“If getting the whole family wrapped around my finger is what it takes to make our family’s life better and better, then I’ll accept the label Big Brother’s pinning on me.” Having survived seventeen years at the Marquis’ estate, setting aside all those tedious rules and stale lectures, Yu Fuling wouldn’t deny that she’d learned a thing or two about handling people.
“That mouth of yours really knows how to talk, no wonder you’ve got Father and Mother grinning ear to ear.”
“If Big Brother wants to learn, I’d be happy to teach you everything I know, at the very least, once you’ve learned it, you could put Eldest Sister-in-law in such a good mood. Has Big Brother ever heard a certain saying?” Yu Fuling kept smiling the whole time, not a trace of anger on her face, her tone unhurried.
“What saying?” Yu Heng genuinely wanted to hear what kind of clever words could come out of Yu Fuling’s mouth.
“Cherish your wife, and fortune flows your way. Wrong your wife, and no riches will come!”
“Yu Fuling, you’re talking nonsense, when have I ever wronged Shuiqin!” Yu Heng hadn’t understood a word of what Yu Fuling had actually said, only felt she was taking veiled shots at him.
“Enough!”
Ever since his eldest son had started picking at him over the lock not being gold, the gloom hadn’t once lifted from Yu Qingshan’s face. “Buying Jiaojiao a silver lock was your mother’s and my way, as her grandparents, of showing our care for the younger generation. If you insist on tying that care to money, then even if we gave you a mountain of gold and silver, you’d still never be satisfied. I told you that morning already, from now on, if you want to spend money, you must report to us first. If you can’t accept that, then take Shuiqin and the baby and move out!”
“Father, are you trying to drive us out?”
Slow as Yu Heng could be, he understood well enough the hardships of running a household on his own, nothing like at home, where he never had to worry about anything.
“Fledglings that grow up still have to leave the nest and fly on their own, people are the same, sooner or later you have to learn to live independently. If you want everything done exactly your way, there’s only one path, leaving home. But if you want to stay in this family, then follow this family’s rules!”
With that, Yu Qingshan didn’t wait for his eldest son’s response and turned toward the kitchen.
“Father!”
Yu Heng stamped his foot in anger. “I was just complaining a little, I didn’t say it had to be a gold lock.”
“Big Brother, the way you talk, it’s as if you’ve never once made a demand of Father and Mother your whole life, from the hoe for fieldwork, small as it is, to the bedding and betrothal gifts for your wedding, big as that was, which of those wasn’t the very best that Father and Mother could scrimp and save to provide you? Not only are you not grateful, you complain that what they gave wasn’t good enough. How is this complaining? It’s practically sucking Father and Mother’s blood and gnawing at their bones.”
Nothing made Yu Zhuo more delighted than watching his eldest brother get put in his place.
“You shut your mouth!”
Yu Heng couldn’t vent his anger at their father, but he could vent it on his younger siblings. He pointed at the three of them, lined up in the doorway. “None of you three are any good!”
“We’re people, of course we’re not ‘good’ or ‘no good,’ unlike you, cornered like a dog and lashing out!”
“Who are you calling a dog!” Yu Heng’s neck flushed with anger.
“Whoever’s barking here, that’s who’s the dog!”
“Yu Zhuo, come help!”
Yu Qingshan’s voice called from the kitchen.
“Coming.”
Yu Zhuo, who usually ignored his parents’ needs, obediently walked toward the kitchen this time, and as he passed his eldest brother, he didn’t forget to shoot him a fierce glare.
Yu Heng ground his teeth in frustration, but what could he do?
His wife was still in her confinement month, his daughter needed feeding, if he really broke things off with his parents, would he have to take his wife and daughter back to his father-in-law’s house to live under someone else’s roof?
“Fourth Sister, Big Brother’s really scary.”
Only once their eldest brother had stormed off to his room in a fury did Yu Lehuan dare speak. “Big Brother didn’t used to be like this.”
“That’s because before, Big Brother only had himself to think about, even after marrying, it was just the two of them living their lives. But now that Jiaojiao’s been born, there’ll be so many more places needing money from now on.” Yu Fuling could see the anxiety in her eldest brother’s heart, but this was a trial he had to go through, what did it have to do with her?
Because Yu Heng didn’t show up at the dinner table, the mood over dinner was quite pleasant.
Yu Zhuo, his mind on tonight’s plan, wolfed down his food and hurried back to his room.
Zhang Qiaofeng, assuming her second son was angry at her eldest son, looked at her husband several times, wanting to say something but holding back.
“Don’t worry, Yu Zhuo isn’t as fragile as Yu Heng. As long as he can get his pickled vegetable business going, there won’t be any knot left in his heart.” Back when the children had been born one after another, Yu Qingshan had been so busy scrambling for the family’s three daily meals that he’d naturally neglected teaching his children properly, but what was done was done, and there was little he could do about it now.
“Mother, you don’t need to worry.”
Having seen everything, Yu Fuling put a piece of braised pork in her mother’s bowl. “At the very least, since I’ve come back, our table has both meat and vegetables now. Once Second Brother’s pickled vegetable business gets going in a while, he won’t have the time or energy to bicker with Big Brother anymore. I’ll say something you might not like to hear, what Big Brother has always wanted is the whole family’s attention. If we all have our own things to do, and no one’s paying attention to him anymore, will he still be able to carry on like this?”
“Fuling, your little head really does work fast. These past two days I’ve been so busy preparing for the third-day ceremony, every time I brought food into Yu Heng’s room, I’d just set it down in a hurry and leave. Yesterday morning when I went in, Yu Heng had such a sour face on, and I was wondering, I’m feeding him and his wife and child so well, what’s there to be unhappy about? Now that you’ve said this, I understand.” Zhang Qiaofeng nudged her husband’s arm resting on the table beside her. “Qingshan, we really do need to reflect on this, we’ve put too much focus on Yu Heng in the past.”
“I’m listening.”
Yu Qingshan gave a small acknowledgment, then looked up at his daughter. “Fuling, Father knows you’ve only just come back, and don’t know the family’s situation, so you’ve always been careful with your words and actions. But by now you understand what state this family’s in, so your mother and I want to give you a clear answer on something.”
“What does Father want to say?”
Yu Fuling couldn’t help gripping her chopsticks tightly, her heart pounding, could Father be about to scold her?
“From now on, say whatever you want to say. If Yu Heng and the others give you grief, feel free to give it right back to them. If they’re not satisfied with that, tell them to come find me. Father’s not saying this to use you as a shield, it’s that your mother and I have to tend to the crops in the fields, and manage every big and small matter of the household, and it’s simply hard to attend to everything at once, so we can only trouble you with it.”
If it had been Yu Heng hearing these words now, his instinctive reaction would have been that Father wanted him to shoulder things himself, but Yu Fuling, having grown up at the Marquis’ estate, understood clearly in her heart, this was her father’s trust in her, and more than that, a sign that he was handing over half of his authority as head of the household to her.
It also confirmed, from another angle, that her parents had been watching everything she’d done these past few days, and firmly believed her approach could bring this family a fresh new face.
“Father, I…”
At the Marquis’ estate, even when forced to kneel in punishment, even when scolded until she was in tears, Yu Fuling had never once let her eyes redden, never once shed a tear.
But right now, her eyes were brimming with tears.
“Father’s not good with words, I can’t say anything pretty, but just go ahead and do it, Father and Mother both support you.” As a father, the love Yu Qingshan gave his children was reserved, but he was never stingy with it, and he would never turn a blind eye to it either. “All right, finish eating quickly, and go get busy with your own affairs.”