Chapter 193: That’s All They’re Capable Of

Lu Xiaosan: “Then forget it. If we stew a chicken, we’d have to give them half. I’d rather not eat it at all and just save the money.”

Old Lady Lu really had been seen through by Lu Xiaosan—she would indeed send half over. “If we don’t give them any, wouldn’t that be hogging it all for ourselves? In the village, a mother-in-law like that would get talked about behind her back.”

Lu Xiaosan spoke seriously: “When those two eat something nice, even if they just mention sharing, I’d accept it if you wanted to give them some. But now? No. What’s mine is mine, what’s his is his. Our family is our family, their family is their family.”

He added, “If you can’t do that, I’ll go tell everyone in the village I want to split from the family. I don’t want our stuff going to Lu Laoda.”

Old Lady Lu scolded, “Don’t talk nonsense. Don’t you want to get married? You’re not even married yet, and you’re making such a fuss—what family would dare marry their daughter to you?”

Lu Xiaosan: “Even for the sake of getting married, you can’t let yourself be pushed around like this. You need to toughen up.”

Old Lady Lu sighed, “Enough. With your eldest brother’s temper, even if I sent something over, he wouldn’t want it.”

Lu Xiaosan muttered, “If he really had that kind of backbone, we wouldn’t have ended up with not a single hen left at home.”

Old Lady Lu fell silent. Her eldest really didn’t have that much backbone.

Then the mother and son thought of another issue: “Even if my second brother knows the eldest had a baby, he wouldn’t come back just for that, right?”

Old Lady Lu nodded. “Your second sister-in-law isn’t that kind of person.”

What kind of person? Someone who would put herself out just for appearances. If she came to congratulate Lu Laoda and Li Meng just because they had a baby, that’d be strange.

Lu Xiaosan looked at Old Lady Lu. “Why don’t you go stay with my second brother for a while?”

Old Lady Lu replied, “What about the fields and trees at home? I’m not going over to fuss with your eldest brother’s family, don’t worry. It’s fine.”

Lu Xiaosan: “I just mean, it’s been almost a year since my second brother and sister-in-law got married and they still don’t have a kid. Shouldn’t you go check on them? Otherwise, people might think we don’t care about them.”

Old Lady Lu said, “Plenty of women take a while to get pregnant. Don’t worry about it. If your second sister-in-law hears you, watch out, she’ll give you a piece of her mind.”

Then she asked, “If I do go over, do you think your second sister-in-law will overthink it?” She actually wanted to go check on them.

Lu Xiaosan thought, You really don’t know my second sister-in-law: “She’d just say it straight out.”

Old Lady Lu agreed, “True, your second sister-in-law, if there’s two things, she won’t just mention one. Anyway, let’s leave it at that. It’s not like she’s ever been close with your eldest brother’s family. As long as she doesn’t go over there to scold them, that’s already good enough.”

Lu Xiaosan: “That’s why I didn’t let anyone tell my second brother about the eldest having a baby.”

Old Lady Lu gritted her teeth. She knew her third son was no saint.

Old Lady Lu stewed a chicken for Old Man Lu, and after she and Lu Xiaosan ate, Lu Xiaosan packed up all the leftover chicken to take with him.

He really didn’t want to give Lu Laoda even a shred of face.

Over at Li Meng’s, she was really suffering. The food Lu Laoda cooked was barely edible, and just when she finally had a bit of milk, it dried up again.

Lu Laoda even complained that she was being fussy—someone was cooking for her and she still wasn’t satisfied.

No one helped with the baby, no one washed the diapers. Lu Laoda had to run the little shop and couldn’t look after his wife and child, so he was always in a bad mood. When the baby cried, he’d shout, “Cry, cry, that’s all you know how to do!”

So, Li Meng couldn’t just stay in bed anymore. She had to get up and cook, or else she wouldn’t get anything decent to eat, and the baby would cry every day.

She wondered, with all this supposed backbone Lu Laoda had, how did she end up being the one shouldering everything?

Li Meng didn’t dare voice her complaints. In front of the future tycoon, she still had to show how hardworking and resilient she was.

These days, plenty of people came to the shop and made snide remarks at the couple: “Your family isn’t so poor you can’t even put food on the table. How come you don’t give your own mother a bite to eat? It’s not like you can’t spare it. People shouldn’t be like that.”

Every time, Lu Laoda would argue back, red in the face, making the household even more unsettled.

Li Meng finally made it through her month of postpartum confinement and wanted to complain to others about how her mother-in-law hadn’t taken care of her.

But everyone said, “We all know what your mother-in-law’s like. It’s not that she didn’t come—it’s that you didn’t want her. Your husband pushed her away.”

Besides, in the countryside, postpartum customs aren’t that particular. “You got to lie in bed for a whole month—that’s already luckier than most of us. Ask around, who else gets to stay inside for a whole month? Don’t we all have to get up and wash diapers and cook for ourselves?”

Li Meng found she couldn’t even get her grievances out.

Lu Laoda was so worn out, he didn’t even want to run the shop anymore. He didn’t want to stay in the village. Why were these people so nosy? What business was it of theirs?

That night, Li Meng took the baby and went to see Old Lady Lu.

Old Lady Lu looked at her eldest grandson. He was fine—plump and healthy. Her chickens hadn’t died in vain.

But she didn’t pick him up to dote on him. She’d seen through it all, her heart had gone cold. She knew if nothing was wrong, the eldest and his wife wouldn’t come by.

Thinking about her husband out working hard carrying cement, her youngest son still owing debts and needing to get married, Old Lady Lu really didn’t dare spend money carelessly.

Their family just wasn’t cut out for a life of luxury.

Li Meng saw that Old Lady Lu wasn’t very responsive and didn’t give her an easy way to start the conversation, so she put the baby on the kang. “Mom—”

Old Lady Lu said, “You’re out of confinement now. Just take good care of the baby.”

Li Meng said, “Mom, Feng-ge was just upset last time. He cares a lot about appearances, but he really regrets it now. Without you, the two of us can’t even get a decent meal.”

So what you regret is not having someone to cook for you. How come you never think about your mom not eating and whether you feel bad about that?

Old Lady Lu said, “He’s my own son, you don’t have to say all that. If you need something, just say it. If I can help, I will. If not, I’ll tell you straight.”

Li Meng said, “Mom, the way things are now, it’s hard for us to do business in the village.”

Old Lady Lu really hadn’t expected to hear that. “What did I do to make trouble for you? How did I wrong you?”

Li Meng said, “It’s just that it’s really hard for us to stay in the village now.”

Old Lady Lu’s face darkened. “Do whatever you want.”

Li Meng said, “Mom, I was thinking, since things are like this, we want to go to town to do business. But we’re short on money. Dad’s been working hard these past six months, and you’re getting older—you’ll need us to support you. Why don’t you give us the money Dad earned?”

Old Lady Lu thought, If Xiaosan hadn’t warned me ahead of time, would I have just handed the money over? She really didn’t mince words.

Old Lady Lu said, “All the money your dad earned these past six months went to pay off debts. There’s nothing left.”

Li Meng got anxious. “Mom, you’re still treating Feng-ge like an outsider. How could there be no money? Dad’s been working nonstop.”

Old Lady Lu thought, So you do know exactly what’s going on—you’ve been eyeing that money all along. “Well, there’s no money. You can only do as much as you’re capable of. If not, just stay in the village.”"