Chapter 89: The Li Family Bore the Burden

Gu Chengyi was an honest man, and when his mother-in-law said that to him, his face went red at once. Standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, he stammered, “Mother, please don’t say that. I am your son-in-law. How could I be any kind of master or young lord? Father, Mother, I came to see you, and this is just a small token of my regard.” As he spoke, he hurriedly set the things he had brought onto the kang.

“Oh, we wouldn’t dare take anything from the Gu family. How capable your family is! Bullying your daughter-in-law and granddaughter, even driving them out of the house. Since our daughter has come back, she has nothing to do with the Gu family anymore, and you are no son-in-law of the Zhao household. We have no such good fortune as to enjoy these things, so take them away at once.”

The old lady of the Zhao family had said this on purpose. Her daughter had suffered at that house, and if she did not strike a few blows for her, she would truly feel ill at ease. Though her words were sharp, she did not curse like the woman from the Gu family.

Gu Chengyi was made so uncomfortable by her words that he could hardly stand still. He clasped both hands together and rubbed them nervously. “Mother, when did I ever say I did not want the child’s mother? I was not at home then. Someone called me away to help, and I only learned about it when I got back.”

“I meant to come last night too, but it was already too late. With my little bit of ability, how could I dare make my way over here in the middle of the night? So first thing this morning I rushed over in a hurry.” Gu Chengyi was very tense. He knew full well what sort of days his wife had been living through at his home. If it had been anyone else, they would already have left him long ago.

“Mother, I’m here today just to take a look. The child’s mother has not been able to come back to her parents’ home for some time, so let her stay a few more days this time, until she has stayed long enough, and then she can go back. When we return, I’ll speak to my father about dividing the household. Father, Mother, rest assured, I will not treat the child’s mother unfairly.” Gu Chengyi had made up his mind before coming. This time he was truly set on it; he could no longer let his wife and daughter continue suffering along with him.

After hearing this, the old lady of the Zhao family finally softened a little, though she still was not eager to speak with Gu Chengyi. It was Old Master Zhao who waved him over and told him to sit beside him. “Chengyi, come, sit with your father. Don’t mind your mother. She has a firecracker temper, that’s all, and she’s only heartbroken over her youngest girl.”

Seeing that the old man was giving him a way down from the wall, Gu Chengyi quickly sat down beside his father-in-law with a smile, then hurriedly filled a pipe for him and lit it. “Father, I know Mother’s temperament. She doesn’t treat me as an outsider; she’s scolding me like a son. If Mother were truly angry with me, she would have taken a broom to me and driven me out just now, wouldn’t she?”

Everyone in the room could not help laughing. Away from the Gu household, Gu Chengyi was not really such a block of dead wood after all; he had a humorous and amiable side too. Zhao Shi looked at her husband, and her heart was bright with joy. Seeing that her parents no longer meant to make things difficult for him, she said a word to her mother and went to the kitchen to help.

“Tell your eldest sister-in-law to kill a chicken. The son-in-law rarely comes, so prepare some good food and good dishes to entertain him,” Old Master Zhao called out.

The old lady simply got down from the kang and went out with Zhao Shi. “I’ll go take a look. You stay here and keep the son-in-law company.” Then she turned back and warned Gu Chengyi, “Chengyi, now that you’ve come, you are not allowed to leave at once. Stay for several more days. If you dare leave today, then you needn’t come to the door again in the future.”

Gu Chengyi quickly nodded in agreement. “Yes, yes, I’ll listen to Mother.” Truly, this mother-in-law was quite good, far better than the stepmother in his own family. Gu Chengyi held his mother-in-law in deep respect, so whatever the old lady said, he agreed at once.

In the kitchen, the women of three generations were all busy, and before long they had prepared several tables of abundant dishes, so everyone sat down together for dinner. Afterward, Gu Chengyi went out with the Zhao family to work in the fields. He had always been diligent and never thought of himself as a guest, so he naturally followed them out to labor.

Thus Gu Chengyi and his family settled in at Zhao Family Mountain. The Chengyi couple were both hardworking and had never once been lazy. Just at that time, there was much work in the Zhao family’s fields, and it was the season to thin the seedlings, so the whole family stayed on to help.

There was even less need to speak of Wenfang and her sisters. Each of them was obedient, lovable, and quick to help; they pitched in wherever there was work, both in the house and outside it. Wenqian was young and sweet-tongued, circling the old couple all day long and so thoroughly charming them that they were all but dizzy, even saying they wished to keep Wenqian as a granddaughter.

The Zhao household was full of warmth and harmony, but the Gu family was having a hard time of it. With Gu Chengyi’s family gone, especially with Zhao Shi and the daughters away from home, there were far fewer hands to help. Wu Shi and Xu Shi took turns cooking. Wu Shi was used to it; when it was her turn, she kept both the inside and outside of the house neat and tidy.

But when it came to Xu Shi, everything turned into a mess. Either the cakes were not steamed through, or the porridge boiled over completely. As for the housework, there was no need to mention it. By near noon, the pigs still had not been fed, and they were starving so badly they kept rooting at the trough, which made Li Shi furious enough to curse Xu Shi.

