Shen Xingshu suddenly increased the force with which he was putting on her socks. “It looks like you still didn’t hurt enough.”
Zhao Yaoyao looked in the direction of the Zhao family home and silently withdrew her gaze. She had etched this score into her memory.
On the way back, they caught the village donkey cart and made it home in forty minutes.
Before they had even stepped through the gates, Zhao Yaoyao heard a shrill woman’s voice coming from the room belonging to her parents-in-law.
“If you ask me, you people are just too soft-hearted. A woman who stirs up trouble like that is simply not cut out to keep a proper household. You might as well have Xingshu divorce her early on to save her from bringing disaster upon the family.”
“What’s the use of being pretty? Her heart isn’t with you people. Even if you were to treat her like a living Buddha, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”
“When taking a wife, you have to marry someone who knows how to keep a household running—someone who cares for her husband and respects her parents-in-law. At the very least, she should be able to bear children, right? Don’t take it amiss that my words sound harsh, but what good is a hen that can’t lay eggs? Your family only has one single twig left to carry on the family line, and this is delaying the ancestral succession!”
“It’s not like I’m old Wang bragging just to sell her own melons, but my Xiaoling is a real home-maker. With hips like hers, she’s definitely built to bear sons. Just look at how Xingshu gives her eighty yuan every single month; if she were managing it, she’d save every last penny and never waste a single cent.”
“Besides, the matchmaker had hooked them up before, but my Xiaoling was held up by something at the time. Otherwise, who knows, maybe the two of them would have been together long ago! If it were my Xiaoling, she’d probably have two children in three years—wouldn’t two big grandsons be wonderful?!”
The woman’s voice grew louder and louder, filled with increasing self-satisfaction.
Right then, the main courtyard door was pushed open with a heavy slam, giving her such a start that she shuddered. Recognizing the person who had just walked in, she immediately plastered a smile on her face.
“Xingshu’s back! We were just talking about you. To be a deputy battalion commander at such a young age is a first in our village—it really brings honor to your ancestors!”
She sized up her prospective son-in-law with satisfaction, growing more pleased the longer she looked.
Zhao Yaoyao likewise looked over this stout, fleshy-faced woman and retorted unceremoniously, “My, how times have degraded and social morals have declined! Where on earth does a mother come from who pushes her own daughter forward to be a homewrecking mistress?”
She pointed to her own head and mocked, “Could it be that something’s wrong with your brain, or did you peel off the skin from the left side of your face and paste it onto the right, leaving yourself with one side shameless and the other thick-skinned?”
Provoked by her words, the woman flushed red with anger and shouted at her, “I didn’t say anything wrong! You’ve been married into the Shen family for three years without giving birth to a single child. If you aren’t a barren hen, what are you?!”
“And it’s a fact that you throw money around carelessly! Otherwise, you wouldn’t have reached the point where you couldn’t even afford meals, forcing Xiaoyuan—a young girl of seventeen or eighteen—to go out digging wild vegetables and borrow grain from villagers just to get by!”
Zhao Yaoyao met this attack with a scornful chuckle, striking straight at the opponent’s vital weakness. “All that nonsense you just spouted—isn’t it just to get your own daughter to muscle her way in? Well, the son-in-law you’ve taken a fancy to is right here. I’ll ask him on your behalf:”
“Are you willing to marry her gorgeous, thrifty, and industrious daughter?”
Shen Xingshu looked at the playful amusement in her eyes, then glanced at his deeply troubled parents. He stated clearly, “My inability to have children is my own issue and has nothing to do with Yaoyao. Furthermore, in my heart, she is my only wife, and I will not allow anyone to slander her. If Auntie speaks like this again, the two families need not have any more contact from now on.”
His tone was level, yet brooked no argument.
Auntie Wang was choked into silence, her face turning a mottled shade of blue and white before she turned on her heel and stomped off in humiliation.
Sure enough, when a husband stood up to protect his own, outsiders didn’t dare to bully her.
Back at her own home, Auntie Wang’s daughter, Hu Xiaoling, immediately began questioning her every which way. “Well? Did the Shen family decide to divorce that woman?”
Watching her excited daughter and recalling the young man’s resolute attitude, Auntie Wang could only let out a long sigh.
