Initially, I planned to do two releases a week but my translation pace became pretty fast. Might as well bump up the release rate too. What's more, I reached 5 patrons on Patreon! Another reason for the increase. So the release is every three days! Enjoy!
A shoutout to Anastasia! Thank you for your treat!
Chapter 9. Sound bitchy
She carried Zhou San Wa. Zhou Da Wa and Zhou Er Wa wanted to eat meat congee, so they do not want to leave. However, Lin Qing He had a task for both of them: "Go and call your grandma to come over."
"Call grandma to drink meat congee?" Asked Zhou Er Wa."Your grandma usually treats you well and it's only right to call her over to have a bowl of meat congee. Piety is the foundation of all virtues. You need to be filial to your elders, okay?" Lin Qing He explained.
"Mother, you are not always filial to grandma." Zhou Er Wa blinked.
Lin Qing He choked, pretended to be angry: "Are you going or not? If you don't go call your grandma over, all of you don't get to eat!"
"I'm going to call grandma now!" Zhou Da Wa said.
After he finished speaking, he opened the door and sprinted out. Lin Qing He looked at Zhou Er Wa. Zhou Er Wa responded: "Brother already went."
It meant that one was enough, no need for him.
Lin Qing He didn't bother about him then. Zhou Er Wa spoke: "Mother, I want to eat first, I'm hungry.""If you're not afraid of your elder brother coming back and beating you, then you can not wait for him. This time I will definitely not stop him when he beat you." Lin Qing He said with a smile.
Zhou Er Wa knew that his elder brother's fists were powerful, so he stopped talking and waited honestly.
Although they were separated, the house was not far away from the old Zhou's house. It takes less than two minutes to run on the foot for Da Wa.
But even at this distance, the original owner had never been there again. She never thought herself was as Old Zhou Family's daughter-in-law and everyone knew this.
Therefore, Mother Zhou was surprised when Zhou Da Wa came to find her and said his mother was looking for her.
Because she was clear about Fourth Daughter-in-law's character. She usually wanted to stay away from them. How could she take the initiative to invite her over?
Toward Lin Qing He sending Da Wa over to call her instead of Lin Qing He coming to find her, Mother Zhou did not care, because there were more worst things than this. For example, the ruckus to split the family at the time. That was really going all the way out. Not letting her split off, she'll go die together with Fourth Son's unborn child.
"Mother, go over and see. Maybe there's really a matter." Third Zhou Sister-in-law said as she held her stomach.
"Third Auntie, when will little brother come out?" Zhou Da Wa asked as soon as he saw her belly.
These words made Third Zhou Sister-in-law, who only had daughters so far, smiled with more sincerity and replied: "It will be two months. When the time comes, play with little brother?"
It was said that the child's eyes are wise. From the first time, Zhou Da Wa saw her belly, he always says it' a little brother. This made Third Zhou Sister-in-law, who didn't really like his mother a.k.a her Fourth Sister-in-law, be friendly with him.
"Okay, when little brother comes out, I will take him around to play." Zhou Da Wa cheerfully promised.
Afterward, he couldn't wait to pull grandma away.
Truthfully, Mother Zhou was not so kind. She just favored her youngest son, so she also loved these grandsons. They also knew that their grandma dotes on them, otherwise, they wouldn’t dare to pull her like this.
"What's the hurry?" Said Mother Zhou verbally.
Mentally, she started to figure out what Fourth Daughter-in-law wanted to do. Was there no food and wanted to take advantage of the autumn harvest to buy food with the family?
That shouldn't be. Fourth Daughter-in-law always turned her elbows outward. She had always bought them at the market and disdained to have exchange with old Zhou Family's people.
They have a market here. In the countryside, there was no need for a food coupon to buy food, just money was enough.
Fourth Son sent money back every month. She wasn't short of food and drink. Just by looking at how well-fed she was, one can tell.