This time Wu Shi had also made up her mind. No matter how Li Shi scolded her, she would absolutely not lift a finger to help. Aside from cooking when it was her turn, she spent the rest of her time taking Wenqing to the barren woods to watch over the mountain silkworms.

As for Feng Shi, there was no need to say more. Since they did not eat together, she paid even less attention to Li Shi’s mood. Still, Feng Shi instructed the children to go dig wild greens every morning to bring back for feeding the pigs and chickens, and to gather as much firewood as they could during the day so they could send some over there too.

Wenxiu worked the fields with Gu Chengyong, while Wenqi and Wentao went into the mountains to collect firewood. Wenping and Wenzhi were responsible for digging wild greens and feeding the livestock at home. Every day Wenping and Wenzhi brought the wild greens back to the eastern courtyard, and then that was that. In truth, by rights, Wenjing and Wenan could have done these chores too, but Li Shi cherished them and spoiled them, refusing to let them suffer.

The children did not take these things too seriously. They were only not eating together, and the Gu family did not count as having formally divided the household. They were willing to lend a hand where they chose to; if they did not wish to, then no one could say otherwise.

However, the atmosphere in the old Gu household was not very good, especially in the eastern courtyard, so the children all tried their best to avoid going there. Even when they brought over wild greens and firewood, they would set the things down and leave, never lingering in the eastern courtyard.

With Zhao Shi and her daughters gone to work, and Xu Shi being so incompetent, Li Shi could no longer sit idle either and had to work from time to time. If she did not, was she supposed to stand by and watch the pigs and chickens starve? Was she supposed to let the whole family go hungry? After a few days, Li Shi’s back ached and her bones were sore from fatigue.

Just at this time, the fieldwork also grew busy. The men went out to work the land, and even Wu Shi and Xu Shi had to go thin the seedlings after finishing the cooking. In the busy season, where were there any idle hands? Especially since the Gu family still had so many fields. If the young seedlings were not thinned out quickly, the growth of the crops would be delayed.

Before long, Li Shi and Gu Xiuli both could no longer stay out of it. Inside and out, every bit of work required their hands. Only then did the mother and daughter remember Zhao Shi’s worth. If Zhao Shi and her daughters had been at home, those tasks would have been finished with ease by the three women of the Zhao family, and Li Shi and Gu Xiuli would not have been worn nearly to death.

During the busy farming season, everyone in the Gu family had to pitch in. Gu Chengyong led Wenxiu, Wenqi, and Wentao out to thin the seedlings. Even Feng Shi, after finishing her chores at home each day, would go along and do what she could. Seeing how hard her mother was working, Jiao Yan volunteered to take over the cooking at home, and with Wenping and Wenzhi helping her, she made sure every meal was properly prepared.

Because Jiao Yan had to spend each day cooking and tidying the house, she went to see Miao Suwen less often. Miao Suwen also understood how busy farm households were, and since Jiao Yan learned quickly, she left her some assignments and only tested her at set times.

The days passed in a blur of busyness, and in the blink of an eye it was the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month. Half the fieldwork had been done, and Gu Chengyi led his wife and daughters back from Zhao Family Mountain. The Zhao family had tried to keep them a little longer, but Gu Chengyi was thinking of the work at home and truly could not stay any longer, so he hurried back.

As soon as Li Shi saw Gu Chengyi return, she exploded at once. “Why didn’t you all just die outside? What are you coming back for? The family is busy to the point of madness, and you still had the leisure to stay out there? Heartless wretches, ungrateful wolves who cannot be raised to know kindness. You got to eat and drink your fill and laze about outside while the rest of us were bent over like beasts working ourselves to the bone at home. Get out, all of you, and don’t come back!”

That was just the sort of person Li Shi was. Though in her heart she was desperate for Gu Chengyi’s family to hurry back and work, she had been tired and angry for days, and if she did not vent that fury somewhere, she would suffocate from it. So when she saw them return, she immediately put on a long face and stood in the middle of the yard cursing them out.

Gu Chengyi lifted his eyes to Li Shi and snorted. “This is my home. Why shouldn’t I come back? If it weren’t for the child’s mother worrying about the work at home and insisting we return quickly, I would have stayed for half a month, twenty days at the least.” Having said that, he led his wife and daughters straight toward their quarters.

When Li Shi heard this, she nearly burst her lungs with rage. “What? Stay half a month, twenty days? You heartless good-for-nothing, are you trying to tire me to death so you can find your father a concubine? Let me tell you, since you’re back, get to work at once. Third son’s wife, you’ve been away from home for so many days that you must make up for all the work from before.” Li Shi was truly worn out. She did not dare drive Zhao Shi out again, but her mouth still showed no mercy. Today she had to establish the rules properly, or else Zhao Shi would truly become impossible to control later.

“Which daughter-in-law does not stay at her parents’ home for a few days now and then? It has only been a few days, and you still want her to make up for all the work from before? There is no such thing. Starting tomorrow, we simply resume taking turns cooking. When it is the third branch’s turn, the third branch works; when it is not, don’t expect the child’s mother to lift a hand. As for Wenfang and the others, whenever their mother is cooking, they help out; the rest of the time, they do nothing.” This time Gu Chengyi had truly made up his mind. The moment he entered the door, he would set the rules.