"Eh? Sister-in-law Gu, why aren't you speaking?" asked Mrs. Huang.
She seemed to dislike talking about this topic, so she hadn't said a word the entire time.
Mrs. Gu smiled and said, "Those things that happened in the capital have nothing to do with us in the countryside. You chat amongst yourselves, I need to go out and pickle cabbage..."
Yun Daman had sent back a cart of cabbage and a cart of napa cabbage. These vegetables needed to be sun-dried. Some would be dried into preserved cabbage, which would be delicious stewed with blood sausage, streaky pork, and large bones in the winter.
Zhao Guihua also went into the yard to work.
"Shanshan, if you can't wash all the clothes, just soak them first. No rush to wash them..." Mrs. Gu said with a smile.
Du Tieshan sat on a small stool, with a large washbasin and a washboard in front of her, scrubbing away. "Mom, I can finish washing these clothes in a day. If I hang them out overnight, they'll be dry tomorrow. It's comfortable to wear them clean!"
Although she hadn't married Yun Erman yet, she had already started calling her mother at home.
Zhao Guihua found it a bit jarring. She casually picked up a cabbage, washed it with clean water, and asked, "Shanshan, when are you planning to have the wedding ceremony with Erman!"
Du Tieshan's hands paused from washing clothes. She didn't say anything...
When she would get married wasn't up to her. Her parents had to set the date and handle all the arrangements.
For now, she just needed to do her chores well.
Seeing that she remained silent, Zhao Guihua took the washed cabbage into the kitchen. Her mother had said they would have stewed cabbage with tofu for lunch, and there was still some lard at home. Stewing cabbage with lard tasted very good...
"Mom, where do you think Xi'er and Huaihua, those sisters-in-law, have gone?" Zhao Guihua asked casually.
Mrs. Gu was chopping napa cabbage with a 'dong dong dong' sound. "Wherever they want to go, they can go. I've left them enough travel money, enough to go to the capital and back!"
Zhao Guihua nodded. "It's late autumn now, and the weather is getting colder day by day. They've been kicked out of the house, they must be starving and suffering!"
Mrs. Gu: "..."
What was with her eldest daughter-in-law lately?
She still had the energy to care about how others were doing?
If the old Yun family hadn't encountered the landslide and all the moving and house-building, she would have kicked Hu Xier out long ago. Why let her be so smug for so long...
Seeing that her mother's expression wasn't very good, Zhao Guihua picked up the stove hook, squatted by the stove, stirred the embers a couple of times, then scrubbed the large iron pot. She scooped a ladleful of lard into it.
As the oil melted, she poured the washed cabbage in. There was a 'pīlīpālā' sound. After stir-frying for a while, the aroma of the vegetables wafted out...
Fu Xiaoqiang brought over two blocks of tofu and took back a small bag of soybeans, an equal exchange.
The villagers of Dashui Village never paid for tofu. If they had soybeans, they exchanged them for soybeans. If they didn't grow soybeans, they exchanged them for millet, buckwheat, or corn.
Fu Daqiang and his wife were good-hearted and didn't mind small discrepancies of a few ounces...
When a family held a feast, he would even proactively send over a slab of tofu.
After Mrs. Gu left, Mrs. Huang and Madam Xue had nothing more to talk about.
The two madams glared at each other, one drinking tea, the other cracking sunflower seeds, both finding the other displeasing...
Yun Xiaobao came in and walked around. Seeing the two beautiful aunts with unhappy expressions, Yun Xiaobao shrunk his neck and ran out again.
At the same time, in the old Yun family's vegetable patch.
The men had worked all morning and harvested quite a lot.
With many hands, what usually took one or two days to cut the cabbage and napa cabbage was almost finished by them in a morning...
Other villagers saw this and craned their necks to look over.
"Oh my, if I had known, I would have had more sons back then. Look at them, they work so efficiently!"
"What are you complaining about? Can't daughters work in the fields? It's just that your two daughters are too lazy, they won't even empty the dirty water bucket, they just wait to eat ready-made food every day..."
"My daughter is lazy, so are your three daughters diligent? They're fourteen or fifteen years old and still squat by the river piling up mud. Look at Little Tianbao, she's only five years old and can already build a waterwheel, and she's even brought the title of a prestigious family to the household!"
"Oh, come on. You're always talking nonsense. How many prodigies like Tianbao are there in this world? You're comparing everything to the old Yun family, can you compare?"
"No, who are you being aggressive towards?"
"Just being aggressive towards you, what about it?"
"Damn it, I'm not cutting cabbage today, I'm cutting you!"
"Come on, come on..."
So, Li Laowu and Zhao Dahuyou started fighting in the fields.
My goodness, the two of them wrestled until they were covered in mud. After only a few moves, they were dragged home by their own wives.
"This is great!" Yun Siman, holding a pipe, sat on a large rock and watched the excitement for a while.
He loved this kind of rustic life...
If he didn't like someone, he'd have a go at them. No need to swallow his pride, just give them a good beating until their noses were bruised, and then they could still drink together at night.
"Old Si, have you really not taken a liking to any girl? You're the only one left unmarried, and Dad is worried!"
Old Man Yun wiped the sweat from his brow and looked up to ask.
Yun Siman smiled helplessly, tossed the pipe to the ground, and said, "Dad, you don't need to worry about this. I know what I'm doing..."
"You know nothing? If you like someone, just say it. Dad can send a matchmaker to propose. How can it work if it keeps dragging on like this? Look at your three brothers, they're all having as many children as possible, don't you envy them?"
Old Man Yun stood up from the furrow, patted his backside, and asked.
Yun Siman pursed his lips and smiled. "What's there to envy? What's meant to come will come..."
Old Man Yun couldn't get him to talk, so he stopped speaking and instructed Yun Daman, "Daman, when we get back, find the bamboo baskets and sacks in the granary. We'll husk corn this afternoon!"
The weather was getting colder, and he was afraid of a sudden freeze that would kill the crops.
"Understood, Dad," Yun Daman replied.
Yun Erman looked at the dirt road ahead and saw a carriage slowly approaching...
"Third brother, look, isn't that your family's carriage?" Yun Erman said.
Yun Sanman stood up, twisted his slightly sore waist, and looked into the distance. "It seems so!"
A moment later, the carriage stopped in front of the vegetable patch. Gao Fengjuan, with a gloomy expression, lifted the curtain, glared at Yun Sanman, and scolded, "What, do you still want your family's shop? You're making yourself look like a dirty donkey all day, what kind of shopkeeper are you?"
When Old Man Yun heard this, his face flushed a little...
Why was Gao Fengjuan so angry after they had helped them cut cabbage all morning?
Yun Sanman ignored her and moved a basket of cabbage onto the carriage.
"Yun Laosan, I'm talking to you!"
Gao Fengjuan lifted the curtain and jumped to the ground, walking towards Yun Sanman angrily.