Chapter 5: Life Is Dull and Tasteless — The Toad Commenting About Humanity

Even Xie Lanzhi had no objections to Xu Xuemei’s decision. After all, their family wasn’t small, and they’d been cramped for space for a while. With the larger family moving out, several rooms would be freed up. Now her two sons would finally have space to live after getting married. So overall, the family split was handled peacefully.

With a grand wave of her hand, Xu Xuemei took out ten yuan and handed it to her husband.
“Jianmin, go buy some meat and vegetables. Today our brothers and sisters-in-law are all eating at home!”

“Alright!” Shen Jianmin agreed readily. He was an honest and slow-tempered man, never as favored by their mother as the second son, Shen Jianguo. After marriage, his brothers-in-law often lent a hand. Don’t even mention one meal—he wouldn’t complain even if they ate at his house for three days straight.

Huo Beichuan took out a few packs of cigarettes from the shopping bags and handed them to the three uncles. Then he pulled out two extra packs for Shen Jintao to bring to Grandpa Shen. Shen Jintao, knowing the old man was feeling down, didn’t say anything and just took the cigarettes into the elderly couple’s room.

Wang Lanxiu didn’t greet her warmly. In her opinion, if Shen Jintao hadn’t said that it was Shen Chunmiao who pushed her, Xu Xuemei wouldn’t have made such a big deal out of it.

Wasn’t it just a minor misunderstanding between the younger generation? Did it really have to be blown up like this? Now a perfectly good family had split up, all thanks to this troublemaker.

Not to mention she even stole the marriage candidate originally picked for Shen Chunmiao. No matter how she looked at it, the old lady was uncomfortable.

Shen Jintao wasn’t fond of being warm to someone giving her the cold shoulder— even if that person was her own grandmother.

“Grandpa, Grandma!”

After calling out, she didn’t wait for a reply. She walked straight over to Grandpa Shen.
“Grandpa, this is the cigarette Beichuan and I bought from the county. The salesperson said it’s a good one—milder than the leaf tobacco you usually smoke and smells better. Try it!”

The old man’s mood lifted quite a bit. Looking at Shen Jintao’s still somewhat pale face, he reached out and took the cigarettes, tearing open a pack right away. “Go find me a match!”

“Got it!” Shen Jintao quickly ran to the kitchen.

As soon as Shen Jintao turned around, Wang Lanxiu fixed her eyes on the remaining unopened pack of cigarettes.

“Give me that pack,” she said.

The old man glared at her. “What do you want it for?”

“It’s for the second son! You’ve got two packs anyway!” Wang Lanxiu said confidently, clearly playing favorites.

“Go on, get out of here. This was a gift from my granddaughter for me. No one else should even think about it.”

The old man couldn’t be bothered to argue with this woman. He’d told her so many times to treat all the children equally, but every time he wasn’t looking, she’d secretly help out the second son.

All because when she was pregnant with the second one, a fortune-teller had told her the child was born under a lucky star and would bring glory to the family in the future.

Shen Jianguo was more clever than the eldest when he was little, but it was just petty cleverness. Spoiled by his mother, he never put his wits to any proper use.

Now he was nearly forty—where was the glory? If you asked the old man, those fortune-tellers just told people what they wanted to hear. Only fools believed them.

“How many times have I told you, old man, and you still won’t believe it. Just wait and see—our second son is bound to succeed one day! When that happens, don’t blame him for not being filial to you!” Wang Lanxiu scolded.

“If he was going to make something of himself, he’d have done it by now. His kids are about to get married, and he still hasn’t accomplished anything. I’m an old man who can still earn a wage, but if he’s so capable, how come he’s not eating commercial grain in the city? Go ahead and wait for him to be filial.”

The old man clearly didn’t buy it.

“I already asked someone about it before! It’s called… um, ‘late… late blooming’ or something like that. Anyway, it means he’s storing it all up now, and later he’ll bring us something big!”

The old lady still firmly believed in what the fortune-teller had told her.

