Chapter 22 – Returning to the Parental Home

“Yoh~ Who is this?”
“Isn’t this our little girl who got married and forgot her family?”
Aunt Li, Xia Tian’s elder uncle’s wife, was standing at the main door, pouting and speaking sarcastically.

“Yoh~ Isn’t this my nasty, scheming, and sharp-tongued Aunt Li?”
Xia Tian mimicked Aunt Li’s tone, replying with a forced smile.

“Hahaha…”
The crowd around them erupted in laughter.

“You little brat, you’re asking for a beating!”
Aunt Li, seeing that Xia Tian dared to talk back, raised her arm and rushed towards Xia Tian in a fit of rage.

Xia Tian wasn’t about to just stand there and take the beating. She sidestepped, causing Aunt Li to miss and almost stumble forward. She stumbled a few steps before steadying herself.

Xia Tian shrugged at the crowd, saying, “You all better be my witnesses. I didn’t lay a hand on her!”
Today, her older brother was getting married, and the house was full of neighbors and people helping out. Xia Tian wasn’t going to get tangled up with Aunt Li, as she didn’t want to make a scene.

With that, she ignored Aunt Li and walked inside.

Aunt Li was so angry she pointed at Xia Tian, unable to speak for a while.
That little brat hadn’t changed at all; still had that foul temper.

Inside the house, Xia Tian greeted familiar neighbors with a smile.
When the neighbors saw that Xia Tian had returned and appeared to be doing well, they were quite surprised.
They had thought that after the ugly scene when she got married, Xia Tian would never want anything to do with the Xia family again!
But it made sense. Xia Tian didn’t get along with the Xia family, but she didn’t have a grudge against her older brother Xia Yang. After all, he was her blood-related elder brother, and blood runs thicker than water!

Xia Tian didn’t care what the neighbors thought of her.

She asked around and found out where Xia Yue was, then went to the kitchen to look for her.

Unexpectedly, her mother, Chen, was also there.

In the kitchen, a few aunts were sitting together helping to pick vegetables. When they saw Xia Tian, they hurriedly nudged Chen’s arm. “Your Fourth Girl’s here.”

Chen suddenly looked up and saw Xia Tian standing at the kitchen door, watching her.
She quickly stood up, awkwardly wiping her hands on her apron, and with a forced smile, cautiously asked, “Fourth Girl, you’re back?”

Xia Tian looked at Chen, who was flustered and a little apologetic, and suddenly felt all the resentment she had held towards her parents vanish in that moment.

Chen was Xia Yang’s mother. Though she was a bit weak, she still loved Xia Yang.
She couldn’t decide for him, but Xia Tian knew deep down, Xia Yang wouldn’t want to see her distant from his parents.

Seeing Chen anxiously staring at her like a child who had done something wrong, Xia Tian sighed in her heart. “Mother, I’m back.”

“Oh, oh!” Chen responded, turning away quickly to wipe her eyes with her apron without leaving a trace.

Xia Tian greeted the aunts helping in the kitchen, then looked around and didn’t see Xia Yue. “Mother, where’s my sister?”

“She’s in the backyard, sorting fish.”

“I’m going to find her.” Xia Tian turned and headed to the backyard.

“Xia Yang’s wife, your Fourth Girl’s back. Looks like she doesn’t blame you anymore. You can finally relax,” the aunts in the kitchen comforted Chen after Xia Tian left.

These aunts were relatively close to Chen and understood her feelings.

“Mm.” Chen replied happily. Finally, Fourth Girl was willing to acknowledge her mother.

Since the day Xia Tian had bumped her head, they hadn’t spoken, and she knew Xia Tian must have resented her for not being able to protect her.

When Xia Tian had been sent back for the three-day visit, Chen waited the entire day but didn’t see Xia Tian return, and she realized her daughter probably didn’t want anything to do with this family anymore.

The last time Xia Yang went to visit Fourth Girl’s in-laws, he returned saying she was doing fine. Although her son-in-law was a bit frail, he was reasonable, which put Chen at ease.

Now that Fourth Girl had returned, it meant she still cared about them. She could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Xia Tian entered the backyard and saw Xia Yue squatting down, sorting through small fish. Upon closer inspection, the fish were no bigger than a finger.

Which family would use such tiny fish for a wedding feast?

“Sis, why are you sorting these?”

Xia Yue looked up when she heard the voice. “Fourth Girl? You’re back?”

She looked at Xia Tian in surprise. “What are you doing in the backyard? I’m almost done here.”

“I heard you were here, so I came over. Sis, these won’t be served at the table, will they?” Xia Tian squatted down beside Xia Yue.

Xia Yue sighed. “Grandmother said we don’t have any money left, so we couldn’t buy fish. The best we could do was get these from Big Brother at the river.”

Xia Tian already knew it was something like this. When it came to their branch of the family, they always had to scrape by. They were just taking advantage of their side of the family because they were seen as easy targets.

Sigh. If the second branch of the family wanted to live a good life, they’d have to find a way to separate. But Old Lady Xia wasn’t a fool. Such obedient daughters and laborers were too valuable to her. How could she let them go so easily? If they wanted to split the family, it was a long road ahead.

Xia Tian didn’t dwell on it further. Their second branch had never had a high status in the Xia family.

Just look at today—Xia Yang was getting married, and his own mother was in the kitchen helping. That showed everything.

Which other son’s wedding had the mother personally cooking? No one from the first or third branches had helped.

Honest people were always the ones who got taken advantage of the most.

Xia Tian put down her basket and helped Xia Yue sort the fish.

Xia Yang and the others had gone to greet the bride. Xia Tian asked Xia Yue, “What about Xia Shiji and Xia Chen?”

“Xia Shiji went with Big Brother to greet the bride, and Fifth Girl (Xia Chen) was probably sent by Grandmother to gather pigweed.”

Fifth Girl was Xia Chen.

Xia Tian couldn’t help but admire Old Lady Xia!

After sorting the fish, Xia Tian and Xia Yue carried the basin to the kitchen. The main cook was there, directing the others in preparing the dishes.

In a rural household, when hosting a feast, they would usually invite the best cook from the village, as the taste was good, and the price was affordable.

Today, the Xia family had invited the best cook, Xia Rui’s wife, who was known as Aunt Rui.

When Aunt Rui saw the small fish in the basin Xia Yue brought over, she looked puzzled. “Is this the fish for today’s feast?”

Chen, looking embarrassed, smiled awkwardly. “Aunt Rui, my mother-in-law said we don’t have much money, so this is all we could gather.”

“Ai, Auntie…” Aunt Rui shook her head but didn’t say much. In her heart, she couldn’t help but look down on Old Lady Xia even more.

Last month, they had sold their daughter for thirty taels of silver, and now, at her son’s wedding, they couldn’t even provide a decent fish dish. It was just too careless.

Xia’s second son was a weakling too. Even now, he still listened to Old Lady Xia for everything.

When men can’t stand up for themselves, it drags their wives and children down too.

Aunt Rui, being an outsider, didn’t want to get involved in other people’s matters, so she turned and entered the kitchen.

Xia Tian heard suona horns getting closer, knowing that the wedding procession was returning.

Though rural weddings didn’t have grand palanquins, the suona horn was still essential to the ceremony.

Xia Tian’s wedding had been an exception, since she wasn’t actually married off in the traditional sense. Still, it was a little more formal.

Not long after, the bride arrived at the doorstep.

Amid the noise of the children and neighbors, Xia Yang held his bride’s hand and completed the ceremony. The bride then went into the newly prepared room, and Xia Tian dragged Xia Yue to meet her new sister-in-law.