Chapter 29: Misunderstanding

◎ Don’t you all start fighting! ◎

Father and Mother Wei turned their heads to look. In just the time it took to say that one sentence, the group had already walked even closer, and Father and Mother Wei could see more clearly now.

They saw a group of children surrounding an unfamiliar adult, walking this way and talking about something. Mother Wei’s heart skipped a beat, worried the kids might have gotten into trouble. She quickly shouted toward the yard, “Eldest, second, third, come out quickly!”

The Wei brothers had been working hard all day and were exhausted. After coming back from work, they had washed up and gone to rest in their rooms.

Hearing Mother Wei’s urgent call now, they thought something serious had happened. Without caring about anything else, they rolled off their beds and rushed outside. Even Wei Xiaolong, who had been diligently doing his homework, ran out. Third Brother Wei was in such a hurry he even put his shoes on the wrong feet.

“Mom, what happened?”

Seeing her three sons shirtless, Mother Wei realized they had just been sleeping. She closed her eyes with slight annoyance and waved her hand, saying, “Go back inside and put on your clothes before you come out again.”

The eldest Wei brother was the most steady one. Seeing that their parents were still sitting on the threshold and hadn’t even moved, he knew it wasn’t an emergency. He pulled his two younger brothers, who still wanted to ask questions, back into the house.

The neighbor next door watched with envy and said, “Your sons are so good. You’re not afraid of anything with kids like that.”

Mother Wei was proud inside, but she replied humbly, “Sigh, the more kids you have, the more trouble you have. Fewer is better—less worry for us parents.”

As they spoke, Wei Ming had already brought the postman over.

Father and Mother Wei didn’t even have time to ask about their grandson.

Wei Ming started rattling off the explanation: “Grandpa, Grandma, this is the postman uncle. He said he’s looking for the Wei Jianshe family, so I brought him back. Quick, check if it’s something Auntie sent to Grandpa!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Third Brother Wei, who had just finished putting on his clothes and come out, quickly ran over: “Yes, yes, it must be! Wei Jiànshè is your grandpa!”

Mother Wei stood up and gave her third son a little push to move aside. She stepped forward to the postman and said with a smile, “Hello, young man. This parcel is from Jing City, right? Then it’s definitely for us. My little daughter sent it to the family. My old man’s name is Wei Jianshe. Which parcel is ours?”

The postman saw her craning her neck and about to reach out, and quickly, half laughing and half crying, stopped her:
“Auntie, you need to show me your household registration book first. I have to make sure the package is really for your family before I can hand it over.”

“Alright, alright, you have a rest here. I’ll go inside and get it for you.”
Saying that, she turned to Second Brother Wei, who had just come out of the house, and said,
“You, go get a stool for him to sit and rest.”

“Okay, Ma,” Second Brother Wei replied.

The postman didn’t even have time to speak before mother and son were already hurrying back into the house.

Third Brother Wei noticed the postman looking a little awkward being surrounded like that. He stepped forward with a friendly smile and said,
“Don’t be shy, our family is just a bit enthusiastic. Want some water? I’ll pour you a glass.”

“No, no, it’s fine. After delivering to your house, I still have a few more stops,” the postman quickly declined.

“Sounds like you’re pretty busy. Are the other houses nearby? If you tell me their names, I can point you the way.”

The postman had actually been worried about finding the next addresses — unlike in the city, the village didn’t have street numbers on every house. If he had to find them on his own, who knew how long it would take? Now that someone was offering to guide him, he was more than happy, and he started chatting with Third Brother Wei.

By the time Mother Wei came back out with the household registration book, the two were already chatting like old friends.

Once the postman confirmed the package was indeed for them, he took down the largest parcel from his bike and handed it to Third Brother Wei. Then he got back on his bike and left.

After he left, the villagers who had been standing to the side immediately crowded over.

“Wow, such a big package — all sent by your little Xuan!”

“Yeah! Look at the size of it. Just imagine how much stuff is inside!”

