Chapter 225: Brother and Sister-in-law Return to Hometown
When Chen Hong is not in front of outsiders, she is quite strong in the couple’s home. Last night, Yue Shan discussed with her about cutting some meat and going back to her hometown to visit her parents during the winter solstice, but Chen Hong has never agreed.

“My dad’s leg hasn’t healed yet! Life at home is tough, and as the eldest son, I can’t just get married and forget about my mother.

If you don’t bring the money home, you won’t be able to meet the people, right?
My younger brothers and sisters are still young, they haven’t even reached adulthood yet! I was thinking of going back to my hometown during the winter solstice holiday, why didn’t you agree?”

Yue Shan’s brows were furrowed into a lump. Normally, his wife had the final say on trivial matters and he never quarreled with her. But this time, when he wanted to go home for the holidays, his wife actually refused. This touched his bottom line.

“You can go home, but you can’t spend money! The money we earn every month seems to be a lot, but there are many places to spend the money! The money must be saved for raising our children in the future!” Seeing that her husband was on the verge of getting angry, Chen Hong compromised and told him the real purpose.

“You are not allowed to spend money when you go home? You are going home empty-handed to celebrate the festival? Chen Hong, are you talking like a human being? Normally, every time you go back to your parents’ home, you always bring a lot of things with you. Did I say anything?”

“My home is my home. My parents can still take care of our children in the future. How can your parents control us? Anyway, if you want to go back to your hometown, I can only give you a budget of two dollars at most, not a dime more!”

“Two dollars is two dollars! Get dressed and get ready to go out! You’ve been calculating that little bit of money all day long, and you don’t care what people back home think of your husband. Sooner or later, you’ll lose your family!”

“They can look at it however they like!”

……

At around ten o’clock in the morning, Yue Shan rode a bicycle with his wife Chen Hong on the back seat, a bag of snacks and a bag of rice crackers, plus less than two pounds of meat hanging on the handlebars, and they entered the village.

Li Yinhua at the entrance of the village saw Yue Shan and his wife returning home from the door and immediately came to greet them.

“Xiaoshan, it’s the winter solstice holiday, go back to your hometown to visit your parents!”

“Yes, auntie, are you and my uncle in good health?”

“It’s okay! Your brother and his friends went hunting in the mountains yesterday and haven’t come back yet. They should be back soon. Go back and check on them!”

“Oh, okay! You go ahead and do your work, auntie!”

“Come to my aunt’s house when you have time!”

“it is good!”

……

After entering the village, Chen Hong, who was sitting in the back seat, muttered, “Your brother is also confused. It’s so dangerous to go up the mountain! Your father’s leg hasn’t healed yet. If he gets lost, it will be hard to find him!”

When Yue Shan heard what his wife said, he felt unhappy. Who would be willing to go up the mountain in the snow and ice? It was because of the hard life that they were forced to do so.

My father was injured and the performance of the team will be affected this year. My younger brother probably wanted to reduce the burden on the family, so he went up the mountain to try his luck.

But according to Aunt Li, he went up the mountain yesterday. He should be helping another hunting team. There are people looking after him, so his safety should be no problem.

Along the way, he met several villagers again, but what surprised Yue Shan was that the villagers seemed to be much friendlier to him. They greeted him from a distance, and even those who were not close to him before were obviously much more proactive.

Could it be about that time when he came back on a bicycle?

Before he knew it, he arrived at the doorstep of his hometown. The yard was quiet. Yue Shan got off his bicycle and pushed open the door carrying his things.

“Dad! Mom! Xiaohong and I are back!”

Entering the yard, the most eye-catching thing was the plastic sheeting greenhouse built for eagles under the window of the main house. Chen Hong looked at it for a few seconds but couldn’t see anything. Just then, the red ironback on the eagle stand stretched its arms and attracted Chen Hong’s attention.

“I haven’t been home for a few months, how come my family has a big eagle again! It’s just an eagle, how much meat does it eat in a day?” Chen Hong whispered to Yue Shan.

Hearing the noise in the yard, Meng Yulan quickly came out of the house.

“Oh, my good son is back. It must have been cold on the way, Xiaohong. Come into the house and warm up!”

“Mom!” “Mom!” When seeing her mother-in-law, Chen Hong’s expression changed instantly and she called her mother-in-law respectfully.

Having not seen her eldest son for several months, Meng Yulan was particularly close to Yue Shan when she saw him. She immediately went up to him, took the things in his hand, and then pulled her son and daughter-in-law into the house.

“Mom, do we have an eagle at home again?” Chen Hong asked, pointing at the eagle in the greenhouse.

“Ah, it was Xiaofeng who did it! He has been taking people to the mountains to release hawks since autumn!” Meng Yulan didn’t think much about it and replied casually.

“I heard from Aunt Li at the village that Xiaofeng went up the mountain to hunt!”

Meng Yulan nodded: “Yes, I went to the mountains to help others hunt deer. I went there yesterday. According to the plan, I will be back today!
He has been busy since the fall, always taking people to hunt with eagles, and selling game in the city. Don’t worry, they go into the mountains with two guns and four dogs, nothing will happen!”

Hearing this, Chen Hong and Yue Shan looked at each other, both of them feeling a little bit unbelievable.

