9: Being Lu Zaiyang’s sister
“Talk my ass!”
Lu Laoba was nothing like the gentle man he was in front of Sun Zhaodi and her daughter. He grabbed the sniveling Xiao Shi and tossed him aside. Xiao Shi quickly scrambled to hide behind his mother.
“You have so many grandsons and granddaughters yourself. Keep any ‘good matches’ for your own use! How dare you set your sights on my daughter? I’ll fight you to the death!”
Hearing this, Lu Laoda’s face darkened. “Is that any way to speak to your own elder brother?”
“Are you worthy of being my brother?”
Lu Laoba’s face was full of disgust. “Don’t make me sick!”
Lu Zaiyang completely agreed.
Several households lived around Lu Laoda’s house. They saw Lu Laoba and his son storm into Lu Laoda’s home, then heard Lu Laoba’s furious shouting, followed by the cries of that mischievous child, Xiao Shi.
Nosy people had already gathered at Lu Laoda’s gate, craning their necks to see what was happening.
An elderly neighbor, who knew the history between the two brothers and sided with Lu Laoba, quickly sent a younger family member to fetch Lu Laoer and the other brothers to back Lu Laoba up.
Upon getting the news, Lu Laoer, Lu Laosi, and Lu Laowu hurried over.
By then, Lu Zaiyang was already pounding on Lu Laoda’s youngest son. In terms of seniority, they were of the same generation. This guy had jumped out, pointing at Lu Laoba and cursing. Lu Zaiyang immediately gave him a shoulder throw, pinned him to the ground, and started hitting him.
Lu Laoda’s wife, who had been silent and hiding behind her husband and sons, felt sorry for her youngest son. She urgently tugged at Lu Laoda’s sleeve and whispered, “Just say it’s a misunderstanding! There’s no such marriage arrangement! Otherwise, our youngest will be beaten to death by that brat!”
Just as Lu Laoda was about to speak, he saw Lu Laoer and the other brothers shoving their way through the crowd of onlookers, barging into the courtyard with fierce expressions.
“Laoba, are we beating him up? I’ll help!”
Lu Laowu rolled up his sleeves, his gloomy gaze fixed on Lu Laoda.
Lu Laoda’s legs trembled, and he abandoned any attempt to assert his authority as the eldest brother, knowing it would be useless. None of his younger brothers and sisters didn’t hate him and his wife.
“Let’s talk this out, talk it out! It’s all a misunderstanding! There’s no such marriage, none at all!”
“Will you meddle in my family’s affairs again in the future?”
Lu Laoba stepped on his youngest son’s thigh.
The youngest son’s cry of pain terrified Lu Laoda’s family, especially seeing that Lu Laoer and the others also looked ready to grab someone to beat up. Lu Laoda wouldn’t dare meddle in anything now!
“No meddling, how could I possibly meddle in your family’s matters?”
Lu Laoda tried to force a friendly smile.
Lu Zaiyang let go, watching as the man scrambled and crawled back behind Lu Laoda.
They were supposed to be of the same generation, but this youngest son was already thirty years old.
Yet he couldn’t beat Lu Zaiyang, who was ten years younger.
“What marriage? What scheme are you plotting now?”
Lu Laoer knew Lu Laoda and his wife all too well—they were definitely up to no good!
“He wanted to arrange a marriage for my Guoguo. The man seems to be a sickly one, and who knows what benefits he promised them. How could they do such a wicked thing? Everyone, be careful! If they come looking for your children, don’t ruin a child’s life for a bit of money!”
Lu Laoba loudly declared the scheming plans of Lu Laoda and his wife.
Hearing this, the crowd looked at them with disdain.
Lu Laowu, disappointed he hadn’t gotten to hit anyone, pointed at Lu Laoda’s sons as they left. “What kind of sons have you raised? When their younger brother was getting beaten up, the older brothers had no guts at all. They just watched him get beaten. Looks like your family isn’t very harmonious. You should split them up sooner. Remember, don’t give them anything good—keep it all for yourselves. What do sons and grandsons matter compared to you two?”
