NOVPUB
Chapter 98: Chapter 94 Mother-in-law Wants Grain (Part 1) (2nd Update)
"Ah, Yunfang, I’ve finally waited for you," Qiu Shuping spotted a carriage entering the village from afar and hurriedly stood up under the willow tree by the village entrance. Craning her neck, and with Li Hongxing pointing out, she saw Shen Yunfang.
When Shen Yunfang heard someone calling her name, she naturally looked over to see two people standing under the willow tree at the head of the village, a young man and an elderly lady. She had just seen the young man yesterday, and she didn’t have much impression of the elderly lady, though she seemed like she might be Li Hongjun’s old mother from the Li Family.
Seeing the visitors, Shen Yunfang immediately understood their intentions, a sneer flashed through her mind. They really thought she was easy to bully and took advantage of her ceaselessly. Today, she would set things straight; how shameless could people be?
Before getting off the carriage, she signalled Jianjun’s wife with her eyes to take her soy oil back home first. If those two locusts saw she had so much oil, it would be strange if their eyes didn’t turn red on the spot.
Jianjun’s wife, getting the hint, pulled the oil drums closer to herself.
"Oh, who’s this? She seems unfamiliar. Yunfang, is this your relative?" a curious old madam looked at the two people getting off the carriage.
"Big Brother, who might this be?" Shen Yunfang pretended not to recognize them.
She had been betrothed to Li Hongjun when she was merely four years old. How could she possibly remember what her future mother-in-law looked like? Over the years, she had never visited the Li Family, nor had they visited her, so it was normal for her not to recognize her future mother-in-law.
"This is my mother," Li Hongxing introduced from the side.
Shen Yunfang feigned an enlightened expression, "Oh, it’s aunty!" Then she immediately turned her head and started to reproach Li Hongxing, "Big Brother, you should have told me aunty was coming yesterday. If I had known she would be at the house today, I wouldn’t have left no matter what, I would have stayed home to wait for aunty. Aunty, have you been waiting long? Why are you standing here? Let’s hurry up; my uncle’s house is right ahead, why don’t you and big brother go there to sit and have a drink of water."
The group of old madames on the carriage also had an ’aha’ moment, recognizing that these were Yunfang’s future mother-in-law and elder cousin.
The carriage clattered further into the village, leaving Shen Yunfang behind with the mother and son from the Li Family.
"Aunty, my uncle’s house is just up ahead, we’ll be there in no time. Uncle was saying this morning, why didn’t big brother stay for a visit when he came yesterday? Perfect, now that aunty has also come, let’s all go there for a visit," Shen Yunfang walked ahead, leading the way.
This morning, Uncle Shen had indeed scolded her a bit. Before boarding the carriage, she happened to pass by uncle’s house, and uncle was conveniently right at the courtyard gate, so Shen Yunfang stopped to chat with Uncle Shen for a moment.
It’s unclear who told him that Li Hongxing had come for grain yesterday, and he criticized Yunfang for not bringing the visitor home. Shen Yunfang also promised that if someone from the Li Family ever visited again, she would definitely bring them to uncle’s place.
If you speak of Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrives; she had just made the promise in the morning, and by afternoon she saw the actual people.
"No need, no need to go. I just came to take a look at you," Qiu Shuping wasn’t without wit. She had already planned to offer a carrot before brandishing a stick. But she stealthily sized up the Shen girl; why wasn’t she shy upon seeing herself? A typical young lady would be nervous and bashful seeing her future mother-in-law. Why was this child so unabashed, exuding such natural ease and confidence?
Shen Yunfang ahead curled her lips. You’re coming to see me? When my mother passed away, why didn’t you come to see then? It’s not the season, yet here you are visiting. Although her mind was bustling with thoughts, she said aloud, "That won’t do. My uncle has said, since my parents are gone, he is now my elder. If anyone from the Li Family visits, he’s the one to provide proper hospitality."
She briskly led the way towards Uncle Shen’s house. Before they even reached the gate, she started yelling out loud.
"Uncle, uncle, are you home?"
