Wang Cuijuan and Li Ming’e exchanged a glance, and a look of anticipation for a good show appeared on both their faces at the same time.
Mai Sui didn’t know the woman who had just arrived, but having run a restaurant for over a decade, she had dealt with all kinds of people—just from that loud voice alone, she could tell this one was not to be trifled with.
Aunt Zhang was in her fifties, big-boned and thick-waisted, with a harsh, fleshy face. She wore a gray cotton-padded jacket and a pair of black cotton shoes on her feet. Without waiting for anyone to greet her, she lifted the door curtain and walked right in, her eyes darting around as she swept her gaze over everyone in the room before finally landing on Mai Sui.
Gu Qingye finally set down his water bowl.
His brow furrowed slightly—not obviously, but Mai Sui caught it.
He was displeased.
Gu Qingye stood up and shifted a step to the side. The position was subtle—it looked like he was making room for Aunt Zhang to sit, but it also happened to block half of Mai Sui’s body.
“Oh, so this is the new daughter-in-law? Quite the pretty thing.” Aunt Zhang walked over with a smile and, without waiting for an invitation, sat herself down on the edge of the kang. “Guifang, you’ve finally made it! Married such a wonderful daughter-in-law for yourself!”
Liu Guifang hurriedly got off the kang, a dry smile on her face. Mai Sui thought that smile looked worse than crying. “Aunt Zhang, you’re here. Have you eaten? Sit down and have some.”
“I’ve eaten, I’ve eaten. I just came to have a look at the new daughter-in-law.” Aunt Zhang said this, but her eyes were darting toward the table. “Oh my, sauerkraut stewed with glass noodles, and scrambled eggs too. Your family’s living quite well, aren’t you?”
At these words, everyone at the table looked rather sour.
Aunt Zhang glanced over at Gu Qingye, her smile growing even wider. “Qingye’s home too? What a groom you are—your wife arrives and you don’t even come out to welcome her?”
Gu Qingye didn’t respond. He just stood there like a telephone pole, straight and cold.
Aunt Zhang was probably used to Gu Qingye’s temperament by now, so she didn’t tease him further and turned her attention back to Mai Sui, looking her up and down. “Goodness, this padded jacket is from last year, isn’t it? The cuffs are all worn frayed! Guifang, I don’t mean to criticize, but you’re the mother-in-law—how could you let your new daughter-in-law walk in without even buying her a new jacket?”
Wang Cuijuan jumped in immediately: “Oh, Aunt Zhang, you don’t know—her natal family gave her that jacket. It’s not that our Gu family is stingy.”
Li Ming’e added a pointed remark from behind, neither too heavy nor too light: “On such a joyous occasion, how come no one from her family said anything about getting her something new?”
Liu Guifang’s face flushed bright red with embarrassment, and she stood there not knowing where to put her hands or feet.
Aunt Zhang’s mouth twisted up like a gourd ladle, and her eyes rolled over Mai Sui once more, her gaze carrying a mix of pity and the thrill of watching a spectacle.
Mai Sui set down her chopsticks.
She raised her head and looked at Aunt Zhang. Her voice was unhurried, but everyone at the table heard it clearly: “Auntie, last year’s padded jacket is warm to wear, and as long as my heart is warm, that’s what matters. Whether the clothes look good or not isn’t important—a person has to live their own life well first.” She paused, her gaze slowly sweeping across Wang Cuijuan’s and Li Ming’e’s faces. “How well your life is going isn’t something you wear for other people to see.”
Wang Cuijuan opened her mouth, but not a single word came out.
Li Ming’e kept her head down as if she hadn’t heard anything and continued eating.
The smile on Aunt Zhang’s face froze for a moment, then she broke into a grin again, her voice even louder than before: “Oh my, oh my, this eldest daughter-in-law sure has a sharp tongue! Guifang, you’d better watch out, or your daughter-in-law will be walking all over you!”
Those words, on the surface a joke, were actually fanning flames toward the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship.
Mai Sui was just about to speak…
“Auntie.”
Gu Qingye’s voice wasn’t loud, but the whole room went quiet.
He stood there, his gaze resting lightly on Aunt Zhang, his tone so calm it betrayed no emotion at all: “Our family’s affairs needn’t trouble you.”
