Full and satisfied, Yu Zhuo set his bowl and chopsticks down on the table and waited calmly for his mother to come in and lecture him.
Based on past experience, his mother’s threats were all bark and no bite, whatever she said, it would go in one ear and out the other, that’s all.
Time ticked by second by second, and no one came through the door. Yu Zhuo’s heart gave a jolt, and an inexplicable unease grew inside him.
A few seconds later.
He couldn’t sit still anymore, and stepped out of his room, only to find every room in the house dark, clearly the family had already gone to sleep.
“What? What’s going on?”
The darkness of the night made Yu Zhuo’s unease grow larger and larger, and it stirred up a fear in him he’d never felt before.
Had he spoken too harshly, or was his mother genuinely hurt this time, or… had she given up on him for good?
“If she’s not coming, fine, saves me from having to listen to her nagging.” Yu Zhuo shook his head, trying to shake off the thought.
But that whole night, Yu Zhuo tossed and turned, his heart in knots, feeling worse than if his mother had given him a solid beating.
Only as the sky began to lighten did he finally fall asleep.
The rooster’s crow broke the quiet of the morning, smoke curled up from the Yu family’s little courtyard, and the day’s busy work began.
“Time to eat.”
Zhang Qiaofeng called out, gathering everyone for breakfast.
“Mother, why did you make so much this early in the morning?” Yu Heng walked in yawning. He’d been scolded by his father until the third watch of the night before, and had only just managed to fall asleep when the baby’s crying woke him again, leaving him so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open. “Shuiqin’s only just started her confinement, there’ll be plenty of places to spend money later. We should be frugal.”
Thump.
Yu Qingshan, carrying in the millet porridge, set the bowl down hard on the table. “What did I tell you last night?”
“Huh?”
Yu Heng had thought that after being harshly scolded last night, the matter had been settled, why was his father still wearing such a stern face? “I…”
“Theft is a serious crime. If you dare do it again, I will send you to the authorities without hesitation.” Yu Qingshan took one look at his eldest son’s careless manner and knew he hadn’t taken last night’s words to heart at all. “From today on, any matter involving money, you’re to report to us first, and only after we’ve agreed can you spend or trade it.”
Yu Fuling walked in just in time to hear her father’s words, and her eldest brother’s shocked expression.
“Father, I’m already married, if I don’t have any silver on me at all, how will that work?”
“Since you’ve chosen to live in this house, you follow all the rules the way I ask, and if you can’t manage that, you’re free to take Shuiqin and the baby and go be a live-in son-in-law at your father-in-law’s house, I’m certainly not short of sons!”
“I’d love to start my own household, but Father, you’d have to give me the capital for it too.” Yu Heng’s whole face showed his displeasure, and he glanced at Yu Fuling, who had just sat down. “Weren’t you the one who came from the Marquis’ estate? And you couldn’t even tell a real pearl from a fake one?”
Yu Fuling knew this fire would land on her sooner or later. She looked up, gazing calmly at her eldest brother. “I’m actually glad the pearl was fake, if it had been real, the money you pawned it for, Big Brother, I doubt a single coin of it would have gone to Father and Mother.”
“You—!” Yu Heng choked with anger, but with Father present, he didn’t dare make a scene.
“After breakfast, come with me to the market, we’re buying what’s needed for the third-day bathing ceremony.”
“Sure, then let me eat quickly.” As Yu Heng sat down, he still couldn’t resist shooting Yu Fuling a smug glance, as if to say: no matter how much Father scolds me, it won’t change the fact that I’m the eldest son, the most important one in Father and Mother’s hearts!
Yu Fuling caught a hint of provocation in her eldest brother’s eyes, and it made her think of her second brother, who had come home last night, he must have gone through moments like this plenty of times too, hadn’t he?
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
She had just picked up her bowl when she saw her second brother, Yu Zhuo, saunter in.
“Well, look at that, did the sun rise in the west today?” Yu Heng, surprised to see his second brother appear at the breakfast table, said this out loud while deliberately craning his neck to look outside as if checking.
“I just heard Father mention a stolen pearl at the door?” Yu Zhuo said loudly, looking around the table, then deliberately walked up to his eldest brother and said in a mocking tone, “Big Brother, that habit of yours, stealing things, you still haven’t kicked it, have you?”
He put heavy emphasis on the words “stealing things.”
It instantly sparked Yu Heng’s anger. “Which eye of yours saw me stealing anything, explain yourself clearly!”
“Wasn’t it Big Brother who stole the pearl?” Yu Zhuo spread his hands, looking at his eldest brother with feigned innocence.
Having finally found a blemish on his eldest brother, he was determined to embellish it to the fullest. “I remember once, when you made a mistake and Father beat you and made you kneel in punishment, you were so angry you said you’d steal Father’s underwear and rub chili peppers on it, to make him suffer…”
Yu Heng flung his chopsticks straight at his second brother, then looked at his father in a panic. “Father, don’t believe him! He’s talking nonsense.”
“Enough!”
Yu Qingshan roared. “If you can’t eat in peace and quiet, then get out of here right now!”
In an instant, both of them fell silent.
Thanks to their daughter having talked things through with her last night, Zhang Qiaofeng hadn’t said a word through the whole exchange, quietly eating her meal.
“Father…”
Yu Fuling looked up and glanced at her second brother, who had spoken up. See, she thought, ignore him, and he can’t help himself but speak up.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
“I’ve been going around town these past few days, talking with people, and I’ve learned quite a lot, and I’ve found a small business opportunity.” Yu Zhuo had really needed to work up his courage to say this, what mattered most was that bringing it up now would draw his parents’ attention.
“What kind of small business?” Yu Qingshan asked without even looking up.
“Pickled vegetables!” Yu Zhuo leaned toward his father, his tone unable to contain his excitement. “I noticed all kinds of pickled vegetables and salted turnip lumps sell really well at the market. These pickles seem like nothing much, but you can’t do without them for a meal or for stir-frying, and every household makes their pickles with a different flavor. Mother’s pickles taste especially good, if we could turn this into a small business, not only would I have a proper trade, every month I could also…”
“You think doing business is as simple as eating and drinking? You think you’ll get it just by looking at it once?” It wasn’t their parents who cut Yu Zhuo off, but his eldest brother, Yu Heng.
“I’m talking to Father and Mother, why are you butting in?!” Yu Zhuo shot up from his seat. “These past few days I’ve been out there humbly learning from others, what were you doing? You were stealing things!”
“Yu Zhuo, don’t push it too far!”
The words “stealing things” were like a needle, every time Yu Zhuo said them, they stabbed straight into Yu Heng’s heart. “Don’t you know your own character? Talking about doing business, it’d be lucky if you didn’t ruin the family instead.”
“I’m just discussing it with Father and Mother right now, I haven’t even said I need them to pay for anything, what business is it of yours?” Yu Zhuo’s face had turned livid. It was always like this, every time he mustered the courage to bring up his ideas to their parents, before they’d even said anything, his eldest brother would always be the first to jump out and object. “If you’re so capable, go do it yourself, I’m not stopping you!”
“Your eldest sister-in-law just gave birth, and autumn harvest is right around the corner. If you want to run a pickled vegetable business, who’s going to do the housework, the fieldwork, and look after Eldest Sister-in-law and the baby?” Yu Heng didn’t notice his parents’ faces had already changed color as he spoke, he was too caught up in his own words.