Chapter 201: Chapter 201: The Fish-Splitting Dispute

On the other side, things weren’t so cheerful at the Xu family.

Xu Huaizhi had caught some fish that morning, and the whole family was happily bringing them home. But as soon as they reached the doorstep, they saw his mother waiting outside, unfazed by the chilly north wind.

Here we go—someone’s here to freeload again.

Lin Xiaomeng was so angry her eyes widened. This whole lazy family just waited around for handouts, never willing to put in any effort themselves.

Was Xu Huaiyu dead or something? Even if his leg was injured, his wife was perfectly fine, wasn’t she?

Even Dacheng knew that if you wanted to eat fish, you had to work for it. But these people? They just kept leeching off the family.

“Mom, what are you doing squatting out here? It’s freezing!” Xu Huaizhi pretended not to understand, though he knew exactly what was going on.

“Huaizhi, you caught so many fish? Perfect! Give me a few—I’ll stew them for your dad, he’s been coughing at night lately,” Liu Guifang said, not the least bit embarrassed.

Xu Huaizhi knew perfectly well whose stomach those fish would end up in, but he still had to give them—after all, she was his mother.

But Lin Xiaomeng wasn’t about to indulge the Xu family’s bad habits any longer.

“Mom, normally, we’d be happy to give you and Dad some fish. But who actually eats them once you take them home isn’t up to us. This isn’t the first time you’ve done this lately. What, we split our share and now we’re supposed to feed your whole side of the family too? What’s wrong with Xu Huaiyu? Does he not have hands or feet? He’s a grown man, still eating from his parents and now from his big brother’s house too—has he not been weaned yet?”

She deliberately raised her voice at the end, making sure the people in question could hear—and hopefully feel ashamed!

The neighbors all poked their heads out to watch the commotion.

Liu Guifang was thoroughly embarrassed and hated Lin Xiaomeng to the core.

“What, I raised my son and now I can’t even have a few of his fish? And you, you wretched woman, what nonsense are you spouting?”

“Whether it’s nonsense or not, you know in your heart. If you’ve got the guts, don’t give any to the third son and his wife!”

The houses were right next to each other, separated by just a wall, so of course Xu Huaiyu and Yan Lijun next door heard everything.

Xu Huaiyu had long since developed a thick skin—nothing anyone said could hurt him. But Yan Lijun was mortified, being called out as lazy in front of everyone.

“Stop pacing around. Who cares? Mom will handle it. Just relax and wait to eat,” Xu Huaiyu said, resigned to his fate.

“Huaiyu, why don’t we try netting some fish ourselves? If they can do it, so can we! Always eating handouts—it’s no wonder people talk,” Yan Lijun still had some pride.

“Why wouldn’t I eat free food? You think catching fish is easy? My big brother started learning how to net fish from the villagers when he was ten. He’s got real skill, that’s why he can catch them. If we went, we wouldn’t even see a fish scale.”

Yan Lijun felt a chill in her heart. How did she end up marrying such a lazy man?

She used to think he was pampered at home, and that after marrying him, she’d have an easy life too, with a mother-in-law who wouldn’t make things difficult.

She never imagined he could be this lazy.

A grown man, expecting everything to be done for him.

“If your brother was willing to learn, why can’t you? Now we can’t even eat fish without being scolded. I don’t care—you have to learn!”

“So now you’re saying I’m not as good as my brother? Why don’t you look at yourself—my sister-in-law manages everything inside and out, and she’s pretty too. What about you?”

“So you finally said what you really think, huh?”

As the couple argued, Liu Guifang came back carrying two big fish.

“Third daughter-in-law, come help me with these.”

Despite Lin Xiaomeng’s scolding, Liu Guifang still managed to bring back two big fish, and insisted on taking the largest ones.

When the eldest son was still at home, she never noticed, but now it was clear—there really wasn’t anyone else to handle things in the family.

With no work in the winter, Xu Mingshan spent his days either attending meetings at the commune or acting like a lord at home.

Liu Guifang couldn’t bear to see her third son work hard, so she had to figure things out herself.

Yan Lijun was frustrated.

The whole family was upset over the fish.

By evening, word spread that the brigade leader had caught a lot of fish and was dividing them up by the river. They hurried over with their buckets.

Since it was Gu Qinghuan’s family who had done most of the work, Liu Guifang, as the mother-in-law, went to collect fish. Chen Fengqin and Xu Huainian didn’t make things difficult for her and gave her two shares.

One share for her and Xu Mingshan, another for Xu Huaiyu—eight big fish in total, which was quite generous.

Xu Huaizhi also came and got his share.

But when it came to Xu Meiling, things didn’t go so smoothly.

Technically, Xu Meiling was a married daughter and wasn’t entitled to a share of the village’s goods.

Plus, Chen Jianghe was a sent-down youth, so he couldn’t get a separate share either—at most, he could be counted with the other sent-down youth.

With so many sent-down youth, if everyone insisted on a share, there wouldn’t be enough fish to go around.

No matter how much Xu Meiling argued, Chen Fengqin stuck to her guns and refused to give her any, not wanting to break the rules.

Chen Fengqin wasn’t worried about Gu Qinghuan being upset either.

She knew Gu Qinghuan had no fondness for the Xu family at all.

She’d already done more than enough.

But Xu Meiling was shameless. Feeling wronged, she went to Xu Mingshan and asked him to help her get some fish. After all, her father was the brigade leader—his word carried weight.

Xu Mingshan didn’t know the fish were thanks to Gu Qinghuan; he thought Xu Huainian had managed to get them.

Even though he’d benefited, he wasn’t happy about it. Normally, he was the one organizing everything in the village, but this time Xu Huainian had gone behind his back, clearly trying to win people over.

