"Yulan really isn’t a child anymore. Starting tomorrow, she will go work in the fields with the rest of the family and earn her own work points. No more being lazy at home," Old Man Gao declared. He then looked at his daughter and glared at her fiercely.
Hearing that she had to work in the fields tomorrow, Gao Yulan immediately became displeased. "Dad, I’m not going."
"You’re going whether you want to or not. It’s not up to you," Old Man Gao replied with a stern face.
Seeing that she couldn’t reason with her father, Gao Yulan immediately turned to her mother. "Mom..."
Old Mrs. Song doted on her daughter. She quickly said to her husband, "Old man, Yulan has never done heavy labor since she was a child. If you send her out now, she won’t know how to do anything. How could her frail little body endure it?"
Old Man Gao shot a sideways glance at his wife. "She’s a grown woman who doesn’t know how to do a single thing. Aren’t you afraid of being a laughingstock if word gets out? If others can do it, why can’t she? If she doesn’t know how, then she can learn!
"And don’t you try to shield her either. Since she doesn’t know how, you can teach her step by step. I don’t want to hear anyone on the outside calling a daughter of the Gao family a lazy bum." Old Man Gao didn’t spare his wife’s feelings in the slightest.
Although he shared his wife’s sentiments and genuinely doted on this daughter they had in their old age, he cared more about his reputation and feared being ridiculed in public. Furthermore, their two daughters-in-law were already voicing their dissatisfaction. If this matter wasn’t handled properly, the entire family would fall into chaos, making it impossible to live in peace. In this special era, men were the pillars of the family, and what the man said was basically final.
Old Mrs. Song wanted to defend her daughter, but since the head of the household had spoken, she didn’t dare say anything more. Eldest Sister-in-law Gao also stayed silent after seeing her father-in-law order Gao Yulan to work in the fields.
Seeing that the matter was settled, Gao Yulan huffed angrily and ran back to her room. Afraid that her daughter might do something drastic in her distress, Old Mrs. Song followed her inside.
Seeing her daughter crying, Old Mrs. Song hurriedly coaxed her, "Yulan, don’t be angry. Mom will buy you meat to eat tomorrow, and I’ll steam an egg custard to nourish you."
Hearing that there would be good food, Gao Yulan felt a little better, but she still couldn’t swallow the grievance she suffered today. "No! Not only do you have to buy me meat, but you also have to buy me those leather shoes." She had been thinking about them for a long time. Because they failed to send that person away this time, she had lost out on a pair of leather shoes, and her heart ached at the loss.
"Alright, Mom will buy you those leather shoes later. Don’t be mad anymore. If you make yourself sick with anger, it would be like carving out Mom’s heart."
Even though a pair of leather shoes cost twenty yuan, the third son’s pension this time was substantial. Taking out twenty yuan was not a difficult task. She would buy them.
Seeing her mother agree to buy the shoes, Gao Yulan’s anger finally dissipated.
The next day.
Old Mrs. Song went out early in the morning to buy meat. It cost her a whole two yuan. According to the commodity prices of this era, half a kilo of pork was only eighty cents, but it required ration coupons. Meat coupons were very hard to come by. Since Old Mrs. Song didn’t have any, she had no choice but to buy from the black market, where the price of pork had more than doubled. Thus, this half-kilo of meat cost her two yuan.
Right now, a worker’s monthly salary was only around thirty yuan. Half a kilo of meat cost a day’s wages for a worker. It had to be said, Old Mrs. Song truly spoiled her daughter.
When she returned carrying the meat, the Gao family stared at it unblinkingly. Every single one of them couldn’t help but swallow their saliva.
In the countryside these days, people rarely got to eat meat throughout the entire year. This half-kilo of meat was far too tempting for them. They were craving it. In the production team, they only received a few kilos of meat when pigs were slaughtered at the end of the year, and that meat had to be rationed out to last a whole year. One could imagine how few meals of meat everyone got to eat annually. With so many people in every household, the portion allocated to each individual amounted to only a few meager pieces.
