The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 738 - 737 Sisters-in-law

Chapter 738: Chapter 737 Sisters-in-law

Lady Lin seemed to have heard Old Granny Zhang’s voice faintly, shuddering as she hurried to the door to look. Oh, mother! It really was Granny and her younger sister returning!

She called out anxiously in the yard, "Don’t kick! Don’t kick! The door is opening, the door is opening!"

At the same time, she shouted into the house: "Head of the household, mother and younger sister are back!"

"Creak—" With that sound, the front door was flung open. Lady Lin ran out from inside, clasping her hands, and asked cautiously, "Mother, younger sister, brother-in-law, you’re back!"

Meanwhile, her gaze stealthily flicked towards the carriage behind them.

Old Granny Zhang stepped forward unapologetically, shoving Lady Lin aside while ordering as she walked in: "Laosi, help Chongjin unload the stuff."

Just then, Wang Yongfu, who had been up all night collecting mountain goods, was catching up on sleep during the day. Hearing Lady Lin calling for mother and sister, he woke up instantly.

He tumbled off the kang, not even taking time to grab his shoes before rushing out,

And came face to face with Old Granny Zhang. Even a man like Wang Yongfu couldn’t help his eyes reddening as he choked out a call, "Mother—"

He hadn’t realized the importance of having mother around until Old Granny Zhang and Wang Yongzhu went to the city. Wang Yongfu gradually noticed the comfort of having her presence.

Though mother favored his sister, having her at home meant the family never caused him such worry.

Now, taking on both the roles of father and mother, he had to fret over daily household expenses. All he looked forward to was the end of the mourning period, to marry off Jindou and Jinhu so he could hand over the household to his daughters-in-law.

Old Granny Zhang looked down on Wang Yongfu’s behavior. "How old are you to be crying like a baby? Wipe those tears from your eyes!"

Wang Yongfu hurriedly dabbed his tears with his sleeve, "Mother, you’re finally back!"

Jindou and Jinhu hurriedly stepped forward, barely greeting their grandmother and aunt when they saw Wang Yongping and Song Chongjin moving things; they went to help at once.

Lady Lin saw the carriage’s curtain lift, revealing half a carriage full of unfamiliar, brightly colored items—very attractive to the eye.

It was as if her eyes couldn’t wait to glue themselves to those items, also eager to help, but Wang Yongfu glared at her: "What are you standing there for? Get cooking—mother, sister, and brother-in-law are back!"

Lady Lin reluctantly took one more glance at the carriage before she moved slowly toward the kitchen.

It wasn’t for no reason; she knew that even though her mother-in-law was stingy, her younger sister-in-law was generous. If any good items were brought back, the eldest branch would surely not be left out.

Yet, with no vegetables or flour at home, only a bag of sorghum and half a bag of sweet potatoes remained. Even a frugal person like Lady Lin knew that entertaining her mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law with these would probably lead to a scolding.

Therefore, she wanted to dally, waiting for the families of the third and fourth sons, who were more generous with more income at home, to invite them instead!

She hadn’t walked far when Lady Jiang and Liu Xiaoqiao, along with Wang Yonggui from the back courtyard, hurried out.

"Mother—"

"Younger sister—"

The voices echoed one after another.

Having traveled from Jing County to home, despite riding in a carriage, Old Granny Zhang felt bone-weary from the trip due to her age; she simply wanted to lie down in her room.

Yet she was besieged by her son and daughters-in-law, each of them asking after her wellbeing until her head ached.

Her face couldn’t muster a pleased expression; it seemed they were all Debt-Collecting Ghosts, not one with any sense of propriety.

It was Wang Yongzhu who stepped forward, "Third Brother, sisters-in-law, mother has been in the carriage all the way here. Let her rest and bounce back from the journey. We need to clean up too, covered in dust, it’s unbearable. Mother and I plan to stay at home for a while; there will be plenty of time for us to talk, maybe even enough to grow tired of it!"

Everyone laughed at this statement.

Liu Xiaoqiao quickly said, "It’s our oversight, seeing Mom and our younger sister back, we were so overjoyed that we forgot! We’ll go heat up some water right now. You all wash up and rest a bit, and there will be food ready in no time!"

Lady Jiang hurriedly said, "Younger sister-in-law, you go heat the water, I’ll cook the meal! By the time Mom and the others finish washing up, the meal will just be ready."

Liu Xiaoqiao promptly agreed.

The group followed and entered Wang Yongzhu’s courtyard.

The courtyard was indeed tidied up and clean; as soon as the door was pushed open, the inside of the house was neat and orderly.

Touching the kang table, there wasn’t a speck of dust.

Wang Yonggui ingratiatedly said, "Mom, rest assured! This room, our family and younger sister-in-law clean it once a day, making sure it’s spotless."

Old Granny Zhang finally nodded in satisfaction, reached into the cupboard on the kang to pull out a pillow, and lay down on the kang.

She watched as her sons and grandsons moved all the items in gradually.

Wang Yonggui, seeing the room half-filled with stuff, had his eyes light up: "Mom, what are all these? They look quite nice."

Old Granny Zhang pointed to the items that were to be used for Wang Laozhu’s funeral rites and said, "Those are for your dad’s funeral ceremony, move them to the next room for now."

Wang Yongfu, being slow with his words, upon hearing Old Granny Zhang’s command, led his son to move the items to the next room.

Wang Yonggui, while moving stuff, muttered, "These things from the city are indeed different from those in the town, look at these items, all so fancy and really quite good-looking!"

Jinhua from the third branch, along with Jinshao, followed behind, their eyes dazzled by the sight.

Jinshao, who could now speak in short sentences, remarked, "Pretty, so pretty."

This amused everyone and caused laughter.

Liu Xiaoqiao was an efficient person, quickly heating up water and bringing it over to Wang Yongzhu’s courtyard.

She left the three of them to wash up.

Since Lady Jiang’s branch was cooking, everyone waited in her courtyard. Once Liu Xiaoqiao entered it, she went straight to the kitchen to help Lady Jiang with the cooking.

Lady Lin tied up her hands, dawdling and reluctant to enter, but stared down by Wang Yongfu, she followed with reluctance.

Upon entering, she started off with a sarcastic remark: "Third sister-in-law is so generous. Well, of course, your family is booming with the embroidery business now, naturally you can afford to host Mom and the younger sister. Our household has more mouths to feed and bigger expenses; life has indeed become tougher for us..."

Lady Jiang pretended not to hear, and Liu Xiaoqiao ignored her as well.

After Lady Lin had spoken for a while with no one responding, she felt bored. Seeing Liu Xiaoqiao and Lady Jiang busy, one chopping vegetables, the other stir-frying, she simply ran over to the stove to tend the fire.

But whether out of frustration or some other reason, she tended the fire inconsistently, large one moment, small the next, and when Lady Jiang needed a strong flame for stir-frying, she couldn’t get it going.

And just when it was almost time to finish cooking and a low flame was needed, the fire in the stove blazed fiercely.

After a dish got burnt, Liu Xiaoqiao lost her patience. They had already divided the household, so who would be considerate of whom? Besides, today was the day Mom and the younger sister returned; presenting such a meal, whom would it embarrass?

She directly said, "Big sister-in-law, if you don’t like working, better just leave and don’t get in our way! A perfectly fine dish has been ruined by your fire!"

Saying this, she stepped forward, snatched the fire poker from Lady Lin’s hand, and pushed her out.