Chapter 90 – Mother From the In-Law Side

After Mother Ji went back, Su Danhong said to Ji Jianyun after he came back, “Don’t always mention everything to your mother. It’s easy for your mother to take it to heart if you say it in a serious way.”

Ji Jianyun apologized again and again. He just said it in passing.

Moreover, it was not brought up by him, but by Mother Ji herself. She said that it would cost a lot of money to buy so many apples to eat, so how could they finish it?

Ji Jianyun said with a smile, “Why wouldn’t we finish it? The apples are delicious. Yan’er can eat half an apple a day.”

Wasn’t that why Mother Ji specially came to talk to her about it?

Su Danhong didn’t say anything else.

In the next few days, Mother Ji took Yan’er back for dinner, and now Yan’er ate at her home. She began to eat with Mother Ji in the morning, and ate at Su Danhong’s for lunch and dinner.

Truthfully, Su Danhong told Mother Ji that she didn’t have to cook alone and should come over to eat together. However, Mother Ji insisted that it would be no trouble.

The result of it was that Mother Ji would cook food in the morning and pack it to eat for the whole day.

Su Danhong did not interfere with these matters despite it being related to filial piety. Mother Ji came over to eat and Su Danhong welcomed her. It was only one more pair of chopsticks to wash. If Mother Ji didn’t want to, then she wouldn’t force it. It wasn’t a lot of effort on her part. From time to time, she would ask Ji Jianyun to bring over a meat dish to her to add more to the meal.

As for Father Ji, he did not follow how Mother Ji ate. He followed his third son and third daughter-in-law to eat good food every day. He felt that his body was much healthier than before.

As the days passed on, it was the Lantern Festival1. After the Lantern Festival passed, the villagers began to discuss farm work.

The weather this year was much more sunny than in previous years. Not long after the Lantern Festival, the snow melted. Far away, the saplings in their orchard began to sprout bright green leaves.

This was the sign of a good future harvest.

From January to mid-February, Ji Jianyun took two cousins from the village who also had an orchard to learn from Lao Qin.

This was something Su Danhong requested. She was letting him find something to do, and it would lay out the foundation for the future development of the orchard.

Using the Great Fox Immortal’s words was a pretense for the time being. They couldn’t use her all the time, and they had to learn to use the current technology to manage the orchard.

Furthermore, Ji Jianyun was the man in the family. She couldn’t let him be idle for too long. If he didn’t develop a sense of self-worth, then he would become disheartened, grow in self doubt and lack confidence.

As a man, he had to support a family. Thus, even if he was a little tired, she would not let him be short of confidence

Although Su Danhong loved her man dearly, she never interfered excessively or spoiled her man.  He should be constantly improving himself. This was his duty as a man and the burden he had to carry on his shoulder.

While Ji Jianyun was away from home, he was actually very worried. At home there was only his wife and his son. There was also Yan’er. How could his wife take care of them alone?

But his wife stated, “Don’t you see that I’m always taking care of them?”

He was immediately speechless.

After that, he was still not at ease. He insisted on cleaning up the guest room and asking Mother Ji to move in.

As soon as Mother Ji heard that her son was going to learn new skills in managing the orchard, she was 120% supportive since it was related to the future of Lao San’s family and the financial assistance of her and her husband in the future.

She patted her son on the back and reassured him that she would take care of his family while he was away to learn new skills.

With this, Ji Jianyun was a little more at ease.

At noon that day, Su Danhong said, “Mother, look after them and I’ll cook.”

“I can do it. You can look after them,” Mother Ji said.

Su Danhong was slightly embarrassed, but she still insisted on cooking. The main reason for this was because Yan’er and Renren wanted to play with their grandmother. When Mother Ji heard this, she understood that Su Danhong wanted her to rest and was quite touched.

It was really impossible to pick out anything bad with Lao San’s family right now.

That woman of the old Su family was terrible, but the daughter she raised really showed respect for her.

When she thought of her own unfilial daughter, it was really a disgrace to their family. She did not want to mention that wretched girl.

Su Danhong watched her go in and take care of the children. She breathed a sigh of relief and began to cook.

She actually liked how her mother-in-law wanted to help, but there was no way she would let her cook. With her mother-in-law’s limited cooking skills, she could forget about wanting something delicious.

There was a lot of work to do on the mountain now. She bought some seeds for medicinal plants last time and gave them to her second brother to plant.

Well, now that her second brother was here to help, his salary would need to be calculated. After some time had passed, when the weather was better and the chickens had grown, they would be able to go to town to see the shop.

Anyway, the prices for the shops in the town were decreasing. There was nothing to buy, but the stores were open, and many people were starting to do business. People were worried that the shops would be robbed first, so they rented out the space first. At most, it would be empty for a month. The rent for a month was only five yuan, which was not expensive.

Su Danhong cooked three dishes. The meat and vegetable pairings were good. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law ate first and Yan’er was able to eat a bowl of steamed eggs. Mother Ji prepared some dishes and steamed buns to be sent to the mountain.

Six big steamed buns, a plate of stir fried celery with eggs, a plate of cold beef with sauce, and a plate of choy sum.

Su Jindang and Father Ji were very satisfied with their food. It could be said that Father Ji was used to the food from Lao San’s family. Meanwhile, Su Jindang was a little embarrassed and thought that his sister cooked so much delicious food because of him.

In the Su household, Mother Su lived a careful life where meat twice in seven days was a lot. But just look at his sister’s life here.

Thus, when he went back that day, he went to Su Danhong and whispered, “Danhong, you don’t have to cook more food for me. How much I eat now is the same as in the past.”

Su Danhong gave him a puzzled look. “Second brother, what are you talking about? We eat like this all the time. ”

“Eat like this all the time?” Su Jindang stared at her.

Su Danhong understood what was going on and laughed. “Second brother, you don’t have to worry about this. We do eat like this a lot. Don’t you see how unfazed my father-in-law is? If you do a good job, then our lives will get better and better!”

After talking to her second brother, she was about to send him off when Mother Ji came out with Renren in her arms. She smiled and said, “Danhong, don’t you still have a lot of beef in the fridge? Give Jindang a piece to take home.”

Su Danhong nodded and went inside to take a piece of beef out that was still frozen hard.

“No, it’s fine,” Su Jindang quickly said.

“We’re all family. Jindang, you don’t need to be so polite. Your mother is generous and brought so many eggs over. We’re all related so don’t be so polite. Take it back and ask her to stew it with radish. It was not easy for her back in the day. She should eat some good food. Tell her not to save it,” Mother Ji said.

This was true. It was not easy for her generation back then, especially during the three year famine. They were lucky to survive.

Footnotes

元宵(yuánxiāo) – Lantern Festival is the 15th day of the first month. 

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