“Your little Xuan married so well. You two old folks are in for a good life now, enjoying the fruits!”

The villagers chattered non-stop, crowding around Father and Mother Wei, their eyes never leaving the package — clearly itching to see what Wei Xuan had sent.

Would Mother Wei let them look?

Of course not — they hadn’t even opened it themselves yet!

So she gave a meaningful glance to her three daughters-in-law standing in the back.

The three daughters-in-law of the Wei family were just as excited at the sight of such a big parcel. They were secretly wondering if there might be something inside for them too. Even if there wasn’t, something for their kids would be great!

They were still daydreaming when they caught Mother Wei’s signal. Second Sister-in-law reacted the fastest and shouted into the crowd toward Father and Mother Wei:
“Dad, Mom! Dinner’s ready!”

Since the family was being called to eat, the more tactful villagers started to disperse. Only a few stubborn ones lingered at the doorway.

Third Brother Wei wasn’t about to put up with that. He walked over with a stern face and directly shooed them away:
“Alright, alright, time to go home! You’ve been working all day — not tired yet? Our family’s about to eat!”

After everyone had left, Third Brother Wei finally dropped his stern expression and broke into a silly grin. He walked over to Eldest Brother Wei, rubbing his hands together as he stared eagerly at the parcel, giggling foolishly — which earned him a smack on the head from Second Brother Wei.

“Behave yourself,” Second Brother said.

Third Brother Wei didn’t get angry at all; it didn’t even hurt. He just rubbed the top of his head and followed behind Eldest Brother Wei into the house.

Once the whole family was inside, Eldest Sister-in-law Jiang came out of the kitchen, carrying dishes and setting them on the table.

Mother Wei said directly,
“Let’s eat first — we’ll deal with the package after dinner.”

So the whole family sat down and had a very distracted meal together. Even though there was a rare dish of meat on the table, it wasn’t enough to keep their minds from wandering.

Finally, after they finished eating and clearing the table, Mother Wei told Eldest Brother Wei to bring out the package.

Seeing his mother struggling to open it, Third Brother Wei smiled and came over,
“Ma, let me help you.”

Mother Wei gave him a sideways glance but handed it over,
“Fine, you do it.”

Third Brother Wei, being a strong young man, had it opened in no time. As soon as the package was ripped open, some fabric was immediately visible.

He smiled at Mother Wei and said,
“Ma, Little Sister even sent a piece of cloth! Must be for you and Dad to make new clothes.”

Mother Wei ignored him and dragged the package over to herself. She first pulled out a letter and handed it to her youngest son,
“Xiaolong, you read it. Let’s hear what your sister wrote.”

Wei Xiaolong took the letter. Seeing everyone watching him expectantly, he didn’t delay and began reading aloud.

When he read the part explaining that the cloth was actually meant to make a baiji (a white ceremonial garment) for Third Brother Wei’s child, the faces of Eldest Sister-in-law and Second Sister-in-law turned a bit ugly — though Third Sister-in-law stayed happy.

Of course, they weren’t upset that their sister-in-law didn’t buy something for their own children — they were annoyed at their own bad timing. They were wondering if it was too late to have another child now?

Wei Xiaolong hadn’t expected his sister would even think to send him study materials. After finishing the letter, he eagerly searched for the papers. A quick glance was enough to tell him these were precious resources — rare and valuable.

Though the letter hadn’t gone into detail, it was obvious these materials must have taken a lot of effort to gather. For a moment, a complex mix of emotions filled his heart.

Father and Mother Wei were overjoyed too. They hadn’t expected that, even in their old age, they would get to drink powdered milk — such a luxury!

As for the children, there was no need to even mention it — their mouths were stuffed with the candies sent back by their aunt, their eyes crinkled up from smiling. If it hadn’t been so late, they’d have already run out to show off to their friends.

In short, thanks to this one package, everyone in the Wei family — whether they received gifts or not — was absolutely delighted.

