The little one glanced at the buns not placed in the bowl, then looked at the ones specifically put in the bowl for him. Just as he was about to ask, Yun Qinghuan promptly sent him outside to feed the chickens, afraid he might ask something that would make it difficult for her to tell the truth.
She couldn’t say she disliked his bun’s saliva dirtying the porridge in the pot, right?
Bai Naihan, tending to the fire, saw this and chuckled.
“Does An An know that his mom finds his saliva so repulsive?” Bai Naihan teased, looking at her.
Yun Qinghuan retorted without reservation, “It’s like you didn’t find his bitten eggs repulsive. Why don’t you eat them?”
There was a hint of satisfaction.
Bai Naihan chuckled again, adding a bit more firewood without arguing with her. His attitude seemed as if Yun Qinghuan was just a child being unreasonable, and he didn’t want to argue with her.
Yun Qinghuan: “…”
That hint of satisfaction immediately dissipated, replaced by a bit of frustration. Why did she just act like a child wanting to win a quarrel? Clearly, she hadn’t been so childish for a long time.
Liu Yuzhi hadn’t entered the courtyard yet, but from a distance, she could see smoke rising from their chimney. A smile couldn’t help but appear on her face. She wiped away some sweat with her hand and happily walked towards home.
Grandma Chen also noticed; she had a basket of dried leaves hanging from her elbow, ready to go home and start a fire. She joked with Liu Yuzhi, “Yuzhi, your daughter-in-law is so considerate. You’ll have a hot meal waiting for you when you get home.”
“That’s right, Qinghuan is kind, good-hearted, and hardworking. The food she makes is especially delicious. I love eating the meals she cooks. Usually, she takes care of all the chores at home, afraid of burdening me.” Liu Yuzhi never hesitated to speak highly of her daughter-in-law outside, almost praising Yun Qinghuan to the skies.
Beside them, Jiang Wenxiu, hearing her praise, felt a bit envious. “Aunt Liu, you and Qinghuan have such a good relationship, like a mother and daughter.”
Her mother-in-law now treated her better, but that was because she finally gave birth to a son for her husband. Otherwise, her mother-in-law would always have a gloomy face. She worked tirelessly at home and outside, yet she rarely received a kind word from her mother-in-law. Even now, her mother-in-law didn’t scold her, but smiles were rare, let alone praise.
Liu Yuzhi sincerely smiled, “It’s mutual. Qinghuan thinks about me in everything, so naturally, I think about her too.”
She was thinking of hurrying home to help her daughter-in-law cook, and also to ask if she had eaten well and bought anything useful during today’s shopping. After exchanging a few words with Jiang Wenxiu and glancing at her own yard several times, she couldn’t help but feel the urgent desire to go home.
Grandma Chen sensed her eagerness to return home and pulled Jiang Wenxiu along to bid her farewell.
The closer Liu Yuzhi got to her home, the stronger the aroma of food became. With her sharp nose, she vaguely smelled the scent of meat. As the word “meat” formed in her mind, her hungry stomach unconsciously started secreting saliva.
Unable to resist, she swallowed and walked through the courtyard gate, asking, “Qinghuan, what delicious thing are you making? It smells so good!”
In the kitchen, Bai Naihan had just extinguished the fire, and the meal was freshly cooked. Yun Qinghuan, having cleaned her hands and wiped them with a dry towel, heard Liu Yuzhi’s words and couldn’t help but smile. She quickly walked out, “Mom, you’ve come at just the right time. The meal has just been cooked. I was thinking of going to find you for lunch. Today, I specially saved something delicious for you. Come quickly.”
She walked over and helped Liu Yuzhi take off the basket on her back.
When Liu Yuzhi went to the fields, she liked carrying a basket. It not only held water and food but also allowed her to collect some wild vegetables and grass that could be chopped up to feed the chickens and ducks while weeding. Sometimes, she would even come across firewood on the way back, which she would pick up to use for cooking. In short, every time she walked with an empty basket, it would return full and heavy.
Yun Qinghuan almost couldn’t lift it, but she managed to shift her body slightly and bit her teeth while helping place the basket on the ground.
Liu Yuzhi insisted that she didn’t need to help. “Qinghuan, don’t bother. Mom can handle it. You don’t need to use one hand.”
But Yun Qinghuan persisted, and Liu Yuzhi had no choice but to give in.
The family sat at the dining table, looking at the two steamed pork buns and a half-eaten meat bun on the table, along with a small plate of braised potatoes and pork. Liu Yuzhi stared for a long time before coming back to her senses, stuttering, “Q-Qinghuan, d-did you buy these in town? Did it cost a l-lot of money? Was the ration I gave you enough?”
She was extremely worried.
She realized that she had given her daughter-in-law two yuan and two ration coupons, plus the remaining three yuan two jiao she used to buy food for Grandma Chen, but it wasn’t much.
Liu Yuzhi felt like she had never had such a sumptuous meal, not even during the New Year, and for a moment, she was a bit stunned.
Yun Qinghuan smiled and looked at her, feeling warmed by her words.
Liu Yuzhi, seeing these things, didn’t immediately think about eating but rather about whether the money and ration coupons for lunch were sufficient. She didn’t scold her for being greedy or buying such delicious food, considering that the family was not well-off and could even be considered poor.
“Mom, don’t worry. I hardly touched the ration coupons and money you gave me today. These were all bought by your son. They’re so delicious, and we brought them back for you to taste.”
Even the money for the ox cart today was paid by Bai Naihan. Yun Qinghuan had initially wanted to contribute, but her actions were always a beat slower than his, so she felt a bit helpless.
Feeling like she had spent quite a bit of her younger brother-in-law’s small treasury on this day, Yun Qinghuan felt a twinge of guilt, thinking of repaying him when she had the chance.
But when Liu Yuzhi heard that all these treats were for her, she instantly waved her hands in panic. “What good food can an old woman like me eat? Besides, I don’t like these things. You three can share the buns and vegetables.”
As she spoke, she pushed the items towards them.
Though she claimed not to like them, her gaze lingered on the food, clearly contradicting her words.
Yun Qinghuan thought of the parenting shows she had watched in her future life, where many mothers claimed not to like chicken but only enjoyed chicken bottoms. In reality, they didn’t dislike it; they just didn’t want to eat it. Unfortunately, the family members who had lived with them for half a lifetime genuinely believed they loved chicken bottoms.
Liu Yuzhi was just that kind of elder.
Yun Qinghuan was both moved and disagreed with her actions. She insisted on pushing the food back to her. “Mom, I’ve already eaten two buns, Naihan had four, and as for An’an, even though he’s small, he also got two buns. He didn’t finish them at lunch, and there’s still half left. Here, it’s this one. He can be satisfied with just this, considering we had a full lunch, and it hasn’t fully digested yet.”
Yun Qinghuan pointed to the remaining half bun in the bowl.
“Also, Mom, don’t say you don’t like to eat. How can anyone in this world not like to eat good food and settle for something less satisfying?”
“Besides, haven’t you forgotten what I said? From now on, we all eat the same. There’s no reason for you, who works so hard to support the family, to eat something inferior.”
Liu Yuzhi listened, her eyes slightly reddening. “Qinghuan…”
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Translator Note
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