Interlude

Fang Zeng went to Lin Xin’s house first, but he didn’t expect that Lin Xin and Lin Zheng were both at home, and Lin Shuang was also there. Lin Shuang’s crying could be heard in the house. They were talking, and he didn’t know how it was going. The atmosphere in the house was very depressing. Fang Zeng thought he was unlucky. Why did he run into someone’s private affairs at this time?

But he had already entered the courtyard door, and it would be inappropriate to go out again. He hurriedly shouted loudly: “Uncle, is Brother Lin at home?” Fang Zeng deliberately dragged his steps very slowly. Normally, he could get there from the courtyard door to the house in a few steps, but today it took him a cup of tea.

He thought that his uncle, who was so proud, would cover up the matter. Family disgrace should not be made public. His uncle Lin Cheng was the most proud, and he could not lose face in front of him, a junior. But to his surprise, when he entered the house, Lin Shuang was still crying.

Fang Zeng was neither going to retreat nor to advance, and was very embarrassed. Lin Zheng’s family was also wiping tears beside him.  However, unlike Lin Shuang, who sat on the ground and cried loudly without caring about anything, Lin Cheng looked at Fang Zeng’s embarrassment. His face flushed red, and he shouted at Lin Shuang: “Okay, get up, don’t embarrass yourself here.”

Lin Shuang was loved by the old couple of the Lin family when he was at home and had a bad temper. Knowing that his father was very proud, he took advantage of the people coming to take advantage of his father and brothers. He immediately said: “Dad, give me the rice, and I won’t say anything. Otherwise, I will cry again. How can I live like this!”

Lin Cheng looked at how embarrassed he was in front of his nephew, and wanted to immediately  agree, but before he could say anything, Lin Zheng’s fulang said, “Father-in-law, this rice was harvested from the fields by us and eldest brother’s family. We can’t control eldest brother’s family, but in our own family, we can’t even cook some for Xiao Zhuang after exchanging for money and paying off the debts of the house. We can’t control how you two old people subsidize your ger but you can’t use your own son’s family to subsidize your ger. Otherwise, I won’t say anything else. I will take Xiao Zhuang back to my mother’s house and talk about it. What’s the reason?”

Seeing the usually silent fulang of the second family talking a lot, he was almost saying that the old couple Lin Cheng had taken away their subsidy for Lin Shuang. Lin Cheng knew that the eldest and second families were upset. He also knew what kind of personality his ger had, but he didn’t expect him to be so confused. If he came back this time, he would admit his fault, and he and his wife would mediate in the middle. Even if the eldest and second families had something to say, his own brothers would not say anything.

 But, alas! It was also because he did not teach his ger well. He stood up and said to Lin Shuang: “You should go back now. No family’s food is blown by the wind. Your brother also has to support his family. If you really have no food to eat, it’s okay. Old Zhao can’t even support you, so you have come to ask.”

Seeing that his mother was really angry, Lin Shuang was not as fearless as at the beginning. He quickly stood up and said embarrassedly: “Mom, what are you talking about. My family really has no food, so I thought of selling white rice and changing it to coarse grains. I didn’t expect to be misunderstood by my brother. I really…” Before he finished speaking, Lin Cheng’s eyes sank at him, and he fell silent.

 Lin Xin’s family didn’t complain like Lin Zheng’s family, but they also spoke, saying to Lin Shuang: “Brother, you also know that your nephew will go to a private school next year, and the money for this study was borrowed from my mother’s home. Now the family is really tight, when will you pay back the six taels of silver you borrowed? Your family has bought a mule, but your elder brother and younger brother are pitiful, but they don’t even see the hair of the mule.”

After saying this, Lin Shuang knew that he would not get any good today, and he didn’t think about the rice that was taken back. He said to the old couple of the Lin family: “Dad, mom, I am worried about that fat guy at home, I want to go home. I will come to see you later.”

After saying this, he left without even looking back.

Lin Cheng’s face was blue and white. Lin Cheng also looked at the faces of the eldest and second eldest families with contempt, and didn’t know what to say. The most important thing is that in the past, no matter what, the eldest and the second son always helped Lin Shuang, but now they said nothing and let their ger talk, which showed their attitude.

He looked at his ger who was going away and sighed. Why didn’t his ger understand that he had offended his brother and his fulang. It didn’t matter if they were still here, but if they were gone, who could help him?

Fang Zeng watched the farce and said nothing, and didn’t know what to say.

Lin Shuang was about the same age as him. The old couple thought that he was a ger and would marry someone in the future, so they could relax and love him more during these days at home. But they made Lin Shuang selfish and self-centered. He didn’t care about his family at all and put himself first in everything.

