10 – No Surplus Grain at Home
Xu Cui spoke with a sarcastic tone: “Oh, is Mother feeling heartbroken after just one bite of your grain? Everyone knows your Bai family is raising a Little Demon Girl. To feed that Little Demon Girl milk, you even feed grain to the goat! In this year of famine, is there any more wasteful behavior than this?”
The term “Little Demon Girl” had been secretly spread by Zhang Cuihua. Afraid that Bai Hu would seek revenge on her family, she didn’t dare say it openly, but she certainly didn’t hold back in private.
Li Zhenzhu’s explosive temper couldn’t tolerate such words, and she immediately flew into a rage. Her sister-in-law was the family’s treasure, and she wouldn’t allow anyone to speak ill of her!
“You’re talking nonsense! If you keep spouting such rubbish, I’ll beat you to death!” Li Zhenzhu raised her fist as she spoke.
Seeing how fiercely Li Zhenzhu was protecting the Little Demon Girl, Xu Cui immediately pulled her to sit beside her, speaking in a falsely affectionate tone: “Why so serious? I was just joking with you! But speaking of which, in this famine year it’s hard enough to feed our own children. Why is your mother-in-law so willing to raise a foundling? It’s not like your family has so much grain you don’t know where to put it?”
Xu Cui was deliberately trying to trick her into revealing information, and how could Li Zhenzhu not see through it?
Her mother-in-law had repeatedly warned them never to reveal to outsiders that the family had grain reserves, or it would bring disaster.
“Nonsense, our family has no surplus grain at all.”
Xu Cui winked and offered a terrible suggestion: “Since your family has no grain, why don’t you go back and tell your mother-in-law to send away that little demon… that little girl, and slaughter the goat for meat. In this famine year, having two fewer mouths to feed would save quite a bit of food.”
Li Zhenzhu’s anger flared up again. “Xu Cui, say one more word and I’ll flatten your mouth!”
Xu Cui was quite malicious, but when it came to fighting, she was absolutely no match for Li Zhenzhu.
She immediately put on an ingratiating smile: “I’m only thinking of our mother. She hasn’t smelled meat for several months now. If this continues, she’ll either starve to death or die of craving. For our mother’s sake, why don’t you persuade your mother-in-law to slaughter the goat?”
“Thump!” Li Zhenzhu finally lost all patience and punched Xu Cui in the back!
Xu Cui immediately saw stars, her head nearly plunging into the stove fire.
Before she could recover, Li Zhenzhu spoke angrily: “Isn’t our family’s poverty all your doing? You keep taking everything to your parents’ home, you’ve almost emptied our house! I’m warning you, the little grain I brought today is for Mother to eat. If you dare take any to your parents again, watch out for my fists!”
After saying this, Li Zhenzhu stormed off to check on her mother.
Watching her retreating back, Xu Cui was so angry she snapped the tree branch in her hand.
Her mother was hugging a piece of dry provisions, nibbling on it with her chapped lips moving feebly, eating with great difficulty.
“Mother, if my sister-in-law steals anything else for her parents’ home, tell me. I’ll beat her until she’s utterly defeated!”
“Don’t dare, she’s my only daughter-in-law. I’m counting on her to care for me in my old age and handle my funeral… cough cough cough…” Zhenzhu’s mother choked and coughed several times.
“She’s practically bullying you to death, and you still take her side!”
“Just endure it. It wasn’t easy for your brother to get married. The Li family lineage depends on her… cough cough cough… Listen to your mother, you’re a married daughter now, stay out of family affairs…”
“Ugh…” Li Zhenzhu was so angry her veins bulged.
She usually didn’t like returning to her parents’ home precisely because her mother favored sons over daughters so heavily. Her mother always told her to help her brother and sister-in-law, never considering how she herself was managing.
Perhaps in her mother’s heart, as long as her son was doing well, it didn’t matter how her daughter was faring.She truly wished she could steel her heart and ignore this mother of hers, but after all, she was her own birth mother. Every time it came down to it, she couldn’t bring herself to be ruthless.