Aunt Zhang froze for a moment, then awkwardly slapped herself with a dry laugh and turned to Liu Guifang, changing her tune: “Guifang, today is a joyous day for your family—I really shouldn’t have come.”
Liu Guifang’s smile was barely holding on.
“It’s just…” Aunt Zhang sighed, putting on a look of difficulty. “Ah, it’s nothing major. It’s just that bag of corn you borrowed from my place back in early spring, and that bag of dried sweet potatoes before winter. I wasn’t in a hurry to ask for them, but times are hard, you see. My man’s about to go out looking for work, and he’ll need some provisions for the road. We don’t have much grain left at home, so I thought I’d come ask…”
The room fell silent for a moment.
Mai Sui saw Gu Dashan’s head sink even lower, and Liu Guifang’s fingers rubbing back and forth along the edge of the table. Neither of the old couple said a word.
“But don’t you worry!” Aunt Zhang slapped her thigh, changing course again with a smile as bright as a flower. “I’m not here to collect debts today. I just wanted to discuss something with you. That plot of yours in the front mountain gully—your family has too many mouths and too few hands to work it anyway. Why not trade it to me to farm? Those fifty jin of corn, consider it me buying the harvest from that land.”
The moment she said this, Mai Sui understood everything.
The front mountain gully plot? That was the Gu family’s best piece of land—right by the stream, safe in both drought and flood, yielding three to four hundred jin of grain per mu. The Gu family lived off that land.
And she wanted to trade it away for fifty jin of corn?
This wasn’t a friendly visit. This was kicking someone while they were down.
Liu Guifang’s face went white instantly. Her lips trembled twice as she said in a low voice, “Sister Zhang, that land… we still need it for planting. As for the corn, I’ll definitely find a way to pay it back before the New Year…”
“Oh, I’m only thinking of your family’s good!” Aunt Zhang waved her hand. “All your children are married off now, your sons all have their own households. Your eldest served eight years in the army—he must have saved quite a bit in allowances, no? What’s fifty jin of corn? I just think it’s a shame to let that land go to waste.” As she spoke, she turned to look at Gu Qingye. “Qingye, you’re a soldier, you’ve seen the wide world. What do you say? Auntie is sincerely planning for your family’s benefit.”
Gu Qingye was holding a bowl of water, his fingers slowly tightening until his knuckles turned white.
Mai Sui saw his reaction and understood perfectly—this kind of thing certainly wasn’t the first time the Gu family had faced it. The old couple had been honest and meek all their lives, used to being pushed around. The two daughters-in-law usually had sharp tongues, but when it really came down to it, each shrank back faster than the other.
Sure enough, Wang Cuijuan chimed in at that moment, speaking to Liu Guifang: “Mom, what Aunt Zhang says isn’t without reason. We really can’t farm all that land ourselves…”
Mai Sui turned to look at her, her gaze resting on Wang Cuijuan’s face for less than a second. The look wasn’t fierce, but Wang Cuijuan still swallowed half her sentence under it.
“Then why don’t your family plant a bit more?”
Mai Sui’s voice wasn’t loud or soft—just right for everyone to hear.
Wang Cuijuan was thoroughly choked by her words, her face flushing red: “Sister-in-law, what’s that supposed to mean? I’m only thinking of the family!”
“If you’re thinking of the family, then you should help with the farming, not help give the land away,” Mai Sui said, then turned her gaze to Aunt Zhang.
The smile on Aunt Zhang’s face was getting hard to maintain, but she pressed on: “You’re a new bride who’s just come through the door. You don’t understand the family’s situation yet…”
“That’s true, I don’t understand much,” Mai Sui interrupted her, her tone flat and calm. “But fifty jin of corn for one mu of good land—that doesn’t add up anywhere. Aunt Zhang, this fifty jin of corn you mentioned—is it last year’s old grain or this year’s new grain? How much is it worth?”
Aunt Zhang was taken aback. “Well… of course it’s calculated at last year’s price. Corn is twelve cents a jin, so fifty jin comes to about six yuan.”
“Fine, six yuan,” Mai Sui nodded. “One mu of good land yields at least three hundred jin a year. At the current market price of fifteen cents a jin for corn, that’s forty-five yuan. Aunt Zhang, you’re trading six yuan worth of grain for forty-five yuan worth of harvest. What a deal you’ve made! No wonder you were so eager to come knocking today.”
