Chapter 43

The more Chunlian thought about it, the more sense it made to ask her own relatives. She couldn't vouch for outsiders, but after knowing her relatives all these years, she knew exactly who cut corners, who worked hard, and who liked taking advantage.

The next day, she took leave from school and arranged for other teachers to cover her classes.

Then she bought candy, brown sugar, pastries, and pork. Remembering that cloth ration coupons were no longer required, she bought five or six bolts of cotton cloth in red and gray. Loaded down with bags and bundles, she took a bus, then transferred to an ox cart bound for He Family Village.

The ox cart rocked and swayed.

After being jostled around for half the day, He Chunlian's legs were weak when she climbed down.

"Auntie, are you all right?" The young man driving the ox cart was from He Family Village and, by family seniority, was He Chunlian's nephew.

He Chunlian took a few sips of water and waved a hand. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

The young man said, "Why don't I carry your things home for you? You've got a lot, and it looks heavy."

"Sorry for the trouble, Great Strength." He Chunlian didn't stand on ceremony.

There was no way she could carry all that herself.

Great Strength tied the ox to a tree. There was nothing but straw left on the cart, and everyone in the village knew everyone else, so no one was likely to steal it. He hoisted several bolts of cloth onto his shoulder, picked up the pork and the rest, and walked home with He Chunlian.

Spring had arrived, and people were turning the soil all across the fields.

He Chunlian and Great Strength had barely passed when someone called, "Fourth Sister! Fourth Sister, is that you?"

He Chunlian jerked her head up. The dark-faced man standing before her, his sturdy arms bare, was none other than her eldest brother.

"Big Brother, why are you out working in the fields?"

He Chunlian was startled.

Her eldest brother was ten years older than she was. He was already in his fifties.

He Daniu wiped his face and came out of the field. "What's wrong with that? I'm still strong. Sitting around at home makes me restless. What brings you back, little sister? Don't you have work today?"

"Brother, I missed you all, so I took leave to visit. I brought my sisters-in-law some cloth, and some candy too."

He Chunlian smiled. "Brother, I'm thinking of staying a few days. Will you have me?"

"What are you saying? I'd be glad to have you stay for months. But you didn't have to bring all this."

He Daniu lowered his voice. "Will your daughter-in-law be all right with it when she finds out?"

"It's fine if she knows. I earned the money myself," He Chunlian said.

Her brother had four sons, and back then everyone in the village had envied him. But once they had all married and had children of their own, he'd found himself at a loss. The more people under one roof, the more trouble there was. His wife wasn't easygoing, and his daughters-in-law were even less so.

The two chatted and laughed as they headed home with Great Strength.

When Great Strength set everything down and went to leave, He Chunlian insisted on giving him a packet of pastries and a handful of candy. "Take these home for the children."

"Thank you, Auntie." Great Strength looked a little embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head and glanced at He Daniu, only accepting when He Daniu nodded.

He Daniu and his two younger brothers had split their households long ago, but they lived close together. Their three homes stood in a row.

He Daniu pushed open the door. A young daughter-in-law in a floral padded jacket, her hair wrapped in a scarf, hurried out of the kitchen. "Dad, why are you back?"

"Fourth Son's wife, your aunt is here. Hurry and let everyone know. Tell your mother and the others to come home."

He Daniu gave the order.

The young woman's eyes darted over the things He Chunlian carried and the cloth on He Daniu's shoulder. She answered with a smile and ran out, then quickly returned. "I sent Iron Egg to tell them. Dad, Auntie, have a seat. I'll heat some water."

She kept looking back as she went.

He Daniu looked embarrassed. He invited He Chunlian inside to sit on the heated brick bed. "Fourth Son's wife is just like that, but there's nothing else wrong with her."

"Aren't all young people like that?" He Chunlian wasn't about to find fault with her. If they weren't poor, who wouldn't want to act generously? "She seems perfectly fine to me. At least she knows how to be hospitable."

