Chapter 101 - 99: Suspicion Rises Again
Looking at the silent crowd in the room, Li Xiu let out a soft laugh and said to Zhou Kun, "Dad, Nuonuo is still little, so we can’t get back too late. We’ll just say a word to Third Brother and head home directly."
Zhou Kun didn’t quite know what to do with this son-in-law of his, so he just smiled and agreed. Mrs. Zhou got up to sort out the baskets they had brought. She had been so busy today that she hadn’t had a chance to look at them yet!
Second Brother Zhou immediately stood up and went with Mrs. Zhou to his sisters’ room. There were too many prying eyes and wagging tongues around, and the baskets were dead heavy. He was afraid outsiders would see and start more gossip.
Mrs. Zhou and Second Brother Zhou were dumbfounded when they saw the contents. ’Isn’t today Third Brother’s wedding? What’s the meaning of all this? Besides, Li Xiu didn’t even mention bringing it out this morning!’
"Second Brother, go get your father," Mrs. Zhou instructed him. ’I’d better let their father see this and figure out what it means. He always brings a lot when he visits, but this is just too much!’
"What’s all this?" Zhou Kun asked as soon as he entered the room. ’Weren’t they just tidying up our second son-in-law’s baskets? Why did they call me over?’
Following Mrs. Zhou’s finger, Zhou Kun stared at the cured meat covering the floor and froze. It was cured meat, divided into four portions, each weighing more than ten pounds. ’Four portions?’
"Put it away. It’s a thoughtful gift from our son-in-law." Seeing the confused looks on the faces of Mrs. Zhou and Second Brother Zhou, Zhou Kun smiled and explained, "After the third-day visit home, Third Brother will be moving out on his own. It’s hard to get ahold of meat in the spring, and the farm work is heavy. He divided the meat into four portions, one for each family. It was a very thoughtful gesture!"
Seeing Li Xiu pushing his bicycle with Zhou Lian sitting on the back seat holding their child, Zhou Kun said directly, "Just have a quick word with your third brother, then hurry on home."
In the room, now without Li Xiu’s family of three, the men drank their tea in silence. On the women’s side, Mrs. Zhou ignored the grand-aunt, chatting only with her own sisters and sisters-in-law.
"That son-in-law of yours... does he have a bit of a temper?" one of the Zhou family’s maternal aunts asked in a low voice.
Nearby, Zhou Xiang couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Seeing her aunts looking at her, she suppressed her laughter and said, "It’s only because today is my third brother’s wedding. If it were any other day, my second brother-in-law would have beaten that person until their head was covered in lumps!"
The Zhou family’s aunts were all shocked. A son-in-law could be so arrogant in his wife’s family home? Seeing that Mrs. Zhou was unconcerned, and the younger sisters like Zhou Cui and Zhou Xiang were all used to it, they were completely bewildered. Zhou Kun wasn’t exactly a good-tempered man either; how could he let his son-in-law run wild in his house!
"My second son-in-law does have a bit of a temper, but he’s a reasonable man." The other women were skeptical, especially since the grand-aunt was an elder. Sensing their thoughts, Mrs. Zhou smiled and said, "The trick is to not involve his wife. Don’t drag her into anything. Otherwise, all bets are off. Even I, her own mother, can’t say a few critical words about her without that boy jumping in to defend her!"
Zhou Cui laughed so hard her stomach hurt. She remembered the last time, when her second sister had just gotten pregnant and came to visit. Their mother had wanted to discipline her, but her second brother-in-law had protected her so fiercely! Seeing Zhou Cui laugh, Mrs. Zhou and the other daughters remembered it too. Li Xiu was always pulling stunts like that, being fiercely protective even before they were married.
The Zhou family’s eldest sister-in-law smiled and said to the aunts, "Don’t you worry, he treats our second sister wonderfully. Ever since she got married, she hasn’t washed a single piece of clothing or cooked more than a few meals. You can just tell by looking at her now. She’s been so well cared for, all fair and delicate. And those hands of hers—they’re not the hands of someone who does chores! Look at her outfit, from head to toe. The clothes and shoes alone must have cost several dozen yuan, not to mention the watch and jade bracelet on her wrist, or the gold hairpin in her hair. That son-in-law of ours dotes on my sister-in-law so much he’d carry her in his pocket if he could!"
