Chapter 16: Seeking Grain and Being Humiliated Instead

Granny Ge entered the room holding a bundle wrapped in straw paper in her right hand. After stepping inside, she even turned back to shut the door. Her expression looked slightly uneasy, and her left hand kept rubbing the frayed and whitened cuff of her sleeve.

Watching her string of actions—what was this about?

Although puzzled, Song Yeqing didn’t ask. Not a trace of suspicion appeared on her face.

To put it in modern terms, Song Yeqing was probably one of those quiet types who were secretly passionate. “I’m curious, but I’m not saying a word.”

“In the room,” she answered.

Just as she spoke, He Yanxin pushed open the door from the main room and stepped out.

“I can come out now, right?” He had already taken a step outside, but remembering what Song Yeqing said earlier, he froze. He looked up with a smile and asked.

“You can.”

Why are you asking me? Song Yeqing felt exasperated.

Weren’t you the one who told me not to come out? He Yanxin gave her an innocent look.

Thankfully, Granny Ge seemed to have something on her mind and didn’t ask what the two of them were up to, or why someone wasn’t allowed to go outside.

Granny Ge sighed, “I truly owe you two, husband and wife!”

Last night, after receiving twenty catties of rice, she had intended to return it. Her family barely had any money left.

But it was already late at night, and He Yanxin had practically pushed her out the door, so she had to wait until the next day.

Who would’ve thought—on her way home, carrying the grain, she was spotted by her second daughter-in-law peeking out from the room. She’d forgotten to lock it away.

Before dawn the next day, her second daughter-in-law took twelve catties of rice and half the meat and brought it back to her parents’ house.

So, Granny Ge braced herself and chased after her to her in-laws’ place in the neighboring village.

Even though her second son and daughter-in-law were usually biased toward the wife’s side of the family, often taking things from home to give them, those in-laws would occasionally send some fruit or vegetables back.

The value of the exchanges wasn’t equal, but since there was some give-and-take, Granny Ge had let it go.

By the time she finally arrived, the whole family was already eating.

She greeted the in-laws, explained her purpose, and apologized profusely, even bowing.

Swallowing her pride, she only hoped to bring back nine catties of rice. Since they were in-laws, she thought leaving them three catties would be a decent gesture.

But after this, she would also have to give something to her eldest daughter-in-law to take back to her family, and even make a trip to the county town.

As an elder, she had to treat both sides equally, or even the gentlest, most tolerant person would hold grudges.

Her youngest son had become a live-in son-in-law last year. Back then, he had been working as a woodworking apprentice for his father-in-law when their daughter took a liking to him.

She and her husband had indeed wronged their son, but at least he wouldn’t go hungry there—that was some comfort.

She couldn’t help but smile bitterly to herself. It seemed that she wouldn’t be able to return much rice to He Yanxin, and the money at home probably wasn’t enough either.

But after she finished speaking, the expressions on the Li family’s faces changed. They denied everything, saying, “What twelve catties of rice?”

Granny Ge was stunned. They were outright denying it?

Her second daughter-in-law started crying loudly on the side, saying things like:

“I’ve been married into the Wu family for ten years and gave them two sons. Now I take a little rice and you’re chasing me to my parents’ house over it? I can’t take this anymore!”

What kind of talk was this? Making it sound like she was some evil mother-in-law abusing a daughter-in-law. It made Granny Ge tremble with anger.

She couldn’t take it and asked on the spot, “Did I starve you or make you freeze?”

So what if you gave birth to two sons? You’ve always flaunted that you had more sons than the eldest daughter-in-law.

She continued, “Have you ever seen me or your sister-in-law taking big bags home to our parents?”

Especially now, when food was scarce and they were struggling to feed their own—how could there be any extra to send back to the in-laws?

Even four months ago, when the younger daughter-in-law suspected she was pregnant and went to visit, she only brought two bunches of vegetables, a few fruits, and ten eggs.

But the other family said nothing. They not only served her a meal but, before she left, the mother-in-law even went into the kitchen and promptly handed her ten catties of brown rice.

She had been so warm and generous that it was impossible to decline, leaving Granny Ge at a loss for words.

Her daughter-in-law, with her belly showing, had returned to her room and rustled around before handing Granny Ge half a pound of sugar cakes. Later, when her son saw her off, he gave her four taels of silver.

She hadn’t told the rest of the family about the money. She’d wanted to save it for her youngest son. Unfortunately, grain prices kept rising, and in the end, not much was left.

After leaving her younger son’s house, she had bought fifty catties of mixed grains from the city.

She gave three catties each to her daughters-in-law for them to take home.

As for the better-tasting brown rice, she didn’t give any to them. She only gave two catties to her neighbor, Madam Song, and kept the rest for their own household.

The eldest daughter-in-law returned with a few small crucian carp, saying her nephew caught them in a shallow river.

The second daughter-in-law came back empty-handed. When she found out Granny Ge had given brown rice to the neighbor, she made a huge scene.

Admittedly, Granny Ge did prefer the elder son’s family more, but it wasn’t favoritism—she treated everyone else fairly in other matters.

It’s just that everything is relative, and the behavior of the younger couple was truly hard to stomach.

Granny Ge and her husband were getting old, and now, even working themselves to death in the fields didn’t guarantee a harvest. Their authority in the family was waning.

The second son didn’t keep his wife in check, and sometimes even helped her stir up trouble.

The eldest daughter-in-law was a bit weak, and the eldest son was too honest.

Every time they faced the younger son’s family’s unreasonable tantrums, the couple would get flustered and only manage to say, “These are your parents! What are you doing?!”

Their scolding had no impact, and now that the kids were grown, they couldn’t beat them either.

Her second son wasn’t even as good as the neighbor He Yanxin! That man thought of her often and would give her things now and then. But her own son?

Even with the family struggling like this, the two of them didn’t look like they were missing a single meal.

At least they had enough sense not to cause trouble for the neighbors. Otherwise, how could she face Yanxin and Miss Qing?

(End of Chapter)