He Daniu breathed a sigh of relief.

He Chunlian asked how the children in the family were doing.

She had visited at the start of the year, but it had been a hurried trip, and she hadn't had time to ask much.

What she heard took her by surprise.

The eldest son's wife and the fourth son's wife were both pregnant again.

By the end of the year, the family would probably have two more children.

He Daniu couldn't even muster a smile. "If I'd known we'd end up with this many children, your sister-in-law and I would've stopped at two."

He puffed on his pipe, his face full of worry.

"Where's Sister-in-law?" He Chunlian didn't quite know what to say about that, so she changed the subject. "Where did she go?"

"The eldest son's wife said there are too many people here and it's too noisy for her to sleep, so she went back to her parents' place. Her mother doesn't want to look after her, so your sister-in-law goes over to help every day."

He Daniu sighed.

... The forty-ninth day of being overheard

By noon, all the children in He Daniu's household had come home, and the families of his younger brothers, He Erniu and Third Brother, had come over too.

He Daniu's house was packed. Everywhere He Chunlian looked, there were children.

Her eldest sister-in-law, Chen Liying, had just returned from the eldest son's wife's family home.

Chen Liying offered He Chunlian sunflower seeds and said, "You could've just come home. Why bring so much?"

"Because I was thinking of you all." He Chunlian smiled. "I bought cloth for all my sisters-in-law. Take a look and pick the patterns you like. You can make yourselves new outfits."

He Erniu's wife immediately smiled. "Then we have to thank our little sister-in-law. The men think about nothing but the children all day. We old women don't get a single new outfit all year."

He Erniu looked embarrassed and tapped his pipe against the heated brick bed. "Who says you don't get new clothes? Didn't you get new pants last year?"

"Oh, and how much cotton did you put in those pants?" He Erniu's wife shot back. "You expect me to wear them in the dead of winter and freeze to death so you can marry another wife?"

"Nonsense! Who said I wanted that?"

He Erniu denied it at once.

Those two were always bickering, and He Chunlian was used to it.

He Daniu saw the children crowded into the room, the adults eyeing the pork and pastries, and the children staring at the candy. It wouldn't do. "You lot go make lunch. The men can chop firewood, and the children can go outside. Let me talk with your aunt."

Filial respect mattered in the countryside. Once He Daniu spoke, no one dared disobey, and they all went out.

He Chunlian quickly picked up the pork she had bought. "I brought more than ten jin of meat. Let's have a good meal at noon. You three sisters-in-law can divide up whatever's left."

At the sight of the meat, even the men couldn't help swallowing, let alone the young daughters-in-law.

Chen Liying said, "Then let's make pork stewed with vermicelli for lunch. We can add plenty of cabbage. How does that sound?"

"Whatever you think best, Sister-in-law," He Chunlian said.

To be honest, even though she only visited now and then, she found it hard to take so many people and so much noise.

The He Family bustled all day because of He Chunlian's visit.

That night, He Chunlian stayed with her eldest brother and sister-in-law. Chen Liying laid out a set of clothes. "Little Sister, I only wore these once, when Fourth Son's wife married into the family last year. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course I don't," He Chunlian said quickly.

Because He Chunlian was there, He Daniu went to share a bed with his eldest son that night. The eldest son's wife had come back for lunch and dinner, but each time she left for her parents' home as soon as she finished eating.

He Chunlian changed into the clothes.

The dark red floral padded jacket looked a little old-fashioned, but it made her look bright and festive. Chen Liying studied her sister-in-law. She really had a good life. She was in her forties, yet beside the young daughters-in-law today, her complexion had looked every bit as healthy.

"Sister-in-law, what are you looking at?"

He Chunlian grew a little self-conscious under her gaze.

Chen Liying smiled. "Lian, seeing you makes me happy. If all of us women could live like you, we'd have it good."

"You have a good life too, Sister-in-law."

He Chunlian knew she was fortunate, but she wasn't going to boast. It was enough for her to know her own life was going well.

