Jiang Rui and Zhao Nan only had lunch at Du’s house before returning.

The lunch was not very pleasant.

Not long after Xiao Shanza slept, she woke up and started crying again. Zhang Xiaohua went back to the room to coax her, but she did not coax her well. The child kept crying, which made people uneasy. Du Baoqiang followed up and did not know what he said, but then the two suddenly quarreled.

Jiang Rui was going to persuade them, but was stopped by Wang Tonghua, she said: “You are a guest now. Sit down and eat. I will go and have a look.”

This is the married girl. She is a guest when she returns to her mother’s house, but she is not one of her own in her husband’s house.

Later, Zhang Xiaohua and Du Baoqiang were persuaded, but the scene was still a little stiff. Wang Tonghua probably felt that it was not good for the new son-in-law to see the joke, so she quietly told Jiang Rui not long after, to let her and Zhao Nan go back first, and come back next time.

After the two of them left, the atmosphere in the Du family became even more gloomy.

Zhang Xiaohua hugged Xiao Shanza and shook it slightly, but her eyes stared at Du Baoqiang bitterly. Du Baoqiang sat down by the door with his head bowed.

Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Du Baozhen dared not speak more and quietly went back to her room.

Wang Tonghua stood by the table with a calm face.

“Mom, I will take the child back to my natal house for a few days.” Zhang Xiaohua said suddenly.

Wang Tonghua frowned: “The baby is still sick. Let’s go after the illness recovers.”

“Don’t dare to raise it,” Zhang Xiaohua raised her voice, “It’s only been a day since she was sick. Some people think that our mother and daughter are annoying, and think we are getting in the way. So, it’s better to leave early!”

“I didn’t mean that.” Du Baoqiang muttered.

“Then what do you mean?! The child is crying, but you are motionless, sitting there like eating a weight. You still have the face to come and ask me why I keep making the child cry? You don’t know why she is crying? Yesterday she was sleeping at home. I went up the mountain to dig rabbit grass. If someone is watching, don’t let her kick the quilt, can she catch a cold? The child is not my own child, why should I take it alone? Since you don’t care about anything, what qualifications do you have to take my fault when the child is sick? I tell you, Du Baoqiang, this matter is not over!”

Her voice was a little high, which woke the child up, and started crying again.

Zhang Xiaohua coaxed twice, wiped out her tears, and slammed the door when she returned to the room.

Wang Tonghua rubbed her forehead, feeling pain in her head, sighed, and said to Du Baoqiang: “She is angry now, just listen to what she said, and don’t choke her. I will help you look after this afternoon. I won’t let her go back to Zhang’s house. You go up the mountain to dig some grass to feed the rabbits and come back at night to say something nice. The child is sick, and the mother is more anxious and distressed than you. If you can’t get along, just say a few words.”

It’s still the beginning of the first month. If you let your daughter-in-law carry the sick granddaughter back to her natal home, what will others say about their home?

Du Baoqiang went out without saying a word, carrying a basket on his back.

Wang Tonghua looked at the uncleaned bowls and chopsticks on the table in front of her and then looked around. Du Youfu was repairing a hoe in the yard. The quarrel just now seemed to have fallen into his ears. The door of Zhang Xiaohua’s room was closed and she could faintly hear the child crying. The door of Du Baozhen’s room was also closed. She seemed to be the only one left in the house. She subconsciously wanted to call Du Baoqin for help, but when the word Bao came to her lips, she remembered that her eldest daughter was married.

She stood there in a daze for a while, then suddenly felt a little dizzy. She propped herself up on the table and sat down slowly, and sighed after a long time.

Back at Zhao’s house, Zhang Liyun was a little surprised to see the two of them coming back so quickly, but she did not ask much.

“It’s rare that today is a sunny day. Your sister-in-law said she wants to boil water to wash her hair and take a bath. Do you want to wash it together?”

“Okay, I’ll go to boil water after I change my clothes.” Jiang Rui said.

