Chapter 36: I’m Their Sister-in-law!

Capital City.

Li Sumei, along with Second and Third Brother Su, was driving two donkey carts. Each cart was loaded with 100 jin (50kg) of white flour, 100 jin of sorghum flour, and 100 jin of millet flour. The group was on their way back to Qingshui Village after shopping in the city.
(Millet here refers to cornmeal.)

With 14 people in the Su family, even if they scrimped and saved, they would still need 28 jin of grain per day. These 300 jin of grain would only last them about half a month.

What was worse, since the snow disaster two days ago, food prices had increased fivefold, and even grain shops had imposed purchase limits.

This time, they had spent 1 tael and 7 qian of silver on the white flour, 1 tael and 3 qian on the sorghum flour, and 285 copper coins on the cornmeal.

If there was another snow disaster, or if more disaster victims poured into the capital, prices would likely rise even further. Ordinary people like them would find it harder and harder to get food.

Farming was still the only solution. The saying “If you have grain in hand, you won’t panic” really hit the nail on the head.

Besides food, the back of the donkey cart was also loaded with 200 jin of rice bran and wheat husks.

These were bought to feed the family’s female sheep and the two newly bought donkeys.

After buying food in the city, Li Sumei noticed the price of both grain and feed had risen. She guessed that many people at the livestock market might be selling off animals at low prices. So, after paying the market fee, she and the two Su brothers headed to the livestock market.

Sure enough, donkeys that used to sell for 5 taels of silver each were now just 1 tael.

Li Sumei immediately bought two and had two carriage compartments attached so they could transport goods and people with them.

Before leaving, they had iron shoes fitted on both donkeys at the livestock market for 200 copper coins, which delayed their return a bit.

As the three of them munched on freshly bought meat buns and drank piping hot ginger tea from a roadside tea stall, suddenly a disheveled figure rushed out and blocked their cart.

“Second Brother, Third Brother, Fifth Sister-in-law! It’s me! Thank goodness, I knew you’d make it to the capital!”

The figure was filthy and unrecognizable, but her voice was still familiar to the three.

She blocked the cart driven by Third Brother Su, but he didn’t even look at her. He just steered around her and tried to leave.

Seeing the donkey cart, Jin Yuegui’s eyes lit up. When Third Brother avoided her, she hurried to block the cart driven by Second Brother Su. “Second Brother! Second Brother! We’re family, right? I get it if Third Brother ignores me, but are you going to ignore me too?”

Second Brother Su twitched his lips, handed the reins to Li Sumei, and jumped off the cart. “Sister-in-law, how can you shamelessly come to claim kinship? When you ran off with the family’s money back then, did you think of us as family?”

Guilt flashed in Jin Yuegui’s eyes. She suddenly clung to his leg and wailed, “Heavens! I got separated from the family while escaping the famine. I barely made it to the capital, only to be rejected by my own people! Boohoo! I, Jin Yuegui, must have the worst fate! Su Renli, if you’re watching from heaven, open your eyes and see how your brothers are bullying your poor widowed wife!”

Second Brother Su’s face darkened. He couldn’t bring himself to push her off, so he kept shaking his leg, trying to break free. “Who’s bullying you? Let go of me! I feel embarrassed just standing here with you hanging onto me! Let go!”

Third Brother Su was startled and quickly came over to pull them apart. But the moment he touched Jin Yuegui, she started screaming even louder.

The commotion was growing, and soldiers patrolling near the city gates were starting to look their way. Li Sumei quickly jumped down and said, “Second Brother, Third Brother, let’s take Sister-in-law back with us. Whatever needs to be said, let her say it to Mother face to face.”

“Sister-in-law?”

Second and Third Brother Su immediately objected, but when they saw Li Sumei give them a nod, they reluctantly gave in.

Second Brother Su glared at Jin Yuegui and grumbled, “Fine, get in the cart!”