He wasn’t pleased, but there was no way he’d go make trouble for Xu Huainian or ask for fish for his daughter and son-in-law. As the party secretary, he had his pride.

Xu Meiling, heavily pregnant, made a scene in the snow—crying, yelling, threatening—but it was useless.

In the end, Liu Guifang decided to give her two of the four fish their family had received, which finally calmed her down.

Xu Huaiyu and Yan Lijun had already had a fight and were in a bad mood. When they saw their parents give two of their fish to their sister, Xu Huaiyu exploded! He tore into Xu Meiling.

“Xu Meiling, have you no shame? Always coming back to your parents’ house to freeload—where’s your husband? Why don’t you go visit his family for the New Year? Wasn’t it you who said your man was so capable? Let him buy you fish! Why come take ours? Don’t you know your sister-in-law is pregnant and needs nutrition too?”

That hit Xu Meiling’s sore spot. She’d been hoping to go to the city this New Year to meet Chen Jianghe’s parents and experience city life for a few days.

But Chen Jianghe refused to take her, always saying it was inconvenient with her pregnancy, or that his family was expecting another baby, or that train tickets were expensive and they needed to save money.

Bottom line: Chen Jianghe just didn’t want to take her.

Xu Meiling wasn’t stupid. She realized he probably hadn’t even told his parents about their marriage.

She’d even secretly seen letters from his family that never mentioned her, proving they didn’t know she existed.

Honestly, Xu Meiling was deeply disappointed. She’d been spoiled and pampered in the village, naturally proud.

But in front of Chen Jianghe, her pride had been ground into dust.

Still, she held onto a shred of hope, telling herself that as long as she gave the Chen family a big, healthy son, things would get better.

Chen Jianghe was already starting to compromise and treat her better, wasn’t he?

She could talk herself into it, but that didn’t mean others could mock her for it.

Xu Meiling went berserk, lunging at Xu Huaiyu to hit him, not even caring about the fish anymore—she threw them on the ground.

Yan Lijun was startled and quickly protected her own belly, backing away to avoid getting caught up in the fight.

Xu Huaiyu, though lame, was still stronger than a woman. He grabbed Xu Meiling’s hand, and the two started wrestling.

Liu Guifang rushed over. “Huaiyu, your sister’s pregnant! Be careful, don’t get rough. Meiling, your brother just has a sharp tongue, don’t stoop to his level. Think of the baby!”

That last sentence finally brought Xu Meiling back to her senses. Right, she couldn’t risk her last bargaining chip.

She let go.

But Xu Huaiyu didn’t care. He’d always been the family bully, getting whatever he wanted. No way was he going to let a married sister push him around in his own house.

After Xu Meiling let go, he gave her a hard shove. She stumbled back, stepped on a slippery fish, and fell flat on her back.

Luckily, Liu Guifang dove down to cushion her, so the fall wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Still, Xu Meiling was hurt.

She immediately felt a dull pain in her belly, extremely uncomfortable.

“Wuwuwu… Mom, what do I do? My stomach hurts!” Overwhelmed by helplessness, she burst into tears.

Liu Guifang, pinned underneath, groaned, “Get up first—my back…”

Yan Lijun, watching from the side, shivered in fear.

If Xu Meiling miscarried, that would be a life lost—what then?

Xu Mingshan usually ignored all this family drama, but when he saw things had gotten out of hand, he finally stepped in. “None of you ever give me a moment’s peace! Fighting over a few fish—now look, no one gets to eat any!”

What a way to ruin the New Year.

He stormed off to find Chen Jianghe to deal with the mess.

Xu Huaiyu, unfazed, said, “Xu Meiling, stop pretending. Your baby doesn’t scare me. Don’t come freeloading here anymore—there’s no place for you in this house.”

He thought Xu Meiling was faking it to scare him. She’d always been like this, using any means to get what she wanted.

Liu Guifang finally managed to get up, her back aching.

But she noticed her daughter really seemed to be in pain—her face was pale and sweaty.

“Meiling, what’s wrong?”

“Mom, it hurts…”

Liu Guifang, furious, punched Xu Huaiyu. “I must owe you all from a past life! How could you be so rough with your own sister? If anything happens to Meiling, you’ll pay for it!”

She hurried to help Xu Meiling inside to lie down.

Upon checking, she saw a bit of blood—just a little, but still.

Liu Guifang started praying to every god she could think of, begging them to protect her daughter’s pregnancy.

Xu Meiling regretted her outburst, but Xu Huaiyu’s words had been too much.

Yan Lijun, anxious outside, hurried back to her own room, afraid she’d get dragged into this mess. After all, Xu Meiling was the vengeful type—if she pushed her, things would get ugly.

Chen Jianghe waited and waited at home, but Xu Meiling didn’t return. She’d said she was going to get fish, but how long could that take? She was probably gossiping somewhere.

Just as he was about to go look for her, his father-in-law showed up with the news.

He was furious, but what could he do? He was just unlucky to have married into this family.

Someone gets hurt and they come looking for him—what was he, a doctor?

Chen Jianghe quickly rode his bike to the Xu house, checked on Xu Meiling, then went to the commune to fetch a doctor.

The roads were slippery with snow, but he didn’t care.

Liu Guifang anxiously waited at home, the smell of Lin Xiaomeng’s fish stew wafting over from next door, making her even angrier.

She kicked the makeshift fence Lin Xiaomeng had put up. “Are you all dead in there? Can’t you hear what’s going on over here?” How could they still be eating?

At the dinner table, Lin Xiaomeng shot Xu Huaizhi a look.

Xu Huaizhi, face long, went outside.

“Mom, it’s New Year’s—what now?”"