Chapter 15: A Lesson

The sound of the rooster crowing rang out, followed by the creaking sound of doors opening. The people who had woken up in the houses got out of bed. Smoke curled up from the chimneys in the small village as everyone got up. Only lazybones were still lying in bed, not getting up. The men who got up early carried their hoes and walked to the fields. Those who were rushing their donkeys to town also set off early in the morning.

The children in the Cao family courtyard got up one after another, and the courtyard was filled with noise.

Qi Wanfeng was still sleeping until now. People who were pregnant were a bit sleepy. He only woke up when he heard the noise from outside the courtyard. The child he was holding in his arms was still sleeping. Their room was quiet, and his husband was still sleeping soundly, not waking up.

“Bang, bang–” Someone was banging on the door, making a loud noise.

Qi Wanfeng had just woken up. He carefully put down the child who was still sleeping in his arms, got out of bed lightly, tidied up the clothes on his body, and went to open the door. Outside the door was his a-mu. He called out, “A-mu.”

“Do you know what time it is now? Ah, you still don’t know to get up. We’re all waiting to eat breakfast. You haven’t even made breakfast. You’re doing well, daring to sleep until now and not knowing to get up…” Chen Zhu started with a torrent of abuse, and the words became more and more unpleasant.

Normally, at this time, the rice porridge in the kitchen would be cooked, and they would have something to eat when they got up. But when he got up today and lifted the lid of the pot, it was still cold. It made him so angry. It was good for them, a family of them were still hiding in the room sleeping.

While their a-mu was scolding Qi Wanfeng, the eldest brother’s wife, Chen Li, and the second brother’s wife, Wang Yan, were watching the show as if it were none of their business. Wang Yan heard big news from her man last night and got up early today specifically to wait and watch a good show. She didn’t expect that she would hear her a-mu scolding Qi Wanfeng as soon as she got up. She was very happy to hear it.

The children in the courtyard had all gathered around, some laughing loudly, making a lot of noise.

Cao Xiangnan was awakened by a sharp scolding. An’an, who had been sleeping well on the bed, was startled awake and was sitting there crying. His head was throbbing. Especially hearing his a-mu’s curses outside, the cursing was so unpleasant.

“An’an, don’t cry. Come to a-die,” Cao Xiangnan called to the child when he heard him crying, crying so miserably.

The child was crying loudly, paying attention to no one.

Qi Wanfeng was bowing his head and taking the scolding. He was very uncomfortable hearing the child’s crying and hesitated to go in and coax the child.

A large group of people had gathered at the door of their room, and everyone was watching the excitement.

Cao A-die couldn’t even smoke his pipe. He walked over with a bad expression, and said in a deep voice, “Alright, saying a few words is enough.” He felt sorry for this fourth son, so he came over today to help say a word. Normally, he rarely spoke when his wife was scolding people. He was used to silently going outside to work, and he never cared much about the things in the family.

“Aren’t you going to hurry up and cook?” Seeing that her man had spoken, Chen Li was dissatisfied but didn’t vent her anger on her man. She just didn’t give Qi Wanfeng a good look, and didn’t care about the fourth son in the room. He hoped that their family could get out of here quickly, so that he wouldn’t have to do it himself.

In this society where the husband was the most important thing, no matter how mean and overbearing Chen Zhu’s personality was, he was honest and obedient in front of her man. After scolding the second daughter-in-law, he turned to see that everyone was gathered here and not going to work, and started scolding again. The little ones scattered in a burst.