Seeing the opportunity, Jin Yuegui immediately stopped crying. With a cheerful grin, she dusted the snow off her clothes and followed Li Sumei onto the cart.

After stealing the money that day, she had met up with villagers from her birth village and fled to the capital together. They had walked over 1,000 li and taken more than five months to get here.

But the capital had strict entrance policies. Jin Yuegui arrived with no money and couldn’t provide the name of any relatives. She couldn’t register herself anywhere.

She had been wandering around outside the city for days. If she couldn’t find a place to settle, she would either be forced into a lower caste or become a beggar.

Thank heavens she had run into Second and Third Brother Su and Li Sumei buying winter grain.

No matter what, she was determined to stay with the Su family now. Even if they offered her a mountain of gold, she wouldn’t run off again!

When Mother Su asked about it later, she would just say she got scared and lost when bandits attacked. She would definitely not admit that she had stolen the money and abandoned the family.

“Oh wow, Sister-in-law, your clothes are so new! So thick and warm, too. Looks like there’s a lot of cotton in them.”

Jin Yuegui complimented Li Sumei’s clothes, trying to cozy up to her.

Li Sumei smiled and tugged her clothes back to wipe them down. “Good eye, Sister-in-law. We bought fabric not long ago. Fourth Sister-in-law made two new sets of clothes for everyone. Each one is stuffed with three to four jin of cotton. Later, when we ran out of cotton, we bought another 60 jin in the city. Now we’ve almost finished making quilts.”

Jin Yuegui said enviously, “Fourth Sister-in-law is so skilled! When we get home, tell her to make two sets for me too. I’ve nearly frozen to death these days!”

Li Sumei didn’t respond and asked instead, “Did you come to the capital alone?”

Jin Yuegui’s expression turned awkward. She half-lied and said, “That’s right. After we got separated, I suffered a lot. I was almost robbed! Luckily, people from my birth village helped me, and I managed to follow them to the capital.”

Li Sumei stared at her. “Is that so? Funny how, during our escape, all the family’s money got stolen. Wonder who could’ve been so heartless.”

Jin Yuegui knew the jab was aimed at her but had to hold back and forced a smile. “How would I know?”

After that, she stopped talking and focused on devouring Li Sumei’s leftover meat bun and ginger tea.

As they traveled farther from the city, the area became more remote and desolate. Jin Yuegui began to size things up secretly.

She had come to rejoin the Su family because she thought they were living well. But if they were living in some shabby hut, she might have to reconsider.

“Oh hey, isn’t that Second Brother Su? You’re back with grain, huh?”

As they entered the village, Brother Lin, who was fixing his ox cart by the entrance, greeted them with a smile. “No wonder you didn’t ride my cart back today. So you bought your own donkey cart, huh? — Eh? And who’s this lady next to Fifth Sister-in-law?”

Before Li Sumei or the others could respond, Jin Yuegui quickly said, “I’m their sister-in-law! Su Jinshi! I got separated from them while fleeing the famine!”

Brother Lin nodded in understanding and laughed. “No wonder you look like that. You all better hurry home—while you were out buying food, your Fourth and Fifth Brothers went hunting and brought back two wild boars! One of them weighs at least 700 jin. A bunch of villagers are already at your place watching them butcher it. My wife’s there too, and I’ll go over in a bit.”

Wild boars?

Second and Third Brother Su’s eyes lit up with joy. Li Sumei, however, was worried—had Fifth Brother Su gotten injured? After thanking Brother Lin, the group rushed home.

“Sumei, you take Sister-in-law inside first. We’ll drive the donkeys into the yard and store the grain before coming in.”

“Alright!”

Li Sumei agreed and said to Jin Yuegui, “Sister-in-law, come in.”

Jin Yuegui stared at the blue-brick courtyard house in front of her, swallowed hard, and blinked in astonishment. Then she quickly followed Li Sumei inside. “Coming, coming!”

They’d become rich while she was gone?

Then even if she had to cling on like a leech, she wasn’t leaving the Su family!