Meng Yue hurried all the way from the fields toward Fang Mountain, but by the time she arrived, everyone had already dispersed.
She caught an auntie and asked what happened. Only after confirming that her mother-in-law wasn’t hurt did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Still uneasy, she rushed back home to check on her.
Seeing her eldest daughter-in-law running back in such a hurry, Li Shulan’s eyes were full of amusement.
“Don’t worry. Your mother is tough—no one can bully me. And whatever happens, don’t run like that again. What if you fall?” She patted Meng Yue’s belly lightly—after all, this was the Qin family’s very first grandchild.
Speaking, she went to the kitchen and made a cup of malted milk for her eldest daughter-in-law.
After checking her mother-in-law from head to toe and confirming that she truly was unharmed, Meng Yue finally relaxed completely and smiled.
“Mom, don’t worry. I watched my steps.”
Li Shulan glanced at the sky outside. “It’s almost noon. Don’t go back. Go rest for a bit and work in the afternoon. I’ll cook for you.”
“Mom, I’m not tired. Let me help you with the fire. I can chat with you while I do it.”
Seeing that the girl really wasn’t tired, Li Shulan didn’t argue.
“Alright then, sit over there and watch the fire. Be careful—the sparks might jump.”
Li Shulan cut some lean pork from the well, then went to the garden to pick peppers, eggplants, beans, and cucumbers.
For lunch she planned stir-fried pork with peppers, eggplant and beans, smashed cucumber salad, and a steamed egg. Pretty good!
While cooking, Meng Yue told her about what Yang Weiming had said in the fields that day.
Li Shulan snorted coldly. “Hmph, you can tell right away he’s no good. Talking to you like that—he must’ve been eyeing the money on you!”
No wonder there hadn’t been such rumors in her previous life.
Back then she had made both daughters-in-law hand over every coin they owned, leaving them worse off than when they first arrived in the countryside. With them so broke, Yang Weiming would never have had the time to “warm up” to the eldest daughter-in-law.
“Listen, girl,” Li Shulan said seriously, “never believe a man’s sweet talk. The smoother he talks, the less reliable he is. Look at what he does, not what he says. Men—where their money goes, their heart goes. If my eldest son ever hides private money from you, you come tell me. I’ll break his legs myself!”
Hearing her mother-in-law’s words, Meng Yue’s eyes sparkled.
“Mm. I’ll listen to Mom.”
Her own mother had told her the same thing: don’t trust a man’s mouth—look at his actions.
Before Qin Zihuai left, he had given her some money—not much, just a few dozen yuan.But he had explained that all the money he earned over the past years had been sent home, and then the wedding cost money. He promised that from now on, each month he would only keep 17 yuan for himself and send the rest home—half for her, half for his mother.
Meng Yue didn’t actually care whether her husband turned over his salary or not.
Though she’d been sent down to the countryside in a hurry, her parents had still stuffed money into her and her sister’s hands—five hundred yuan each. Plus her own savings, she had over a hundred more.
Enough to live comfortably for several years.
But still, when he said those words, she had genuinely felt warm.
And now, with such a mother-in-law, Meng Yue felt truly lucky.
Thinking of Qin Zihuai, she remembered the letter she had asked her mother-in-law to mail a few days ago.
Aside from the letters for her parents and sister, she had added some national grain and meat coupons for Qin Zihuai.
She didn’t understand how a fourth-level engineer could be so thin. On their wedding night, his body felt like nothing but bones…
Smelling the fragrance of her mother-in-law’s cooking, Meng Yue thought that next time, she should send him even more coupons.
After lunch, Li Shulan didn’t take a nap.
She went to the west room and continued sewing.
She wanted to start early so she could finish work earlier in the afternoon. Then she planned to mince the remaining large slab of pork into meat sauce.
Two jars for the younger son, four for the elder!
Her eldest son had always been picky about food. Previously, she thought that since he was working in a big provincial factory, the cafeteria food wouldn’t be bad, so she didn’t worry. He always came home thinner each time, but she assumed his work was heavy.
It wasn’t until later, after becoming a wandering soul, that she learned the truth: his work wasn’t the problem—he simply hated the cafeteria food. Every day he only ate one fist-sized portion of rice to stay alive.
When he was starving, he would bring cooked rice home, and then take the empty glass jar she used to store pickles for him.
He would smell the jar, take a bite of rice… smell again, eat again.
But the jar was long empty, cleaned spotless.
He had many such empty jars in his room.
She calculated—the amount matched the habit she used to have: she would always give him two jars whenever he left home, and he saved them all, one by one.
Thinking about this made her furious.
Furious at her eldest son for being such a silent gourd—couldn’t he at least tell her he missed her cooking? It’s not like she wouldn’t make it for him!
And furious at herself—knowing he was picky since childhood, yet she didn’t pay enough attention to his health.
When both sons left this time, she had given each one a jar of fermented tofu and a jar of meat sauce.
But knowing her eldest, two jars might last only ten days—even if he rationed.
So this time she planned to make fresh meat sauce, cured-meat sauce, and dried-fish sauce. She would ship some to both sons every month.She couldn’t let her eldest starve anymore—what if he ruined his stomach?
When Li Shulan decided something, she did it.
That very afternoon, she took out the entire basket of fresh pork from the well, cooked it with Chinese celery, and made celery meat sauce.
Using washed fruit-preserve jars, she filled eight jars in one go!
Six to mail to her sons, two for her daughters-in-law to mix with noodles, steamed buns, or rice.
That night, after eating dumplings dripping with fragrant oil, she made mushroom cured-meat sauce and fried cured fish—five jars of each.
Each son would get two jars, and the remaining one would be for the three women at home.
..
The next morning—
Li Shulan woke early again and cooked century-egg lean-meat congee—her second daughter-in-law’s favorite.
Along with the congee, she brewed each of them a cup of malted milk.
“Come, come! Today the second daughter-in-law officially starts teaching at the primary school. Let’s use malted milk instead of wine and celebrate her!” Li Shulan raised her cup first.
Meng Yue and Su Xiao quickly raised theirs.
Meng Yue said, smiling, “Xiaoxiao, congratulations. You’re officially a teacher now!”
Su Xiao wore the goose-yellow dress Li Shulan had made for her last time. Her eyes curved into crescents as she beamed.
“Thank you, Mom. Thank you, Sister-in-law. I’ll do my best and become an excellent arithmetic teacher the children love—”
Li Shulan selectively ignored the “children will love me” part.
She didn’t believe those little brats loved any teacher.But she didn’t have the heart to dampen her daughter-in-law’s enthusiasm.
“Cheers!”
After breakfast, Meng Yue rested a bit before heading to the fields. Su Xiao rode her bicycle to report to the village school.
Li Shulan didn’t rest either. The meat sauce she made last night—today she carried it on her back to borrow the brigade captain’s bicycle so she could mail everything in town.
She was halfway there when a familiar mechanical voice sounded in her mind:
【Ding! Helping your daughter-in-law find a job—Reward: 500 yuan cash, 1 two-bedroom apartment in An County, 1 jade and pearl necklace.】
Li Shulan: !!!