After delivering these stinging remarks, Lu Laowu contentedly pulled Lu Laoba along, put an arm around Lu Zaiyang, and followed his brothers away.
Lu Laoda trembled with rage.
Lu Laoda’s wife, somewhat more rational, told her daughters-in-law to close the courtyard gate and not let anyone keep watching the spectacle.
Hearing Lu Laoda scolding his sons from behind the closed gate, Lu Laowu let out a mocking laugh.
“The whole family, from old to young, is rotten to the core.”
Lu Laoba wholeheartedly agreed, nodding vigorously. He also warned his brothers, “Keep your children away from them. Zaiyang.”
“I’ll go to Third Aunt and Seventh Aunt’s houses later.”
Lu Laowu gave Lu Zaiyang an appreciative look. “You’re really sharp. Laoba hadn’t even said it, and you already knew what to do.”
“Fifth Uncle,” Lu Zaiyang explained somewhat helplessly, “After all, both Third Aunt and Seventh Aunt have cousins—daughters.”
Given Lu Laoda’s nature, if he couldn’t control his brothers’ daughters, he would definitely turn to his sisters.
Even if they might not agree, they might not be able to withstand pressure from their husbands or mothers-in-law, especially in-laws who didn’t care about granddaughters, they were capable of anything.
“Old bastard.”
Lu Laosi cursed.
When Lu Guoguo and her mother saw them return, they immediately gathered around to ask what happened.
Lu Laoba smiled. “It’s all settled. They won’t dare scheme like that again. Don’t worry.”
“Uncle, you’re amazing!”
After praising Lu Laoba, Lu Guoguo glanced at Lu Zaiyang, who was looking her way, and quickly added, “Brother is amazing too!”
The corners of Lu Zaiyang’s mouth lifted slightly.
After breakfast, Lu Zaiyang prepared to go out.
Upon learning he was going to visit their two elder sisters, Sun Zhaodi asked him to wait a moment. She soon came out with a bamboo basket filled with things and handed it to him. “The things inside are in two portions—one for each aunt’s family.”
“Alright.”
Lu Zaiyang took it with a smile. Aunt Sun was always so thoughtful. He and his father had been focused solely on letting the aunts know about the matter and hadn’t thought to bring them something.
Back then, when Lu Laoda married his sisters off to the families offering the highest bride price, character was naturally not a consideration. Before they had children, their lives had been very difficult. It was only after having children that their situations gradually improved somewhat.
“Brother, come back soon,” Lu Guoguo remembered the candy pieces she had bought. She had shared some with the family earlier, and six were left—they had all insisted she keep them. So, she gave those six to Lu Zaiyang for him to share with his younger cousins.
“Hmm,” Lu Zaiyang nodded, shouldered the basket, and left quickly.
Sun Zhaodi, meanwhile, cursed Lu Laoda’s family non-stop. When she went out to work, if anyone asked why Lu Laoba and his son had stormed over to Lu Laoda’s place, Sun Zhaodi would loudly recount their despicable scheme.
When Lu Laoda’s sons and daughters-in-law went to work, people pointed and whispered at them. They weren’t easygoing either and directly got into fights.
In the end, the deputy team leader arrived fuming, deducted a day’s work points from them, and only then did they calm down.
Today, Lu Guoguo was again assigned to feed the pigs.
But her partner wasn’t Cuihua anymore; it was a married woman.
This woman was much easier to get along with than Cuihua. Though their interaction wasn’t overly warm, she was friendly enough and very efficient. Lu Guoguo enjoyed working with someone like her.
Since Lu Guoguo’s work assignments were generally lighter than those of the rest of the family, a few days ago she had volunteered to take on the task of going home to cook.
After chopping the last basket of pigweed for the morning, Lu Guoguo said goodbye to the woman and headed home.
She didn’t know that the woman later told her close friends about her experience working with Lu Guoguo that morning, praising Lu Guoguo several times and sighing that you can’t judge people by rumors—you have to interact with them yourself to know what they’re really like.