“Well? Speak! Are you trying to worry someone to death?” Hu Xiaoling urged, pushing her frantically.
Feeling utterly vexed, Auntie Wang snapped, “They have no such intention. You’d better put that thought out of your head while you still can.”
Unable to accept reality, Hu Xiaoling cried out, “How could this be? The matchmaker said he had an eye for me and liked me! It’s only been three years—does he not like me anymore?”
Watching her daughter’s wilted expression, Auntie Wang tried to comfort her. “You know what a matchmaker’s mouth is like—you can’t even count on one sentence out of ten being true. Don’t think too much about it. In a couple of days, Mom will find you another good match. It’s not like the Shen family is the only place with fine young men.”
Hu Xiaoling threw a tantrum. “No! I only like him. The moment I saw him at the village entrance the other day, I set my heart on him. He must have never really laid eyes on me before; otherwise, she’d definitely fancy me.”
Stroking her braided pigtails, she declared with absolute confidence.
Auntie Wang looked at her daughter. Xiaoling was delicate and gentle, the kind of girl many young men in the village favored. But compared to that woman’s face, her daughter looked far too ordinary. When she first dared to approach the Shen family, it was because she had heard rumors that Shen Xingshu loathed his wife. But seeing things now, rumors simply couldn’t be trusted.
She sighed, “If I’d known it would turn out like this, I shouldn’t have hesitated back then.”
When the matchmaker first brought up the match, they should have arranged a meeting; perhaps things would have worked out.
Over in the Shen family courtyard, Zhao Yaoyao was busy preparing dinner. She had bought some tomatoes in town on the way back, intending to make tomato and egg soup, and pulled down a string of dried chili peppers hanging on the wall to whip up some spicy stir-fried pork.
“I’ll do it.” Shen Xingshu took the chilies from her hands, gave them a quick rinse, and sliced them neatly into small sections. Then, taking up the washed pork belly, he sliced it into even, thin strips, happily acting as her assistant.
Shen Xingyu watched from the side, pouting as she complained, “Brother, you’re biased! When I cook, you never offer to come help.”
Ignoring her entirely, Shen Xingshu simply gazed at Zhao Yaoyao’s flawless, fair hands, his eyes full of tenderness.
Following his gaze down to her own hands, Zhao Yaoyao noted how lovely they were—white and tender.
She owed this to the original owner’s frail and sickly constitution. Growing up unloved in her own family, whenever Zhang Ying ordered her to do chores, she would either faint or cough up blood. The heaviest task she ever managed was helping the family cook meals; field labor was entirely out of the question.
“Dinner’s ready!”
Carrying out a plate of freshly stir-fried meat, Zhao Yaoyao called everyone to the table.
As usual, Li Mei carried a portion of food into the inner room to share with Shen Hai. Reluctant to waste the chicken soup from yesterday, she had warmed it up, poured it over rice, and added some greens before heading inside. That left only the three of them at the main dining table.
“I could smell the aroma of meat coming from your yard from far away. Ever since Xingshu came back, you folks have been eating really well!”
Standing right by the courtyard wall was their neighbor, Auntie Fatty, holding a bowl filled brim-full with thick noodle soup. Chatting away, she strolled right on in without standing on ceremony, immediately reaching out with her chopsticks to pluck a piece of meat.
“Oh my, this is delicious! You’ve got a great touch in the kitchen, Xingshu. Yaoyao is truly blessed to have married you.”
While Auntie Fatty ran her mouth, her hands didn’t idle either. Within three quick dips of her chopsticks, she had snagged half the meat on the plate and was about to grab more when Zhao Yaoyao swept the whole plate away.
In the original owner’s memories, this Auntie Fatty was no good egg. She had frequently added fuel to the fire behind Li Mei’s back and loved taking advantage of others. Whenever their family cooked meat, Auntie Fatty was guaranteed to show up.
She hadn’t come yesterday because she was visiting her daughter who was going through postpartum confinement, but today, seeing them fry meat, she had been lurking right by the entrance—pouncing the moment dinner was served.
In the past, the Shen family members had thin skins, and the original owner was just a paper tiger, so no one ever confronted her. Instead, it had only made the neighbor bolder by the day.