He fell in love with Zhao Qin, the eldest son of Zhao De’s family in Zhao Village. Zhao De’s family lived an average life in Zhao Village. They had two acres of land at home, but they had to support four people. Life was very tight, but Zhao Qin was good-looking and smart, so Lin Shuang liked him and persuaded Lin Cheng and his fulang to agree when they came to the Zhao family to propose marriage.

But when Lin Shuang got married, he found out that the Zhao family was really poor and sometimes they could not eat meat once a year. He regretted it, but since he was married, he had to live on. He went back to his parents’ home and blamed his father for marrying him to such a poor family, completely forgetting that it was he who pestered his father to agree, and then he took things from the Lin family back to the Zhao family as a matter of course.

It was better before. Lin Xin and Lin Zheng saw that Lin Shuang had not married well, so they gave him some money, and they also considered their father’s face. Half a year ago, Lin Xin and Lin Zheng had saved up six taels of silver and planned to buy a mule together to facilitate farming. But somehow Lin Shuang found out about it, and he pretended that his child was sick and went back to his parents’ home to borrow money, saying that he wanted to buy life-saving medicine, exactly six taels. 

It doesn’t matter if the mule is not bought, but the life of the grandson must be saved. Lin Cheng asked his sons to lend the money to Lin Shuang for emergency and pay it back when they have money. When the Zhao family bought the mule, they learned from other sources that Lin Shuang’s son was not sick at all, and he used the money to buy the mule.

This made Lin Xin and Lin Cheng very angry. The brothers in the family often complained that everyone’s life was not rich, and this was saved from the gaps in their teeth. How could they not feel distressed when it was gone without a word.

Lin Cheng also scolded Lin Shuang for this matter, but he bought the mule with the money, and now it belongs to the Zhao family. He can’t take the mule back, otherwise the Zhao family and the Lin family will become enemies instead of relatives. Does Lin Shuang still want to live in the Zhao family? But if he asks him for money, he doesn’t have so much money, so he can only scold him to vent his anger.

 Lin Shuang, however, acted as if nothing had happened. He went back to his parents’ home to eat and take things, which made Lin Xin’s family and Lin Zheng’s family very angry.

Lin Xin and Lin Zheng were also disappointed with Lin Shuang and didn’t help him much. How could they be treated as brothers? Their family’s life was only slightly better than that of ordinary farmers. Their family also saved money. His husband hadn’t seen a new piece of clothing for several years but Lin Shuang would take everything good back to the Zhao family. He always came empty-handed, not even a piece of cake for their son.

Fang Zeng knew the truth and looked down on Lin Shuang. But he felt that the biggest problem was still with his uncles. If this continued, Lin Shuang would suffer.

Seeing that the atmosphere was not good, Fang Zeng didn’t stay for long and took Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang back first. Lin Xin postponed dinner in the evening, and Lin Zheng said that he had something to do at home and would definitely arrive in the evening.

 At the Fang house, Fang Zhiyuan took out a piece of salted bacon, picked three or four green vegetables, and cut the bacon into thin slices. Half of it was fried to make oil for cooking green vegetables, and the other half was sprinkled on the steamed rice. In this way, the steamed meat was not so greasy, and the rice was dipped in meat oil. It was cooked one by one, and it was more delicious with the meat flavor.

The turtle was stewed with mushrooms left at home, and the crucian carp was braised. After thinking about it, Fang Zhiyuan went to get two radishes, cut them into shreds, added hot oil and seasoning, and mixed them to make a cold dish. In this way, there were only four dishes and one soup, which looked quite good.

When Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang came, Fang Zhiyuan had cooked the crucian carp, and only the turtle was still stewing. He found three bowls and filled them with half a bowl of turtle soup. When Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang came to find him, he asked them to drink some soup first. Fang Zeng brought a bowl of fruit and asked Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang to eat.

Fang Zhiyuan brought the turtle soup left on the table to his uncle and said to Fang Zeng: “Uncle, try the soup I cooked and see if it tastes good.” Fang Zeng originally wanted to nourish Fang Zhiyuan, and he brought two boys back, so there was not much soup in the pot. He didn’t plan to drink it.

But he couldn’t beat Fang Zhiyuan, so he took the turtle soup and took a sip. It tasted delicious and warmed his whole body. Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang drank the soup vigorously and said to Fang Zhiyuan: “Brother Fang, this soup is really delicious.”

Fang Zhiyuan tasted it first, so he knew it was good. But he couldn’t stop being happy when he heard the two little foodies’ constant praise. He served half a bowl to the two eager people. His uncle served him a bowl and said with a smile: “Our cook hasn’t drunk it yet. Come, Huzi, you and Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang go drink the soup. Let your uncle watch the fire here. Wait for your uncle Lin Zheng to come, and then we’ll have dinner.”