That night, Mother Wei even had the eldest daughter-in-law boil water for her — she was going to make herself some milk powder to drink!

Father Wei, however, couldn’t bear to use it,
“How about… you drink it. I’ll pass.”

But Mother Wei was much more open-minded,
“Our daughter sent it. Why shouldn’t we drink it?”

She firmly made two bowls of milk powder, shoved one into Father Wei’s hands, and said,
“Drink it. If you don’t, you’re wasting your daughter’s heartfelt gift.”

With no way out, Father Wei could only take the bowl and start drinking. Honestly, it was sweet and quite delicious.

Maybe it was just psychological, but Father Wei felt that after drinking the milk powder, he slept better that night, and he even had more energy working the next day.

Meanwhile, in the village, people noticed that Father Wei had been smiling all day — he couldn’t even close his mouth — and they quietly speculated about what exactly Wei Xuan had sent home that could make the usually taciturn old Wei man so full of joy.

In short, Wei Xuan’s package stirred up a lot of gossip and wild guesses in the village — all without her knowing.
At that moment, she was at home, entertaining the rarely visiting Big Brother Jiang.

Big Brother Jiang sat there with a stern look on his face, making Wei Xuan a little anxious just looking at him.

She poured him a cup of tea and handed it over, saying,
“Big Brother, have some tea first. Jiang Che went out for a bit. It’ll probably be a while before he gets back.”

It was just bad timing today — they were running low on rice at home. Jiang Che was worried there wouldn’t be enough to make steamed rice cakes for tomorrow morning, so he had gone to Wu Yun’s place to see if he had any extra to sell.
If there wasn’t, at least he could let Wu Yun know ahead of time — so he could prepare accordingly — since tomorrow’s batch of steamed rice cakes might be smaller than usual. If there were advance orders, they might need to start turning people down.

Unexpectedly, just after Jiang Che left, Big Brother Jiang had shown up.

The two of them sat awkwardly in the main hall for about twenty minutes before they finally heard Jiang Che calling from outside:

“Wife, whose bike is parked at our door? Did someone come over?”

Hearing that, Wei Xuan let out a sigh of relief and hurried outside.
She saw Jiang Che carrying a bag, about to head toward the kitchen.

She quickly called out,
“Jiang Che, Big Brother’s here.”

When Jiang Che turned around, Big Brother Jiang had already followed Wei Xuan out of the hall and was standing there, staring at him.

“Where did you go?”

Jiang Che didn’t answer the question. He just said,
“Big Brother, wait a second, I’ll go put this stuff down in the kitchen first,”
and jogged off toward the kitchen.

After Jiang Che came back out, the three of them sat down again in the main hall.
Wei Xuan found an excuse to head to the kitchen to cook, leaving the two brothers some space to talk.

She wasn’t sure if Big Brother Jiang would stay for dinner tonight, so she decided to cook an extra bowl of rice — if they couldn’t finish it, it could be turned into fried rice with eggs for breakfast the next morning.

Just as she had started cooking, though, she heard Big Brother Jiang suddenly shout from the living room next door.
Right after that came a loud bang, like someone had kicked over a stool.

Wei Xuan immediately put down what she was holding and rushed to the main hall.
When she pushed the door open, she saw Jiang Che standing in the middle of the room with his hands on his waist, his whole body flushed red — whether from anger or anxiety, she couldn’t tell — with veins bulging from his neck.
The sight startled Wei Xuan.

Could they have gotten into a fight?

She quickly looked over at Big Brother Jiang.
He was standing just half a step behind Jiang Che, his face looking grim as well, brows tightly furrowed, one hand resting on Jiang Che’s shoulder.

Maybe because he noticed her coming in, Big Brother Jiang withdrew his hand.

The more Wei Xuan looked, the more convinced she became that the two brothers had really come to blows.
She hurried to say,
“Big Brother, if Jiang Che did something wrong, just talk it out. Please don’t fight!”