pertwk Chapter 32 Zhang's Family Home
Chapter 32 Zhang's Family Home
The carriage traveled for more than an hour before arriving at Liu Xiulan's parents' home. Because the vast majority of people in the village were surnamed Liu, it was called Liu Family Village.
The village's name is so simple and unpretentious.
However, Liujia Village is different from Li Xiangyang's village. Their area is entirely agricultural, with no pastoral areas, so everyone works for half a year and rests for the other half.
At this time of year, I usually stay at home and hibernate.
This is not,
Li Xiangyang didn't encounter many villagers on the way from the village entrance to Liu Xiulan's house; only the occasional crowing of roosters and barking of dogs could be heard.
"Father, Mother, Brother!"
Back in the familiar farmhouse courtyard, before the carriage had even come to a complete stop, Liu Xiulan couldn't wait to call out to the house.
Hearing the commotion in the courtyard, Liu Xiulan's younger brother, Liu Jianguo, pushed open the door and came out to check.
"It's Sister back!" Liu Jianguo smiled and quickly ran to the carriage to check: "Where's Dou Dou? Did you bring Little Dou Dou back?"
Sure enough, with his niece on his mind, Liu Xiulan smiled.
He loosened the thick quilt wrapped around him, revealing Li Doudou, who was fast asleep in his arms: "There, Doudou is here."
"Quick, come inside, don't let my little bean get cold."
Liu Jianguo was delighted. He reached out and gently pinched Li Doudou's little nose before helping Liu Xiulan get off the carriage.
At this moment, Liu Xiulan's mother, Zhou Chunxia, also put on her clothes and pushed open the door to greet her.
"Oh dear, Xiulan, why did you come over on such a cold day?"
Zhou Chunxia rubbed her hands together and said to Liu Xiulan with some concern, "It's the dead of winter, and you're still breastfeeding. Going out like this must be so tough."
Why didn't you wait until Chinese New Year to come? That way you wouldn't have to make two trips.
"It's alright, Mom. I've been missing you all so much. How's everything at home lately? Dad's probably just staying home."
Liu Xiulan responded with a smile.
Before she even stepped into the house, she felt warm; it was the warmth from her family.
At this time,
Hearing the commotion at the Liu family's house, Aunt Wang, who was always looking around, peeked out from over the low courtyard wall: "Isn't this Liu Da Yatou? What brings you back today?"
As she spoke, she cracked sunflower seeds, spitting the shells everywhere, a behavior that was quite annoying.
They're all neighbors, so sometimes it's hard to say anything to them.
"If you miss home, just come back and visit," Liu Xiulan casually replied.
She really didn't have a good impression of this Aunt Wang.
Just then, sharp-eyed Aunt Wang spotted Li Xiangyang silently tying the horse's reins nearby and chuckled awkwardly:
"Oh my, the son-in-law came along too. Looks like we're having a big feast today."
This statement clearly carries a mocking tone. What does it mean that the son-in-law also came? What does it mean that he came to eat a sumptuous meal?
How could Liu Xiulan not understand? Her face immediately darkened.
Previously, Li Xiangyang was lazy and didn't do well in the Li family, so she often needed help from her family. But that's none of anyone else's business, as long as her family doesn't have any objections.
But there are always some busybodies who gossip about her behind her back, as if she were someone who had eaten their rice.
And the woman in front of me, Aunt Wang, was the kindest of them all.
of course,
There's a reason for that.
Aunt Wang originally wanted to match Liu Xiulan with her eldest son, but Liu Xiulan disliked that her eldest son was too short, so it didn't work out.
Later, when she heard that Liu Xiulan had married a good-for-nothing scoundrel and was living a unhappy life, she was happy.
He liked to lie on the wall all day, trying to find out how hard Liu Xiulan's life was at the Li family.
They find pleasure in this.
He even went around telling other people, "Liu Xiulan was unlucky. If she had married my eldest son back then, she would be enjoying a life of luxury now."
They gossiped about Liu Xiulan behind her back, spreading the story that she had married a lazy man so widely that the whole village knew about it, making her too embarrassed to visit other villagers when she returned.
This was told to her by a close friend of Liu Xiulan in the village, and she was very angry at the time.
But she could only be very angry, because she really had married badly, ending up with a lazy and good-for-nothing husband like Li Xiangyang.
But things are different now; Li Xiangyang has completely changed. Not only has she become very responsible, but she's also very capable, which is why she's in such a hurry to go back to her parents' home.
I want to prove something to my parents and neighbors.
"Thanks to Aunt Wang, we're finally back for a nice feast." Liu Xiulan, helped down from the carriage by Liu Jianguo, then pointed to Li Xiangyang, who was tying up the carriage.
"Brother, go and help your brother-in-law take down the sacks from the back of the carriage. He brought you some things."
She clearly raised her voice when she said this.
"Things? What else do you need to bring? Just bring yourself."
Zhou Chunxia casually replied, somewhat surprised.
In the past, my daughter and son-in-law always came back empty-handed.
Moreover, because Liu Xiulan married a good-for-nothing who idled away his days, the Liu family became the laughingstock of the village.
They say Xiulan ignored the good seedlings in the village and went all the way to choose a bad one.
Aunt Wang also craned her neck, wanting to see what Liu Xiulan could bring back.
Of course, she didn't think Liu Xiulan and her husband could bring back anything good, assuming it would be something like pickled cabbage.
They're just waiting to see the joke.
"Wow, there are two big carp and some fatty pork." Liu Jianguo was surprised when he opened the sack.
These days, it's really hard to find meat.
They're all farmers here, so it goes without saying. They can only eat meat during the Lunar New Year when they slaughter a pig; otherwise, they never even smell meat.
As he spoke, he curiously pulled out another large lump of meat, the contents of which he couldn't identify: "Sister, what kind of meat is this?"
"This is venison, Xiangyang caught it a couple of days ago."
"Red venison...?" Zhou Chunxia was a little incredulous, and leaned closer to examine it: "It really is red venison!"
"How could it be fake? Xiangyang chased it for more than 20 miles before hitting it. It must have weighed two or three hundred pounds."
Liu Xiulan's tone was full of pride.
"Two...two or three hundred pounds of red deer, that can sell for a lot of money, you guys are rich!"
Upon hearing that Liu Xiulan's good-for-nothing husband had actually killed a deer.
Aunt Wang's heart skipped a beat, and she was immediately overwhelmed with mixed feelings.
She never expected that Li Xiangyang, whom she had always ridiculed, would become so capable.
His arrogant demeanor vanished instantly.
It's hard for anyone to accept when someone you used to laugh at suddenly turns out to be more capable than you.
Now it was Zhou Chunxia's turn to be arrogant. Regardless of how her daughter was doing in her husband's family, just looking at the things she brought back now, she asked which married woman in the village could bring back these things.
Over 10 jin of fish, 5 jin of fatty pork, plus 5 jin of venison. That's over 20 jin of meat in total.
"Oh, Xiulan, you're back, but why did you bring so much stuff? Big carp, fatty pork, and venison."
We could eat all of this even by the time Chinese New Year arrives.
Zhou Chunxia deliberately raised her voice.
"Aunt Wang, I'm busy now. Come and sit down when you have time." With that, she welcomed Li Xiangyang and Liu Xiulan into her home.