Reborn in 1966

Chapter Forty-Four: Top-Grade

Grandma was always worried about her eldest aunt who was at the cadre school. After learning her address through two letters, Grandma sent her some cooked pig's head meat. Since the temperature was so low, even though it would take two or three days to arrive, it wouldn't spoil.

Aunt Xuan's house was the closest, just across the small river at the east end of the village. Grandpa took Peijun and wrapped a few pounds of pork in oil paper and delivered it there. When they returned, Grandpa's face was rather grim, while Peijun's expression was quite strange.

Grandma didn't want to ask Grandpa what was going on, so she pulled Peijun into Shen's parents' room and asked what happened.

Peijun said, "My aunt Xuan's mother-in-law was waiting at their house. When she saw that my grandfather and I had taken the pork, she insisted that my aunt Xuan cut off a big piece for me. My uncle cut off a small piece, and my uncle's mother took the big piece and ran away."

Upon hearing this, Grandma asked, "And then what happened?"

Peijun said, "Xiaohe cried as soon as he saw the big one being taken away. He cried very loudly. I saw many people from their village and our village go to see what was going on. Grandpa was so angry that he stopped talking. He comforted Xiaohe and then brought me back."

Grandma said, "Oh dear, what a terrible thing! How did your aunt end up with such an unreliable mother-in-law?"

The next day, people from both the east and west villages started talking about Aunt Xuan's deeds, and some even came to the Shen family to find out more.

Another day passed, and Zhao Tiezhu, accompanied by his aunt, arrived at the Shen family with New Year's gifts.

Now everyone knows exactly what Zhao Tiezhu's mother did.

It was relatively normal for Zhao Tiezhu's older brother to go to work, but his sister-in-law was not so normal. She had a headache one day and a stomachache the next, and was generally unwell. She didn't work very often. Zhao Tiezhu's mother's work points were only calculated when there were propaganda tasks. Otherwise, she had to go to work with the production team, or she wouldn't get any.

In the past two years, thanks to Zhao Tiezhu and Aunt Xuan, their family's share of money and various receipts was still enough to get by. But this year, the family was divided up, and the team split the work points between the two families. The money that Zhao Tiezhu's older brother and his mother received was less than what Zhao Tiezhu earned alone, so Old Mrs. Zhao panicked.

Without money, you can't buy anything. It's almost the twelfth lunar month, and the family still doesn't have enough money to buy even a few pounds of meat. The eldest daughter-in-law lies on the kang (a heated brick bed) all day groaning, while the eldest grandson keeps nagging about who slaughtered a pig and who ate meat. The old lady is heartbroken. This grandson has never suffered like this before. Although he can't eat whatever he wants, she used to keep all the family's money in her hands and secretly bought him many delicious treats.

Even after the family split up, she couldn't go to her younger son's house to demand all the money allocated to her by the production team. Just when she didn't know what to do, she heard that the Shen family had slaughtered a pig this year. She figured the Shen family would definitely come to give the younger son's family pork. So, the old lady had been keeping an eye on what was going on at her younger son's house for the past two days. As soon as she heard that the Shen family was coming to give gifts, she got up and came over. Seeing that there must have been five or six pounds of pork, the old lady was overjoyed. Now that's great, her eldest grandson will have meat to eat.

When Grandma Zhao heard that her in-laws had gone to her second son's house, she rushed over there. In her opinion, her somewhat shameful request to stay with her father and daughter-in-law was impossible to refuse.

Upon entering the house, seeing her in-laws sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), Old Mrs. Zhao said, "Oh dear, in-laws have arrived! I heard your family slaughtered a pig for the New Year this year; there must be quite a bit of pork."

Shen Shengxuan was very clear about her mother-in-law's intentions for coming. At the same time, she felt extremely embarrassed. Her mother-in-law was so shameless in front of her father. If word got out, people would laugh their heads off.

Grandpa didn't say anything, he just sat silently on the kang (a heated brick bed). Grandpa was a man of few words to begin with.

Shen Shengxuan didn't respond to her mother-in-law's words. Zhao Tiezhu sensed that the atmosphere was a bit off, so he said to his mother, "Mom, why are you here?"

The old woman stiffened her neck and said, "What, can't I come to my own son's house?"

After speaking, the old lady scanned the room and, not seeing any pork, said to Zhao Tiezhu, "Didn't your father-in-law send you some pork? Could you cut some for me so I can take it back and cook it for Dajiang? Honestly, you guys don't even think about buying anything for your families after calculating work points. Your sister-in-law has always been in poor health, and I'm getting old. This time, neither your brother's nor I have many work points. How can you be so inconsiderate of us?"

Shen Shengxuan couldn't hold back any longer and said, "Mother, I only call you Mother because of Zhao Tiezhu. Don't you know very well why we separated the family? Do I need to tell you again how you beat your youngest son so badly that he was bleeding from the head and almost died?"

When the old lady heard her youngest daughter-in-law bring up her guilty conscience again, she said to her grandfather, "My dear in-law, I am her elder. I didn't mean it. Besides, Tiezhu is my own son. Xiaoxia's mother doesn't need to keep nagging me."

