Chapter 63

To be honest, Mother Sun truly looked down on Lin Hongna as her daughter-in-law.

Not to mention her humble origins, just the moral standards of Lin Hongna’s family were enough to make Mother Sun disdainful.

Mother Sun came from a good background. Her father was the head of the town’s grain station, her brothers were the directors of the town’s police bureau, and she married the director of the light bulb factory. The factory’s old director retired a few years ago, and now, among the leadership team, her father, who also served as the factory’s party secretary, was the most popular. Once the old director stepped down, her father was almost certain to take over.

Mother Sun was on the verge of becoming the factory director’s wife and was basking in her success when fate delivered a heavy blow she could hardly accept.

Mother Sun had one son and two daughters. Her elder and younger daughters were both married, and she had a great affection for her only son, Sun Jialiang.

For Sun Jialiang, Mother Sun had selected potential daughters-in-law with either a prestigious background matching the Sun family or from scholarly families with good manners. If that wasn’t possible, at the very least, the candidates should come from respectable, clean families, and be easy to manage.

Mother Sun never expected her son to have such poor taste that he ended up marrying Lin Hongna from the countryside.

Coming from the countryside wasn’t a problem if she had good character, appearance, and education.

But Lin Hongna, who fell short in every regard, was someone Mother Sun had no intention of accepting with a smile.

Since Lin Hongna was pregnant with the Sun family’s grandchild, Mother Sun reluctantly allowed her to enter the family, but that didn’t mean she had accepted her as a true member of the Sun family.

Upon entering the Sun household with her big belly, Lin Hongna was given five strict rules by Mother Sun.

1. Wake up at six every morning and clean the house from top to bottom.
2. When guests come, tea and water must be served with precision—neither too full nor too hot, eight-tenths full is sufficient. No picky eating, toothpicking, or noisy chewing at the dining table.
3. With Mother Sun in charge of the household, Lin Hongna doesn’t have a job, so all expenses for the unborn child are covered by the Sun family. She only gets ten yuan a month for personal expenses, and once it’s spent, that’s it.
4. Once married to the Sun family, Lin Hongna should have minimal contact with her chaotic relatives from her own family.
5. Sun Jialiang’s career is paramount. Any gossip or rumors outside should be ignored by Lin Hongna. No disturbances or arguments allowed, as trivial matters shouldn’t harm the family’s interests.

To be fair, apart from the first and last rules being harsh, the other rules were somewhat acceptable.

Unfortunately, Lin Hongna was not an ordinary person.

She had been reborn and had fought hard to seize a good marriage from her cousin. She was looking forward to enjoying life in the Sun family.

How could she let Mother Sun impose on her?

Especially with Mother Sun’s condescending and disdainful tone whenever she spoke to her, Lin Hongna was full of frustration and resentment with no outlet for her feelings.

Lin Hongna felt like her chest was going to explode, and her belly ached. She wanted to act out like a country woman, going mad and causing a scene in the Sun household. But a lingering bit of reason pulled her back.

Throwing a tantrum might relieve her frustration temporarily, but it would ruin any chance of future prosperity.

A small tolerance can prevent major chaos. Lin Hongna reminded herself to endure, thinking that Mother Sun was almost fifty—how much longer could she be so arrogant?

Lin Hongna encouraged herself and continued to act submissive and obedient in the Sun household.

During the New Year, the Sun family received many distinguished guests. Even on the fifth day of the New Year, guests continued to arrive.

The security chief of the light bulb factory and his wife brought fruit cans to offer New Year’s greetings to the Sun family.

Mother Sun sat on the sofa, holding a fine porcelain teacup, barely raising her eyelids.

Lin Hongna hurried to serve tea, offer snacks and candies, and eagerly presented the teapot to Mother Sun.

“Mom, please have some tea.”

Mother Sun didn’t say much, nodded slightly, took a small sip from the cup, and then chatted cheerfully with the guests.

Once the guests left, the floor was littered with melon seed shells and candy wrappers, and the coffee table was a mess. Lin Hongna’s face twitched as she grabbed a broom and dustpan, sweeping up while mentally cursing Mother Sun for being like a shining piece of donkey dung—cleaner than a dung beetle!