"What’s with the yelling, what’s with the yelling, calling back the soul?" came the loud reply of Shen Yunxiu.
Shen Yunfang didn’t care for such things, pushed the gate open, and saw Shen Yeqing and Auntie Shen coming out just in time.
"Uncle, Li Hongjun’s older brother and mother are here to see me, I didn’t know what to do, so I brought them here," she said, her voice laced with shyness.
Shen Yeqing’s eyes, as large as those of a bull, immediately widened, and Aunt Shen instantaneously went into battle mode.
"Haha, is that so? I’ve never actually met the in-laws, today should be quite the revelation," Aunt Shen’s voice pinched as she spoke.
Shen Yeqing, after all, had some worldly experience, his expression quickly returning to calmness. He nodded slightly to the mother and son behind Shen Yunfang, saying, "So it’s the in-laws, traveling all this way isn’t easy, please come in and take a seat. Yunfang’s mother, quickly boil some water to make tea for our guests."
Aunt Shen was not very willing, but due to the respect for her husband’s face, she twisted her way into the house.
Shen Yunfang hurried to follow, since she had borrowed someone else’s prestige, she had to show some eagerness.
Thus, Uncle Shen led the mother and son into the west room, while Shen Yunfang helped Aunt Shen boil water in the main room.
"Yunfang, I’m telling you, no matter what the mother and son say later, you just listen to your uncle, you mustn’t let them know anything," Aunt Shen took the opportunity while boiling water to issue another reminder, fearing that the young Shen Yunfang, unable to withstand a few sweet words, would give everything they owned, bringing calamity upon the Shen Family yet again.
"Aunt, I know, I won’t be foolish again," Shen Yunfang promised. Before, she might not have been calculating enough, but now, the grain she had was the fruit of her labor over the year, her sweat and toil made physical—unless she was willing, no one could take advantage of her.
While the two of them were boiling water in the outer room, Shen Yunxiu and the other daughter-in-law of the Shen Family didn’t come out. Shen Yunfang didn’t engage with them; their absence and lack of interference were even better.
Soon, the water was boiled, and Aunt Shen pinched a bit of tea leaves into three cups, brewed them with the boiling water, and then they both carried the cups into the room.
Inside the room, Uncle Shen and Qiu Shuping were chatting intermittently, mainly with Uncle Shen asking about the crop yield of Taoshu Village this year.
Although they were from the same area, only dozens of miles apart, they belonged to two different brigades. Because the land they farmed was different, they grew different crops.
Taoshu Village’s main crops were wheat, sorghum rice, and corn. They also farmed rice and sweet potatoes, but like in Gaijiatun, they didn’t plant much—each person only received about ten to twenty pounds a year, which was nice for a treat every now and then.
It was precisely because of this that the women of the Li Family had their eyes on that little bit of rice belonging to their future daughter-in-law.
Qiu Shuping, upon seeing Shen Yunfang come in, eagerly pulled her into a conversation. Chatting with Uncle Shen had been uncomfortably awkward for her; she was, after all, a rural woman with little exposure to the world, and faced with Shen Yeqing’s serious talk about harvests, she didn’t know what to say.
"Yunfang, don’t busy yourself, we’re all family here. Come sit by your aunt and let’s have a good chat," said Qiu Shuping, with a grave and kind expression.
Shen Yunfang placed the teacups on the kang table, one for Qiu Shuping and one for Li Hongxing, before compliantly sitting down beside Qiu Shuping, showing a docile demeanor.
Qiu Shuping then started to compliment Shen Yunfang sentence by sentence, all along the lines of how well the Shen Family raised daughters, and how they had taught Shen Yunfang to be literate and sensible.
Aunt Shen smiled and chimed in, "Our Yunfang is a high school graduate, of course she’s educated and sensible." Nowadays, simply attending high school meant one was considered a graduate, and besides, Shen Yunfang had indeed received her high school diploma. 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
After Qiu Shuping continued her praises a few more times, Aunt Shen deflected them all, leaving her with nothing more to say.
All the while, Shen Yunfang sat quietly, her smile graciously responding to everything that was said.
