Chapter 86: Eating Fish
Seeing his aunt and sisters looking at him with worried expressions, Li Xiu smiled slowly and said in a soft voice, "Aunt Li, sisters, you don’t need to worry about me. All this nonsense has nothing to do with me. I knew how much money there was when the family split last year, and that money was definitely meant for Li Hua and the others. They called me over last night, too. I thought something had happened, but when I got there, I realized what it was about. I listened for a while, but I couldn’t be bothered to hear them bicker, so I left. It seems they couldn’t reach an agreement last night."
Seeing that he truly wasn’t bothered, Aunt Li sighed in relief. "Last night, your third uncle came back and said that Li Man was complaining the amount was too small. He said he either wants one thousand yuan now, or you build him a house and find him a wife, and then give him 200 yuan. Your parents disagreed. Your mother said 700 yuan at most. They argued late into the night and couldn’t settle it. Your uncle saw that the village chief and the team leader were getting impatient, so he told them to call everyone back after they’d figured it out. I just didn’t expect them to start making a scene first thing this morning."
Li He said in a low voice, "I know why they started fighting."
Seeing her own mother, her sisters, and her eldest brother and sister-in-law all looking at her, Li He said timidly, "I asked Li Xin. She’s the one who told me."
When no one responded, she breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "Li Hua and Li Man started fighting because Li Hua was angry that Li Man was demanding too much. He was worried that if they angered the family, the split would be called off. Li Man accused Li Hua of pretending to be the good guy when he had actually agreed to it too. Then Li Yi asked them, if the family only has three thousand yuan and the two older brothers take two thousand, what about the three younger ones? Li Man said their parents are still young and can earn more. Li Yi then asked what would happen if they couldn’t. So Li Hua said, ’Well, isn’t there still 1,000 yuan left? We can split that with Li Yong. Whoever wants the old house will just get a smaller share of the money.’ He added that Li Xin is a girl, so she has no right to any family property. That’s when Li Yi felt he was getting a raw deal, and then they all started fighting!"
Sitting on the kang, the corner of Zhou Lian’s mouth twitched. ’Just like in my past life,’ she thought. ’They’re all a bunch of shameless ingrates, not a single good one among them. Beating each other’s brains out over a little bit of money... they’ll be famous in all the villages around here for this. It really leaves you speechless!’
Looking at the room full of women, Li Xiu pursed his lips and said to the Li sisters, "You’ll all get married sooner or later. You must remember this: ’An untaught son is like a donkey, an untaught daughter is like a pig.’ You have to understand that teaching by example is what’s most important. Just look at the old family home. This is only the beginning. You just watch, there will be plenty more drama to come. This is what happens when parents fail to teach their children properly. If the beam on top is crooked, the ones below will be too."
"That’s not true! Big Brother is wonderful!" Li Yuan retorted. "So is he a good shoot that came from bad bamboo? Big Brother is their son too, and he’s not crooked at all!"
Hearing this, Zhou Lian clapped her hands and burst out laughing. ’This little sister-in-law is hilarious,’ she thought. ’Her precious "Big Brother" is as crooked as they come. A "good shoot"? Ha! His heart is blacker than ink!’
Li Xiu’s mouth twitched. ’My little sister is still young,’ he thought. ’I can teach her slowly.’ Seeing his wife laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes, he felt a sense of helplessness. ’Is it really that funny? Why does my wife enjoy seeing me made a fool of so much!’
Aunt Li also had a look on her face that was halfway between laughing and not laughing. ’My nephew’s mind is as winding as a mountain path with eighteen bends,’ she thought. ’But when it comes to his own family, he truly deserves to be called "good."’
"You ladies chat. I’m going to go cook the fish." Li Xiu glanced at the time, noting it was getting late, and spoke to the women in the room, who were all happy and laughing.
"Big Brother, I’ll help you!" Li Gui said, and Li Yun quickly nodded in agreement.
"No need. Big Brother will show off his skills for you today. You all just relax and have fun!"
Zhou Lian reached out and held back her two sisters-in-law. "It’s all right. You’ve all worked hard from the beginning of the year to the end. Your big brother feels for you, so just sit tight and get ready to taste his cooking. Aunt Li, you have to give it a proper taste in a bit. Li Xiu is a pretty good cook."