*

On the sixth day of the New Year, the county public security bureau resumed work. Gu Shi’an rode his bicycle over mountains and ridges to get to work, which was quite tough.

Lin Yao saw this and could accept the occasional kiss from him in the evening.

However, she had indulged him too much.

In the past few days, as soon as night fell, Gu Mancang and his wife would retire to their room to rest, while Dongzi would be in his own room, tinkering with his books before falling fast asleep.

Initially, Gu Shi’an behaved quite properly, but as Lin Yao wasn’t a sound sleeper, with the lights out in the deep mountains, all was quiet except for the cold wind creaking against the door frame.

Lin Yao slept soundly, her face flushed as she quickly fell asleep within minutes.

In the middle of the night, half-awake, Lin Yao felt someone gently kissing her. Before she could fully wake, a warm, pleasant breath brushed past her ear.

“Yao Yao, are you awake?”

Lin Yao, still dazed, murmured a response. Her partner chuckled softly, and tender kisses continued to fall on her lips…

For several nights, Lin Yao felt as if she were a small boat drifting on the vast sea, swaying back and forth. By morning, she woke up with a sore back and legs, unable to get out of bed.

Lin Yao fell into deep thought. This guy spends his days commuting back and forth for dozens of miles, and in the evenings…

Maybe she should hurry up and have a baby.

If things keep going like this, she will have no choice but to separate from Deputy Director Gu.

This year’s Spring Festival was unusual. Snow falls every two or three days. It snowed from New Year’s Eve to the second day of the new year, and then it snowed again on the morning of the sixth. The snow turned the mountain roads into muddy trails, making them difficult to walk. Every few steps, her feet would get covered in mud. The house was also damp, with no sunlight for a long time. At night, the mountains were shrouded in thick fog. The fog, combined with the gloomy weather and snow, made staying indoors unpleasant.

The factories in Yunshui County remained closed indefinitely due to the ongoing disaster. It’s said that in the northern regions, some disaster victims have resorted to eating “Guanyin soil.” This substance resembles flour but causes severe digestive issues, with some people even suffering from ruptured stomachs.

Ah, it all boils down to the lack of food.

The locals have been substituting fine grains with coarse ones, like cornmeal, millet, sweet potato cakes, and even trading old liquor for sweet potato cakes—anything that can fill their stomachs.

The Sun family also had sweet potatoes boiled at the bottom of the pot and pancakes steamed in a big pot. Sun Jialiang’s uncle manages the grain station in the town, so their family could still get corn cakes, salted fish, and tofu soup.

Lin Hongna was well provided for. The Sun family would never let her go hungry.

Lin Hongna was well-fed and plump, but the Lin family in the countryside was in trouble.

The Lin family had a big dining hall and showed no sense of crisis, eating and drinking without restraint, spending their money recklessly.

Now, the commune canteen is gone, and each family in the village eats separately.

The Lin family only had a small bag of black bread, which Lin Hongwu had stolen and exchanged for good things on the black market.

Such a small amount of food was nowhere near enough.

Lin Daguo and his family didn’t know how to save, and when their food ran out, they thought of going to the town to beg from their son-in-law.

Sun Jialiang gave them money twice, but then he stopped showing up.

As for the Sun family, with Mother Sun as a big figure in the family, Lin Hongna dared not offend them. Even if she didn’t care much about her maternal family, she couldn’t bear to see them starve.

Moreover, Lin Hongwu had brought her news that Lin Daguo and Li Aifeng were planning to beg for food in town with a broken bowl.

Don’t ask why, just know that our fate is unfortunate, and since our daughter and son-in-law don’t care about us, we have to beg for food.

Lin Hongna was almost furious. She had to take out her own savings and give them to Lin Hongwu, who went to the black market and bought three to four pounds of sorghum flour, two pounds of black flour, two pounds of sorghum flour, and twenty pounds of sweet potatoes, carrying them back to Linjia Village.

