In her previous life, her paternal grandmother had given birth to seven children—four sons and three daughters.
In her memory, she had eaten at her grandmother’s house no more than five times, and every single time, her dad had brought her along.
But later on, she refused to go no matter what, because her grandmother never invited her daughters-in-law to eat—not a single one of them.
Feeling sorry for her mother, she chose to stay home and keep her mother company instead. Besides, her grandmother didn’t care for her going anyway; by not going, she actually saved the old lady some food.
Yet, even with that few meals, her attendance still ranked near the top among all the granddaughters. Who could blame them, since the two houses were so close, separated by just a single road?
From childhood to adulthood, she had never spent a single penny of her grandmother’s money.
It was already the year 2003, and during one visit to her grandmother’s house, the old lady was in the eastern room peeling the shell off a boiled egg. As she finished peeling them in the eastern room, she would toss the shells into the kitchen. She was caught right in the act by the girl, who happened to open the door and step into the kitchen at that exact moment. By the time the girl walked into the eastern room, the old lady had actually hidden the egg behind her back.
Her hands and feet were incredibly nimble.
What was even more amusing was that, taking advantage of the girl turning around, she transferred the egg into her clothing pocket. Her sharp-eyed granddaughter saw the whole thing. Can you believe it?
This was her own biological grandmother!
At that time, her family had just moved to the city not long ago. She was in the fifth grade of elementary school, and transferring schools was not only a hassle but also required a hefty fee.
So, she became the only left-behind child in the village, living at her maternal grandparents’ house.
Her parents were not by her side, yet the old lady couldn’t even bear to part with a single egg for such a young granddaughter. Even her dad, such a filial son, became furious.
Because of this, her dad even had a big argument with her grandmother.
To use the words of her mother from her previous life: when her grandmother heard that their family was planning to move away, she didn’t dare utter a single sound, utterly terrified that the girl might move into her house.
There was another time she went to her grandmother’s house. It was clearly rabbit meat, but the old lady insisted it was meat from a dead chicken and wouldn’t give her a single piece to eat.
Instances like this were countless.
There were even more outrageous things that she felt too embarrassed to talk about.
It was just too humiliating.
Anyway, she gradually stopped going.
Her grandmother was never affectionate toward her grandchildren, whether grandsons or granddaughters, nor did she ever miss them.
Consequently, when the grandchildren grew up, they weren’t close to her either.
In this life, having a grandfather and a grandmother who doted on her like the apple of their eyes truly made her ecstatic. What she used to envy most in the past was other people’s grandparents.
“Grandma, can we pickle some cucumbers? I love eating them. The ones Grandma made last time were delicious.”
“Why wouldn’t we? As soon as Grandma finishes drying the green bean skins in a moment, I’ll go pick some cucumbers.”
Grandmother Liu had always granted every request her granddaughter made. It was just pickled cucumbers; why wouldn’t she agree? It wasn’t a bother at all.
Scooping out the seeds inside the cucumbers, cutting them into halves, using salt to draw out the water, and then drying them slightly in the sun made them crunchy yet a bit chewy. Mixed with mashed garlic, chili oil, and soy sauce, they tasted exceptionally delicious.
Watching her well-behaved granddaughter leaning against her—a tiny, soft, and sweet little bundle—the old lady’s heart was about to melt. Narrowing her eyes and grinning, she agreed immediately.
Thinking that her darling granddaughter was still small and her little milk teeth could manage very few things, especially when winter arrived, the old lady worried. Aside from dried vegetables, there would only be sauerkraut, potatoes, Chinese cabbage, radishes, and pickles.
They could tolerate anything themselves, but Grandmother Liu was unwilling to let her delicate granddaughter eat only these things.
Looking at the wild rabbits in the cage, Grandmother Liu smacked her lips.
Hongxing Commune
Bang, bang, bang…
“Who is it?” an elderly voice answered from inside the courtyard, and footsteps approached to open the door.
“Auntie, it’s me, Mancang.”
Early in the morning, Liu Mancang had finished making the rabbit cage, and after eating his meal, he walked toward the town.
He had cut a large piece of roe deer meat, weighing about five or six catties, caught one of the fattest pheasants, and also brought over ten catties of fresh, young mushroom buds.
“Oh, the second older brother of the daughter-in-law is here! Quick, come in, come in.” The moment Old Mrs. Zhao saw it was her youngest daughter-in-law’s second older brother from her maiden family, she immediately greeted him happily and ushered him into the house.
Seeing the pheasant, the large piece of roe deer meat, and the mushrooms that Liu Mancang pulled out of his backpack basket, her smile widened so much her mouth could hardly close.
She mixed a highly concentrated bowl of brown sugar water for Liu Mancang.
“Auntie, I walked all the way here and I’m incredibly thirsty. I won’t drink sugar water; the more I drink it, the thirstier I get. Just give me a bowl of cooled boiled water.”
Not only did sugar water make one thirstier, but brown sugar was also a rare and precious commodity. How could a grown man like him drink it? The two of them pushed it back and forth for quite a while until Old Mrs. Zhao finally poured him a bowl of cooled boiled water instead.
Old Mrs. Zhao then told Liu Manhong’s eldest boy, Zhao Xiaoxuan, to hurry to the grain depot to find his mother. “Tell your mother that her second elder brother is here, and ask her to take some time off to come back for a bit.”
It wasn’t time for the autumn harvest yet, so the grain depot wasn’t busy, making it quite easy to take time off.
Old Mrs. Zhao was now absolutely satisfied with Liu Manhong as a daughter-in-law. To think back to when her son wanted to marry a village girl, she had been a thousand, even ten thousand times unwilling.
She had even argued with her son twice over it.
That village girl didn’t know a single character; if a carrying pole fell to the ground, she wouldn’t even know it looked like the character for ‘one’. Aside from doing laundry, cooking, and bearing children, what else could she do after being married in?
As the saying goes, dragons beget dragons, and phoenixes beget phoenixes. She feared it would even drag down her future grandchildren, making them unintelligent.
Furthermore, it came with a whole pack of poor relatives who loved to take advantage and sponge off them.
There were neighbors around who had married village girls; some of their maiden families could offer no help at all and constantly came to sponge off the household.
When the husband’s family couldn’t provide help, the wife’s mother would weep and wail.
It gave people quite a show to enjoy.
Old Mrs. Zhao had been strong-willed all her life and absolutely could not allow relatives and neighbors to laugh at her. No matter what, she wouldn’t agree.
Even when she later heard that Liu Manhong was educated and had graduated from junior high school, the old lady remained rather reluctant.
Her son had the looks, he had the job, and he held a commune household registration. Why on earth should he marry a country girl?
For this reason, Old Mrs. Zhao had even mobilized relatives and friends, aunts and grand-aunts, to help introduce match-making prospects to her son, Zhao Yongsheng. If her son refused to go to the match-making sessions, she would cry.
Later, her son did go, but oh boy, it would have been better if he hadn’t gone at all!
He offended every single relative and friend completely.