There was a hint of sourness in the eldest sister-in-law’s words, but no one paid it any mind. The aunts turned their gaze to Mrs. Zhou. They had all seen Zhou Lian today and knew she was indeed different from before she was married. It was like she was a completely different person. She had an irrepressible radiance about her, even more dazzling than the wives and daughters of the cadres they had seen! If she hadn’t smiled so warmly and greeted them, they might not have recognized her at all.
Mrs. Zhou smiled and said, "My son-in-law knows how to cherish a person. He might have a bad temper, but that’s for outsiders. With my daughter, he has no temper at all. He’s generous and sensible. I’m very satisfied with him!"
Everyone in the room had their own thoughts. The women were filled with envy and jealousy. The older ones envied the Zhou family’s good fortune in finding such a fine son-in-law, while the young wives and unmarried girls were simply jealous and resentful. They had never thought Zhou Lian was particularly outstanding before, but now she was like a different person. It wasn’t just her clothes, watch, and jewelry; it was her. She had become more beautiful, her skin fair and delicate. Her hands were like carved jade, clearly belonging to someone who never did manual labor. Most importantly, it was the aura she carried, an indescribable presence that made them feel constrained and unable to act naturally around her.
On the way home, the young couple chatted. "Bao’er, that grand-aunt of yours... your dad spoils her way too much, don’t you think?" ’Even after two lifetimes, Li Xiu still couldn’t figure it out. That grand-aunt wasn’t even a full-blooded sister, and his father-in-law wasn’t exactly a patient man. Why did he tolerate her?’
Zhou Lian, sitting on the back of the bike holding their daughter, chuckled at Li Xiu’s words. Beaming, she said, "You can’t really blame my dad for that. It was my grandfather’s dying wish. My dad can’t go against it."
"Grandfather? Why? She wasn’t his full-blooded sister, so why would Grandfather care so much?" Li Xiu asked, confused. ’Judging by his father-in-law’s character, this grandfather couldn’t have been an unreliable person. Why would he leave behind such a huge problem before he died?’
"It’s not that he cared so much. In the years after my dad was born, our family went through a huge upheaval. Of the six or seven children, only my dad survived, and they almost couldn’t keep him alive. Around that time, our grand-aunt’s own child had just passed away, and she ended up wet-nursing my dad for over half a year. Her personality didn’t do her any favors with her husband’s family, so my grandfather told my dad to look after her. Firstly, because of the life debt from being nursed for half a year. Secondly, my grandfather had four full brothers, and she was the only sister, even if only by half-blood. Didn’t you see? Even the main family branch is more tolerant of her!" Zhou Lian said nonchalantly. "That grand-aunt just has a sharp tongue; she’s not a bad person at heart."
Li Xiu nodded and didn’t say anything more. ’That was a debt his father-in-law owed, so his father-in-law could be the one to repay it. As long as she didn’t provoke his wife, it didn’t matter to him whether the woman was good or bad, or if her mouth was foul. After all, even though they were relatives, they wouldn’t see each other often.’
Her clear, limpid eyes glanced at her husband, but Zhou Lian pressed her lips together and said nothing. ’She knew what he was thinking. He was just like this in their last life. After he found out the grand-aunt had made her cry, he had secretly set a trap for the grand-aunt’s most beloved youngest cousin-uncle. If she hadn’t seen the grand-aunt today, she would have forgotten all about it. The son born after the youngest cousin-uncle’s nine daughters wasn’t actually his. That whole affair caused a huge scandal later on. Today, Li Xiu mentioned pumpkins and watermelons... could it be that he already knew about this? Or maybe he didn’t learn it in this lifetime? But in their last life, Li Xiu seemed to have something to do with that incident. How did he know?’
’And the fact that the grand-aunt wasn’t a full-blooded sister but the daughter of a concubine—that was ancient history from decades ago. How did Li Xiu know about it? The way Li Xiu had lambasted the grand-aunt and youngest cousin-uncle today... every word drew blood, every sentence had a thorn. What else was this man hiding from her?’