…
Cui Shi, as a mother-in-law, treated everyone fairly. After Li Zhenzhu left, she called Tian E and Zhao Ju in and gave each of them a small bag of grain. “This bit of grain is to help subsidize your natal families.”
The eldest daughter-in-law hurriedly declined, “Mother, our family has many mouths to feed. We don’t even have enough for ourselves—I can’t send grain back to my natal family!”
She was sincere at heart. Although her own family was poor too, they weren’t at risk of starving, so she absolutely refused to use her husband’s family’s grain to support them.
The second daughter-in-law wanted to accept it in her heart, but since her elder sister-in-law had refused, she felt too embarrassed to take it. “Elder sister-in-law is right. I won’t send any back to my natal family either.”
“None of this false politeness now,” Cui Shi said. “Our family has plenty of laborers. Giving away this bit of grain won’t starve us. Besides, our Little Tiger Girl is a Little Lucky Star—she’ll surely bless us through these hard times.”
At this, Cui Shi’s tone softened. She gently pinched the Little Dumpling’s tender cheek: “Isn’t that right, Little Tiger Girl?”
The nearly one-year-old Little Dumpling could already walk unsteadily and occasionally blurted out a few words.
“Yesss… little star…” the little one lisped in a milky voice, grinning with her tiny mouth.
The two sisters-in-law were instantly amused by the Little Dumpling’s adorable antics. With such a precious little treasure at home, even the hardest days felt sweet.
Unable to refuse any further, Tian E and Zhao Ju shouldered the grain and each returned to their natal families while there were few people on the road.
With no medicinal herbs to be dug up in the mountains, after breakfast, Bai Renyi led his three sons to do odd jobs at Li Caizhu’s house in town.
Cui Shi stayed home weaving cloth and cooking, while Bai Dakeng took his younger brothers and little aunt to herd the sheep.
Ever since she learned to walk, the Little Dumpling refused to stay home, always wanting to run around the world with her nephews. Afraid her little daughter would go hungry, Cui Shi tucked a baked sweet potato into Dakeng’s pocket.
The Little Dumpling was placed on a sheep’s back by her nephews. Dakeng led the way in front, followed by the Little Dumpling riding the sheep, flanked by four nephews acting as her guards. Thus, the little one set out in grand style.
The beautiful little child riding a snow-white, plump sheep attracted countless envious glances along the way.
Several women digging for wild vegetables remarked among themselves, “Oh, that must be the Bai family’s little daughter. She’s growing more beautiful by the day.”
“I heard the Bai family dotes on this little girl immensely.”
“If I had such a pretty little daughter, I’d spoil her too.”
The women were utterly enamored. If they weren’t busy digging for vegetables, they would have loved to scoop up the Little Dumpling and cover her with kisses.
Zhang Cuihua was also digging for wild vegetables. Hearing others praise Little Tiger Girl made her grind her teeth in irritation.
Zhang Cuihua had two daughters—the elder was seven, the younger four.
The eldest daughter, Liu Yun, wasn’t her biological child but had been found by Liu Tiezhu. After Zhang Cuihua and Liu Tiezhu married, they had no children for a long time. Once, when Liu Tiezhu went to the mountains to gather firewood, he found a bundle on the road. Thinking he’d discovered treasure, he brought it home only to find it was a little girl.
Since they had no children, Zhang Cuihua decided to raise her. Three years after finding Liu Yun, she gave birth to her second daughter, Liu Yu.
Liu Yun was quite pretty too. Before Little Tiger Girl arrived, Liu Yun had been the most beautiful child in all the surrounding villages. But once Little Tiger Girl appeared, she was instantly left far behind.Zhang Cuihua usually treated Liu Yun poorly, using her like a servant girl, but now, upon hearing others praise the Bai family’s young daughter for her beauty, she felt deeply resentful.