When Lu Guoguo arrived home, she found the courtyard gate open and heard cooking sounds from the kitchen. She glanced at the bamboo basket placed in the woodshed—Lu Zaiyang was back.
Having been here for a while but never having seen the male lead cook, Lu Guoguo eagerly ran into the kitchen. “Brother, you’re cooking?”
“Hmm,” Lu Zaiyang, who was slicing bamboo shoots, looked up at her. “Both cousins were very happy and asked me to thank you.”
The cousin from Third Aunt’s family was ten years old, and the one from Seventh Aunt’s family was eight.
Hearing this, Lu Guoguo was delighted and went over to help him prepare.
Sun Zhaodi had given each of the two elder sisters’ families six eggs, two packets of dried tofu, and some spring bamboo shoots dried a few days earlier.
Third Aunt had given back a packet of dried chili peppers she had sun-dried herself. Seventh Aunt had given back a packet of spring mushrooms she had just picked that morning.
For lunch today, they had stir-fried spring bamboo shoots, cabbage fried with cracklings, and a spring mushroom soup.
Sipping the delicious mushroom soup, Lu Guoguo closed her eyes in contentment. “It’s so good.”
“Our side of the area isn’t very sunny. Your Seventh Aunt’s side has an abundance of mushrooms every year,” Lu Laoba said with a smile.
“That’s wonderful. But I heard from Sister-in-law Wen today that her kids found bamboo mushrooms in the bamboo grove near the big locust tree yesterday afternoon. This afternoon, we’re going over there to cut pigweed. I’ll take a look too. If I’m lucky, I might also find some bamboo mushrooms.”
Sun Zhaodi looked over upon hearing this. “You two get along well?”
“Better than with Cuihua,” Lu Guoguo told the truth. “She takes good care of me.”
“She’s a good kid,” Lu Laoba praised. “Speaking of which, her family’s Wen Aiguo was a real troublemaker when he was little. He often teased Zaiyang, but he could never beat him. After getting disciplined enough times, he gradually stopped provoking him. After he grew up, got married, and had children, he became quite steady.”
Mentioned by name, Lu Zaiyang took a sip of the mushroom soup. Seeing Lu Guoguo looking at him curiously, he thought for a moment and said, “He still can’t beat me now.”
“He’s a father now. Can he still act like a kid? Zaiyang, you’re already twenty…”
Lu Laoba put down his bowl. As soon as he started this topic, Lu Guoguo saw Lu Zaiyang quickly finish his mushroom soup in a few gulps, say “I’m done, take your time,” grab his bowl, and run off.
His movements were very practiced and swift.
Sun Zhaodi and Lu Guoguo burst out laughing.
Lu Laoba chuckled and cursed the rascal, then picked up his bowl and chopsticks to continue eating.
In the afternoon, when Lu Guoguo went with Sister-in-Law Wen to the small hillside near the big locust tree bamboo grove to cut pigweed, she specifically ran into the grove to look around. Sister-in-Law Wen watched her amusedly as she scurried around like a little hamster. In the end, Lu Guoguo dug out two bamboo shoots with her sickle and stuffed them into her basket. “At least it wasn’t a wasted trip.”
That evening, when Sister-in-Law Wen told Wen Aiguo how likable this little sister’s personality was, Wen Aiguo remembered the rebellious, unruly Lu Zaiyang from their childhood and the Lu Zaiyang who still occasionally threw punches. He felt a pang of sympathy for Lu Guoguo. “Being Lu Zaiyang’s sister… I wonder if she gets beaten for misbehaving.”
At that moment, Lu Guoguo was munching on the red snakeberries Lu Zaiyang had found while working that afternoon. He didn’t actually care for these sour-sweet things himself, but thinking of Sun Zhaodi and Lu Guoguo at home, he had picked all the red snakeberries he found and brought them home after work.
“They’re so delicious! Brother, next time you see them, can you pick some more for me?”
Discovering he responded better to a soft approach, Lu Guoguo held the red snakeberries and looked at him expectantly.
“Okay.”
Lu Zaiyang nodded. It was just a simple task, after all.
**