"Grandma, are we eating meat today?" the eldest grandson of the Gao family asked, seeing his grandmother return with the meat.
Lin Guihua also gulped, her eyes glued to the slab of meat in her mother-in-law’s hand. "Mom, what’s the special occasion today? You actually bought meat."
Seeing everyone staring at the meat in her hand, Old Mrs. Song’s face turned cold, and she began to curse foully. "Were you all starved to death in your past lives? All you know is how to eat!
"I only bought half a kilo of meat, and it’s for Yulan. None of you should even think about it." Old Mrs. Song didn’t hide her doting on her daughter in the slightest, nor was she afraid of alienating her sons.
Hearing Old Mrs. Song’s words, everyone who thought they could eat meat today felt instantly disappointed. They had gotten their hopes up for nothing.
No one dared to voice their anger at Old Mrs. Song’s decision. Even though they desperately wanted to eat the meat, if their mother-in-law refused to share, nobody dared to complain aloud, lest they be cursed half to death.
Bai Jiu watched Old Mrs. Song’s behavior and immediately felt displeased. Pointing at Old Mrs. Song, she started scolding, "Mom, what you’re doing is unreasonable. Those who work don’t get meat, but the one who doesn’t work gets to eat it? No matter where you go, that logic doesn’t hold up. If Yulan wants to eat meat, fine, but everyone gets to eat it together.
"Otherwise, nobody gets to eat this meat." She didn’t actually care about this little bit of meat, but she simply couldn’t stand Old Mrs. Song’s blatant favoritism. Why should all the good things go to Gao Yulan? Were the rest of the family members dead?
Old Mrs. Song was furious, her face twitching. Over the past two days, Bai Jiu seemed to have completely changed into a different person. She had become aggressive and domineering, as if she had swallowed gunpowder. She was extremely confrontational.
Lin Guihua shot a glance at Bai Jiu. Although she usually couldn’t stand her, in this moment, she fully supported Bai Jiu.
Their mother-in-law was too biased, reserving all the good things for that wretched girl. Other families favored their sons, but the Gao family was something else, actually treasuring a daughter this much. Any decent food in the house always ended up in her stomach. Hmph, she truly didn’t treat the rest of them like human beings!
Seeing Bai Jiu taking the lead, and wanting some meat for herself and her son, Lin Guihua immediately chimed in. "That’s right, Mom. It’s truly unreasonable for you to do this. We work ourselves half to death every day just for a bite to eat. You give all the good things to Yulan. Do you really treat us as her hired farmhands?
"Today, let alone Yulan eating meat, she won’t even get to drink a sip of the broth." The temptation of meat was simply too great, making Lin Guihua completely forget how formidable her mother-in-law could be.
"Shut your mouths!" Old Mrs. Song tightly gripped the slab of meat. "It’s not your turn to call the shots in this house! I bought this meat, and I’ll give it to whoever I want! Keep arguing, and see how I thrash you!
"Pah, you chattering hags!" Old Mrs. Song spat.
Gao Zhishan tugged at Lin Guihua and said darkly, "Enough. Listen to Mom. If she wants to give it to Yulan, let her. You shouldn’t always covet Yulan’s things. How much longer will Yulan even stay at home? What’s wrong with us doting on her and yielding to her a little?"
As the eldest brother, Gao Zhishan had been thoroughly indoctrinated by Old Mrs. Song with the idea of doting on his younger sister.
Lin Guihua was already used to her husband’s behavior; all he ever did was side with his mother. "All you know is how to listen to your mother! It’s as if your own wife and child belong to another family! You might as well just starve the few of us to death!"
Furious, Eldest Sister-in-law Gao stormed straight back into her room.
Old Mrs. Song watched Eldest Sister-in-law Gao’s retreating back with a smug smile. She then turned to her son. "Zhishan, ah, it seems this wife of yours doesn’t have any respect for me, her mother. It’s not that I’m being meddlesome, but a woman must be disciplined. Otherwise, she’ll turn the house upside down."
Gao Zhishan repeatedly nodded in agreement.