Li Xiaonan arrived home more than half an hour earlier than the eldest sister, and sat in the kitchen to help Sister Mei cook the pot.
"Is Li Xiucai at home?"
An inquiry came from outside the courtyard gate.
"Brother hasn't come back yet, what can I do for you?" Li Xiaonan responded and hurried out.
At the door was a woman of about fifty years old. The outermost coat was made of silk, and she looked quite reserved.
Seeing Li Xiaonan, the mother-in-law bent her knees slightly and said, "It's the fourth lady, please give my regards to the fourth lady."
"Who are you?" Li Xiaonan quickly bent her knees and returned the courtesy.
"My surname is Xiao, and I am our wife's roommate. Our wife is Mrs. Wu of the Hong family." Mrs. Xiao smiled politely.
"It's Aunt Xiao, come in and talk." Li Xiaonan smiled enthusiastically.
"I'm not going in. Has the lady come back?"
"Not yet, the eldest sister will be back in half an hour. Do you have anything to do with the eldest sister? Your wife? My third sister?" Li Xiaonan was enthusiastic and polite.
"Our wife is looking for your eldest lady. Send me over first to have a look. Then I will come back in half an hour. When the eldest lady comes back, our wife wants to talk to your eldest lady. Thank you, fourth lady." Mrs. Xiao said politely.
Alienation.
"Okay, thank you for your hard work, mama." Li Xiaonan remains enthusiastic.
Seeing Mrs. Xiao walk out of the alley leisurely, Li Xiaonan closed the courtyard door and went back to the kitchen.
Sister Mei kept craning her neck to look at the door of the courtyard, facing Li Xiaonan and asked: "From the Hong family? Is there nothing wrong?"
"They said their wife is coming to talk to the eldest sister. Their wife is the third sister's mother-in-law. She should be fine." Li Xiaonan's heart began to beat upwards.
Li Jinzhu and Li Yuzhu had just arrived home when Mrs. Xiao came again. When she heard that she was coming back, she hurried back to invite her wife.
The three sisters from the Li family and the four sisters from the Mei family simply ate in the kitchen in a hurry, boiled water, boiled the cups and pots, wiped the tables and chairs, and got the tea. Mrs. Wu arrived.
Li Jinzhu and Li Yuzhu let Mrs. Wu in, one on the left and the other on the right. Li Xiaonan was busy making tea.
This is Third Sister’s mother-in-law. She can’t be too enthusiastic or respectful!
Mrs. Wu looked reserved and indifferent, and sat down upright. She looked at the spinning wheel from the loom placed in the middle of the main room, then turned to look at the baskets of rice piled in the east chamber, the bacon hanging on the beams and the high and low
several baskets.
Li Jinzhu followed Mrs. Wu's gaze and looked around her home, her heart rising little by little.
No matter how you put it, Yinzhu's marriage was highly anticipated. Ever since Yinzhu got married, she has been worried about it.
The Mrs. Wu in front of me, dressed in silk, looks more like an official wife than an official wife.
Mrs. Wu's grandfather was an official, and Mrs. Wu was from a genuine official family, with a scholarly family background. Compared with her mother-in-law, Mrs. Wu's silver is far behind.
"Master Xiu Cai hasn't come back yet." Mrs. Wu looked around and asked calmly.
"It will take an hour or two for him to come back. He said that the scenery is beautiful in spring and there are many cultural events. He hasn't had dinner at home much recently." Li Jinzhu said with a smile.
"Well, men are different from women. They need to go out and practice more." Mrs. Wu said slowly, lowered her eyes at the cup of tea in front of her, pushed it out, looked at Li Jinzhu and said: "How is business lately?
?"
"Very good, I'm planning to deliver preserved eggs to several nearby towns." Li Jinzhu looked at the teacup being pushed away, quickly looked away and looked at Mrs. Wu.
"That's good. If you put your loom here, you still have time to weave?" Mrs. Wu glanced at Li Yuzhu who was spinning.
"I just don't have much free time. Yinzhu didn't make you angry, right?" Li Jinzhu couldn't hold it back and asked with concern.
Li Xiaonan held her chin and looked at Mrs. Wu slightly holding her breath.
"It's not like making me angry." Mrs. Wu frowned slightly, paused, and sighed softly, "We are in-laws, so I won't beat around the bush.
"I'm not dissatisfied with the marriage between Yinzhu and Aye. Aye has been with him since he was a child. He arranges everything big and small. Aye has been picking and choosing this marriage for several years, just because
Aye Wengweng wants to choose a good girl for Aye who is well-educated and reads poetry and books.
"I've decided on your family's silver beads later."
Mrs. Wu sighed again.
"Wengweng said they were a good match, but I had nothing to say. Later I heard from Aye that Yinzhu was illiterate. Later, Aye said that Yinzhu started to learn to read and write from the time we got engaged.
I can already finish reciting the Three-Character Sutra."
Mrs. Wu then sighed.
"I feel better in my heart.
"It only took a few months from the engagement to the wedding. Yin Zhu could finish reciting the Three-Character Sutra. At least he wasn't stupid.
"I just thought that the lucky thing among misfortunes is that Yinzhu is not stupid, but she just lacks someone to teach her. So I planned that when she marries into our family, I will spend a few years to teach her well.
You have to be at least passable academically, right?
"Then Yinzhu married in. Alas, on the first day of her marriage, when she got up early in the morning, Yinzhu went into the teahouse and turned on the fire, saying that she wanted to boil water for cooking, which filled the tearoom with smoke.
"When I saw it, oh, Yin Zhu couldn't even tell the difference between the tea room and the kitchen. How could this be possible?
"Aye is the eldest grandson of our Hong family. She is the eldest son of our Hong family. Yinzhu will also be the eldest daughter-in-law of the family in the future. As a housekeeper, she has to teach her well, right?
"I just thought that after they were married for a month, I would let Aye go to school in Pingjiang City, and Yinzhu would stay at home with me. I would teach her well for several years, but who knew that Yinzhu would not listen to any of my words?
I must come to Pingjiang City with Aye."
Mrs. Wu gently stroked her chest. She looked angry.
Li Yuzhu had stopped spinning for a long time. She looked at Mrs. Wu's hand constantly caressing her chest, thinking about her Yinzhu's usual daze, holding her breath and not daring to make any move.
Li Jinzhu looked at Li Xiaonan subconsciously.
Li Xiaonan held her chin up and seemed to be listening with great interest.
Li Jinzhu looked at Li Xiaonan, and Mrs. Wu also looked at Li Xiaonan. Li Xiaonan met Mrs. Wu's gaze and quickly smiled with her.
Mrs. Wu immediately frowned.
When Yin Zhu reasoned with her, it was her grandma who always did the talking. When this grandma heard this, she actually laughed with her!
The youngest is indeed the least sensible!
When Li Xiaonan saw Mrs. Wu frowning and turning her eyes away from her, she suddenly realized how she could laugh! Everyone was so angry. Doesn't her smiling like this sound like she was taking pleasure in others' misfortune?
"What do you mean?" Li Jinzhu answered quickly.
"Please advise her for me. She is not only Aye's daughter-in-law, she is also the housewife of our Hong family. The future clan wife must not be uneducated, and she must not be ignorant of household affairs! She and Aye will be husband and wife for the rest of their lives.
Look, the relationship between husband and wife has not lasted more than a year or two."
Mrs. Wu's voice became less calm.
"Yinzhu came here with you? I'll go tomorrow, how about I go now?" Li Jinzhu quickly agreed.
"She hasn't come yet. She will arrive tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. It's getting late, so I'm leaving." Mrs. Wu looked unhappy, stood up and walked out.
