Grandma Shen worked in town, so when Chen Xiaomi had free time, he would take Shen Chi and Chen Xiaocai to the village.
The vegetables and radishes in town all cost money to buy. Following the principle of saving wherever possible, Chen Xiaomi would go to the village from time to time to bring back supplies.
When Chen Xiaomi returned home, he happened to run into Lu Tong’s return visit.
In this era, daughters returned home one month after getting married. During these return visits, the daughter and son-in-law would usually buy gifts to bring to the in-law’s house. The more gifts the son-in-law bought, the better the daughter was doing in her husband’s family, which would put the woman’s parents at ease.
Lu Lin had married into the family, so technically he should have made a return visit too. However, Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi found it troublesome and never went back.
When Lu Lin married into Chen Xiaomi’s family, he was sickly and weak. At the time, no one bothered to criticize them. But later, when Chen Xiaomi’s family started doing well, some people brought up this matter and accused Lu Lin of being ungrateful, saying he forgot his roots after marrying out and never even returned home. However, Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi did not care.
Based on how Lu Lin’s marriage went, even if they had brought a pile of gifts for the return visit, they would still have been mocked. Since neither of them cared much about reputation, they naturally wouldn’t do such a thankless task.
While Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi weren’t home, Uncle Chen had actually secretly visited their house. However, since they had basically moved everything out, Uncle Chen went away empty-handed and returned with nothing.
Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi lived in a rather remote area, so no one noticed at first. But over time, people eventually discovered it.
Lu Lin told everyone that he had found work in town and was temporarily living there.
When Lu Lin said this, it immediately made the villagers envious. A stable job in town was like having a golden rice bowl. Lu An’s job that paid two taels of silver had already made countless people jealous. Now that Lu Lin had also found work in town, all the villagers sighed that Chen Xiaomi and Lu Lin’s luck had finally turned around.
“Gege,” Chen Xiaocai walked over to Chen Xiaomi and whispered, “Da-ge, Lu Tong came back alone.”
Chen Xiaomi couldn’t help but feel surprised. He and Lu Lin had such bad reputations that they just gave up trying to fix them. But Lu Tong had always been very proud. On such an important day as the return visit, Lu Tong actually came back alone. If those gossipy women in the village saw this, who knew what they would say.
However, Lu Tong’s newly married husband actually let her come back alone on such an important day. It seemed that this new husband didn’t care much about Lu Tong either.
Lu Lin thought about how Lu Tong had looked at the original owner with disgust after he fell into the water. He immediately felt that Lu Tong deserved whatever mess she was in now.
At the Lu Family
Tang looked at her daughter and couldn’t help feeling frustrated.
Tang felt that everything had been going wrong lately. Her eldest son’s wife was a money-losing burden, and the Chief Clerk didn’t take them seriously at all. Her daughter’s family was the same. After being married for so long, she didn’t even a word of news. Finally, when it was time for the return visit, only the daughter came back alone.
In comparison, everyone thought that when Lu Lin married into Chen Xiaomi’s family, he would definitely have a hard time. But Chen Xiaomi actually made their life work out.
Recently, when villagers talked about Chen Xiaomi, although most still criticized him, quite a few people thought Chen Xiaomi was capable and really good at making money. Reputation was just empty talk, but silver was real and solid.
“Where’s your husband?” Tang asked.
Lu Tong replied gloomily, “The little boy at home got sick, so my husband went to get a doctor to treat him.”
Tang said sullenly, “That damn brat, why didn’t he get sick earlier or later? He had to pick this time to get sick. He didn’t do it on purpose, did he?”
Lu Tong pursed her lips and said, “Who knows what he’s thinking!”
Lu Tong married into her husband’s family and had a really hard time. Li Ji treated her pretty well, but the old woman always found fault with everything she did.
From the moment Lu Tong arrived, the old woman made her cook, do laundry, and help mend clothes. She even made her carry manure!
Lu Tong felt like the Li family wasn’t looking for a daughter-in-law at all.
When Lu Tong was still at the Lu family, she always dreamed of becoming a rich man’s wife. She was so afraid of making her hands rough that she never touched cooking or laundry. Tang also thought her daughter was pretty and she was destined to be an official’s wife. Back when the second branch was still around, she dumped all the work on them and spoiled Lu Tong so much that she couldn’t do anything.
When Lu Tong cooked at the Li family, she either made the rice too mushy or overcooked it. The old woman was really unhappy with Lu Tong and always scolded her for being lazy and useless.
The little kid in the house probably heard what the villagers said about getting a stepfather when you get a stepmother[mfn]有了后娘就有后爹 (yǒu le hòu niáng jiù yǒu hòu diē) literally means “with a stepmother comes a stepfather.” It reflects a traditional Chinese belief that when a man remarries, his new wife (the stepmother) will eventually turn him against his own children, making him emotionally distant—like a “stepfather.”[/mfn], so he treated Lu Tong like an enemy and was on guard everywhere.
Lu Tong’s temper wasn’t great either. Seeing that the kid saw her as his enemy, she ignored him too. The two of them couldn’t stand each other.
Tang looked at her daughter and felt really frustrated. The daughter-in-law they brought home was a money-loser, and the daughter who married out came back for her return visit empty-handed, just by herself. Tang felt like she was losing all face.
Tang looked at Lu Tong with some blame and said, “Why didn’t you bring anything back for your return visit today?”
Lu Tong caught the disdain in her mother’s voice and felt a pang of bitterness.
Lu Tong remembered when she first arrived, the old woman Wang was waiting by the door. Lu Tong thought grandma was being nice, waiting for her so early. But when the old woman saw she came empty-handed and alone, she scolded her a few times and walked away. Lu Tong felt like someone poured cold water on her and was really embarrassed.