When Li Xiaoe heard it in the kitchen, she said, “I’m boiling it and it’s almost done. My younger siblings can just use the bucket to carry the water.”

Jiang Rui went back to the room and changed her clothes. “Sister-in-law and Xiaobo will wash first. I think he is already sitting on the bench and waiting.”

Li Xiaoe poked her head out from behind the kitchen to take a look and saw Zhao Xiaobo taking off his pants and walking the birds under the big sun. She was annoyed and a little funny, “This stinky boy!”

She did not give in anymore. Let Jiang Rui take over the job of boiling the water and took a wooden bucket and carried it to the courtyard.

Zhao Nan brought in two buckets of cold water from outside and poured them into the big pot.

“Are you full at noon?” Jiang Rui asked him in a low voice.

Zhao Nan shook his head, “I’m full.”

“Liar.” Jiang Rui exposed him, “You can eat three big bowls of dry rice at home, but you only ate two bowls at noon, and they haven’t been filled yet. Go to the courtyard to get some sweet potatoes and taro. Come on, I’ll bury it in the fire for you and it will be ready soon. By the way, take a few more and share them with Xiaobo later.”

Zhao Nan went out again to get some sweet potatoes and taro. Jiang Rui asked him to sit next to him and the two of them surrounded the stove to make a fire.

“You didn’t get scared today, did you? In fact, my sister-in-law is quite nice. It’s just that the child got sick these two days and she was anxious, so she quarreled with my brother.”

“It’s okay.” Zhao Nan said.

Jiang Rui played with his palm. Scratching her palm once in a while, sometimes Zhao Nan suddenly closed his palm and grabbed her fingers, but sometimes she slipped away. The two of them seemed to be competing with each other. One to catch, one to run, to see who is more sensitive than the other. This kind of game that even children would find childish, the two of them played head-to-head for a long time.

Zhang Liyun passed the kitchen door several times and saw the two of them having fun. She shook her head in her heart: Don’t let the second son’s foolishness be passed on to the daughter-in-law.

After the water was boiled, Zhao Nan helped carry it back to the house.

In winter, it’s not easy for people in rural areas to take a bath. First, it costs firewood to boil water. Second, it is cold and shivering while wearing clothes. It takes courage to take a bath without nakedness. Normally, they wait until a sunny day, boil several large pots of hot water, and the whole family will line up to wash. Some don’t like to be clean and can not take a few baths throughout the winter.

Jiang Rui has spiritual energy all over her body, which can keep the dust-out and is much cleaner than ordinary people. Even so, she still wiped her whole body with water every day and took a big bath every three or four days. In this way, Wang Tonghua also said that she burned firewood indiscriminately at first.

After she finished washing, she changed into clean clothes and went out to ask Zhao Nan to come and carry the tub out. But she saw that Zhao Nan was also taking a bath, just like Zhao Xiaobo, washing in the sun. However, Zhao Xiaobo was naked, but he was wearing a pair of trousers anyway.

Zhao Nan was flushing water on his body. When he saw her coming out of the house, the water scoop almost fell to the ground, he hurriedly caught it and turned his back.

“What are you hiding from?” Zhang Liyun yelled at him when she saw that he almost broke the water ladle into eight petals, “You’re not a big girl with yellow flowers, why can’t I see it? Your mother has seen you since you were young, so what did you say to me?”

“Mom, the second brother is hiding from his younger siblings. The young couple has tender faces.” Li Xiaoe was about to go to the water to wash clothes and said with a smile.

“You still have a tender face, and how tender is his wife? I think the old cucumber is painted with green paint1, pretending to be tender!”

One sentence made Jiang Rui and Li Xiaoe giggle.

*****

The author has something to say:

PS: Regarding the follow-up, the younger sister will not grab her brother-in-law. The author doesn’t like the plot of being pushed up the corner by her sister or her girlfriend and feels very upset, everyone is relieved.

Translator’s Comment:

I think this mother (ZL) and son (ZN) are really a treasure. Really makes me laugh. ʱªʱªʱª(ᕑᗢूᓫ∗)

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