Zhao Tiezhu squatted on the ground, panting heavily. The room fell silent for a moment. The old lady asked, "I still have to go home to cook. Xia's mother, hurry up and cut me some meat."

Xiaohe, who had just entered the house, heard what his grandmother said and said, "The meat that my grandfather gave me cannot be given to Dajiang."

Zhao Xiaoxia also stood firmly beside her younger brother.

When the old lady heard her grandson say that, she angrily said, "What's wrong with me? I'm your grandma. What's wrong with asking you for some food? Go away!"

Shen Shengxuan said angrily, "Can't we even make our own decisions about our own things? Zhao Tiezhu, you figure it out yourself."

Xiaohe said, "Dad, you can't give it to me. This was given to me by my maternal grandfather. I don't want to give it to him." As she spoke, she started to cry.

Grandpa sat on the kang with a gloomy face. Seeing his nephew crying so sadly, he said to Zhao Tiezhu, "Tiezhu, go cut a piece for your mother."

Xiaohe grabbed Zhao Tiezhu's sleeve as he walked to the door, crying and shouting to stop him. Shen Shengxuan picked up Xiaohe angrily and said, "Xiaohe, be good."

Zhao Tiezhu went to the outer kitchen cabinet and took out the piece of meat. He cut off a small piece, but before he knew it, Old Madam Zhao nimbly reached behind him, grabbed the larger piece, and ran away in a flash.

When Zhao Xiaohe saw that there was only a small piece left, he burst into tears. When his grandfather heard the noise and went out to see the meat on the cutting board, he understood what had happened. He took his nephew from his daughter's arms and gently coaxed him, "Xiaohe, don't cry. Tomorrow, Grandpa will bring you a big piece and some more pig's head meat. Pig's head meat is so delicious."

Zhao Xiaohe cried as she spoke, "I don't want to give the meat to Dajiang. Dajiang always bullies me and my sister, Grandpa, Grandpa, waaaaah..."

Grandpa sighed and said to Shen Shengxuan and Zhao Tiezhu, "That's fine. I'll have Peijun bring you some more tomorrow. The children need to eat something good for the New Year; it's been a whole year..."

Because of Zhao Xiaohe's crying, and because he was looking for the old lady and carrying the meat as he ran home, the busybodies in the village soon found out what had happened.

After Zhao Tiezhu's aunt learned about this, she took Zhao Tiezhu to his brother's house.

Before even entering the house, she smelled a rich aroma of meat. Zhao Da Niang was so angry that she trembled all over. She pushed open the door and saw Zhao Da Jiang sitting at the kang table eating meat from his bowl, while Zhao Tie Zhu's mother sat to the side, smiling as she watched her eldest grandson eat meat.

Seeing Aunt Zhao storm in, Old Mrs. Zhao was still a little scared.

Over the years, my sister-in-law has become one of the people I fear, even though she's not a shrew.

Aunt Zhao was speechless when she saw her sister-in-law snatch meat from her younger son's house to cook for her older son's children. Just because her eldest grandson's mother was her niece from a fifth degree of kinship, she was treated like family by her sister-in-law. All the housework and farm work were expected to be done by her younger daughter-in-law, while her older daughter-in-law had to lie down and rest whenever she said she wasn't feeling well. Farmers work all day long; there's no way anyone can be so delicate. Besides, there was no evidence that her older daughter-in-law was unwell before she got married.

Grandma Zhao stood up and said, "Sister-in-law is here. Quickly sit down and warm up."

Aunt Zhao sighed and said, "Second Aunt, I just don't understand. Is your family really that short of food? Look, you've made such a fuss over a piece of meat that the whole village is watching. Do you think it's worth it?"

Zhao Tiezhu's mother said, "It's all Xiaohe's fault. It's just a piece of meat. Is it really worth crying and screaming like that?"

Aunt Zhao said angrily, "Oh, you snatched food from someone's mouth and you don't even want them to cry? Besides, you're an elder. When the children have something good, they don't even come to show their respect to you. Why did you have to go to your second son's house and snatch it, making the child cry?"

Zhao Tiezhu's mother said, "We don't know how big it will be when they bring it over. Dajiang, eat your meat." As she spoke, she patted her eldest grandson's head.

Zhao Tiezhu, who was following behind Aunt Zhao, suddenly turned pale. So, his elder brother's child was his mother's grandson, but his own child wasn't.

Such a straightforward conversation caused Zhao Laoda and his wife, who followed Zhao Da Niang in, to blush slightly.

Grandma Zhao continued, "Sister-in-law, the eldest son's health is not good, and he still has to take care of the family and go to work. The second son only received a few dollars after the division of the family property. If there were no other way, do you think I would want to go?"

This unruly sister-in-law infuriated Aunt Zhao so much that she felt like every breath she exhaled was filled with fire.

Aunt Zhao said, "Auntie, a person's reputation is important, and a tree's bark is important too. We have to have a good reputation. Our family already made a name for itself last time when we divided the family property. During the holidays, everyone was just looking for some fun, and you've done this again. We also have to think about the younger generation in the family. If the family doesn't have a good reputation, how will the children talk about finding a husband?"

Grandma Zhao said softly, "We should look for a husband however we want. We can't make Dajiang eat less meat just because we need to find a husband."