The family didn’t prepare anything.
Tang’s face darkened as she said, “Your husband’s family is really bullying you.”
“Where’s sister-in-law?” Lu Tong asked.
Tang said gloomily, “She went back to her parents’ house.”
When Li Fangyue and Lu Chengyu went back for their return visit last time, they still didn’t get to see the Chief Clerk. Lu Chengyu and Li Hong got into an argument and started fighting. After they came back, Tang heard they still hadn’t connected with the Chief Clerk and was really disappointed.
Grandma Lu had been getting more and more unhappy with Li Fangyue lately. She felt like Li Fangyue was completely unworthy of Lu Chengyu and would scold her from time to time. Li Fangyue kept bringing up the Chief Clerk, and the old woman put up with it at first, but later realized the Chief Clerk didn’t really care about this sister-in-law. He didn’t show up for the wedding or the return visit.
Maybe because she was being pushed around too much by the old woman, Li Fangyue got angry and went back to her parents’ house.
Tang was secretly worried. This marriage didn’t get them any connections, and they might even make enemies.
“Your brother went to get her. After all, she married over, so what does it look like always staying at her parents’ house?” Tang said full of worry.
Lu Tong laughed sarcastically and said, “Mom! If sister-in-law wants to go back, just let her go back. It’s no big deal. You’ve been cheated this time.”
Tang looked at Lu Tong and said, “What are you talking about?”
Lu Tong smiled and said, “I only found out by chance. My sister-in-law’s sister isn’t the Chief Clerk’s real wife, she’s just a concubine.”
Tang exploded and said angrily, “Daughter, you can’t say things like this carelessly! The difference in status between a real wife and a concubine is huge. A concubine’s children don’t have inheritance rights, and even common people look down on concubines.”
“Mom, do you think I’m that careless? I found this out by chance too, but it shouldn’t be wrong. Think about it, Li Fangyue is already so old. If her conditions were that good, would she have waited until that age? People in town all know about it. It’s just us villagers who don’t get the news and got fooled by those matchmakers.” Lu Tong sighed, feeling a bit gloating inside.
She was actually really angry at her parents. Her unhappy life at the Li family had a lot to do with her thin dowry. The Li family paid twenty taels of silver, but the family didn’t give her even one tael of personal money. As far as she was concerned, they sold her off.
Lu Tong felt resentful toward her brother and sister-in-law because of this. When she found out that Li Fangyue’s sister Li Ru was just a concubine, Lu Tong suddenly felt a strange kind of satisfaction.
Tang’s face turned dark with anger. She had always wondered why the Chief Clerk didn’t come to the wedding banquet. If Li Ru was the Chief Clerk’s concubine, that would explain everything.
Concubines had low status. The Chief Clerk naturally wouldn’t bother with the wedding affairs of a concubine’s family.
Tang gritted her teeth, so angry she felt like coughing up blood, but she still had to help cover it up. “Don’t go around talking about this.”
There had been plenty of gossip about their family in the village lately. If people found out that the wealthy family’s daughter they had worked so hard to marry into their family was just the sister of a lowly concubine, their family would definitely become a laughingstock.
Lu Tong nodded and said, “I know better. But you should be careful too, Mom. That Li Fangyue woman thinks too highly of herself. Mom, you can’t keep letting people walk all over you!”
Tang said bitterly, “The Li family is too shameless. After tricking your brother like this, your sister-in-law still has the nerve to use going back to her parents’ home to manipulate your brother.” Tang was so shocked by the news Lu Tong brought back that she even forgot to scold Lu Tong for returning alone.
“Mom, is there any news about Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi?”
Tang scowled, “Who knows? I heard those two restless guys are always running to town these days. Seems like they found some work in town. I don’t know what kind of person would hire those two to work. That Chen Xiaomi is not a good guy!” Lu An’s job was envied by many people in the village. Many people had their eyes on it. To keep that job, the old man sent gifts to Lu An’s superiors every year.
“Why are you asking about this?” Tang asked.
Lu Tong shook her head and said, “Nothing much. Recently a Huaxia Trading Company appeared. They sell things like bookbags. The well-made ones cost one tael of silver each. They must be making good money.” The old woman from the Li family also bought a small bookbag for the Li family’s little grandson. The tiny bag cost seven hundred wen, which was really extravagant.
“What does this have to do with Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi?”
Lu Tong was quiet for a moment, then said, “Someone saw Chen Xiaomi talking to the manager of that shop. Chen Xiaomi and Lu Lin might be working at that shop.”
Tang snorted, “This Huaxia Trading Company, I’ve never even heard of it. It’s probably a shady business. If the boss knew Chen Xiaomi’s background, he definitely wouldn’t hire him.”
Lu Tong vaguely felt that Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi had been acting mysteriously lately, but she never dreamed that Chen Xiaomi and Lu Lin had already bought a two-courtyard house in town.
Lin Xiu’er looked at Tang with a sour face and said, “Xiao Tong came back but didn’t bring anything. Is she not doing well at her husband’s family?”
Tang kept a straight face and said, “Nonsense. There were just… special circumstances on the Li family’s side.”
No matter how special the circumstances were, she shouldn’t have come back for the return visit without even showing her face! What would the villagers think when they saw this?
Lin Xiu’er felt life growing harder by the day. The household chores piled up, yet the meals kept getting worse.
The old woman had been watching the money more and more tightly recently. Lin Xiu’er had originally hoped that when Lu Tong came back for her return visit, she would bring some meat to improve their meals. But Lu Tong came back empty-handed.
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