Proofread by Claire.KK
The person standing at the door was Mrs. Xiao née Wang, the elder daughter-in-law of old Mr. Xiao. In the Xiao family the eldest was old Mr. Xiao, that was, Baoshan’s grandpa who had three sons. Mrs. Xiao née Wang was the wife of his eldest son, Li Hongmei was the wife of his second son, and the last, Mrs. Xiao née Chen, was his third daughter-in-law.
Li Hongmei was a prostitute in her early years, so she was picked on by the eldest and third sons’ wives since she married in. In the Xiao family, no one looked up on her apart from her husband who died early. Fortunately, she was born optimistic and cheeky. No matter whether they beat her or scolded her, she pretended to be alright.
Now, as soon as Mrs. Xiao née Wang came to shout at them, Li Hongmei also stood akimbo and scolded back. “What work? What work? Have you ever been a bride or not? You haven’t been through a wedding night before? Your husband was incompetent and didn’t serve you well back then, did he? You envy my Baoshan for having such a manly body, don’t you?”
“You…you indeed come from the house of ill fame. I bet you know better than I do,” Mrs. Xiao née Wang continued her scolding. “You don’t do the work and who’s going to cook today’s lunch?”
“I’ll do it, won’t I?” said Li Hongmei.
In fact, Li Hongmei was just arguing for the sake of it but she didn’t really mean it. After all, she was a widow, and her second son just came back. Besides, there were another two little ones as well to feed. She had to work in order to survive in this family.
After quarreling with Mrs. Xiao née Wang, Li Hongmei immediately turned around and chuckled to Ye Xiaoxian. “Little Ye, just lie down. Let your ma cook the lunch and bring it to you.”
Ye Xiaoxian looked at Li Hongmei. Although Li was a little coarse, this mother-in-law was defending her in any case, so her affection for Li Hongmei had increased.
Li Hongmei left the room, and Mrs. Xiao née Wang was still standing there with her eyes staring at Ye Xiaoxian. Ye Xiaoxian didn’t evade either. She also stared at Mrs. Xiao née Wang and said coldly, “Does elder auntie want my ma to work alone? It’s almost noon. If the lunch is served late, Grandpa will scold again.”
Mrs. Xiao née Wang rolled her eyes to Ye Xiaoxian and murmured, “It’s just a night the two spent together, does she really regards herself as the daughter-in-law of the Xiao’s? Look at how arrogant she is. I haven’t seen her being like this before.”
…
After Mrs. Xiao née Wang and Li Hongmei went out, Ye Xiaoxian thought that she could finally have some quiet time herself. However, a few sisters-in-law started quarreling outside.
“How can you wash vegetables like that?”
“How should I wash them if not like this?”
“Don’t wash the pork so many times. You’ve washed all the oil off. There will be no oil left when it’s stir-fried.”
“Second sister-in-law, can you be careful? The water has spilled on my feet!”
“Third sister-in-law, can you stop holding the kitchen knife like this? Knives have no eyes, and it almost killed me!”
…
The three daughters-in-law of the Xiao family were all trouble-makers. They quarreled every time they got together. Old Mr. Xiao, who was living in the East Room of the courtyard, couldn’t stand it. He came out on crutches and scolded them. “Stop it all of you! Your men are all working hard outside and what about you? Just cooking a lunch and you end up quarreling like this!” Old Mr. Xiao had always been the authority. He was the eldest of his family, and especially despised women. With such a roaring of his, all the women in the courtyard immediately calmed down. Old Mr. Xiao went back to his room and lay down after shouting at them. In this house, he only gave orders and scolded people but do nothing else. He also had to be served with meals on the dot or he would scold others for being one minute late.
Ye Xiaoxian suddenly felt a little fidgety again. This was a feudal family. It stressed that four generations should live together. All the money earned in the family should be handed over to Old Mr. Xiao to take care of and then distribute to each houses.
Xiao Tieshu, the eldest son of old Mr. Xiao, and Xiao Tongshu, the third son, both worked in the town. They earned two taels of silver every month, however, these were the accounts as they claimed them to be, but they must have kept some private savings for themselves.
Both the elder and the third sons’ families were well off. They could afford new clothes for their own children during the Spring Festival, and the boys could go to school in the town.
The second son’s wife Li Hongmei whose husband died early and her reputation was not good, so all the family’s hard and dirty work fell onto this incomplete family, such as chopping firewood and cutting grass.
Ye Xiaoxian had accepted the fact that she had time-traveled and knew that it was not easy for a married woman to change her destiny in this era. All she could do now was to stay and make the life of the family better and improve her own life as well.