Three Women in the Cage

Due to Zhang Erfa's inaction, Yang Yu failed to communicate with him. Because of her stubbornness, she decided to do it herself. She didn't believe that she couldn't do it without a man.

So Yang Yu found Zhang's mother and asked her to take him to familiarize himself with the land and forest that had been allocated to him. Under Zhang's mother's guidance for a day, Yang Yu roughly knew the specific location of the land and forest. There was a vegetable garden, which was closest to home. There were two fields of crops hundreds of miles away from the vegetable garden. There were also two fields in the opposite direction, which were farther away and required him to cross a river by stepping on stones.

Mother Zhang was still a little worried, after all, she was pregnant, but she knew that Yang Yu was strong-willed and her second son had no opinion of his own and could only do things mechanically, so she told him to plant a few small plots of land near the river first, and then slowly plant the land far away after the baby was born.

However, when Yang Yu asked Zhang's mother to help take care of Huanhuan, Zhang's mother hesitated. The house prepared for Zhang Sanmao had not yet been completed, and she still lived with them. San's wife was pregnant. After Yang Yu moved out, the housework fell on her again. San's wife was sweet and coaxed them into a happy day. In addition, Zhang Sanmao was protective, so Zhang's mother only let her help occasionally and also had to take care of her body. So she didn't have much energy to take care of the baby. Besides, she didn't like Huanhuan in the first place, so she didn't want to take care of her even more.

Mother Zhang looked embarrassed and said to Yang Yu in a calm tone: "Yu, it's not that I'm not busy for you. You see, your third daughter-in-law is pregnant now, and all the housework is on me. I really can't take care of anyone."

In fact, Yang Yu already knew the result, but she just wanted to give it a try. Sure enough, there was no accident. Although both of them were pregnant, she still had to take care of the baby, do housework, and do farm work outside, while Liu Chunxiang only had to be taken care of at home, and she seemed to be afraid of bumps and bruises. Sometimes she really didn't understand why people were so different.

"Okay, Mom, then I can only let Erfa take it. He has nothing to do all day," Yang Yu said disappointedly.

When Zhang's mother heard Yang Yu say this, she was obviously unhappy. "Yu, you are not right. How can a man take care of a child? Children are naturally taken care of by their mothers. Besides, how can he do nothing? Men are the backbone of a family. The farm work outside ultimately depends on men." She said in a dissatisfied tone.

"Mom, it's not that I don't want to take care of the child. I can't rely on Erfa for any housework. I have urged him several times to do the farm work outside, but he always quarrels with me. I told him to ask you, but he doesn't go. He just hangs around everywhere every day. He comes back to eat at mealtime and then hangs around again. He doesn't take care of the child. I really have no choice. Someone has to do the farm work outside. After the food you distributed is eaten up, I can't expect you to distribute more. Since he can't do the farm work outside, I can only do it. It's not a good idea to take the child to the fields," Yang Yu said angrily.

Of course Zhang's mother knew all this, but she just didn't want Yang Yu to talk back to her in front of her, nor did she want her to say anything about her son, so she said with a bad look on her face, "You have already moved out, so you two should live a good life. If there is anything, talk it over and don't make trouble all the time. We can't interfere in your affairs now, so you can decide for yourself." She sighed and left.

Seeing that Zhang's mother always defended Zhang Erfa and did not guide her son, Yang Yu felt furious. As soon as Zhang's mother left, she started cursing, "Old woman, you only know how to say useless things. You just want to divide a broken house and don't want to care about it. Everyone knows that the two-story brick house prepared for Zhang Sanmao is too biased. Bah, I let you come here to pretend to be kind."

After figuring out the farmland, Yang Yu got up early the next day and prepared to cook something simple. Since there were not many people at home, there was no need for so many details. The food was simple and quick to cook. After it was done, he ate a few mouthfuls and then heated the food in the pot. In the inner room, looking at Zhang Erfa who was sleeping soundly, Yang Yu said in a deep voice: "The food is hot in the pot. I will prepare it for Huanhuan to eat later. I will go to tread the crops and turn the soil first. Then we can decide what to plant first and what to plant later. Once we have it sorted out, you can no longer be lazy." After that, he walked out.

With nothing at home, Yang Yu borrowed a hoe and headed to the vegetable garden. Arriving at the garden, Yang Yu's face was grim. He prepared to till the soil first, then ask Zhang's mother for some money to buy some vegetable seeds. The family had no farming tools, no money either. All the money she'd received as a marriage gift had gone to Zhang's mother, the housekeeper, and she hadn't even used any money from the distribution. She also needed to feed the livestock, and everything cost money. This was Yang Yu's first time moving out on her own, and she had to start from scratch. She felt a sense of powerlessness.

As they were plowing the fields, they saw people gradually arriving to work on the crops around them. Soon, every field was occupied by a family, and with several people working on a field, it wasn't long before they had finished. They watched Yang Yu plowing the fields alone and yelled at her, "Second sister-in-law, you're plowing the fields alone? Why didn't Second Brother come with you?" They were just gossiping, not really showing any concern, and were smiling playfully.

Yang Yu knew that they were not truly concerned and that their words were just gossip, but she was just feeling depressed and wanted someone to complain to, so she just poured out her complaints.

"He is still sleeping at home. He is lazy and eats a lot all day. After the family split up, he has no one to take care of him. He sleeps until the sun is shining on his butt and doesn't get up. When I call him out to work on the crops, he doesn't know how to do it. He just stays in the house all day. If I don't come out to help him with the farm work, I'm afraid we won't have food to eat in the second half of the year."

The neighbors around him laughed with schadenfreude on their faces, but they couldn't show it, so they could only comfort him against their will, "Hey, he just separated from the family and he's not used to it. That's normal. You help him sort it out, and he'll be able to do it soon. As a couple, you should understand each other. It's just that one of you does more and the other does less. It's nothing to worry about."

Yang Yu didn't know that these words of hers would be used as after-dinner gossip by others. They would also privately say that Zhang Erfa was lazy, incompetent, and cowardly. They would say that she had no man to love her, that she had a bad relationship with her husband, and that her family was full of conflicts. Others would only look down on them more and more from the bottom of their hearts. Who would feel sorry for her situation? They were just doing it for fun.

Slowly, Yang Yu breathed a sigh of relief while complaining. The people around him also left with a smile after listening to his complaints, leaving Yang Yu alone to continue working in the field. Sweat soaked his back and his forehead was covered with layers of sweat beads. When the sun was scorching the ground, Yang Yu really couldn't stand it. He was tired and thirsty. He had only turned over one-third of the land. Because he was afraid of getting tired, he had to go back and come back tomorrow.