Old Man Lu emerged from the house at that moment. “You’re a man—what would it look like for you to enter the kitchen? Let your mother handle it. Your eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law are also home. It’s not your turn.”
Mother Lu quickly chimed in ingratiatingly, “Exactly, exactly! You rarely come back. Let me make you something delicious. We still have some lard meat left from the New Year. Lao Er, come out quickly and go to the commune to buy some good dishes. Your third brother is back.”
Lu Da Sao and Lu Er Sao had actually heard the commotion in the courtyard for a while.
They were used to Lu Jingzhou’s sudden, ghost-like appearances every time he returned. But this time, things were bound to be different. So they had stayed holed up in their rooms until they heard their mother-in-law call out, then reluctantly opened their doors and came out.
Lu Er Sao laughed cheerfully. “Third Brother, you’re back! Have you seen your daughter yet? The little one is growing beautifully.”
Lu Jingzhou gave a faint nod without saying a word.
Lu Da Sao ducked her head and slipped into the kitchen, waved her hands around twice, then came out to call for her mother-in-law. “Mother, what are we making for breakfast?”
Mother Lu had called for Lu Lao Er twice with no response. Just as she was about to lose her temper, she heard her eldest daughter-in-law calling her and had to head to the kitchen first.
Unexpectedly, Lu Jingzhou followed her in.
He glanced at the kitchen stove, then checked the food cabinet. Aside from a plate of pickled vegetables and a plate of soybean paste, there was nothing.
Mother Lu was fumbling for her keys. Afraid he would misunderstand, she hurriedly explained, “There are mice in the kitchen, so I lock all the food in the cabinet. Isn’t that how it’s always been in our house? Oldest daughter-in-law, go scoop some wheat flour. We’ll make hand-pulled noodles for breakfast and poach a couple more eggs.”
“Oh!” Lu Da Sao took the keys, her face betraying nothing, but her mind was already stirring.
Today would either be perfectly calm or turn everything upside down—there was definitely a good show to watch.
Lu Da Sao soon returned carrying a flour basin and two pitiful-looking eggs.
Lu Jingzhou’s expression grew increasingly grim. “Hasn’t the family bought any eggs? What about brown sugar? She’s in confinement—what have you prepared for her?”
Mother Lu’s heart sank. With a troubled expression, she explained, “You know how things are in this family. The work points we earn all year are just enough to exchange for grain, and even then, we don’t get full. We eat two meals a day, and one of them is watery porridge. When we manage to save a few eggs, we trade them for other things. But these past couple of days, I haven’t shortchanged her—I boiled eggs for her. Even Dabao didn’t get any.”
Lu Er Sao stood in the courtyard, bursting with things she wanted to say. After several warning glances from her mother-in-law, and for her daughter’s sake, she could only bite her tongue and endure.
Lu Jingzhou, his face dark, said nothing and walked out.
Father Lu was squatting by the main room’s entrance, smoking. Seeing his son’s unpleasant expression, he also grew displeased. “You hardly ever come back, and I haven’t even heard you call me ‘Father.’ Acting like you’ve got a grudge against someone. We don’t owe you anything! Your mother works hard to manage this household—don’t go too far!”
Mother Lu rushed out, putting on a pitiable act. “Third Son, I’ll slaughter our biggest hen later. I’ll kill the rest too, all to nourish your wife.”
Father Lu was straightforward and couldn’t beat around the bush. In a heavy tone, he said, “Slaughter what? What’s there to nourish? What nourishment did you get when you gave birth to our three sons? Weren’t you back in the fields and kitchen cooking by the next day? And you still earned your full work points. Girls these days are getting more and more useless. Third Son, you came back just in time—straighten out your wife. This is utterly disgraceful!”
“Old man, stop talking. People can’t all be the same. I admit I have a bitter fate, but my daughter-in-law still needs to be waited on!”
“Wait on her? She should be getting up to cook and wash clothes. Look how lazy she’s become. We married a daughter-in-law, not brought home a pig.”