With these supplies, Lin Daguo’s family finally settled down.

Though the food wasn’t much, every household was short on supplies. Two meals of porridge a day would get them through until spring when they could forage for wild vegetables.

On the night of the eighth day of the new year, snow began falling again and continued until the afternoon of the following day.

On the ninth day, they had dried sweet potatoes for a meal. Lin Yao looked out and saw that the drifting snow had stopped. The old courtyard was covered with more than two inches of snow. The shrubs along the mountain paths were laden with snow, looking lively and beautiful. The distant bamboo forest was covered in white snow, and there were tracks of small animals on the mountain path, extending deep into the mountains, likely left by animals searching for food in the night.

Snow after winter is the best time to catch wild rabbits. Gu Shidong put on a coarse cotton jacket, looked at himself in the small mirror in the room, and felt it didn’t match his handsome face. He took off the coarse cotton jacket, tossed it onto the bed, and pulled out his brother’s discarded and modified small military coat. After putting it on, it perfectly suited his image.

The little rascal adjusted his hair and smiled at himself in the mirror, looking like a proud peacock, and went out to show off.

“Sister-in-law, I’m going to the back mountain to catch rabbits. How do I look in this outfit?”

Lin Yao twitched her mouth and gave a reluctant compliment, puzzled. “Don’t we have rabbits at home?”

“Ah, sister-in-law, you’re so clueless. Our rabbits are tiny. You can’t eat them. The rabbits on the back mountain have been fattened up all winter. They’re really plump, and catching them to stew with potatoes will be delicious.”

Lin Yao was tempted after hearing this.

The siblings drooled over the little rabbits in the rabbit hutch.

Zhang Cuilan scolded them jokingly from behind the window but didn’t come out.

Gu Mancang woke up early, took a big broom, cleaned the snow off the rabbit hutch, shoveled the waste out, buried it in the garden, and cleaned the stone path in the yard. He then helped his son, Gu Shidong, go to the back mountain to catch rabbits.

Gu Mancang happily agreed.

Lin Yao wanted to go along too, but her slender arms and legs were rejected by the little rascal.

“Sister-in-law, why do you want to go? It’s very cold in the mountains. The wind blows the snow off the branches, and if you get stuck, you won’t be able to pull yourself out. Just stay at home and wait.”

Lin Yao immediately agreed that staying at home was fine.

Gu Shidong laughed and followed his father eagerly.

Zhang Cuilan was tidying the wardrobe, pulling out two pieces of fine cotton fabric—one with a yellow background and azalea flowers, the other in a dark red color. Since her daughter was pregnant, she wanted to make a small quilt for Gu Chunmei, which would be useful when the baby was born.

The rabbits at home were scratching at the walls from hunger, making the orange cat bounce around, meowing.

Lin Yao quickly cut some cabbage leaves and put them in the rabbit hutch. Watching the rabbits feast, she noted that this hutch had eight baby rabbits, and the mother rabbit was pregnant again. The house was stocked with a cartload of cabbage, some from her uncle Zhang’s family and some purchased through connections. She calculated that in about half a month, these rabbits would be ready for harvest, and she smiled at the rabbits.

When Gu Shi’an came back from work, he was carrying a bicycle and heading home.

Deputy Director Gu indeed carried his bicycle home. After the snow, the mountain paths were filled with snowdrifts, making it nearly impossible to ride. So, after work, the old director had specially arranged for Da Tou Brother to drive the office jeep to the mountain pass to drop Gu Shi’an off.

For the remaining distance, Da Tou Brother couldn’t help, so Gu Shi’an carried the bicycle himself. Despite his carefulness, carrying the bicycle made it hard to walk steadily, and he stumbled occasionally.

Of course, Gu Shi’an was steady on his feet, and he didn’t fall, but his rolled-up sleeves got dirty, and his usually cold, expressionless face now had mud on it. The once-dignified Deputy Director Gu looked like a country bumpkin, trudging home with his bicycle covered in grime.

Lin Yao saw this and wanted to laugh but felt a wave of nausea and an urge to vomit.