Reborn in 1966

Chapter Eighty-Three Mother-in-Law

Aunt Xuan settled down at her parents' home. Zhao Tiezhu would come to visit her every day after work and found that his wife was very happy living at her parents' home. His two children were also thriving, coming to their maternal grandmother's house after school every day and playing happily with their older brothers and sisters.

No one outside the Zhao family knew what happened that night. When her younger daughter-in-law fainted, Zhao's mother stood there too scared to move. When Zhao's aunt saw so much blood flowing from her nephew's wife's body after she fainted, she was also terrified. As someone who had been through similar experiences, she knew what the cause was. While feeling sorry for her, she also hated herself for being such a troublemaker. If her daughter-in-law wanted to leave, she should have let her go. Instead, she had to hold her back. Now, the incident happened in their own home, and if those busybodies found out, who knows what they would say about their family.

After Aunt Zhao and her family helped take Aunt Xuan to Doctor Wang's house, they went home. As for their brother's wife, they didn't care what she did.

The next day, I heard that Aunt Xuan had been taken home by her family to recuperate. When the villagers asked me about it, I wished I could disappear into the ground. This was a resounding slap in the face from the Shen family to the Zhao family.

Aunt Zhao had no choice but to suggest to Zhao Tiezhu that they bring the mother and her three children back home, since it would be just as good to keep them at home. Zhao Tiezhu replied in a muffled voice that he still had to go to work, and Xiaoxia was still too young. There was no one at home to help with the housework, and he felt very comfortable leaving his wife at his mother-in-law's house.

Listen, listen! Everyone knows it's safer to stay at one's parents' home. The key is that everyone in the village is watching their family's drama unfold. Although my sister-in-law only expressed the idea that staying at one's parents' home for a full month is a decadent bourgeois hedonistic thought in a small circle, this kind of gossip spreads the fastest. No one says anything openly, but behind their backs, everyone knows that my sister-in-law is talking about the youngest daughter-in-law of the Shen family. Now, my own youngest daughter-in-law has also become a decadent bourgeois hedonist. Let's see how my sister-in-law jumps into this pit. But I won't jump in with her.

When that didn't work, Aunt Zhao went to find her eldest nephew. She really didn't want to talk to her sister-in-law anymore; she was such a blockhead. She decided not to get angry with her and instead talked to her nephew, asking him and his wife to go to the Shen family's house. She suggested that they tell them that Xiaoxia's mother was seriously injured and that the mother couldn't bear to see her daughter suffer, so she wanted to take her in for a few days.

As Aunt Zhao walked towards Zhao Tieliang's house, she was filled with anger and resentment. She hadn't worried about her own children this much, yet she was constantly getting angry and anxious about her second son's children. Thinking of her second son's daughter, Zhao Tiezhu's older sister, she sighed inwardly. This daughter was a hopeless case. She said her husband loved drinking and his eldest daughter-in-law, so why didn't she go back to her parents' home and ask her family to stand up for her? Just because her mother said that a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl, she let them beat her.

Here, she felt a surge of resentment towards her sister-in-law. "You're raising children! They're your own flesh and blood! And yet, you only dote on your eldest son, treating the other two like they were adopted. If I hadn't been there when they were born, I would have made sure they found their biological parents. Who treats their children like this? Even if you live with your eldest son in the future and he takes care of you in your old age, there's no reason to treat the other two like this."

As Aunt Zhao walked, she pondered the situation. When someone greeted her, she responded hastily with a few words, completely lacking her usual briskness. You see, Aunt Zhao was the village's women's director, and had served as that position for many years. In the village, she would always chat with everyone she met.

Aunt Zhao's unusual state of mind led the villagers to speculate more about what had happened at the Zhao family's house the previous night.

Last night, there was loud talking and crying at Aunt Zhao's house. Then, I heard several members of the Zhao family carrying someone on their backs and rushing towards Shenjia Village. It was obvious they were going to see a doctor. People from all over the surrounding villages were going to Shenjia Village to see Doctor Wang, so it must be an emergency.

Then I thought of the propaganda team member from the Zhao family. Today, he was completely different from his usual self. In the past, this propaganda team member had his short hair neatly combed to his ears, and wore a floral-patterned jacket with a belt tied around his waist. The belt was said to be a prize from a performance. Underneath his blue trousers were a pair of black cloth shoes with a side opening, and his snow-white socks were showing. Although he was in his forties, he looked like he was only in his thirties.

Today, Zhao, the propaganda team member, had puffy eyes and messy hair, looking listless. She also made a lot of mistakes during the propaganda team's training, which is something that would never happen under normal circumstances.

Everyone was speculating about what happened to the Zhao family last night. They didn't know that the Zhao family's youngest daughter-in-law had gone to her parents' home to recuperate and had miscarried last night. If they knew these things, it would give everyone even more room for imagination.

When Aunt Zhao arrived at Zhao Tieliang's house, Zhao Tieliang was still lying on the kang (a heated brick bed). Zhao Tieliang's wife looked like she had just gotten up and hadn't even washed her face. When she saw Aunt Zhao arrive, she called out "Auntie" and sat down with her on the edge of the kang.

