So breakfast was the same as that morning chili peppers with plain rice porridge.
When would this ever end? Su Mo barely forced down a few mouthfuls of porridge with some pickled vegetables.
Even a big steamed bun to chew on would have been nice.
The Lin family had always valued ancestral traditions. Early in the morning, Su Mo followed behind Lin Yuyi, greeting countless elders of the Lin clan.
The funniest thing was Lin Yuyi’s younger sister since the wedding until now, she hadn’t shown up even once.
The big red envelope Su Mo had prepared still hadn’t been given out.
After a dizzyingly busy morning, by noon Su Mo finally had a chance to catch her breath, her stomach already empty with hunger.
Lin Yuyi was called away by cousins and uncles, and Su Mo suddenly felt isolated and helpless standing there alone.
At some point Zhang Lanhua came over, took Su Mo’s hand, and smiled with narrowed eyes.
“Come, Momo. Your aunts and elder aunties want to talk to you.”
To be honest, after the whole morning Su Mo still hadn’t recognized everyone and didn’t even know what to call whom.
She had never thought herself bad with faces yet she simply couldn’t sort them out.
The elders sitting before her pushed fruit and melon seeds toward her.
Among them, Su Mo saw the strawberries from last night, left overnight and looking somewhat less fresh.
She didn’t know who started it, but the elders began lecturing her one after another.
The reason because she had thrown away a strawberry after taking one bite the previous night.
“Momo, we know your parents spoiled you since childhood, but now that you’ve married in…”
“You must think for the Lin family. If you won’t eat a strawberry just because it’s sour, then what if Lanhua cooks for you in the future will you take one bite and stop? What kind of behavior is that?”
“I also heard you were unhappy about drinking porridge this morning. Lanhua got up early to cook for you two it’s not easy. You shouldn’t be picky.”
“…”
Su Mo didn’t even know how she managed to sit there obediently, saying nothing while listening to all the scolding.
When Lin Yuyi finally turned back, he saw her tearful face, full of grievance.
“Mom, what did you all say to Momo?”
Once again Su Mo felt that after getting married, she was now someone others could control.
Luckily luckily she still had Lin Yuyi.
In a small, aggrieved voice she complained,
“Yuyi… in your family, was there once a custom that women weren’t allowed to sit at the table to eat?”
Lin Yuyi shielded her, rubbing his brow helplessly as he looked at Zhang Lanhua.
“Mom, are you planning not to let Momo sit at the table today?”
Zhang Lanhua glanced at Su Mo hiding in Lin Yuyi’s arms, her tone somewhat angry.
“When I married your father, didn’t I go through the same thing the first time? I’m just following the Lin family’s rules. I raised you all these years was it so you could talk back to elders in front of them?”
Su Mo’s head throbbed. She could only piece together the meaning from a few words she understood.
She also didn’t want Lin Yuyi arguing with his mother in such a setting.
She grabbed his arm.
“Alright, alright, Yuyi. Mom is just following the rules. I’ll be obedient.”
“Anyway, we won’t stay many days, right?”
When she said this, she was truly on the verge of tears.
She had once seen a sentence online and now fully understood it:
The difference between a mother and a mother-in-law.
A mother, having suffered herself, doesn’t want her daughter to suffer the same.
A mother-in-law, having suffered herself, makes you suffer it all again.
At noon, lunch was served.
Although they didn’t truly forbid her from sitting at the table, they placed her among the younger generation a group of children.
Watching the children dig through and stir the dishes, Su Mo saw that aside from soup, everything else was spicy.
If she stayed here another week, she might starve to death.
Let this day pass quickly.
After the meal, seeing Su Mo’s poor expression, Lin Yuyi wanted to take her back to rest, but several uncles stopped them and called the two aside.
“Let’s discuss the banquet.”
“According to village custom, we’ll hold a baba banquet in the courtyard. What do you think? The food will be good, and it saves money.”
One uncle looked at the quiet Su Mo.
“I hear young girls nowadays like to buy wedding dresses. But that thing costs thousands and is worn only once.”
“After that it just sits there what’s the use?”
“We discussed it. We can’t just let you follow our old generation and wear a simple red dress, right?”
“Your mom happens to know someone who sells discounted wedding dresses. How about it want to go take a look?”
Su Mo understood.
This wasn’t merely about holding a banquet.
It was a direct rejection of her earlier proposal a travel wedding.
Instead, they wanted the wedding banquet held at home, entirely according to Zhang Lanhua’s wishes.
Then what was the fifty thousand she had put forward supposed to mean?
If she didn’t buy a wedding dress, would she have to rent one?
Right now, she felt like a duck being forced onto a perch.
Su Mo grew angry and looked at Lin Yuyi.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
If she had known, she would never have agreed.
Lin Yuyi looked troubled.
“Momo, don’t worry. I’ll definitely give you the honeymoon trip I promised.”
“I just didn’t expect my mom to care so much about this custom. She really wants your father to know I’ve married a wife married such a good girl as you.”
Su Mo felt sad, angry, and frustrated, yet facing the whole Lin family, she had no way out.
None at all.
Throughout the entire “discussion,” no one was really consulting her they were simply informing her.
There was no perfect wedding like she imagined, no romantic journey she dreamed of only a pile of realities she couldn’t accept.
Especially when Zhang Lanhua forced her to try on the wedding dress.
She refused.
So Zhang Lanhua had the dress delivered instead.
Before it even reached Su Mo’s hands, a cheap, pungent factory smell rushed at her.
Without touching it, she could already tell how stiff the tulle skirt was.
Zhang Lanhua held the dress with great delight.
“Ah, Momo, I’ve never seen such a beautiful wedding dress. Back when I married Yuyi’s father your father there was no wedding dress. I just wore a red sweater and that was it.”
“Now you’re blessed.
Yuyi didn’t agree to rent you one, so Mom felt sorry for you.”
“I spent three hundred yuan to buy this for you. Didn’t you want to buy one?”
“Anyway, buying it to hang there is better than spending thousands, right? Much more cost-effective.”