Hu Cuihua eyed the two cautiously, but gradually thought the girl had a point.
“Hmph, this little girl isn’t too stubborn. You’re right—you and your mother are freeloading now.”
“One meal more or less won’t make much difference anyway.”
“But poor Dazhi is still out in the fields, working on an empty stomach.”
“Forget it, what’s the use of arguing with you? I’ll go find my mother instead!”
She muttered under her breath: “That old hag, meal time’s here already, don’t know where she’s run off to.”
She searched the village but couldn’t find Lu Minggui. Likely she had gone to the fields or out gathering wild vegetables or firewood.
She then noticed her three kids playing with village children, running in all directions.
Soon, the adults called all the children back for lunch. Jinbao, finding fewer kids around, ran home too.
He gulped a bowl of cold water and began shouting: “Mom! Mom! I’m starving! Why isn’t lunch ready?”
Yinbao followed suit: “I’m starving too!”
“Eat, eat, eat! Always thinking about food, didn’t you see the kitchen’s cold?”
“They’re all greedy little brats, coming home only to eat!”
“Running around outside all day, they never behave!”
“You’re so lazy, just waiting to be fed. I’ll see if you get any!”
Hu Cuihua shouted for a while, still feeling frustrated.
Inside, Shen Juye listened anxiously, as if tiny thorns covered her body. She peeked at the door, thinking she should go out and cook.
But Manman blocked her and whispered: “Mother, don’t forget what Grandma said.”
“If you go cook for Big Sister-in-law, Grandma will be upset.”
Though Grandma hadn’t said anything about punishing the eldest brother’s family, Manman just sensed that Grandma was no longer favoring them.
If they still bowed to the eldest household, Grandma would be disappointed!
That single warning made Shen Juye abandon the idea. She leaned back on the bed, pretending not to hear the sharp words outside.
Hu Cuihua, seeing that the second household mother and daughter weren’t coming out, called Erfen to light the fire and began cooking herself.
When Song Dazhi returned, he saw a few bowls of coarse rice porridge, a small plate of pickles, and some black wheat buns on the broken wooden table in the main room.
Unimpressed, he grumbled: “Why no egg drop soup? Could’ve fried a pancake too!”
“This is tasteless, how can anyone eat it?”
Hu Cuihua snorted: “How to eat? With your mouth, of course!”
The eggs and oil were in the old lady’s locked room—how could she make pancakes?
Thinking of this, Hu Cuihua was full of anger.
“This old hag is getting more unreasonable by the day!”
“We’ve been out in the fields working, and she doesn’t even cook. Who knows where she’s gone?”
“Hmph! What more do you want? Your mother left some coarse grains and pickles for you!”
Song Dazhi tried to calm her: “Alright, alright, keep your voice down.”
“How can you be so unreasonable? How dare you make a fuss about my mother?”
“Be careful someone hears! The second household’s still home!”
Hu Cuihua wasn’t afraid—what could Shen Juye do?
She slammed the ceramic bowl she was holding onto the table: “Am I wrong? We work half the day in the fields, and come back to no meal?!”
“No other household behaves like this!”
“Making people work on an empty stomach?”
“Only a useless man like you lets his wife and children starve!”
“Why did I marry down here, blind from the town?”
Song Dazhi had just taken a few bites of coarse rice mixed with bran when he slammed his chopsticks down with a loud “clack,” coughing in surprise.
Talking about his mother was fine, but now she dragged him into it?
He shouted: “Why’s your mouth so sharp? Can’t you speak properly for once, only gossip all day?”
“Besides, have I ever wronged you since marrying into the Song family? I send fresh vegetables to your mother’s place every year!”
“Despite giving my all, your father and that ungrateful brother still despise me!”
“The whole family’s hopeless!”
“I’m blind, marrying a shrew like you!”
Hu Cuihua, already furious, screamed: “Song Dazhi! I married into your family, bore your children, ran the household, and this is how you treat me?!”
“If I’d known you were so heartless, I’d rather die than marry you!”
Shouting wasn’t enough—she lunged at him, punching, clawing, and biting.
Song Dazhi, unwilling to just endure, grew furious. His temple veins bulged, and he threw her to the ground.
And so the two began wrestling.
Yinbao, the youngest, shrank into a corner, frightened.
Jinbao and Erfen, quick and alert, grabbed bowls of coarse porridge and pickles, running outside. They squatted by the door, eating noisily, ignoring the commotion of their parents fighting.
The noise quickly reached Shen Juye, who grew anxious.
Her eldest brother and sister-in-law usually got along—how did they start fighting?
No, she had to go mediate—what if something bad happened?
But Manman stopped her, urgent: “Mother, remember what Grandma said!”
Her voice, innocent yet firm: “Grandma said you must stay in bed.”
“Your uncle and aunt are fighting—what if you get hurt?”
She even added a sob: “Mother, don’t die… Manman doesn’t want to lose you!”
Shen Juye immediately gave up the idea of intervening and held Manman close: “Mother won’t go. Don’t cry, Manman, don’t cry.”
Manman finally wiped her tears. In her view, Big Sister-in-law was fierce, but Big Brother wasn’t easy to mess with either.
The two fighting were unlikely to hurt each other, so there was no need for Mother to intervene.
Lu Minggui had no idea her eldest son and daughter-in-law were fighting.
She was busy at the edge of the field, digging purslane.
Though daylily shoots were valuable, they had only planted two small clumps, yielding about three jin after two days of growth.
In two more days, they might get another two jin.
Besides, daylily shoots sold for 30 yuan per jin purely by luck, depending on who needed them. At market price, it wouldn’t sell that high.
But the other day, a red-lipped woman had said purslane could fetch 25 yuan per jin.
That price was already quite good.
And purslane grew abundantly, easy to dig.
It wasn’t yet the famine year, so although people gathered wild vegetables, it wasn’t done en masse—mostly only in spare time, not everyone working together.