Chapter 4: Anger Taken Out on the Daughters, Little Crucian Carp

She leaned closer to Lu Hailiang’s ear and whispered,

“Even if we don’t eat them, we should let the children at home have some. Tianjie has never eaten anything truly good since he was little.”

Hearing his wife mention their son, Lu Hailiang couldn’t say anything more. After all, this was his only son, and he had been pampered since birth.

The moment Lu Tianjie saw the white steamed buns in his grandmother’s hands, he was so excited that he bounced up, his little face flushed red.

“Grandma, I want to eat!” he cried.

In truth, Lu Tianjie was far from underfed. With only one child, Lu Hailiang and Zhuang Meifeng had never let him go without food since he was born. Compared to the second branch’s Da Ya and Xiao Ya, Tianjie was practically a chubby little boy.

Zhao Menglan broke apart the steamed buns and first handed small halves to each of the strong young men in the family. With half a bun still left, she glanced around and tore off a large piece for Tianjie. Then, seeing the two little girls from the second branch staring pitifully at her, she softened. She split the remaining piece into two bite-sized portions and handed one each to Da Ya and Xiao Ya.

“Eat.” she said.

Da Ya’s eyes lit up the moment she got hers. Xiao Ya, being younger, only knew that she finally had a white bun to eat. She had just taken a lick when she suddenly received a slap to the head.

Xiao Ya let out a loud “Waaah!” and began to cry. Wu Laidi snatched the bun from her little hands, glaring at her furiously.

“You useless girl, all you know is how to eat! Can’t you think of the adults? Your mother’s carrying your little brother, and you don’t even think to save it for him!”

Before they had even begun eating their meal, Wu Laidi had already started hitting the child. Zhao Menglan slammed her chopsticks onto the table.

“Second branch’s wife, you’ve gone too far! Since when did you start running this household? I gave them the buns—what, are you planning to hit me next?”

Wu Laidi muttered resentfully,

“Mom, that’s not what I meant. It’s just… I’m pregnant…”

“So what if you’re pregnant? Does that make you superior to everyone else? Second, take your wife away. I don’t want her dangling in front of me.”

At Zhao Menglan’s order, Lu Huaiguo forcefully dragged Wu Laidi outside, his face dark.

“Always stirring up trouble! If you can’t eat, then go hungry!” he snapped, then turned back inside to continue eating.

Wu Laidi stood frozen outside, clutching her belly. She was carrying a son…

After the meal, Da Ya took advantage of a moment when her grandmother wasn’t looking, secretly hiding a coarse cornbread cake in her clothes. Like presenting a treasure, she gave it to her mother. But when Wu Laidi saw it, her anger flared again. She slapped Da Ya across the face.

“Couldn’t even bring me something good! It’s cold—who are you trying to feed? Are you trying to harm your little brother?”

Da Ya pouted but didn’t dare cry loudly. When Xiao Ya saw her sister being hit, she tilted her head back and began to cry again. The more the two girls cried, the more infuriated Wu Laidi became.

If it weren’t for them, would she be ridiculed by the villagers as a barren hen who couldn’t lay eggs—unable to give birth to a son?

Wu Laidi grabbed a broom and began beating her two daughters mercilessly. Da Ya didn’t dare move, but Xiao Ya cried as she ran out.

“Go on, run! If you have the guts, don’t come back home ever again!”

Ye Qiu, meanwhile, knew nothing about the chaos in the Lu family over a single steamed bun. After eating, she took out her children’s clothes to wash, and even carried out the musty-smelling quilts to beat and air them out.

Seeing Lu Zhibei trying to run off, Ye Qiu grabbed him by the collar and instructed her eldest,

“Zhinan, keep an eye on your brother. Don’t let him run around. I’m taking the quilt covers to the river to wash.”

“Mom, I want to go too! I want to catch little fish!” Lu Zhibei said excitedly, raising his hand high to signal.

Ye Qiu felt safer with her children nearby, so she nodded. Soon, the villagers saw Ye Qiu and her two sons, each carrying basins, heading toward the river. The villagers exchanged complicated looks.

Everyone knew the Lu family’s youngest daughter-in-law was lazy—but how could she be this lazy, even making her children help wash quilt covers?

Ye Qiu suddenly sneezed. Reaching the riverbank, she squatted down to scrub. She was upstream, while a few women squatted downstream. One woman looked up, spotted Ye Qiu, raised an eyebrow, and nudged the woman beside her.

“Meifeng, isn’t that your lazy sister-in-law?”

Having finished eating, Zhuang Meifeng was grumbling as she washed clothes. With Wu Laidi refusing to work, she had to wash clothes for the entire family, young and old. She was already irritated, and when she saw Ye Qiu, her expression soured.

Still, they were family. No matter how strained relations were, she wouldn’t let outsiders enjoy the spectacle. Zhuang Meifeng forced a smile and pretended ignorance.

“My little sister-in-law gets a monthly allowance of dozens of yuan. You can’t call that lazy—you call that blessed.”

Saying it aloud made Zhuang Meifeng’s eyes sting with envy. They were both daughters of the same parents—so why was her younger sister so successful? Her own husband only knew how to bury his head in work, honest to a fault and incapable of even a mild retort.

They were both daughters-in-law of the Lu family, yet Ye Qiu had given birth to two sons in quick succession, and then had split from the family to live on her own, enjoying Lu Huaichuan’s army allowance in comfort. Zhuang Meifeng looked down at herself: in summer, she only had two sets of clothes to rotate, already worn thin from constant washing.

The woman laughed aloud.

“Ye Qiu’s laziness is famous for miles around, and you’re still speaking up for her. This is the first time I’ve ever seen her wash clothes at the river.”

Ye Qiu’s reputation in Xinglin Village was indeed well known. Seeing her wash clothes was as unbelievable as seeing pancakes fall from the sky.

Zhuang Meifeng didn’t reply, quickly scrubbed through a batch, then stood up and left without greeting Ye Qiu. The two of them had little to say to each other anyway.

By the time Ye Qiu finished, most of the people at the river had gone. Nearby, Lu Zhibei gazed at the water eagerly.

“Mom, do you think there are fish in the river?”

He was craving fish. The last time he had eaten any was last year, when his mother had bought half a fish somewhere and made fish soup just for him. The aroma had made him drool in his sleep. Later, he had sneaked a couple spoonfuls when she wasn’t looking, and he still remembered it vividly.

Realizing the original owner had even secretly eaten without the child, Ye Qiu felt a bit embarrassed.

“There are. How could there not be? I’ll have a look.”

She placed her hand into the river, and instantly dozens of tiny crucian carp swam by, dark and darting. Lu Zhinan’s sharp eyes spotted them and he happily hugged his mother’s arm.

“Mom, there really are fish!”

Even calm, steady Lu Zhinan was overjoyed. Ye Qiu rubbed his head.

“Of course there are. We’ll catch them and I’ll fry them for you.”

The three of them stayed by the river for a long time, scooping the fish into their basin. They returned home triumphant. On the way, they passed several villagers carrying hoes. When the men saw the fish in their basin, they stopped in surprise.

“Huaichuan’s wife, where’d you get those fish?”

Hearing they had been caught in the river, the men didn’t even bother going home—they turned and hurried to the river instead.

Back home, Ye Qiu began preparing the fish. Since there weren’t many, she added a few more. After cleaning them, she marinated them with scallions and ginger, then mixed a batter of flour, two eggs, Sichuan pepper powder, five-spice powder, and a pinch of salt, coating the marinated fish in it.