NOVPUB
Chapter 262: Chapter 252: The Child Who Cries Gets the Milk
Li Hongjun silently listened to his mother’s sobbing complaint and truly didn’t know if they should make this decision for his mother. Not to mention anything else, his own father was still alive and well, and his eldest brother was also living a good life—there was no room for him, the second brother, to interfere.
Furthermore, his mother’s complaints were all about how terrible his sister-in-law was, without admitting any faults of her own. Knowing his mother as he did, he knew that couldn’t be true.
Just say this: it takes two hands to clap.
"Son, why aren’t you saying anything? You can’t be like your older brother. It wasn’t easy for your mother to bring you brothers up, and though I don’t expect to live comfortably off you, you also can’t stand by as your wives bully me. Why is my fate so bitter?" Qiu Shuping probably recalled all the grievances she had suffered these past days and really started crying woefully.
"Dad, what should we do about this?" Li Hongjun asked his father for advice.
The old Li spat out his tobacco pipe, What can we do? Neither the mother-in-law nor the daughter-in-law acts their part—they’re both no good.
"Since we can’t live together, it’s better to split up sooner rather than later. Once spring arrives, have your older brother apply for another housing plot, and let him and his wife go build a new house. I’ll subsidize him a bit, and when the time comes, see if you have any spare funds to give your brother a hand. No matter what, he needs to get that house built," that was the old man’s solution.
Li Hongjun’s mouth tightened upon hearing this. Reasonably speaking, this was the most logical solution, avoiding family conflicts. Yet, this also proved the saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." Because the eldest son could throw a fit, old Li was ready to shell out money for his eldest son to build a new house and expected him, the second son, to chip in; however, old Li never considered that when the family had split up, he hadn’t given his second son a single room.
"You came back yesterday, is Yunfang doing OK? She’s close to giving birth, right?" Old Li, oblivious to his second son’s feelings, remembered that his daughter-in-law was also about to give birth.
"She already gave birth and is now at home for her confinement," Li Hongjun returned to the present and answered his father’s question succinctly.
"What? She’s given birth already? Wasn’t it supposed to be after the New Year?" Qiu Shuping stopped crying and came over to ask. "Is it a boy or a girl?"
"A boy, six jin and six liang." Regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl, they were all the same to him. Speaking seriously, he had actually hoped that their first child would be a girl, a pretty girl like his wife.
Qiu Shuping pursed her lips as if to say she had good luck, "Hmph, that’s decent. But giving birth is what women are supposed to do. When you go back, don’t spoil her too much. Indulging her will only create a monster, and you’ll be the one to suffer later."
Li Hongjun ignored her.
"Who’s taking care of your wife at her side?" asked old Li. Logically, when his daughter-in-law was in confinement, his own wife should be there to take care of her. But with his wife’s temper, it was better not to.
"A neighbor’s sister-in-law."
"Eh? Aren’t her maternal relatives nearby? Why didn’t her aunt go take care of her?" Qiu Shuping asked curiously.
Li Hongjun pursed his lips and in the end still briefly explained the conflict between the two families.
"What, your wife went to the hospital to give birth?" Qiu Shuping’s mouth gaped open as if it could swallow a person, "Oh my god, now that’s something to show off, eh? When you have a bit of money you don’t even know how to flaunt it properly. A rural woman like her, does she even know which way the city hospital’s doors open, and she dares to go there to have a child, huh? How much did she swindle you for, son..."
Li Hongjun was not happy, and his face immediately fell.
"Mom, what are you talking about, ’not knowing which way the hospital doors open,’ ’having money and not knowing how to flaunt it’? Isn’t it perfectly normal for my wife to go to the hospital for a difficult birth? Isn’t the money I earn supposed to be spent on my wife and child? Why can’t my wife go to the hospital to give birth? Or is it that you would actually be happy only if you saw my wife and your grandchild dead?"
His words were quite harsh, and Qiu Shuping was stunned by her son’s retort, taking a while to regain her composure before starting to cry loudly again, this time cursing at Li Hongjun.
"Shut your mouth! If there’s any more crying, you might as well pack up and go back to your parents’ home," Li’s father shouted, seeing his son upset, he quickly silenced Qiu Shuping. Had his wife really lived all these years in vain, not noticing that their son was upset? Continuing this commotion, they might as well have not raised their son at all. Indeed, those words should not have been said by his wife, but the son shouldn’t have erupted in such anger either. After all, they were still his parents.
Seeing that Qiu Shuping was under control, he then turned to his son and said, "Now that the child is born, let’s not talk about the rest. She is a heroine of our Li Family. Our Li Family’s daughter-in-law cannot be cared for in confinement by outsiders, letting others think our Li Family has no one left. Tomorrow’s the New Year’s Eve, it’s not right for your mother not to be at home. Wait until after the second day of the New Year, once your elder sister is back, I’ll have your mom go and take care of your wife."
Qiu Shuping didn’t like the sound of that, she was about to object, but before she could express her displeasure, Li Hongjun already disagreed.
"Dad, there’s no need for mom to go. She can’t be spared from the house, plus I’m back now and I can take almost a month off. I can help Yunfang take care of the child at home." He knew his wife and his mother didn’t get along. If his mother went, who knows who would end up taking care of whom? If his wife got upset and stressed during confinement, and if her milk stopped flowing, it’d be his wife and child who would suffer. So it was better not to let his mother go. "Besides, we don’t have enough space at home. There wouldn’t be anywhere for my mother to stay."
That was the most realistic reason; the house had only two rooms, and now only one was livable. If his mother went, they couldn’t all possibly sleep in the same bed.
Qiu Shuping, already unwilling to go, hearing her son say this and thinking about her second son’s tiny house, was already determined not to go no matter what.
Li’s father recognized the evasion in his second son’s words, so he sighed and said nothing more.
Not long after, Li Hongqi came back from outside. Hearing from his sister that his second brother had returned, his steps faltered as he neared the house. Then he straightened his collar, pushed open the door, put on a smile, and looked at his brother inside the house, "Second brother, you’re back, why didn’t you..."
He didn’t get to finish his sentence when Li Hongjun narrowed his eyes, suddenly stood up, took a step forward, and threw a punch at Li Hongqi’s face.
Then Li Hongqi went tumbling from the doorway to the yard.
The two elders in the house were shocked by this sudden turn of events. It took a moment for Qiu Shuping to start wailing, and without even putting on her shoes, she ran to the yard to check on her younger son. Li’s father, on the other hand, stood up from the bed but did not move a step outside.
"Hongjun, what are you doing? I’m not dead yet," Li’s father angrily said. It seemed his son had no regard for him as a father at all, daring to hit his brother right in front of him.
Li Hongjun looked coldly at Li Hongqi, who was being helped in through the door by Qiu Shuping, "What I want to do isn’t important. Let’s first hear what Li Hongqi wants to do, shall we?"
