"Well, well—who do we have here?"
"Isn't this the young lady of our family who forgot her mother's home after getting married?"
Li Shi, Xia Tian's eldest aunt, blocked the main gate with a sneer, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
"Well, well—isn't this my sly, lazy, and sharp-tongued eldest aunt?"
Xia Tian mimicked Li Shi's tone, replying with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Hahaha…"
The surrounding crowd burst into laughter!
"You wretched girl, are you asking for a beating?"
Seeing that Xia Tian dared to talk back, Li Shi swung her arm and charged toward her in a fit of rage.
Xia Tian had no intention of standing there to take a beating. With a sidestep, Li Shi missed her target and stumbled forward, nearly falling before staggering several steps to regain her balance.
Xia Tian shrugged at the crowd. "Everyone, please bear witness—I didn't lay a hand on her!"
Today was her own elder brother's wedding day, and the courtyard was filled with helpers and curious neighbors. Xia Tian had no intention of getting entangled with Li Shi and becoming a laughingstock.
With that, she ignored Li Shi and walked straight through the gate.
Li Shi was left fuming, pointing a trembling finger at Xia Tian, unable to utter a word for a long time.
That wretched girl hadn't changed a bit—still the same foul-tempered brat.
Once inside, Xia Tian greeted familiar neighbors with smiles along the way.
The neighbors were surprised to see Si Ya returning, and she even seemed to be doing well!
They had thought that after the ugly scene during her wedding, Si Ya would never have anything to do with the Xia Family again!
But then again, Si Ya's conflict was with the Xia Family, not with Xia Yang. After all, Xia Yang was her own elder brother—blood runs thicker than water!
Xia Tian paid no mind to how the neighbors viewed her.
After asking someone for Xia Yue's whereabouts, she headed straight to the kitchen to find her.
Unexpectedly, her mother, Chen Shi, was also there.
Several aunties were sitting in the kitchen, helping with vegetable preparation. When they saw Xia Tian, they quickly nudged Chen Shi's arm. "Your Si Ya is here."
Chen Shi looked up abruptly and saw Xia Tian standing at the kitchen door, watching her.
She hurriedly stood up, nervously wiping her hands on her apron, and forced a smile as she cautiously asked, "Si Ya, you've returned?"
Seeing Chen Shi's flustered and somewhat ingratiating demeanor, Xia Tian felt the resentment she held toward the original host's parents suddenly vanish at that moment.
Chen Shi was the original host's mother. Though somewhat timid, she still loved her daughter.
Xia Tian had no right to make decisions for the original host, but she believed the original host wouldn't want to see her estranged from her parents.
Watching Chen Shi gaze at her anxiously, like a child who had done something wrong, Xia Tian sighed inwardly. "Mother, I've returned."
"Yes, yes!" Chen Shi responded repeatedly, discreetly turning to wipe her eyes with her apron.
Xia Tian greeted the aunties helping in the kitchen, then looked around but didn't see Xia Yue. "Mother, where is my sister?"
"Your sister is in the backyard, cleaning fish!"
"I'll go find my sister." With that, Xia Tian turned and headed to the backyard.
"Xia Yang's mother, since your Si Ya has returned, it seems she no longer resents you. You can finally rest easy." After Xia Tian left, the aunties in the kitchen quickly comforted Chen Shi.
These aunties were close to Chen Shi and understood her feelings well.
"Yes." Chen Shi replied happily. Si Ya had finally called her "Mother" again.
Ever since that day when she hit her head, Si Ya had never spoken to her mother again.
Chen Shi also knew that Si Ya must have resented her for not being able to protect her.
On the third day when brides traditionally return to their parents' home, she waited the entire day without seeing Si Ya return, and knew this girl probably no longer wanted anything to do with this family.
Last time Xia Yang visited Si Ya's in-laws' home and came back saying Si Ya was doing quite well—her husband might be in poor health but was reasonable and understanding—so she had felt slightly relieved.
Now that Si Ya could return, it showed she still cared about them, and she could finally set her mind at ease.
Xia Tian entered the backyard and saw Xia Yue squatting alone on the ground cleaning fish. Looking closer, they were all finger-length baby fish.
What family would use such tiny fish for wedding banquet dishes?
"Sis, what are you cleaning these for?"
Hearing the voice, Xia Yue looked up. "Si Ya? You're back?"
She looked at Xia Tian with pleasant surprise. "Why did you come to the backyard? I'll finish cleaning these soon."
"I heard you were here, so I came over. Sis, these aren't going to be served later, are they?" Xia Tian squatted down beside Xia Yue.
Xia Yue sighed. "Grandma said the family has no silver left, so we shouldn't buy fish. We should save wherever possible, so she told brother to catch these from the river."
Xia Tian had expected as much. When it came to their second branch of the family, they were always stingy—simply bullying them because they were honest.
Ah, if the second branch wanted to live well, they still needed to find a way to separate from the main family.
But Grandma Xia wasn't foolish. How could she easily let go of such obedient main labor force? The road to family separation would be long indeed!
Xia Tian stopped dwelling on it. Their second branch's status in the Xia Family had never been high.
Just look at today—Xia Yang was getting married, yet his own mother was helping in the kitchen. That said it all.
Whose son gets married with his own mother personally cooking the meals? They didn't see anyone from the first or third branches coming to help.
Honest people always get bullied the most.
Xia Tian put down her back basket and helped Xia Yue with the cleaning.
Xia Yang and others had gone to fetch the bride. Xia Tian asked Xia Yue, "Where are Xia Shi and Xia Chen?"
"Xia Shi went with eldest brother to fetch the bride. Wu Ya was probably sent by Grandma to gather pigweed."
Wu Ya was Xia Chen.
Really, that Grandma Xia!
After cleaning the fish, Xia Tian and Xia Yue carried the basin together to the kitchen. The head chef had already arrived and was directing people in preparing dishes.
For rural banquet preparations, they usually invited the village's best cook to take charge—the taste wouldn't be bad, and the price was reasonable.
The head chef the Xia Family invited today was the wife of Xia Tianrui, the best cook in Xia Family Village, commonly called Aunt Rui.
Aunt Rui looked at the basin of baby fish Xia Yue brought over and asked doubtfully, "Xia Yang's mother, is this today's fish?"
Chen Shi smiled apologetically. "Aunt Rui, my mother-in-law said the family has no money left, so we can only make do with these."
"Ah, that old lady really…" Aunt Rui shook her head and said nothing more, though inwardly she thought even less of Grandma Xia.
Just last month she sold her granddaughter for thirty taels of silver, and today for her grandson's wedding she wouldn't even serve a whole fish—so unrefined.
The second son of the Xia Family was also spineless. Even in this situation he still obeyed everything Grandma Xia said.
When a man can't stand firm, his wife and children get bullied along with him.
As an outsider, Aunt Rui couldn't meddle in other families' affairs, so she turned and entered the kitchen.
Xia Tian heard the approaching suona sounds and knew the wedding procession would return soon.
Though rural families didn't have eight-carrier sedan chairs, the suona music for fetching the bride was absolutely essential during weddings.
Of course, Xia Tian's marriage was an exception, since she wasn't properly married off anyway—it just sounded better when described that way.
Soon enough, the bride and her party arrived at the entrance.
Amidst the cheerful clamor of children and neighbors, Xia Yang led the bride through the wedding rituals. After the bride entered the prepared bridal chamber, Xia Tian pulled Xia Yue along to see their new sister-in-law.