Chapter 7: She Won’t Suffer

After breakfast, the in-laws went back to work. Before leaving, the mother-in-law stuffed five yuan and some meat tickets into Lin Bingwei’s hands, saying that there was a market today and told her to buy some meat in town to eat.

On the second day after their son’s wedding, they felt guilty towards their daughter-in-law and wanted to improve the family meals.

With money at home, they could afford to have meat every three days at the market.

As long as there were enough meat tickets.

Next year will be better; farmers will be able to sell their own pigs at the market without needing tickets.

Lin Bingwei accepted it, and after they left, she pulled Zhang Jianguo aside. “Do you remember the bet from yesterday?”

Zhang Jianguo nodded.

Lin Bingwei smiled and said, “Then call out.”

Zhang Jianguo’s cheeks turned red, and he mustered a lot of courage to stutter out the words ‘Auntie’.

“Hey!” Lin Bingwei was deeply moved and pinched his little face.

“Really good! You see, it’s not that hard to talk, is it?”

It’s still not too late to nurture him; if she doesn’t intervene now, he really won’t be able to speak in the future.

She still remembers that the original owner raised him to adulthood as a mute, and the only time he cried out was when his grandparents died, calling for them in a strange tone.

“In a bit, Auntie will take you to town to buy some triangle cakes.”

He fell silent again, his eyes sparkling as he looked at her, clearly full of anticipation.

After finishing the chores at home, Lin Bingwei took the bicycle out and brought Zhang Jianguo to town.

888 is Zhang Tingyuan’s; the original owner had saved 3.2 yuan over the past twenty years, which was truly not easy.

Another twenty yuan was given to her by Lin Wangsheng and Bihua during the wedding in front of the whole village, saying it was her emergency fund, wanting everyone to know how good they were to her.

Getting 888 for twenty? They even beat drums and gongs, afraid that no one would know; what a calculation.

Fortunately, she managed to snatch back 888.

There was also another twenty, which was a red envelope given to her by Zhang Yuanxiu and Li Yurong after their wedding.

Lin Bingwei now had a total of 43.2 yuan.

She spent 20 cents to buy two triangle cakes for Zhang Jianguo and used the five yuan given by her mother-in-law to buy meat.

The meat was only one yuan per pound; after buying one pound, she returned some and bought over three pounds of ribs, spending three yuan, leaving her with two yuan.

At this point, ribs were cheaper than meat.

After finishing her errands, she took Zhang Jianguo for a casual stroll around town before heading back.

She observed that the town was noticeably more crowded in the morning than in the afternoon.

In the morning, it was crowded, while in the afternoon, there were only a few people.

After figuring this out, she understood that business should only be done in the morning, especially during market days.

After returning, she let Zhang Jianguo play by himself while she prepared lunch.

Just as she lit the fire, she heard a woman’s voice coming from outside the yard.

“Jianguo, hey, what are you eating? Oh, you’re eating triangle cakes.”

“Who bought them for you? You went to the market with your aunt, right? Your aunt is quite generous, buying you triangle cakes.”

“That’s because your aunt just got married and is showing off to your grandparents. Do you really think she’s good to you? You’re not even her child.”

“When she has her own children, she won’t want you anymore and will even push you out, and your grandparents will kick you out. Don’t talk about triangle cakes; you won’t even get chicken droppings.”

“Oh dear, so pitiful, your dad is dead, your mom ran off with someone, and no one wants you.”

Lin Bingwei felt furious upon hearing this and rushed out with the fire tongs.

“Wang Pozizi, what are you saying?”

Hearing someone speak ill of her, Wang Pozizi felt a bit embarrassed, but she still put on a thick face and smiled, “Just joking with the child, don’t take it seriously.”

Lin Bingwei felt a pang of heartache when she saw Zhang Jianguo biting his lip with tears streaming down his face.

“Is this how you joke with children?”

This child was already pitiful, and now he was being pointed at and talked about.

It’s one thing if a mischievous child doesn’t understand and says a few words, but Wang Pozizi was over fifty and actually said she was just playing!

“Oh, why are you still angry? I said it was just a joke, I was just teasing Jianguo because he looks so adorable; don’t be so petty.”

“Oh, I’m petty?”

Lin Bingwei laughed in anger, noticing her holding a winter melon and poking it with the fire tongs, making several holes in it, with smoke rising.

Wang Pozizi was so angry she stomped her feet.

“Oh no, my good melon! Tingyuan’s wife, you ruined my good melon; you owe me!”

Lin Bingwei smiled lightly, “I just saw your winter melon had a bit too much hair, so I was giving it a little burn; why are you flailing around? Now look, the hair isn’t burned off properly, and you’ve ruined it.”

“You… you, I think you did it on purpose.”

Lin Bingwei coldly snorted, “Yes, I did it on purpose. What’s it to you? If you dare to speak ill of my child again, it won’t just be about burning a winter melon; I’ll give you a big wave perm for free.”

She waved the fire tongs, scaring Wang Pozizi quite a bit.

Wang Pozizi quickly ran away with the ruined winter melon.

As she ran, she shouted threats, “Just wait, you wait for me.”

“Ha! Wait, I’ll wait. Am I supposed to be afraid of a pickled winter melon?”

What nonsense!

After chasing away Wang Pozizi, Lin Bingwei led Zhang Jianguo into the house.

“Come on, let’s cook together with Auntie.”

Lin Bingwei pulled him into the kitchen, lighting the fire while talking to him.

“Jianguo, did you get scared of Auntie after hearing Wang Pozizi’s words?”

Zhang Jianguo remained silent, neither nodding nor shaking his head, which meant he was a bit scared.

Lin Bingwei said, “She can’t stand our family doing well and is trying to sow discord. Do you know what sowing discord means? It means she wants you to listen to her, be afraid of me, and dislike me, so that I won’t like you either, leading to our family fighting and living poorly, which makes her happy. You must never fall for their tricks! The more nasty things they say, the better we need to live, making them envious.”

Zhang Jianguo opened his mouth, making an effort to say, “Auntie… chase me away?”

Uh… he probably wanted to ask if she would chase him away.

Lin Bingwei smiled gently, “Of course not! This is your home; where would I chase you to? You got here before I did.”

He thought for a moment, and it seemed that way.

Lin Bingwei smiled and pinched his face, saying, “See, talking isn’t that hard, is it? You need to speak more in the future, okay? This afternoon, Auntie will teach you to recite the Three Hundred Tang Poems.”

Zhang Jianguo nodded.

Lin Bingwei added, “If you recite well, I’ll send you to kindergarten next year.”

For lunch, they had stir-fried garlic sprouts with meat. First, she separated the fatty and lean parts, slicing the lean meat into thin pieces and marinating them with salt and Sichuan pepper.

At that time, the seasonings weren’t as rich as they would be in the future; the only seasonings she found at home were salt and Sichuan pepper, along with some pepper, which was best used in soup.

Then she mixed in some bean flour, combined everything well, and poured in some melted oil to mix evenly, ensuring it locked in moisture.