Chapter 50 Gu Xiaohui felt that she was too pretentious.

Ye Sishan was also sucking the pork belly. He held the pork belly in one hand and used chopsticks with the other hand to pick up the steamed pork with rice flour. He ate one piece of meat at a time, his mouth full of oil. When he was about to pick up the steamed pork with rice flour again, Jiang Wan pressed down his chopsticks and said, “Leave the rest to your sister-in-law.”

Gu Xiaohui probably drank the pregnancy-preserving medicine, and her appetite was affected by the bitter medicine. She sat at the table with no appetite and only ate one piece of steamed pork with rice flour and then stopped.

Jiang Wan said, “Your health is too poor and you almost lost the baby. You have to eat more. You have to force yourself to eat even if you don’t want to.”

Gu Xiaohui felt that she was being too pretentious.

White rice, pork belly soup, steamed pork with rice flour, these are the best meals, but she couldn’t even finish them.

Ye Dahe brought the snacks he brought back and said, “Xiaohui, have something light to fill your stomach first.”

Gu Xiaohui quickly declined: “Cakes are so good, give them to mom, I don’t want to eat them.”

Ye Sanshu advised: “Sister-in-law, please eat quickly. Only when your nephew is full can he grow strong.”

The family was having a good time when Old Mrs. Ye walked in. The old lady had good eyesight and saw the food on the table at a glance.

The old lady took a step and walked in quickly. Now she could see more clearly. It was indeed white rice and pork. Each person had a big bowl of white rice, a big bowl of pork belly soup, a bowl of shiny pork and a bowl of pig blood. The old lady was not looking at the food, but counting the money.

The price of a pound of white rice in the town has probably risen to 15 wen. This one in front of me is at least 1.5 jin, which is more than 20 wen. The pork belly is 40 wen, and the pig’s blood is 2 wen… Add up to dozens of wen, and I’m gone…

Old Mrs. Ye almost fainted from a heart attack.

“You spendthrift woman, are you the wife of some official? You only get two kilograms of rice for a meal, even the landlords in this town don’t treat you so badly!”

Old Lady Ye was so angry that she started to curse, “There are so many boys in the family who are still waiting to get married. You make a little money and you don’t know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is. You eat white rice today and starve tomorrow, right?”

Jiang Wan: “…”

Who would have known that the old lady would suddenly come in while they were having dinner? Rice was only something they ate occasionally.

The boys in the family may not know, but the old lady who is in charge of the financial power of the Ye family knows it very well. She can probably calculate how many grains of rice can be bought with one penny.

Jiang Wan quickly explained: “I bought these a long time ago, and I kept them hidden away and didn’t want to eat them. Mom, have you eaten them? Sit down and eat with us. There’s still some rice in the pot…”

Old Mrs. Ye got angry when she saw the white rice and pork and couldn’t eat at all.

She said unhappily, “I know you’ve made some money, but that’s not how you spend it. The harvests have been bad in the past two years, and there will be too many things to spend money on later. Erhai is old enough to get married in a year at most, so you have to save money to build a mud-brick house for him. I heard from the matchmaker that the bride price has risen to half a penny recently…”

Ye Erhai said, “Grandma, it’s too early for me to get married.”

Old Mrs. Ye doesn’t think it’s too early at all. Dahe is sixteen years old this year and is about to have a baby.

Her eyes fell on Gu Xiaohui’s pale face, and she said sternly, “You are pregnant, so just stay at home and don’t walk around. It cost fifty-three cents to see a doctor, and money doesn’t come from the wind…”

Gu Xiaohui lowered her head guiltily: “I’ll listen to grandma.”

Jiang Wan thought to himself that he must not let Gu Xiaohui do so much work in the future.

The mint water season will be over in a month at most, and she must take this opportunity to expand the market, so she needs her sons to go to town to help.

After selling the mint water at noon, they can come back in the afternoon. Some things in the fields can be left for them to do after they come back. There is still time to chop wood and fetch water in the evening. The chickens and ducks at home can be left to Sishan and Xiaofang, that is, Xiaohui…

“If you really need to do something in the fields, why don’t you call Erya to come and help? Why do you have to go to the fields and mess around by yourself…” Old Mrs. Ye kept muttering.

Jiang Wan smiled and said, “Mom, can I trouble you for something?”

Old Mrs. Ye stared with vigilance: “What do you want to do?”

She has already suggested asking Erya to help, so what else does the eldest daughter-in-law want to trouble? She wouldn’t want to ask the old house to prepare lunch for Dahe’s daughter-in-law, right?

A lunch is not too much, but not too little either…

Forget it, considering that Daha’s wife is carrying the blood of the Ye family in her belly, it’s okay to let her have a meal.

“We agreed in advance that the lunch in the old house will not have rice or pork, just steamed corn bread. You can eat it if you want.”

Jiang Wan: “…”

What is this talking about? When did she ever tell Xiaohui to go to the old house to eat?
She said helplessly: “I want mother to arrange someone to take care of Xiaohui in the old house, just to take care of lunch, and wait for Sishan to come back to make dinner. Whoever is responsible for this will be paid three cents.”

Gu Xiaohui wanted to stop it, but was stopped by Jiang Wan’s eyes.

“We are all family, why are you talking about money!” Old Mrs. Ye said unhappily. As soon as she finished speaking, she thought of something else. The money was left in the hands of the eldest son’s wife and turned into rice and pork. She was a spendthrift woman. She had to help her eldest grandson save money to get married!

Thinking of this, the old lady continued, “Then three cents, I’ll go back and ask who is willing to do this job.”

Gu Xiaohui opened her lips and wanted to say something, but Jiang Wan glared at her.

Since you are pregnant, just accept the arrangement obediently. In ancient times, women’s lives were fragile as paper. If something really happened, it would be useless to regret it.

I didn’t have the conditions before, but now that I have made some money, I should take good care of the pregnancy.

Jiang Wan looked at the messy dishes on the table and said calmly, “From today on, everyone except your sister-in-law will take turns washing the dishes.”

“Mom, there’s really no need.” Gu Xiaohui was uneasy. “Washing the dishes is easy, just leave it to me.”

She hurried to clear the plates and chopsticks.

“Put it down.” Jiang Wan held her hand. “Let’s start with Dahe first. One by one, take turns. Also, wash your own clothes from now on. Don’t leave everything to your sister-in-law. Remember that?”

In this family, Jiang Wan’s words are like an imperial decree, and the five kids naturally have no objections.

Ye Dahe helped Gu Xiaohui sit down and started to clean up the dishes quickly.

Jiang Wan looked at the sky, stood up and said, “Okay, it’s getting late, go wash the mint quickly, and make four buckets of mint water tonight.”

Just as Gu Xiaohui was about to get busy, Jiang Wan pushed her back: “Go back to your room and rest. Don’t come out without my order.”

Gu Xiaohui felt mixed emotions. She returned to her room with red eyes, but she didn’t dare to sleep. She kept listening to the noise outside.

She couldn’t sleep, so she simply sat up, and with the dim light from the fire outside, she took out the cloth, cut it, and started making clothes.

Farmers made clothes at night, without candles, and cut and sewed purely by feel…

(End of this chapter)