It’s just gossip, she could handle it.
So, she indifferently said to Jiang Yunxia, “Second Sister-in-law, Xiao Ze is different now. He’s very capable, he can even draw blueprints.”
Seeing that Jiang Yunxia still wanted to chat, Su Yunyi could only touch her stomach and ask, “Second Sister-in-law, shouldn’t we start cooking? Mom and Dad should be back from work soon, right?”
Jiang Yunxia looked at her with a half-smile, “Our countryside isn’t like your city. We don’t eat dinner. I’ll go watch the children. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, if you touch Mom’s things, she’ll definitely deal with you when she gets back.”
Su Yunyi could go without dinner; she had eaten well at the commune at noon.
But Xiao Ze was doing heavy labor renovating the house. How could he not eat?
Just as she was about to go home to get some rice and flour, she ran into Xiao Father, Xiao Mother, her eldest brother and sister-in-law, and the children, including Huzhi, returning from work.
As soon as they saw her, they greeted her warmly.
“Yunyi, you’re back.”
“Little Auntie.”
Xiao Mother saw that she was about to go out and stopped her, asking, “Third daughter-in-law, where are you going?”
Su Yunyi told her her plan. Xiao Mother waved her hand, “Second son has already gone to help Third son. How can we let the men work on an empty stomach? Mom can’t give you white rice and white flour every meal, but sweet potato flour, corn, and potatoes are plenty.”
Saying this, she put down her tools and was about to head into the kitchen.
Jiang Yunxia, who had just walked out of the room holding a child, heard Xiao Mother’s words and said sourly, “Third Brother’s wife, look how good Mom is to you two. We’re all benefiting from you to have a rare dinner tonight.”
Xiao Mother threw what she was holding on the ground, “What, are you wronged? Has the Xiao family abused you or something? Go to the team and see, which daughter-in-law hasn’t gone to work since she was pregnant? Er Tou is already so big, and you keep saying you need to stay home to take care of the child. Has anyone in the family said anything to you? You’ll go to work tomorrow.”
Jiang Yunxia was no match for Xiao Mother.
Their combat power was not on the same level.
Jiang Yunxia panicked when she heard she had to go to work tomorrow. She had managed to hide at home for months, and everyone told her she had gotten much fairer. The farm work during this period was not easy, and she didn’t want to go to the fields.
“Mom, Er Tou can’t walk yet. What if he gets hurt if I take him to work? Don’t you care about your grandson?”
Xiao Mother snorted and walked into the kitchen.
Su Yunyi quickly followed and took out ten yuan from her bag, handing it to Xiao Mother, “Mom, this is my living expenses for staying here.”
Xiao Mother was still angry. Seeing Su Yunyi’s actions, she couldn’t help but shout loudly, “You’re only staying here for a few days, how can I charge you living expenses? It would be a joke if word got out that I’m mistreating my daughter-in-law.”
Su Yunyi had been getting along well with Xiao Mother recently. Although she was yelled at, she didn’t burst into tears immediately.
She patiently linked her arm with Xiao Mother’s and explained, “Mom, we’ve already separated our household. This money is from Xiao Ze. He was afraid you’d be in a difficult position.”
Saying this, she glanced meaningfully outside.
Xiao Mother understood. Her youngest son was using this money to silence his two sisters-in-law, and also to make his wife feel at ease staying here. The brat was indeed thoughtful.
“But this is too much.”
Su Yunyi knew she had accepted it and immediately bowed to Xiao Mother, “Then I’ll trouble you, Mother, during this time!”
Xiao Mother chuckled, “Little rascal.”
The eldest sister-in-law, seeing the third daughter-in-law go into the kitchen with Xiao Mother, also enjoyed the peace and quiet and went back to her room to play with the children.
The second sister-in-law, with her nature of slacking off whenever possible, disappeared back into her room in the blink of an eye.
Su Yunyi nimbly assisted Xiao Mother.
Before long, the mother and daughter-in-law had steamed a pot of corn muffins. Xiao Mother also steamed four eggs, and then picked some small white vegetables and green beans from the field outside the door, handing them to Su Yunyi.
After blanching the vegetables, Su Yunyi stir-fried them with a little oil and dried chili peppers, making a large plate of each.
The aroma of the stir-fried small white vegetables wafted far away.
Huzhi, who was playing with his younger siblings outside the door, couldn’t help but run in to see, “Grandma, Little Auntie, what smells so good?”
Xiao Mother flicked his nose and playfully scolded, “Little glutton.”
Then she took the dish from Su Yunyi’s spatula and fed it to Huzhi’s mouth.
Huzhi, breathing out hot air, gave a thumbs-up, “Little Auntie cooks delicious food!”
Before dinner, after setting aside the meals for Xiao Lao Er and Xiao Lao San, Xiao Mother placed the “Da Tuan Jie” (a hundred-yuan bill) that Su Yunyi had brought on the table, her gaze sweeping over the faces of the family members.
“This is the living expenses paid by the third couple. These days, the third family is renovating their house, and the third daughter-in-law is staying with us. We need to send food to the third son. Your younger brother is being considerate, so as elder siblings, you should help. If you can’t help, don’t say anything that would harm unity in this family.”
Xiao Lao Da was the first to respond, “Mom, what is Third Brother doing? Sister-in-law is staying here for a few days, why pay living expenses? We are one family, we don’t do this.”
Xiao Mother smiled slightly, “Third daughter-in-law insisted on giving it, and Mom couldn’t refuse. After dinner, we’ll all go help. We can’t let people in the team laugh at our Xiao family.”
After dinner, the Xiao family members, holding their bowls, lined up neatly to help at Xiao Ze’s place.
As soon as they arrived at the doorstep, Su Yunyi was stunned.
In just one day, the thatched hut was completely gone, replaced by dust and scattered straw everywhere.
Ah! Where were her chicks?
Su Yunyi, holding a bowl, rushed into the yard. Only the figures of the two Xiao brothers were in the yard.
Xiao Ze looked as if he had been dug out of the earth.
His short hair was covered in a layer of dust, and his neck was a mixture of sweat and dirt. The places where sweat had flowed left white streaks.
Su Yunyi didn’t bother looking for her chicks. She took out a handkerchief, scooped water from the water 缸，wet it, and handed it to Xiao Ze.
“Immature.”
Su Yunyi looked down at the handkerchief in her hand, which had a small dog pattern on it. She was already being disliked.
He disliked her handkerchief for not fitting his tough guy image?
She hadn’t even complained about him being dirty.
“Then go wash up and come eat.”
The man walked to the water 缸，cupped water in his hands, and splashed it haphazardly on his face and neck. The water dripped down his collar and disappeared.
He casually took Su Yunyi’s handkerchief, wiped the water off his face, put it in his bag, and squatted down to eat.
Xiao Father, touching the many bricks, kept muttering, “Good, really good.”
Xiao Mother and Xiao Eldest Brother helped with the cleaning, especially the area where the thatched hut was removed and would be rebuilt, which needed to be cleared before tamping.
Su Yunyi, on the other hand, was searching everywhere for her chicks. She had grown fond of them and didn’t want to lose them.
Xiao Ze saw her running back and forth searching for things and called out, “Your chicks are in the back basket. You can take them to Mom’s later, and let Mom teach you how to feed chickens.”
Su Yunyi leaned over to the back basket and saw that the little ones were indeed obediently staying inside, fluffy and looking extremely cute.
“Why didn’t you give them any food?”
Xiao Ze was momentarily speechless.