Busy in the kitchen, Li Xiu heard the waves of laughter coming from the other room and smiled gently. ’See, this is all I’ve ever wanted,’ he thought. ’The sound of my beautiful wife and beloved daughter laughing. To have the sincere affection of my family on top of that is just the icing on the cake.’
For lunch, Li Xiu truly showed his skills. Since his wife and younger sisters couldn’t handle spicy food, he made the fish two ways. For them, he made fish with pickled mustard greens. As for the others, who loved all things spicy, he made a Sichuan-style spicy boiled fish with bean sprouts and baby bok choy. He also made green beans stewed with pork ribs, slapping a batch of two-flour griddle cakes onto the side of the pot to steam. To top it off, there was a bowl of cucumber salad with jellied pork skin and a large plate of assorted small pickles.
Seeing the table laden with so many dishes, Aunt Li and the Li sisters were all stunned for a moment. This was a bit too extravagant.
Zhou Lian said with a smile, "Aunt Li, sisters, hurry and eat while it’s hot. The fish won’t be as good once it gets cold."
Watching Li Xiu happily busy himself with picking out fish bones and deboning pork ribs for her, Zhou Lian simply lowered her head and ate. Only when Zhou Lian had eaten her fill did Li Xiu start his own meal.
This meal made Aunt Li’s teeth ache with secondhand sweetness. Her nephew was just short of spoon-feeding his wife directly. The other Li sisters just kept their heads down and ate furiously, not daring to look up. Only Li Yuan and Li Miao were still young enough not to know they should be tactful.
Having eaten her fill, Zhou Lian picked up her daughter, who had woken up and was now whimpering and wiggling her bottom, wanting to be fed. Li Xiu put down his chopsticks to take the baby, but Zhou Lian dodged his hands. "You hurry and eat, your food is getting cold. I can change Nuonuo’s diaper."
Seeing the look on his wife’s face, Li Xiu didn’t dare insist. He watched her skillfully unwrap the small swaddling blanket to change their daughter’s diaper, then smiled and lowered his head to eat. ’In this life, I’ve barely let her hold the baby, and she’s changed a diaper only a handful of times. The baby is over a month old, after all. Her practiced movements could fool anyone, but they can’t fool me. Is my wife being naive, or just brazen?’
After he finished eating, Li Xiu quickly cleared the leftovers from the table, washed and dried his hands, and took the just-fed baby from his wife. He held her expertly, letting her little head rest on his shoulder, and gently patted her back to burp her. Soon, a burp came out, and his daughter fell asleep.
Aunt Li was completely dumbfounded. How did she not know her nephew had this skill up his sleeve? From his proficient posture, she could tell he did this often. Looking at the girls beside her who acted as if this was perfectly normal, it seemed they came over so frequently that they had gotten used to it.
A short while later, Li Bao arrived with Li Guo and Li Bo. The moment he entered the house, he started shouting, "Big Brother, Big Brother, is there any food? We’re starving to death over here!"
Aunt Li slapped him on the back. "You little rascal," she said irritably. "What nonsense are you spouting? Don’t you know not to say such things during the New Year festivities!"
Li Bao grinned and playfully tapped his mouth. "Pah, pah, pah! I take it back!"
"Why haven’t you eaten yet?" Li Xiu asked with a frown, looking at the two little ones, who were listless and drooping their heads. "What time is it? You can’t go without food, you’ll make yourselves sick."
"There are still some ribs, and we have dumplings. I’ll go boil some dumplings for you." With that, he hurried to the kitchen to get some food for his three precious younger cousins. Seeing the state of the two little ones broke Li Xiu’s heart.
Watching the three brothers wolfing down their food made the hearts of everyone watching ache. Li Bao was one thing, as he was older, but the sight of the two little ones broke the hearts of all the Li women. ’They’re all so unreliable,’ Aunt Li cursed inwardly. ’The adults can skip a meal if they want, but the children still need to eat! How old are Li Bo and Li Guo? Especially Li Bo, he’s only five or six. What does he know? My eldest son and daughter-in-law are unreliable too, what were they thinking bringing Li Bo into that mess!’