A few months ago, Yue Feng was a teenager who had dropped out of school and worked on the farm at home. He was silent and did not do anything when he was beaten while working in the forest farm. But just a few months later, he actually led people to the mountains to hunt?
After entering the house, Yue Shan and his wife were surprised by the furnishings in the house, including a brand new kettle, a sewing machine, a semiconductor radio, and various small items newly purchased for daily life.

Although the house is still the same three and a half rooms, life at home has changed tremendously. Not to mention the sewing machine and radio, Yueshan and his wife, both coal miners, couldn’t even get enough industrial tickets.

“Brother, sister-in-law!” Jingjing, who was on vacation at home, heard that her brother had returned, so she jumped out of the house and hugged her brother’s waist.

“Hey! Let big brother see if Jingjing has grown up!” Yue Shan picked up his sister and scratched her nose lovingly.

Compared with the last time she came back, Jingjing has grown a lot taller, and her complexion has become visibly rosier. She has a pair of big, bright eyes, and her temperament and demeanor are no worse than those of city kids.

“Brother, you haven’t been home for a long time! Did you buy me anything delicious this time you came back?” Jingjing hugged her brother’s neck and said coquettishly.

“I bought some snacks and rice cakes that your sister-in-law bought for you! I’ll ask mom to bring some to you later!”

“Oh!” Jingjing said “Oh” and then had no reaction after hearing the snacks and rice cakes.

Although the little girl’s emotional intelligence is much higher than her peers, she is only seven or eight years old after all, and she doesn’t like to pretend in front of her relatives.

These snacks and rice cakes would have been considered good things in Jingjing’s eyes in the past. But ever since her second brother made money from falconry hunting, he would buy these little treats for her sister every now and then when he came back from the city. The little girl was no longer interested in them.

Yue Shan, who felt the subtle changes in emotions, didn’t say anything. He carried Jingjing into the east room where Yue Lei was.

“Dad! Xiaohong and I are back to see you!”

Yue Lei was lying on the edge of the kang, holding the milk eagle with his left hand, leaning against it without getting up.

“My eldest son and his wife are back! Come and sit down. There’s hot water in the thermos. Warm them up!” Yue Lei turned off the radio, then moved to the side while supporting his injured leg.

Seeing their father’s reaction, Yue Shan and Chen Hong were slightly stunned.

Every time I went home in the past, my parents were very affectionate. When my mother received a call from the village office, she would even go to the village entrance to wait. Although my father was a little colder, he would not stay in bed when his son and daughter-in-law came home.

But this time when he came back, the superficial closeness was still there, but anyone with a little sensitivity could tell the change in his emotions and attitude.

“Dad, when did my brother start raising several eagles? I saw that there is also a big rabbit eagle!” Yue Shan took the initiative to bring up the topic.

“Well, your brother caught more than just these few when he went into the mountains. He sold a few and gave a few away! He also brought a big black eagle up the mountain! What do you think of this eagle?”

Yue Lei stretched out his arms, and the baby eagle squatting on top of him also stretched out its wings slightly because it was unstable.

“This… is this a chicken hawk? It looks ripe. Has it been working in the fields?”

“Out of the encirclement! Remember the young eagle that your grandfather raised that could roam freely? This eagle can probably be roamed freely in the spring!” Yue Lei said, touching the young eagle’s beak.

“Ah? That’s good!”

Chen Hong, the usually eloquent daughter-in-law, felt that the family had undergone earth-shaking changes from the moment she entered the house. Now, sitting in front of her father-in-law, she was unusually silent.

Originally, Yue Shan was not a chatty person, and since his wife was silent, they naturally couldn’t continue the conversation that day.

At this time, Jingjing said, “Brother, you and sister-in-law should have lunch at home before coming back. Let mom make you braised pork ribs! Oh, put me down. I’ll go to the cellar to get the meat out and put it in cold water first!”

After listening to what his little sister said, Yue Shan put Jingjing down. The little girl turned around and left the house. She quickly went to the warehouse, opened the lid of the cellar, climbed down the ladder, and took things out from inside.

In Jingjing’s eyes, her elder brother seldom came home because he was working outside, but they were still close enough when they met, and his position in her heart was much more important than that of outsiders.

Now that the eldest brother is back home, of course he wants mom to prepare delicious food for him, and they can eat whatever is in the cellar.

A piece of bear leg, a piece of wild boar rib, and a piece of lynx’s front leg.

There were too many things for the little girl to take out in one go. She climbed up and down three times before she finally got the meat out.

Move the meat to the basement of the house, then fill a large aluminum basin with cold water and put the meat in. It will start to soften after a while.

Hearing the noise outside, Chen Hong opened the door and looked out. When she saw three large pieces of meat in the basin, her heart skipped a beat for no reason.

It’s not time to slaughter the New Year pig yet, where did all the meat come from? There was none when I came back last time, could it be that my brother-in-law went up the mountain and hunted wild animals?

The two pounds of meat that Yue Shan brought back were placed next to it, and the meat that Xiao Yaomei took out from the cellar in three trips weighed about ten or eight pounds by visual estimation.

A large bowl of meat and a small piece of meat placed together is a bit eye-catching.

(End of this chapter)