If it weren’t for her fourth son, this lazy girl who only knew to eat would have been pulled out and have her acts criticize by all.
This wasn't Mother Zhou joking. Now it was quite strict, however, because there was Zhou Qing Bai, a divine needle which guarded the sea (T/N: a reference from Journey to the West Chinese novel?). Old Zhou Family members were highly respected whenever they go out.
The original owner thought Zhou San Wa was still too young and Zhou Da Wa was not as sensible as the female kid. He didn't do any chores at all, so of course, there was no food share at the end of the year.
In half a month or so, the production team will kill pigs to reward everyone, but the original owner does not have any pork work points. If she wanted to eat pork, it was possible. After all, they are all from one village. She just needed to use the money to buy it from the team. And it was leftovers after everyone else picked their share.
But the leftovers were also good. In this era, anything with oil was good stuff.
The original owner had done that and didn't care that in others' eyes, she was a spendthrift and that marrying someone like her was three lifetime of misfortune for a good guy like Zhou Qing Bai.
Of course, this was what women thought. Every time men see the original owner's swaying, healthy posture and the way she carried her face and figure when going out, they can’t help but take a few more glances. And then feel that Zhou QingBai wasn't blessed. To marry a beautiful girl like this, he can't sleep with her for more than two-three days a year.
It's not that some bachelors didn't have thoughts (of doing bad things) in the village. It was just that the current social atmosphere was the best security, so who dares to do anything?
And take look at whose woman it was. This was Zhou Qing Bai's woman, the daughter-in-law of the old Zhou family.
Even though Old Zhou Family was dissatisfied with her for causing a ruckus to split, but if something really happened, the dozen to twenty people in old Zhou Family will definitely unify to fight outsiders.
At this time, people wanted more sons exactly for this reason.
To put it awkwardly, if there was no son at home, there's no power to go out and quarrel with others.
But the most important reason was at that stage, the original owner, who was still dreaming of becoming an official wife, don't want any dust in her sight. She looked down at these single bumpkins.
Not to mention the bachelors, she even looked down on the urban educated youths who went to the countryside.
But then the dream shattered, so she lowered the standard.
Along the way, Mother Zhou had misgivings. It was until she reached the house and she saw Fourth Daughter-in-law carrying the egg and lean pork congee, she was stunned: "Where did you get your pork?"
"I bought it from that part in the city," Lin Qing He replied casually, as she held San Wa.
That part referred to the black market, but it was inconvenient to say with children present.
In the county town, a black market existed. It was a place for private transactions. The original owner had visited there as well, but not to buy meat and grain, but to buy cotton.
She bought one jin of cotton at the Demand and Supply Cooperative, and the remaining jin was bought in the black market.
Mother Zhou understood. She knew that Fourth Daughter-in-law was a daring one, but she didn't expect her to be that daring. To even go to the black market!
"Mother, you don't need to talk about me. My sons are all growing. How can it do to be without meat from the start to the end of the year?" Lin Qing He said.
Mother Zhou mentally commented, 'I hadn't seen you show any affection toward your children before. If you have any tricks, show them already and don't drag on these.
Lin Qing He said: "Today's made a bit too much meat congee. This autumn harvest has been very busy, mother, you have some for nourishment."
This was not surprising when the other three daughters-in-law said it to Mother Zhou. But the words were spoken by Fourth Daughter-in-law, so she should be careful.
"Say it. Did something happen to you?" Without being roundabout with her, Mother Zhou asked her directly.
"I bought some cotton and cloth from the black market and plan to make a new one for these three boys, but my skills are lacking as I can make my own. Mother, how about you help me to bring it back to Third Sister-in-law to avoid me ruining it. Third Sister-in-law's craftsmanship is excellent and among the sister-in-law, I only have taken a liking to hers. Treat the leftover fabric as a fee for her. "Lin Qing He said.
These words were said very bitch-like. But this was the original owner's tone.
