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Lu Xingping quickly took a bowl and served Yun Cuihe a bowl of soup, also giving her a piece of fish.
“Mother, eat more fish soup to nourish yourself.”
Lu Xing’an, following his example, also served a bowl for Chu Yue.
“Big sister-in-law, you’ve worked hard today.”
His usually serious little face showed a hint of nervousness as if he was afraid Chu Yue might find fault, and he didn’t dare to look in her direction.
Chu Yue graciously accepted the soup Lu Xing’an handed to her.
“Thank you, Xing’an.”
Lu Xinghe glanced at his two younger brothers but said nothing, simply lowering his head to eat the coarse rice porridge.
Thanks to the big pot of fish soup, the family was able to eat until they were about seventy percent full, a rare occurrence.
Yun Cuihe glanced at the sky outside. Although the sun was no longer visible, it was still light.
“Xinghe, have you finished processing the wild boar?”
Lu Xinghe nodded.
“It’s already been butchered.”
Yun Cuihe turned to him and said, “While it’s still light, chop some of the pork into small pieces. Not too much, just enough to give to a few of the neighbors we’re close to, as thanks for their usual care. Also, cut two larger pieces, about two to three pounds each. Send one to the village head’s house and the other to your grandparents.”
“Oh, and take a bowl of pig’s blood to your grandparents too. Your grandpa likes it. We’ll keep the rest for ourselves.”
Originally, since they lived at the foot of the mountain, no one would have known about the wild boar being brought back. They could have borrowed a cart later and taken it to town at dawn to sell. But after Aunt Li’s commotion, everyone knew about it, so it wouldn’t be right not to share some.
Lu Xinghe nodded repeatedly at Yun Cuihe’s instructions.
“Okay.”
“With that, Lu Xinghe went out to distribute the meat, and Lu Xingping quickly ran to help. Lu Xing’an, meanwhile, started cleaning up the dishes and took them outside to wash.
Chu Yue stepped out of the kitchen and immediately saw the pig intestines tossed in the corner like trash, along with the pig hair that Lu Xinghe had removed.
This was good stuff—were they planning to throw it away?
Chu Yue immediately squatted down in front of the pile of miscellaneous waste, intending to retrieve the pig intestines. But then she heard Lu Xinghe’s voice from behind: ‘Don’t touch that, it’s dirty.’
Chu Yue turned her head, a bit puzzled.
‘Are you not keeping any of this?’
Lu Xinghe nodded.
‘It’s all dirty stuff. Don’t touch it; I’ll clean it up later.’
Chu Yue bit her lip and spoke with a hint of a tentative tone.
“Can we keep the pig offal?”
Lu Xingping, who was packing the pork to be sent to the neighbors, looked at Chu Yue with some confusion after hearing her question.
“That dirty and smelly stuff—though our Banpo Village is poor, no one has ever been able to eat it. Why would you want to keep it, sister-in-law?”
Chu Yue replied with some regret, “It would be a shame to throw it away. Maybe I can make it taste good.’”
After a brief moment of thought, Lu Xinghe nodded.
“Let’s keep it for now.”
At most, it would just cost a bit of oil and salt. If it really couldn’t be eaten, they could always give it to the chickens at their grandparents’ house.
Back when their grandparents divided the family, it was because their three uncles and aunts complained that their family of four couldn’t work and still cost money. It was quite a commotion, and dividing the family was a last resort. In the years since, whenever they had something good, they would think to give a little to their grandparents, so things were still manageable.
Lu Xinghe was about to string up the two larger pieces of meat to be sent out using some twisted rice straw, and was just about to retrieve the pig intestines from the corner when he heard a familiar voice from outside.
“Xinghe, I heard that Aunt Li came over to bully you today?”
Lu Xinghe turned to look; it was his grandmother, Wang Xuelan.
“Grandma, what brings you here?”
Wang Xuelan furrowed her brows. “I heard about the incident with Aunt Li. You three brothers are all boys, and with your mother’s soft-natured temperament, I was worried she might have suffered at the hands of that shrew.”
Lu Xinghe recalled the scene of Chu Yue protecting his mother and inexplicably pressed his lips together.
“Don’t worry, Grandma, my mother is fine.”
“Is your mother here?”
“Hearing the voice, Yun Cuihe came out of the house and quickly welcomed Wang Xuelan inside, pouring her a glass of water.
“I was just about to have Xinghe send some meat to you and Father. Since you’re here, it saves him a trip.”
After she spoke, she looked in Lu Xinghe’s direction, indicating for him to bring the prepared meat and also scoop a bowl of pig’s blood.
Wang Xuelan sighed.
“I didn’t come here for your meat. I just heard that Aunt Li was bullying you and came to check. If it weren’t for the insistence of the first, second, and fourth brothers to have you separate from the family back then, how could I let that rascal bully you?” She looked at Yun Cuihe. “If anything like this happens again, just send Xingping to find me at the village entrance. Your house is far, and I can’t always keep an eye on everything.”
Even though her third son was no longer around, her three grandsons were still part of the Lu family. How could she let an outsider trample on them?
Yun Cuihe nodded as she listened.
“I remember. But let’s not talk about the past, Mother, to avoid upsetting the first and second sisters-in-law. Besides, we didn’t suffer today—Aunt Li left covered in mud.”
Wang Xuelan spat angrily.
“Serves her right!”
She then turned to look at Chu Yue, who was standing quietly to the side.
“Is this Xinghe’s wife?”
“Yes,” Yun Cuihe replied, motioning for Chu Yue to come over and introducing her to Wang Xuelan. “Yueyue is the second daughter of the Chu family from Niutou Village. Life wasn’t easy for her at her parents’ house either, but she brings good fortune. As soon as she arrived, Xinghe caught a wild boar.”
After speaking, Yun Cuihe gave Chu Yue a meaningful look.
Chu Yue understood and came forward, calling out crisply, “Grandma.”
Since it was their first meeting, Wang Xuelan, seeing the young girl in front of her who, despite her age, had striking features, felt neither particularly fond nor disapproving.
She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a small piece of silver, weighing about a qian, and placed it into Chu Yue’s hand.
“Take this to help with household expenses. Your grandpa and I are getting old, and with so many people in the family, we haven’t saved up anything valuable over the years. You and Xinghe should live well together. A family should be harmonious, and that’s how life gets better and better.”
A qian of silver could be exchanged for a hundred copper coins. Chu Yue had never held so much money before, and she looked at Yun Cuihe, somewhat at a loss.
Yun Cuihe also seemed to think that her mother-in-law had given too much.
“Mother, your days are difficult too…”
Wang Xuelan waved her hand.
“This is also your father’s idea. Let Yue girl keep it.” She stood up. “Since you’re all fine, I’ll head back now; there’s still a lot to do at home.”
Seeing that Wang Xuelan was about to leave, Yun Cuihe quickly called out, “Xinghe, cut another two pounds of meat for your grandma to take with her.”
In the end, Wang Xuelan couldn’t refuse and happily carried four or five pounds of wild boar meat and a bowl of pig’s blood back home. As she passed by Sun Dazhu’s house, she stopped outside to scold Aunt Li for a while.
Aunt Li wanted to go out and argue back, but having missed dinner, she couldn’t summon the energy and could only lie in bed sulking.