Lu Jingzhou stood in the courtyard, an aura of murderous energy swirling around him as he slowly clenched his fists.
Jiang Yue calmly placed her sleeping daughter back in bed, smoothed her clothes, and combed through her hair with her fingers.
Originally, she hadn’t been in a hurry to bring things out into the open. It was just that Lu Jingzhou had appeared too suddenly, and she hadn’t been mentally prepared. Another point was that the impression Lu Jingzhou gave her wasn’t too bad, which kept her anger from boiling over.
But now, she didn’t want to wait any longer.
“Clap! Clap!” She clapped her hands and walked to the doorway.
Mother Lu was startled to see her come out, afraid she might say too much, and quickly tried to divert the conversation, “Jiang Yue! Are you hungry? Mother will cook right away. Third Son must have traveled all night. You should care for him too. Don’t cause trouble so early in the morning.”
This was her indirect way of warning Jiang Yue not to speak recklessly.
But Jiang Yue had dared to stand her ground even when she was alone. Now, with others present, how could she possibly be afraid?
“That sounds nice. I should care for him, but who will care for me? Lu Jingzhou, I forgot to ask earlier—did you come back because you received a telegram?”
Lu Jingzhou looked utterly confused and shook his head. He didn’t know anything about it. What telegram?
“Good! Very good! In that case, I’ll say it again. I want a divorce from you! This afternoon, we’ll go to the Zhen Gongshe to get the paperwork. Let’s get it done quickly to avoid complications.”
Shock was written all over Lu Jingzhou’s face. “Why?”He had just been immersed in the joy of becoming a father for the first time, and this felt like a sudden, heavy blow.”
“No, no, don’t…”
Mother Lu tried to intervene, but Jiang Yue completely ignored her.
“You have the nerve to ask me why? Do you know how much I suffered the day I gave birth?”
“I had a difficult labor and almost died. But your parents, as soon as they saw I’d given birth to a girl, wanted to strangle the child and throw her on the mountain to be eaten by wild dogs. I had to stop them with a kitchen knife, risking my life!”
“When they failed, they locked me up and starved me. No one cared whether my daughter and I lived or died. The Revenge of Confinement is an unforgivable grudge! There are no good people in your Lu family. I insist on divorcing you. I don’t want to stay in this house for even one more second!”
Lu Er Sao let out a long sigh of relief. Although she hadn’t been the one to speak, she felt immensely satisfied inside.
Lu Da Sao admired Jiang Yue’s courage. If it were her, she wouldn’t dare, even if beaten to death.
Mother Lu listened to Jiang Yue’s words, her legs giving way as she collapsed to the ground, weeping and wailing, “I’ve been wronged! If I had even an ounce of evil intention, may I be struck by lightning and die a miserable death! Third Son! Your father and I are already half-buried in the yellow earth. We have no other wish but to see all of you have sons before we die. Are we wrong? And look at her—she’s standing right here, perfectly fine, even more confident than I am. What suffering has she endured? The one who’s suffered and been wronged is clearly me!”
She carried on like she was mourning at a funeral, without pausing for breath, one sentence after another, flowing smoothly without interruption.
Lu Lao Er lay on the bed, one leg crossed over the other, playing dead. In this family, he knew Third Son’s temper best—after all, he had experienced it firsthand—so he would rather die than go out there now.
Villagers passing by heard the quarreling and gathered to watch. By the time Mother Lu began her wailing performance, a crowd had already formed outside the Lu family’s gate.
Jiang Yue also started crying as she spoke, perhaps because she had become a mother and was still in her confinement period, making her more emotionally vulnerable.
Her tears fell silently, a stark contrast to Mother Lu’s loud commotion.
Lu Er Sao comforted her, “You’re still in your zuò yuèzi period – you mustn’t cry!”
Old Man Lu’s face darkened, “If you want a divorce, then get divorced! We can’t keep a daughter-in-law like you in our family!”