Looking at the messy things in the house, and then thinking about how neat and tidy Zhao Tiezhu's house was, Aunt Zhao felt that her sister-in-law had really lost her mind. She treated such a lazy woman like a treasure. Where else in the village was there a nephew's wife like this? She always complained that she was not in good health and would shirk her responsibilities whenever she could. She would only go to work for the team for less than half the year, and her house was never tidy.

When Zhao Tieliang saw his aunt arrive, he quickly climbed out of bed. Luckily, he had come home late the night before and lay down to sleep fully clothed.

Aunt Zhao said to Zhao Tieliang, "Tieliang, I came to discuss with you the idea of ​​having you and your wife go to the Shen family. It seems your mother can't go because of her condition. You two should go instead."

Zhao Tieliang looked at his aunt with some difficulty and said, "Auntie, should I, as her brother-in-law, still go? It wouldn't be appropriate for me to go after Xiaoxia's mother had a miscarriage."

Zhao Tieliang's wife said, "Auntie, I'm not feeling well, I can't go."

Looking at the people here, Aunt Zhao was so angry that she was about to explode. She stood up and pointed at the couple, saying, "I came here for your own good. Instead of thinking about yourselves, you should think about Dajiang. You both know why Xiaoxia miscarried. This is a time to ease tensions with the Shen family. If you two continue like this, I won't care about you anymore."

Zhao Tieliang said, "Auntie, it's more appropriate for my mother to do this."

Aunt Zhao said with exasperation, "Your mother is going? How can your mother even show her face at the Shen family's door? Tie Liang, since neither of you wants to go, then forget it. Our two families will have less contact in the future."

After uttering those harsh words, Aunt Zhao turned and left. She was really meddling in other people's business. Why did she have to worry about these people who didn't know what was going on? If she had brought gifts to the Shen family, they might have remembered her kindness. Why did she have to come here and get angry?

Aunt Zhao stormed home. Uncle Zhao was tending to the small vegetable garden in the yard when he saw his wife return looking so upset. He asked, "What's wrong?"

Aunt Zhao said irritably, "Isn't it because of those reckless people in your Zhao family that I'm so annoyed? Eldest Zhao, I've learned my lesson this time. From now on, let's just live our own lives. Those aren't our children. They have mothers, families, and children of their own. Why should we worry about them?"

Grandpa Zhao knew his wife had been mistreated at his brother's wife's house. He sighed and said, "Fine, whatever you say. We're both half-buried in the ground, what can't we let go of?"

Aunt Zhao said, "Alright, I'll take the two catties of brown sugar that my nephew brought when he came last time to the Shen family. If they don't go, I will. I'm not going for anything else, just to get along well with the Shen and Tian families. Those good-for-nothings, let them go or not."

Grandpa Zhao said, "Okay, take some more millet with you. Tiezhu and his wife are both sensible people; they'll remember your kindness."

Aunt Zhao found a small white coarse cloth bag, filled it halfway with new millet, and also took out two jin of brown sugar. She then swaggered over with the bags towards the small bridge at the village entrance.

Along the way, people asked, "Aunt Zhao, where are you going?"

Aunt Zhao stopped and sighed, saying, "Alas, it's because Tie Zhu's wife was weak. She lost her health in just over a month. Tie Zhu's mother-in-law loves her daughter, so she took her back to her parents' home to take care of her for a few days so she could recover properly. I was worried about her too, so I went to see her."

People looked at what Aunt Zhao was holding—brown sugar, a rare commodity—and said, "Auntie, you're such a thoughtful person. Tie Zhu and his wife are good people; you won't treat them for nothing."

Aunt Zhao said, "We're all family, this is only right. You go ahead and get busy, I have to go now."

So, rumors quickly spread in the small village of Zhao that the youngest daughter-in-law of the Zhao family had miscarried last night, probably because it was related to Zhao Tiezhu's mother. Otherwise, why would such a capable person be so distraught today?

The story gets passed around so much that the truth of last night somehow got out. By the time Zhao's mother heard it two days later, it was already the truth: her daughter-in-law's miscarriage was directly related to her, and she was the one who caused it.

Leaving aside these later events, let's just say that when Aunt Zhao arrived at the Shen family's house, carrying her things in a ostentatious manner, Grandma gave her in-laws a fairly warm welcome.

Aunt Zhao explained her purpose to Grandma directly: she had come to visit Tiezhu's wife. So Grandma didn't welcome her into the main room, but led her to the small gate in the backyard.

Aunt Zhao asked, "Sister-in-law, what's wrong?"

Grandma said, "His aunt, Xuanxuan lives in the backyard with my third brother's wife. We have a lot of children in our family, so it's not easy to arrange for the three of them. My third brother's wife said that they could come and stay with her, and she would help take care of them and also keep her company."

As for the former third mistress of the Shen family, who had been widowed for a long time and lived a secluded life, Aunt Zhao had only heard of her but had never met her. It was said that this third mistress came from a prestigious family, was literate, and raised her two children alone after her husband's death. Although there was no news of her eldest son, it was said that he had sacrificed his life during the liberation of Beijing. Her younger daughter was said to have followed her husband to liberate the frontier and stayed there. Every few months, a large package would be sent from a very far place.

After entering the narrow gate, Aunt Zhao entered the Shen family's backyard. The backyard had a large vegetable garden with cabbages, radishes, and other vegetables. There was also a pigsty in one corner, and three low houses in the northeast corner. This was the residence of the Shen family's third grandmother.