way there, he had grown so weary that his mother had lured him with the promise of meat, encouraging him to persist through the long journey.
Yunfang wore a troubled expression. "Erdan, Auntie doesn’t have any meat today. How about next time you come, I’ll cook some for you then?"
Now, if you wanted to eat meat, you essentially had to luck into it. You could only have meat at home if a pig was slaughtered in the village or in a neighboring one. Like now, even if you wanted some, there was nowhere to get meat from.
The moment Erdan heard there was no meat, all his hope was shattered, and he burst into a heartbroken wail. As soon as Sandan saw his brother crying, he didn’t even know why, but he also started bawling. Only Goudan was sly. He had spotted an egg in the porridge early on, and while the adults were all agreeing on things, he used the large iron spoon to skim through the bowl. When he found one, he sneakily shoved it into his mouth. In the middle of this conversation, Shen Yunfang saw him gobble down his third one.
It was then that Wang Dan finally noticed what her eldest son was up to and slapped his hand away. "Goudan, what are you doing?"
Goudan, quite the character himself, saw that his mother had noticed him and probably wouldn’t let him keep the egg in his mouth, so he simply tilted his neck back and—gulp—swallowed half an egg whole.
Shen Yunfang felt choked up just watching him.
"You little monster, all you know is eat!" Wang Dan slapped his hand again.
Shen Yunfang winced for Goudan; in just a moment, he’d been slapped three times by his mother.
The house was in chaos for a while, with one child crying and another being scolded. Shen Yunfang couldn’t stand it any longer, feeling her head buzz, so she quietly slipped out of the eastern room and sat down by the stove to reflect on her decision. Is having a lot of children really a good idea? Looking at her uncle’s naughty boys, did she really have the courage to have more of her own?
At that moment, Shen Yunfang was full of doubt.
But the commotion inside didn’t leave her in confusion for long. Another cry erupted—Sandan was crying too.
"Yunfang, there you are. Hey, do we have any more eggs at home? Go boil a few more. That ungrateful Goudan, heartless as ever, just ate three eggs himself, and now his two little brothers have none and are crying about it inside," Wang Dan came out and immediately spotted Shen Yunfang hiding.
Shen Yunfang swallowed. People really are different, she thought. You always hear about mothers who can’t bear to eat or wear anything, saving everything for their children, but it’s rare to see someone like Wang Dan. She had boiled five eggs for several people, and even if Goudan ate three, there should still be two left in the bowl—perfect for the two little ones to have one each. But from what Wang Dan was saying, it seemed like the couple had eaten those two, leaving the youngest children with nothing and causing them to cry.
"Alright, you better go and soothe Erdan and Sandan. There are still five eggs at home, and I will boil them," Shen Yunfang gave in.
Wang Dan was satisfied and, twisting her body, went back to the house.
It wasn’t until Shen Yunfang had tended to everyone’s meal that she could finally talk about serious matters.
Turns out, they had been sent by Qiu Shuping. It should have been Qiu Shuping sending Li Hongxing over, but when Wang Dan found out, she insisted on coming along, and since she was coming, it seemed like a good idea to bring the kids too, as a sort of visit.
As for what Qiu Shuping sent Li Hongxing here to do, he sat on the kang, hemming and hawing and unable to spit it out, which was enough to drive Shen Yunfang crazy. You’re a grown man; you’ve come all this way, and now you’re just beating around the bush—is that any way to behave? If you’re not going to speak, you might as well not have come at all; but if you’re here, you should speak frankly.
In the end, it was Wang Dan who ended up playing the villain.
"Sister-in-law, here’s the thing. A while back, didn’t our mom come to tell you about it? Hongqi got recommended for university, and it’s all been finalized now. He’s been notified to start school next spring. When dad and mom heard that Hongqi was going to university in the south, they were thrilled, saying that Hongqi would be the first one in the Li family to achieve something great. However, all of our family’s money went into pulling strings for Hongqi, and come next spring, we genuinely won’t be able to afford his travel and living expenses. We really had no other option, so dad wrote to Hongjun, asking him to help figure something out. Considering the time it takes to go back and forth, he sent Hongxing over to check whether Hongjun wrote to you about this and mentioned it to you, to see if you can spare some money for Hongqi. We have to make sure he can go through with his studies, right?" Wang Dan spelled out the situation and the purpose of their visit with a few simple sentences.
