Chapter 16: The Suspicious Ji Yunyun
“As the old saying goes, ‘The river flows thirty year to the East, thirty years to the West’1. Don't look down on her,” Mother Ji said. She was no longer angry and casted a side glance at her daughter.
Ji Yunyun pressed, “Mother, don't you think it's strange? How long did it take for her to become like she's a different person? Every part of her is suspicious!”
Mother Ji was shocked. 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚡𝚊𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌.𝚌𝚘𝚖
Father Ji hit his pipe and reprimanded, “Go and eat your meat.”
When Ji Yunyun’s father spoke, she had no choice but to go back to the kitchen. Although the meat was brought by that woman, she did not eat for nothing.
It was stewed until it was this fragrant. She couldn’t even eat something like this when she was at fourth sister-in-law’s place.
“Aren’t you happy that the child is becoming better? Stop listening to the girl talking nonsense,” Father Ji said to Mother Ji on the other side.
Mother Ji said, “I didn't say anything either.” But she was a little distracted by what Yunyun, that girl, said.
Father Ji said, “If you have nothing to do then go over there and have a look. Lao San’s wife likes your pickled cabbage.”
Mother Ji grinned and went over with the freshly pickled vegetables.Su Danhong went out to welcome her. She helped Mother Ji into the house and said, “It’s getting colder and colder now. Mother, is there enough firewood between you and father? If it's not enough, I still have a lot here. You can use it first. Last time Jianyun came back and chopped up a lot for me. I can't use so much firewood alone.”
“Your father and I don’t lack anything, so how can we lack firewood?” Mother Ji said with a smile. After being helped by her daughter-in-law to sit down, she gave her this jar of pickled vegetables. “This was just pickled by mother. I put in a lot of ginger like how you like it. You can take it and eat it slowly.”
“Thank you, mother.” Su Danhong smiled and nodded. She took the pickled vegetables to the kitchen.
When she came back, she saw Mother Ji looking at the clothes she was making. Her face turned a little red.
“Is this for Jianyun?” Mother Ji asked with a grin.
“Mhm, Jianyun is coming back for the New Year. I made him an extra set and saved it for him to change into.” Su Danhong was slightly embarrassed and nodded.
“Jianyun is coming back?” When Mother Ji heard these words, she happily asked the question.
Su Danhong nodded and said, “Yes, I told Yunyun. Didn't Yunyun tell mother?”
She saw how Mother Ji looked like she did not know. Ji Yunyun was quick to speak ill of her as soon as she got home. How could she still remember what Su Danhong said?
“Yunyun must have been forgotten,” Su Danhong said to herself.
They talked about other things, such as some new things she saw when she went to town.
“This is wolfberry jujube tea. Mother, try it.” Su Danhong poured a cup of honey-colored tea.
Mother Ji nodded. She took a sip and it was delicious. The more she looked at her daughter-in-law right now, the more satisfied she was. She was well-behaved, and she couldn't pick out anything bad from her. She was really good to them as her parents. If there was anything good, she wouldn't forget about them.
When Mother Ji was about to go back, Su Danhong gave her three jin of mutton and five jin of beef to go back with. Mother Ji could not refuse, so she brought it back.
She also brought a few jin over to the Su family. Mother Su was very satisfied with her daughter who had grown up recently, but she was not very good to her daughter-in-law. It goes without saying that she was better to her biological daughter. There were a lot of chickens at home, so Su Danhong brought back a basket of eggs.
This time, Su Danhong bought a lot of mutton and beef, but there was not much left after splitting it up. It seemed like she had to go to town at some point to buy more.
The days passed and more than half of the month went by. Su Danhong brought the newly finished embroidery to Zhen Miaohong. She was originally thinking of going over at the beginning of spring next year, but since she was coming to buy meat, it was convenient to bring it along with her.
This time she embroidered the “Arrival of the Horse Brings Success”2. The galloping horses were full of spirit. The eight fierce horses were eye-catching and filled the senses. Zhen Miaohong saw it and without saying anything, she immediately gave her 600 yuan.
Su Danhong was also very pleased. After taking the new embroidery material, she went to the market. Mother Ji was already waiting for her there with a cart.
“Mother, it will be the end of the year soon. Let's buy more,” Su Danhong said and followed Mother Ji.
Mother Ji also knew that she must have made a lot of money with the “Arrival of the Horse Brings Success” embroidery. She had seen the embroidered work at home, and the selling price must not have been low. That’s why when she said that, Mother Ji said nothing and just nodded. She stated, “It would be fine to buy more.”
When they arrived at the mutton stall, Su Danhong said, “Give me half a goat.”
Mother Ji was startled and rushed to say, “There’s no need for so much! There’s no need!”
Even if we need to buy more this time, we don't have to buy half a goat. How much will that cost?
“Aunt, my mutton is the freshest and the last batch. The next time you can buy it will be next year,” the mutton man said.
“I'll take half a goat. Can you make it cheaper?” Su Danhong asked.
“Three cents cheaper per jin for you,” the man said after looking at her for a while.
“That’s fine.” Su Danhong nodded.
The man cut up half a goat for her and cleaned up the scraps. It was calculated that half a goat would cost as much as 22 yuan, and made Mother Ji distressed.
Currently, the average salary was only 20 or 30 yuan. She spent almost half a month's salary!
Su Danhong thought it was not expensive. She turned around and brought Mother Ji to buy 50 jin of beef.
“It's best to stew this with radish. Jianyun likes it very much. He has to go through the wind and rain, and it’s hard for him to come back. I have to make it up to him,” Su Danhong said.
Mother Ji just couldn’t say anything. Although Lao San’s spending was a bit fierce, it was all for her son. What else could she say?
Su Danhong also bought some other miscellaneous things, like a few jin of brown sugar and sesame candy. They were kept at home for the New Year and were festive.
She also bought other things like melon seeds and peanuts.
The total cost of everything was about 50 yuan. Mother Ji was bleeding the entire time, and there was some silence on the way back.
“Mother, I know you want us to save a little bit. There are still many things to spend on after having a baby, but how many years has it been since Jianyun came back for the New Year? I want him to come back to a happy year,” Su Danhong explained.
“Mother understands,” Mother Ji stated and nodded.
“And I've sold the horses this time for more than 200 yuan. There's still a lot left. When my embroidery is done next year, I'll make money again. Mother, you don't have to worry about us.” Su Danhong smiled.
Mother Ji chuckled, “Mother knows you have what it takes. But if you can save, then save. Even if you make a meal to eat every day, Jianyun is not very picky.”
“I know Jianyun isn’t picky. I just want to make Jianyun’s days better. I couldn't earn that much before, but now that I can earn it, I can't let him live the way he used to be,” Su Danhong said.
Speaking of, she was not very happy with Ji Jianyun's job. However, she also knew that it was good for a man to have a job. She was just a delicate girl, and she also wanted to live a normal life as husband and wife with their children. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘹𝘢𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤.𝘤𝘰𝘮
So from a selfish point of view, she was really not happy with Ji Jianyun's job.
But this was what he liked, and she naturally wanted to support him.
- 三十年河东,三十年河西 (sānshíniánhédōng, sānshíniánhéxī) – proverb meaning change is the only constant thing
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