Chapter 8

Breakfast was ready and the yard became lively.

Because the third and fourth sons’ families had returned, one table could not accommodate so many people, so they placed two small round tables in the yard for dining.

The whole family was sitting at the table preparing to eat, and Li Yao just walked out of the house.

He was “tortured” last night and fell asleep very late, so naturally he got up late today.

“Lao Liu slept at home last night?” Li Xu was a little surprised, “You…you don’t want to go to the fish pond?”

“I’m not going.” Li Yao reached out and took a pancake, “I’ll stay at home for the time being.”

Li Xu glanced at Ning Jia again, and seeing that her face looked normal, he was not quite sure.

Did Lao Liu get to eat it? Or didn’t he?

An Ye touched his arm and said, “Eat quickly and stop asking about other people’s business.”

“I’ll listen to my wife.” Li Xu agreed with a grin.

Old Mrs. Xu couldn’t bear to see her son’s lack of ambition, but she couldn’t just ignore it.

She put down her chopsticks, stood up, took out a basket from her room and put it on the table.

“Grandma, what is this?” As soon as Zhaodi saw the basket, he knew that the old lady had something delicious again.

“White flour steamed buns.” Old Mrs. Xu said with a stern face, and began to distribute again. “Oldest, fifth, sixth, and seventh have worked hard these days, so each of you will get a steamed bun. Third and fourth, you haven’t been to the fields these two days, so there will be no bread for you. You can just eat cornmeal and vegetable dumplings.”

The third and fourth sons had no objections and readily agreed: “Listen to mom.”

They have been eating pretty well at my father-in-law’s house these past two days, so it doesn’t matter if they don’t have steamed buns for one meal.

“Yes.” Mrs. Xu was very satisfied with her son’s attitude. “Others can take it.”

Li Gang got the steamed buns and Zhaodi looked at them eagerly.

“Dad, I want to eat white flour buns, too.”

Li Gang glanced at the old lady, then at his wife’s face, and stuffed a piece of cake into his daughter’s mouth: “Eat it.”

Li Xu got the steamed bun and quickly handed it to An Ye as if to show his goodwill: “Wife, you eat it.”

An Ye took the steamed bun and raised two fingers towards Li Xu.

Li Xu knew that his wife was reminding him about the eggs, so he gritted his teeth and nodded repeatedly: “I know, I know.”

Ning Jia saw An Ye eating the steamed bun and turned to look at Li Yao.

Li Yao directly stuffed the bun into her hand: “Eat it.”

Ning Jia was very happy.

When Old Mrs. Xu saw that the steamed buns intended for her son were eaten by her daughter-in-law, she immediately became unhappy.

She tried to grab the steamed bun.

Can I let you snatch it away?

Ning Jia opened his mouth wide, took a bite of half of it, and pushed the rest directly into his rice soup, turning it into a steamed bun soaked in soup.

Seeing this, An Ye followed suit.

Old Mrs. Xu’s attack was in vain, and she couldn’t help cursing: “You two selfish ghosts, you don’t care about your men at all! If there’s something delicious, hurry up and put it in your mouth!”

An Ye frowned and asked Li Xu: “I don’t feel sorry for you?”

“I feel sorry for her. My wife feels sorry for me.” He didn’t dare to say no. He was just getting married and was getting used to it. He couldn’t stand it if his wife didn’t let him touch her at night.

Ning Jia chewed the steamed bun and said slowly, “I eat steamed buns because I feel sorry for my man. Everyone in the village knows that I was abused by my mother-in-law yesterday and fainted from hunger. Those who don’t know think that my man is useless and lets his mother-in-law manipulate his daughter-in-law! I can’t let my man lose face, I have to eat! If I eat until I’m fat, my man will be proud! If I’m strong and don’t get sick, my man can concentrate on work and doesn’t have to worry about taking care of me! Can you say that I don’t love my man?”

After saying that, she turned her head and looked at Li Yao.

“Yeah.” Li Yao actually responded.

Old Mrs. Xu was so angry that her nose was about to be crooked. She stroked her chest to calm herself down: “Eat, eat! Don’t say anything! After dinner, go to work!”

After dinner.

Li Xu found his way into Mrs. Xu’s room and pestered her for eggs: “Mom, I know you have a lot of good things locked in your cabinet! Please give me two eggs, my legs have been weak lately.”

Old Mrs. Xu glared at her son and said, “You’ve used all that energy on your wife, haven’t you?”

“Mom, am I not anxious for you to have a grandchild?”

“You’re the only one who can say that.” The old lady felt sorry for her son after all. She opened the cupboard and took out two raw eggs. “Cover them up so no one can see them. Eat them yourself and don’t give them to your wife.”

“I know, Mom!”

Li Xu returned to the house and gave the egg to An Ye as if he was offering a treasure: “Wife, don’t let others find out.”

When An Ye saw the egg, she smiled. She hugged Li Xu’s face and gave him a kiss: “This is a reward for you.”

Li Xu immediately burst into laughter.

The young couple hugged each other and cuddled for a while, then they heard the whistle for work.

“I don’t want to go. I was tired last night and my waist is sore.” An Ye took the opportunity to say.

“Okay, I’ll ask for leave for you.”

“Go ahead, go ahead.”

In the house opposite the yard, Li Yao had packed up and was ready to go to work.

Considering that she had a fever last night and was still weak, he said to Ning Jia, “Don’t go today.”

Ning Jia had not planned to go in the first place and was thinking about asking for leave. Since Li Yao took the initiative to ask, she immediately agreed: “Okay, then I won’t go. Husband, you still care about me!”

After that, she took a coat from a rack and put it on Li Yao: “It’s getting cold, you have to keep warm. Wear one more layer so you won’t get cold.”

Ning Jia’s action was just the right amount. She seemed to care about Li Yao, but not too intimate.

After what happened yesterday, Li Yao seemed to feel that Ning Jia was not so offensive anymore.

“I’m leaving.” He said stiffly, then walked out the door.

As soon as the family left, only Old Mrs. Xu and her three granddaughters were left in the yard, doing needlework in the house.

The fourth son’s wife, Wang Sujuan, is five months pregnant. It is inconvenient for her to work with a big belly. Apart from basking in the sun in the yard, she goes back to lie down in the house.

Ning Jia closed the door and fiddled around in the house for a long time before making a fish hook and fishing line, which he put in his pocket.

She left home on the pretext of feeling unwell and going to see a doctor.

An Ye also found an excuse to slip out, and the two of them took advantage of the time when everyone was at work to go to the water pool deep in the North Mountain.

Hard work pays off, and they really found it.

The two people squatted beside the water bubble and observed for a long time, and indeed they could see fish swimming around in the water.

“Hurry, try and see if you can catch it!” Ning Jia said excitedly.

The two men hung two earthworms dug out of the soil on their homemade fishing rods and threw them into the water puddle.

Soon, the rod sank, and Ning Jia raised her hand, and a lively grass carp was caught by her.