Lunch was like a battle.
The children wolfed down their food. Usually, they would lick their bowls clean, but today they put down their chopsticks with rice still scattered everywhere.
"I'm done..."
"I'm done too..."
Their overlapping cries had barely died away, and they had only just shifted their bottoms, when the adults beside them caught them by their collars, one after another.
Eldest Sister-in-law Lin scolded, "Rice all over the table! Are you chickens pecking at grain? Pick it up and eat it, and finish what's in your bowls too. If you don't clean your bowls, your future wives will have pockmarked faces."
Lin Second Sister-in-law added, "You girls too. If you don't finish the rice in your bowls, you'll grow up with pockmarked faces."
"Why do the boys get pockmarks on their wives' faces if they don't finish their rice, while we get them on our own faces?"
Everyone fell silent.
They really didn't know the answer to that...
Ye Yaodong thought his eldest niece really was clever. No wonder she would become their village's first university student.
Eldest Sister-in-law Lin glared at her. "Why does a child have so much to say? Finish your rice!"
"Now I'm a child. Usually, you say I'm a big girl and should help wash clothes, do the dishes, and learn to cook..."
Lin Dongxue pouted and muttered a few words with her head lowered, then picked up her chopsticks again and finished every grain in her bowl.
Eldest Sister-in-law Lin was exasperated. "You're all getting so big that nobody can say anything to you. One word and you talk back..."
Lin Xiuqing smiled. "What's so urgent that you're all rushing off?"
"When we came down the hill, we saw a flock of wild ducks fly over to the river. We