Over at Ge Sanmei's side, the family had started to distribute food. The men at home were all eating thick corn mush, and as a son-in-law, Yuan Cheng also got the thick stuff when he came to work. There was no need to mention the eldest daughter, who was pregnant and naturally needed to be fed well.
Ge Sanmei and Li Xianglu had to make do with thin soup; the steamed bread made from two-mixed flour was placed on a winnowing basket, where the men got their fill, and Li Xianglu could at most have one piece.
The whole family sat down at the table, but Li Jianwen hadn't returned yet, so Ge Sanmei saved some food for him.
Just after the food was served, they saw Li Jianqing come back with a happy face. He was about to speak to Li Xianglu when he noticed that everyone was at home.
He hurriedly washed his hands and sat down. Upon seeing his younger son's return, Li Erfu frowned and chided: "You loiter outside all day long, as a young man you should help around the house more."
Li Jianqing was about to respond when Ge Sanmei suddenly slammed her chopsticks down on the table and said, "Enough! What are you talking about? Jianqing is still partly a child. There's no work in the fields now, so what do you expect him to do?"
Li Erfu glanced at his wife, took a big gulp of corn mush, and slowly said, "You always spoil the children, he's fifteen already, and in a few years, he'll be an adult."
Ge Sanmei glanced at her son, robust and well-proportioned, and couldn't help but smile proudly, thinking her son was wonderful in every way.
Li Erfu looked at his thin, small daughter sipping porridge without taking any vegetables and reached over to grab a piece of pig fat stir-fried with Old Huang cucumbers for her, "Eat more, look how thin you are. In a few days when we slaughter a pig at home, I'll have your mom exchange some cloth tickets to make you a cotton-padded coat, it's hard to get through winter without one."
On hearing her husband's words, Ge Sanmei immediately put down her chopsticks and frowned, "What are you talking about? She's just a girl, why does she need good new clothes? We can exchange half of our pork for a ten-meter cloth ticket, and we need to save the rest to give to Jianwen's teacher."
The high school department in the county was now enrolling students, and Li Jianwen's former junior high school teacher had transferred to the high school there. They were going to enroll students next April, but with limited places, connections were required. Ge Sanmei was reluctant to spend money, but willing to part with five jin of pork for the cause.
Upon hearing this, Li Erfu frowned and said, "Aren't ten meters of cloth enough to make a cotton-padded coat for Xiang?"
Ge Sanmei became somewhat angry, "Jianwen is going to high school next year, he needs at least two sets of new clothes. If he wears ragged clothes, won't he be laughed at? Why should a girl have good clothes?"
After listening, Li Erfu opened and closed his mouth without saying anything, looking quite annoyed.
At this moment, Li Jianhong rolled her eyes and deliberately pitched her thick voice higher, calling out, "Mom, I'm carrying a grandchild, you have to make me a set too."
Ge Sanmei glanced at her daughter, then at her son-in-law, rolled her eyes, and snorted, "What are you worried about? Your child is the Yuan family's eldest grandchild; won't he lack anything to wear? But I, as the grandmother, won't shortchange him anyway."
Li Xianglu sipped on the thin soup in her bowl, had a piece of bread, and was about to head off without having much of the vegetables, when she heard Li Jianhong say, "Little sister, I'm feeling heavy now, you should wash some clothes for me later."
Li Xianglu frowned and said indifferently, "Big sister, you're only three months pregnant, how can you not wash your own clothes?" With that, she turned her head to leave.
Li Jianhong heard her younger sister, whom she was used to ordering around, talking back and immediately became unhappy and was about to scold her.
Li Xianglu indifferently said, "Big sister is carrying the Yuan family's grandchild now, staying at her parents' house all the time; people might think your husband has moved in if they don't know better!"
Li Xianglu's voice was quite loud, Yuan Cheng was just about to step out and heard everything clearly. His wife had been difficult ever since she got pregnant this year, became domineering, and unreasonable. It was just a piece of clothing, and yet she even expected her younger sister-in-law to wash it for her, so he turned around and glared at Li Jianhong: "Enough with the fuss, aren't you going back? Mom has asked several times!"
After eating, Li Xianglu still had work to do, so she added wheat bran and chopped straw to the hot water for steaming bread and began to stir it in the big pot.
In Li Family Village, every household had big stoves; Li Xianglu, at the age of fourteen, was thin and small due to chronic malnutrition, and she struggled to stir with the shovel in her hand.
After finishing his meal, Li Jianqing saw his little sister struggling and quickly stepped forward to take over the stirring.
When Ge Sanmei was putting away the bowls, she saw her son doing the work and became furious: "You lazy girl, are you heartless? You even get your older brother to do such work, don't you know he's still growing?" Saying this, she picked up the broom on the ground and threatened to hit.
Li Jianqing quickly moved to shield his sister, his face turned pale as he called out, "Mom!" and stared straight at Ge Sanmei.
At this point, Li Erfu also stood up, his face filled with anger: "Good, favoring one so much. What use is such a child to you? Might as well give her away, lest you chill her heart!"
Li Xianglu looked coldly at the woman before her, almost laughing out of anger in her heart. Was this really her own mother? So cold-blooded. She was only fourteen, small and thin, and now she was scorned for letting her brother help with work; truly, her mother's favoritism knew no bounds.
Unable to release her anger, Ge Sanmei was aggrieved when her husband mentioned making new clothes for this girl and her youngest son helped with work; still, she watched with cold eyes. Tears started falling as she thought life was simply unbearable, working hard for the family every day, yet it seemed not to be worth as much as a girl!
Seeing his wife crying, Li Erfu didn't know what to do, and moved forward awkwardly to wipe her tears, but he said, "Jianqing is grown up, it's fine for him to help his sister with some chores. Being so biased, won't it hurt the children's feelings? They're all from your womb, it's not like you need to be perfectly fair, but don't make the kids feel neglected."
Although Li Erfu's words were spoken softly, they still sounded harsh in Ge Sanmei's ears. She shook off Li Erfu's arm and walked out the door.