Aunt Zhang’s face changed completely.
Liu Guifang stared at Mai Sui wide-eyed, and Gu Dashan lifted his head too, both of the old couple’s eyes full of shock.
Wang Cuijuan and Li Ming’e were also stunned.
The two of them were usually sharp as tacks, but only when it came to their own interests—the land actually belonged to Gu Qingye.
Aunt Zhang turned to look at her, sizing her up and down again, a hint of disdain in her eyes: “Niece-in-law, you don’t understand family matters…”
“I am the Gu family’s eldest daughter-in-law,” Mai Sui interrupted, her voice not loud, but every word crystal clear. “As the old saying goes, the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. Now that I’ve come through this door, there’s nothing about this family’s affairs I don’t understand.”
Aunt Zhang’s face soured at being cut off like that, but she still forced out a smile: “Niece-in-law, I’ve been dealing with your parents-in-law for many years. This is how things have always been arranged between our two families.”
“Arranged? Auntie, if your family lacks land to farm, you can apply to the production brigade to reclaim wasteland. There’s plenty of unused land over in the front mountain gully—no one will fight you for it. As for the corn, the Gu family will repay it before the New Year, with whatever interest you say. Once it’s paid off, we’ll be square. As for that plot of land, whether we farm it or not is the Gu family’s business—no need for you to concern yourself with it.” With that, she picked up the water bowl on the table and took a slow, unhurried sip.
Gu Qingye hadn’t said a word the whole time, but his face had darkened. His brows were tightly furrowed and his fists were unconsciously clenched—clearly, he was suppressing his emotions.
Aunt Zhang’s face went from green to white. She had strutted around Liulin Village her whole life—when had she ever been talked back to like this by a young bride? And yet every word the woman said was reasonable; she couldn’t even find a crack to argue through.
“You… you, a new bride who’s just come through the door, with such a sharp tongue! What kind of behavior is this!” Aunt Zhang stood up, furious with embarrassment. “Guifang, are you just going to let your daughter-in-law talk to an elder like this?”
“An elder?” Mai Sui stood up too. Sitting on the kang, she was a head taller than Aunt Zhang, who was on the ground, and she looked down at her from above. “An elder should act like one. Disrespecting your age, trading corn for someone’s land—if word gets out, all of Liulin Village will be laughing at you.”
Aunt Zhang trembled all over with rage.
Mai Sui turned to look at her mother-in-law Liu Guifang, her tone suddenly softening as she put on a smiling face. “Aunt Zhang came all this way, and she just said her family’s harvest was poor this year. This corn was probably scraped together from what little they had. We can’t let her go home empty-handed.”
She got up, took two heads of napa cabbage from the basket in the corner, added a few potatoes into a bag, and pressed it into Aunt Zhang’s hands.
“Aunt Zhang, these vegetables are a small token from our family. If you eat them and find them decent, have one of your children send word, and the Gu family will send you more.”
This move was brilliant.
The cabbage and potatoes weren’t worth much, but the gesture was flawless.
If Aunt Zhang took them, then when the villagers asked around later, she’d have failed to get land from the Gu family and yet walked off with their vegetables—where would she hide her face? If she didn’t take them, then her earlier claims of hardship would be exposed as lies—slapping her own face.
Aunt Zhang stood there, her face flushed the color of pork liver, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her. She turned to look at Liu Guifang, hoping she would be as easygoing as usual, but this time Liu Guifang just kept her head down and said nothing.
She then looked at Wang Cuijuan and Li Ming’e. Those two usually couldn’t stop gossiping, but now one was staring at the roof beams and the other at her feet, neither making a sound.
Aunt Zhang was furious, her face turning livid. “Fine! Fine! Treating my good intentions like a donkey’s liver and lungs! If the corn isn’t repaid before New Year, don’t blame me for coming to collect!”
With that, she slammed the bag viciously onto the ground and turned to leave.
Mai Sui followed her to the door of the main room. “Take care, Aunt Zhang. The roads are slippery with snow—watch your step.”
The moment she finished speaking, Aunt Zhang nearly slipped, stumbling several steps before steadying herself, and left cursing under her breath.
Mai Sui turned around to find the whole room staring at her.
She sat back down, picked up her chopsticks, and continued eating as if nothing had happened.
“Eat up. The food’s getting cold.”