NOVPUB
Chapter 305: Chapter 295: A Letter from the Li Family
Shen Yunfang woke from her afternoon nap and went to the west room to check on the vegetable seedlings she had been nurturing, all of which were thriving robustly. The quails in the backyard were keeping to themselves, and their family dog, Taxue, was lying by the door of the east room, guarding mother and son.
Back in bed, she saw her son still blowing bubbles in his sleep. Yunfang prepared to set up the kang table; these past days, whenever free, she busied herself with the small plot in the backyard. Her study plans had fallen behind, and now with a moment to spare, she resolved to read a few more pages and catch up with her progress.
Yet, that day, she still did not pick up her books as anticipated. While tidying up the kang, she noticed another letter by the kang’s quilt, the one Li Hongjun had brought at noon—the letter his father had written to him.
Yunfang hesitated but was quite curious as to what the Li Family could possibly write to Li Hongjun, so she lay back down on the kang and pulled out the letter to read.
Though the contents should have soured her mood, the typos amused her; every paragraph had her stifling a laugh. "Aiya," she thought, "I must keep this letter around to cheer me up when I’m feeling down—it’s a real joke."
Having struggled through the letter, its message was clear: Li Hongqi had already gone to college in the south, and Li Hongjun should be open-hearted—their brotherly bond shouldn’t crumble over a woman, as it pained their parents to see.
Yunfang pursed her lips in disdain. In Qiu Shuping’s eyes, probably only she and her husband and their sons constituted a family. All the daughters-in-law, even those who had borne children for the Li Family, remained outsiders.
The letter went on about how Li Xianghe had a smooth wedding, but on the day itself, the Fang Family had derided the bride and her family in private for lacking decent dowry. Qiu Shuping, having overheard this after the fact, wouldn’t let her daughter be mistreated so soon after the wedding. The very next day, she stormed into the Fang Family’s home to argue with Xianghe’s in-laws, only to be driven out by Xianghe herself.
A large portion of the letter berated Xianghe for her lack of filial piety, basically cursing her from head to toe. It even dragged Yunfang into the mess, blaming her for not giving Xianghe a sewing machine as part of the dowry, which they claimed led to the unpleasant comments from Xianghe’s in-laws and forced Qiu Shuping to confront them—and her daughter’s disgraceful response left Qiu Shuping shamed both inside and out.
Yunfang snorted with laughter, acknowledging the writer’s self-awareness: Qiu Shuping often caused problems wherever she went, but never considered changing her ways. Instead, she pinned all the blame on others, embodying the old saying about the person who eats a hundred beans and still doesn’t find them smelly.
As for the insults directed at her in the letter, Yunfang didn’t care in the slightest. She just thought even less of her mother-in-law’s character and actions. "What kind of mother is she," she mused, "who, while alive and well with her husband, expects her daughter-in-law to provide the dowry for her own daughter? Who acts like that? My contributing to my sister-in-law’s dowry is a gesture of goodwill, and not doing so is no affront. Raising a daughter is a parent’s responsibility, not that of a sister-in-law."
But to Qiu Shuping, hoarding money tightly for her youngest son and expecting her second daughter-in-law to furnish her own daughter’s wedding—while having the gall to demand a sewing machine without shame—Yunfang wondered why the woman didn’t just reach for the sky.
The letter’s conclusion, as was the eternal theme of the Li Family’s letters to Li Hongjun, was about money.
This time they claimed Li Hongqi took all the family’s funds for college, and hosting Xianghe’s wedding had nearly depleted the household’s stores. In essence, if Li Hongjun didn’t send money, his parents warned they’d be left to the mercy of the northwestern winds.
Reading this, Yunfang’s first thought was that it must be a trap set by Qiu Shuping. She could never wholly sacrifice her resources for others, not even for her favorite son. Yunfang knew she wouldn’t send a dime, curious whether the Li Family could indeed starve without her contribution. Yet, she now had someone else to consider in her life—partners must accommodate each other, including each other’s families.
Shen Yunfang, wanting to manage her relationship and marriage well, had always done a good job, even though she didn’t think much of Qiu Shuping, always treating her with respect due to an elder. She felt that was enough. She would also look to Li Hongjun’s opinion this time. If Li Hongjun really couldn’t stand it and insisted on sending his parents money, then she would contribute as well, considering Li Hongjun only earned a bit more than fifty yuan a month; once his meager salary was gone, he would stop showing off.
That evening, when Li Hongjun came home, he simply didn’t bring up the matter and didn’t ask Shen Yunfang for money. It wasn’t until the three of them were lying on the kang bed ready to sleep that Shen Yunfang couldn’t hold back any longer and asked, "Didn’t your dad write saying they had no money to spend? What do you think? Are we sending them money or not?" After saying this, Shen Yunfang wished she could slap herself twice; what kind of talk was that, as if she were eager to send them money.
"No need, even if we sent money back, they wouldn’t have anywhere to buy grain. If they’re short on grain, they can borrow from neighbors and simply pay them back next year. And as for not having money to spend? There’s really nowhere to spend money in the countryside. The money my mom has left is more than enough," Li Hongjun said, holding his wife.
As their son, Li Hongjun knew his mother far better than Shen Yunfang did. So, he basically didn’t believe a word written in the letter; if there really had been an urgent need for money, his father wouldn’t have sent a letter, he would have called directly to ask him for money.
Shen Yunfang nodded in agreement. In order not to let her in-laws make a mistake, they definitely shouldn’t send them the money.
"So, what do you think about what the letter said about your sister? I think that way, your mom is blaming me, blaming me for not giving your sister a sewing machine as dowry. It can’t be my fault if your sister doesn’t lead a good life in the future, right?"
Li Hongjun didn’t make a sound, but instead slipped his large hand under his wife’s clothes, caressing the soft flesh of her waist, his heart also began to flutter. He calculated a bit in his mind; it had been almost three months.
"Hurry up and say something, your family can’t blame me for this in the future," Shen Yunfang urged, seeing he wasn’t talking and thinking Li Hongjun also saw it that way, immediately giving him a stern look. If he dared to utter a word she didn’t like, she would immediately kick him off the bed.
"It’s not really easy to say, you know what kind of person my mom is," Li Hongjun’s large hand stealthily moved up, "But, it was me who said we didn’t have the money at the beginning, and indeed, I didn’t have the money to buy her a sewing machine. So, if my mom becomes unreasonable again, you don’t have to worry, just lay the blame on me."
"Humph, you’re your mom’s good son, only I’m not the good daughter-in-law. If I lay the blame on you, your mom will scold me even more fiercely... eh, what are you doing?"
"Wife, it’s been three months," Li Hongjun said as he flipped his wife over, and they were face to face.
"What, it’s not until tomorrow," Shen Yunfang blushed, it had been a long time since they had done ’that’ and she felt somewhat shy at the moment.
"Then let’s just hold each other till midnight, wait for twelve o’clock," they both understood what was to be done when twelve o’clock came.
Of course, not many words spoken by a man in bed are true; the couple turned and tossed until twelve o’clock before they finally fell asleep in each other’s arms. As for the letter from the Li Family, it had already been forgotten by the couple.