Fang Zhiyuan drank the turtle soup and looked at his uncle who was sitting by the stove and blushing because of the firewood. He felt very satisfied. Home is where my heart is at peace, and where there are relatives is where he belongs. For the first time, he felt a little emotional. In fact, it’s not too bad to come to such a place.

Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang were very well-behaved, and Fang Zhiyuan took them to play with sandbags. The three of them ran for a while, and they were hot all over. They laughed in the yard.  

When Lin Zheng came in, Xiao Zhuang stood up and rushed over, shouting: “Dad, Dad! I drank delicious soup today, and you can drink it later. Also, Brother Fang took us to play sandbags, let’s go back and ask mom to make one for me, okay?” He shook Lin Zheng’s arm.

Lin Zheng hugged Xiao Zhuang and said repeatedly: “Okay, okay, let your mom make it for you when we get back. You get down first, Dad has to go see your Uncle Fang. If you keep pestering me like this you can’t eat.”

When he heard that he had to eat, Xiao Zhuang got down from Lin Zheng swiftly, held his hand, and said: “Eat, eat, Xiao Zhuang’s stomach is empty.” He touched his round belly, indicating that he was very hungry.

Fang Zhiyuan laughed at him, and didn’t expect that Xiao Zhuang was not only a foodie, but also a little live treasure, so funny. Fang Zeng heard the voice and came out, saying to Xiao Zhuang: “Come and let uncle touch your belly, it’s empty. Uncle will give you a tummy today to make you full.”

Although Xiao Zhuang didn’t know what a tummy was, he knew it must be delicious, and he was not shy. He walked to Fang Zeng, pointed to his belly, and said: “Uncle, touch it, it’s empty.”

Fang Zeng laughed so hard that he picked him up and went into the house. Lin Zheng was embarrassed by his son’s little appearance, but he couldn’t help laughing. Fang Zeng had already set up the food. When Lin Zheng saw the turtle, he knew it must have been taken today. He thought that Fang Zeng, his cousin, didn’t forget his and his brother’s children when he ate the turtle, but his brother Lin Shuang’s children never ate a piece of his meat.

Thinking of this, he felt depressed again. Fang Zeng arranged the children, served them soup, and added rice and steamed meat. Looking back at Lin Zheng who hadn’t touched his chopsticks, he asked, “Ah Zheng, what’s wrong? You’re eating here, but you’re still so listless. It makes people feel listless. Come, try it. This is made by Huzi. It tastes great.” As he said that, he picked up a piece of turtle and put it in Lin Zheng’s bowl.

Lin Zheng also knew that he had lost his composure. He quickly said, “Look at me like this. Come, come, let’s eat. Mm, Huzi’s cooking is much better than my fulangs’s.”

The meal was lively and the host and the guests enjoyed it. Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang burped and asked Fang Zhiyuan to take them to feed them water.

Lin Zheng also had something in his heart, and he told Fang Zeng everything.

He went to the town to buy glutinous rice this morning. He originally wanted to catch fish early in the morning. But when he arrived at the grain store, he saw Lin Shuang selling white rice. Lin Shuang came home crying a few days ago, saying that his mother in law was sick and wanted him to eat some rice to nourish his body, but his family had sold all the rice, and the family couldn’t afford to buy more rice. So he thought about whether he could borrow some from his maternal family first and pay it back next year.

Lin Cheng saw his ger crying pitifully. He thought that although rice was precious, he couldn’t embarrass his brother for such a small matter. Lin Xin and Lin Zheng were not happy. This pound of rice could be exchanged for ten pounds of coarse grains, and the rice left by every household was used to entertain guests. If they left half of it for Lin Shuang, it would definitely be gone. They said they didn’t have it, but in the end, they were forced by Lin Cheng and his wife to give Lin Shuang 50 pounds each.

This morning, he actually saw Lin Shuang selling the rice he took from his family, and there were patches on the rice bag made by his brother. He got angry all of a sudden. He could accept his brother taking food home to eat, but he couldn’t stand him taking his family’s food to exchange for money. Everyone knows that rice can be exchanged for money. Every time his kid asked for rice, he would be beaten by his fulang. It was just to have some left to subsidize the family. But what was left in his family was exchanged for money by his brother.

He was so angry that he didn’t believe it and took the rice on the spot. Lin Shuang tried to argue when he saw it. Lin Zheng was not stupid either. He said that he wanted to go see his sick mother-in-law. Lin Shuang refused and he knew that Lin Shuang was using the same old trick again.

He didn’t say anything this time and came back with the rice.

How could Lin Shuang see the duck in his mouth fly away? He actually followed and made a fuss in the Lin family.

Fang Zeng was speechless after hearing this. Looking at Lin Zheng’s helpless and tired face, he didn’t know what to say.