Chapter 443: Aunt's Family and Little Niece

Zhang Xingwang didn't expect the old lady to react so strongly to the chickens and ducks. Uncle Baozhu probably saw Zhang Xingwang's confusion, so he came over and chuckled and comforted him:

"It's okay. We can work a little longer and build the wall tomorrow and everything will be fine. The old lady has been strong all her life. It's really not right to deliver it during the day. After all, it's meat, who wouldn't be jealous?"

Before Zhang Xingwang could complain, the old lady poked her head out of the kitchen and shouted sternly:

"Get out of here, you fool!"

Everything was normal at home during lunch time. Uncle Baozhu and the others declined to eat at home and went to the cafeteria to see what the food was like today.

Although they didn't know how the food in the cafeteria would be, the family was as stable as ever. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law looked at the two meat dishes on the table and their eyes felt like an earthquake.

He never mentioned any special circumstances again. He just looked at Bai Xiaoya's eating habits with a bitter face. They looked at each other unconsciously. He looked sighing as if there would be no food at home tomorrow.

While teaching her daughter-in-law how to make goose eggs, the old lady angrily told the old man to go cut more branches after dinner and plant as many wood stakes as possible on the courtyard wall. She also had to pickle salted duck eggs in the afternoon and really didn't have time...

After the old lady finished her meal, she cleaned up and thought carefully about what her husband said. Suddenly, she came to an idea and called Wang Xiulan to arrange something. Zhang Xingwang, who was sorting sacks, vaguely heard words like "let her eat" and "other families may not be able to afford to feed her with such a big appetite". She called Bai Xiaoya, who was digesting food in the yard, and prepared to set off.

The old couple were busy turning over the grapes and pickling the duck eggs, and they even skipped the usual farewell ceremony. As they watched the family of four walk away, the old lady closed her eyelids and breathed a sigh of relief, and said to the old man:

"It's better for this grandson to come back less often. Fortunately, there will be a granddaughter-in-law to take care of him in the future. Otherwise, if he keeps doing this every now and then, I will be scared sooner or later. Don't you think this grandson is a little stupid?"

The old man sneered, raised his eyebrows and replied quietly:

"People always have to live their lives to understand the truth. I will go to the ancestral grave tomorrow. It's not good to be too successful. Although we all have the surname Zhang, there are still differences in the closeness of our relatives. After all, people's hearts are separated by their stomachs. We have to give him some support. I will go to find Genwazi to chat in the evening..."

Seeing the old lady looking thoughtful, the old man told his wife to get back to work, muttering as he fiddled with the wood stakes:

"I used to think that the world was not peaceful, with wars and famines, and then we lost our son in old age. I thought we were really lucky. Now I think it's not luck, it's just her mother's hard-working life. If we can hold on for another two years, we will definitely see our great-grandson close his eyes..."

On the way, Zhang Xingwang learned from his mother's story that his second aunt's granddaughter was two months old, just before he went to the Northeast. This also explained why his cousin and his wife did not come to his eldest sister's wedding.

My mother went to visit my cousin's wife once after she gave birth. She heard that the little one was very thin when she was born, which made her feel distressed. Whenever she thought about it, she would miss her all day long. This time, she insisted on going with her to see the baby.

Along the way, she was smiling and saying that this time her little daughter had hope. After all, they brought a basket of eggs this time, and with these eggs, she would be able to get her body in good shape.

Wang Xiulan still can't forget the expression of her mother-in-law who was both crying and laughing when her son agreed to take the eggs to her second aunt's house. It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders. It seemed that her mother-in-law cared about her granddaughter very much. I heard that her father-in-law also made a visit there.

When we arrived at my second aunt's house, it was my cousin's wife who opened the door. She said that my aunt and two masters were still working in the fields. Then she called the little girl from the neighbor's house to go to the fields to call people.

Although my cousin's wife was smiling, everyone could see the sadness in her eyes. When faced with the eggs my mother brought, the talkative and stubborn cousin's wife couldn't find a word to refuse. She said in a crying voice:

"I just accepted it shamelessly. Alas... it's all because of poverty."

The little niece was still sleeping soundly. After adjusting her mood, the cousin's wife started chatting with the family. She said a lot of words to Bai Xiaoya, asking about her well-being. Zhang Xingwang, who spoke so fast, couldn't get a word in. Hearing the two women talking about himself unconsciously, Zhang Xingwang decisively went to see his little niece.

The little girl was sleeping. Zhang Xingwang didn't know much about it. Apart from being a little thin, he couldn't tell anything wrong with the child. After all, he didn't know how old a two-month-old baby should be. He could only tell that his niece wasn't in good spirits and wasn't sleeping well.

When my second aunt and her family came back, the house became lively.

Second aunt and mother started busying themselves with cooking, while cousin's wife and Bai Xiaoya were teasing the child who had just been woken up. The little girl was even more curious and gestured with her palms to her sister, asking her in surprise why she had no hair, and then ran out to look at the sack.

Zhang Xingwang and the remaining father and son continued to look at each other in silence, smoking silently in the yard with his uncle and cousin. Feeling the familiar awkward atmosphere, Zhang Xingwang could only ask about his little niece.

The cousin scratched his head and chatted with Zhang Xingwang, saying that his wife had a severe lack of milk after giving birth, and the old hen and eggs that his eldest sister brought back when she got married solved the urgent problem. If they had relied on the food in the village, they were afraid that his daughter would not have been able to hold on.

The second uncle, a dull man, was smoking silently on the side. When he talked about bringing back the things, he looked up and thanked Zhang Xingwang solemnly.

The second uncle's dark face was swollen and red, and he blamed himself for being useless. After that, he stared at his calloused palms in a daze, and after a long time, he interrupted and said:

"Xingwang, your uncle is not very good at talking. You just got married, so don't come to me all the time. Every household is the same now. It's not easy for you to marry a wife, so don't make it difficult for others.

We have encountered worse years than this before. We can just hold on until next year. Your brother is still young and there will be plenty of time in the future."

After saying this, my second uncle went to work and reported in at the same time. After all, so many people came to the village and had to stay here overnight without a letter of introduction.

Zhang Xingwang understood what his uncle said, but it was obvious that he was a bit hypocritical. He didn't say a word when his family was helped, but now that his family was in trouble, he was afraid that Bai Xiaoya would make a fuss if he helped. After all, his cousin's wife had been making a fuss about this matter for two days.

The cousin seemed to be afraid that Zhang Xingwang would misunderstand, and hurriedly explained that although life was difficult, he would not give up on his daughter, and if he really couldn't support her, it was just her bad luck.

He also said that since the day the child was born, the father and son would go to the river to catch fish after work, just to provide nutrition for his cousin's wife and increase her milk supply.

It happened that it rained heavily those days, and the grandfather and his wife came back late at night because they went fishing. The remaining mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were almost scared to tears when they saw the heavy rain outside. The next day, they refused to let the grandfather and his wife go out. Fortunately, they caught a few small crucian carp, which saved their little niece's food.