Shen Jintao walked in with the matches and couldn’t help but retort, “It’s possible for a ^[1]“A golden phoenix flying out from a mountain valley” means someone from a poor or humble background achieving great success or high status.golden phoenix to fly out from a mountain valley, sure. But instead of putting all your hopes on Second Uncle, you might as well hope Grandpa becomes a commune director someday. Compared to your precious son, I think Grandpa’s actually more reliable.”

“You silly girl, what do you know? Always saying things to make people angry. I don’t even want to talk to you,” Wang Lanxiu snapped, feeling even more annoyed at the sight of this granddaughter.

“Sure, I don’t know much, but I do know that if someone wants to be filial, they should do it early—not wait until later. To be blunt, if you keep waiting like this, your teeth will fall out, your legs won’t work, and you won’t be able to go anywhere or eat anything. Even if my Second Uncle does become successful by then, what blessings will you even get to enjoy?”

Shen Jintao couldn’t help but fire back.

Her words made the old lady so mad she nearly raised her hand to hit her, but after thinking it over, she had to admit the girl had a point. She fell silent.

The old man, hearing what Shen Jintao said and seeing his wife speechless, was secretly pleased. It was about time the old woman heard some hard truths instead of daydreaming all day.

The three uncles from the Xu family were very capable with their hands. By the time Shen Jintao finished chatting with her grandfather and stepped outside again, they had already built a simple stove.

Zhang Qin even went back to the Xu house and brought over a large pot. “There’s an extra one at home—use it for now. Once you’ve built your own house, you can cook on your own,” she said.

Shen Jintao couldn’t help but feel grateful. These uncles and aunts of hers were truly wonderful people.

“Jintao, I’ll go back and put these things away. My parents are coming on the fourteenth to deliver the betrothal gifts,” Huo Beichuan said. He hadn’t just stood around—he helped for a while before speaking up about leaving.

“Tell Uncle, Aunt, and Xiao Nan and Xiao Dong to come have dinner here. It’s our first meal after splitting up the household—it should be lively,” said Shen Jintao.

Today, Huo Beichuan had spent quite a bit and brought plenty of things for the family—not even counting them as part of the betrothal gift.

He had even bought a few things to be used as her dowry. Shen Jintao was truly moved.

“Yes, Beichuan, call your parents and younger siblings to come eat at our place!” Xu Xuemei also added.

Huo Beichuan thought for a moment and agreed. After all, both sets of parents should sit down and share a meal together.

Liu Guifen and Huo Chenggong arrived early. Knowing that the Shen family had split up, they brought a lot of vegetables from their private plot and even a piece of cured meat that weighed about a jin (half a kilogram).

The Huo family was doing well—after all, they had a son in the army, and the military allowance wasn’t small. Xiao Nan and Xiao Dong weren’t married yet, so it was common for their household to have meat. That’s also why, when the engagement was first discussed, the second branch of the Shen family had tried so hard to snatch the marriage—thinking that with Huo Beichuan being an officer, if Shen Chunmiao married him, she could help support her family.

But unexpectedly, fate had other plans, and Huo Beichuan ended up with Shen Jintao.

Xie Lanzhi was convinced Shen Jintao had done it on purpose, probably having her eyes on Huo Beichuan from the start. As she cooked, she clattered the pots and pans loudly, grumbling,
“Some people, young as they are, have no shame—only good at seducing men. Even steal someone from their own cousin! Shameless vixen!”

“You didn’t get enough of a beating just now, did you?” Zhang Qin rolled up her sleeves, ready to fight again.

“And which ear of yours heard me name names?” Xie Lanzhi retorted, although she was clearly intimidated—these daughters-in-law of the Xu family were all as fierce as Xu Xuemei.

Shen Jintao quickly pulled her aunt back, saying,
“Auntie, some people are like they came out of a latrine pit—don’t stoop to their level.”

Xu Xuemei strongly agreed with her daughter,
“Exactly, sister-in-law. Life is dull and tasteless, and a toad is out here commenting about humanity—how can you take her seriously?”

“Xu Xuemei! Who are you calling a toad?!” Xie Lanzhi exploded.

“And which ear of yours heard me say any names? Maybe shake your brains into place before talking to me,” Xu Xuemei rolled her eyes.

Xie Lanzhi was about to speak again, but Shen Jianguo shot her a glare, “Enough! Are you planning to keep making a scene?”