Chen Liying sighed and sat on the edge of the heated brick bed. "Don't get me started. Did you see the looks those four daughters-in-law gave me today? Not one of them is happy with us."

"Sister-in-law, they give you dirty looks?"

He Chunlian sat beside her and helped straighten the bedding.

"Not openly, but they're all dissatisfied," Chen Liying said. "People say it's hard being a daughter-in-law, but I say being the parents-in-law is harder. You were right to stop after Yin Xing. The more children you have, the more you owe them. Just because I'm helping look after the eldest son's wife, the other three are upset."

"What exactly happened with the eldest son's wife?"

He Chunlian thought for a moment before asking.

She had supposedly gone back to her parents' home because it was too noisy here, but she'd been living here for years. She hadn't complained when her first two daughters were born.

Chen Liying sighed. "It was that egg the other day. I boiled one for your brother to build up his strength. He could've just eaten it, but no, he gave it to Third Son's boy. The eldest son's two girls saw it, then went and told their mother. She wasn't happy, and that's when she insisted on going back to her parents' home."

So that was it.

At last, He Chunlian understood what her eldest brother had meant that morning.

It wasn't a big thing on its own, but a household was full of little things like that.

"The eldest son's wife has always thought we favor boys over girls. She thinks we're biased against her because she hasn't had a son, but your brother and I truly aren't like that." Chen Liying kept wiping away tears as she spoke. "If we're biased, then who cooked for her and looked after the babies while she recovered from childbirth? None of us cared that she'd had two girls. Third Son's boy just happened to be standing there watching your brother that day. You know what your brother's like. Whenever he has something good, he wants to save it for the younger generation. And now someone's taken offense. If we're going to count everything, her two girls were born earlier, when our family still had some money. We bought them plenty of peanut candy and pastries. The younger children of the second and third sons never had it so good. They're lucky to get a few pieces of candy all year."

"Sister-in-law, I know you and my brother aren't like that."

He Chunlian handed Chen Liying a handkerchief to wipe her tears.

He Daniu quietly lifted the curtain and came in. "Why tell Little Sister all this?"

"If I can't tell anyone else, can't I tell our own little sister?"

Chen Liying wiped her tears, her voice full of hurt. "I could just drop dead and be done with it. Why have children at all? They're nothing but a burden."

"The eldest son's wife is pregnant, so she's prone to overthinking. Let it go and stop talking about it." He Daniu squatted on the floor, smoking his pipe. His brow seemed permanently furrowed. "She's not a bad person."

"Did I say she was bad? Everyone's good, and I'm the only bad one. Happy now?"

Chen Liying couldn't help raising her voice.

Curtains rustled in the rooms nearby.

Second Son poked his head out. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"Nothing to do with you. Go back to bed." He Daniu lifted the curtain and snapped at him.

He turned back, embarrassed, but he didn't know what to say.

He Chunlian rubbed her eldest sister-in-law's back.

Her eldest sister-in-law had married into the family when He Chunlian was barely in her teens. Back then, she had treated He Chunlian like her own daughter. Later, after Old Gu died, she had urged He Chunlian to move on and offered to help raise Jin Shui and Yin Xing if He Chunlian brought them back to the village.

In He Chunlian's heart, this sister-in-law was no different from her own mother.

"Sister-in-law, I don't think anyone's a bad person. Poverty is what's causing all this."

He Chunlian spoke softly. "If the family had money, who would care about one egg?"

"Exactly. But with so many mouths to feed and two pregnant women, we have to save the eggs to sell. That's how we'll have money to buy eggs and other things at the end of the year." Chen Liying sniffed.

"Brother, Sister-in-law."

He Chunlian said, "If you're willing, I have some work for Sister-in-law."

"What kind of work? Can I do it?" He Daniu asked at once.

"Oh, hush. What's it got to do with you?"

Chen Liying scoffed at He Daniu.

But she knew he was afraid she would have a hard time working away from home.

"Big Brother,"