Chapter 21: Trouble
“Borrow Da Huang? Their family is so poor that even the mice would starve to death. How could a mouse possibly go to their house to find food?” Han scoffed, her face looking rather ferocious under the moonlight. “You’re just making up nonsense to fool this old lady.”
“I really don’t understand what’s wrong with this daughter-in-law of mine. It’s fine if her own family is well off, but even when her family is also struggling, she still thinks about giving away her family’s grain. Having a daughter-in-law like her in the family is really bad luck!”
“Mother, you can’t say that. If it weren’t for Bai Shitang lending a hand back then, our Er Hu would have drowned in the river. He is a benefactor to our family. When his children are suffering so much, we should help out a bit,” Liu defended in a low voice.
“Benefactor? So a benefactor deserves a lifetime of gratitude?” Han snorted coldly. “Giving them a few pies, and it’s as if we saved their lives. Bai Shitang saved Er Hu once, but we saved four of them. By all accounts, our family has done them a favor!”
“Fine, I won’t say much more to you. You’ve given this time, but if I catch you stuffing things into Shuiliu’s hands again, I’ll kick you out!”
After scolding, Han walked into the hall with her hands behind her back, muttering all the while, “Other daughters-in-law from other families know to throw things back across the courtyard if they pick them up outside. But ours? She only knows how to give away our own things outside, pretending it’s gratitude. I bet it’s all fake, probably just because of Bai Shitang!”
“This person who turns their elbows outward, bringing her home was just asking for trouble!”
“Mother…” Liu’s husband, Bai Youguang, couldn’t stand it anymore and shouted, “What are you saying? Aren’t you afraid of others gossiping about me behind my back?”
Han stopped talking about that matter and instead started nagging about something else. “The mugwort hasn’t been harvested yet. What is she busy with all day? She forgets such trivial matters. Is all the food she eats going straight to the dog’s belly?”
Liu shook the water off the bowl in her hand, sighed, and stood up to go into the kitchen.
Inside the house, Su Mulan was arranging mugwort in two rooms. She smiled when she saw Bai Shuiliu returning with the visibly robust Da Huang in her arms. “Da Huang seems to have gotten fatter again.”
In rural households, there isn’t much good food to feed cats. Yet cats wander around the village all day, pleasing the children. One household feeds it a bite of leftover bread, another gives it a steamed sweet potato, and mischievous children sometimes feed it birds they’ve caught from nests. In the evening, the cat catches mice on its own, keeping itself quite round and healthy.
It just so happens to prove the saying true: out of ten orange cats, nine are fat, and one is especially chubby.
“Aunt Liu says it roams around all day, eating wild food,” Bai Shuiliu said, patting Da Huang’s head.
Da Huang meowed discontentedly, clearly protesting, and struggled to jump out of Bai Shuiliu’s arms. With a meow, it pounced towards Su Mulan.
“Trouble,” Bai Shuiliu’s heart skipped a beat.
Su Mulan harbored some resentment towards them because of Liu’s secret feeding, and now even Da Huang seemed to hold a grudge. She had kicked Da Huang earlier when Liu wasn’t looking, and now it was pouncing at her. Did it really remember and seek revenge?
But Bai Shuiliu’s anxious heart quickly eased down from her throat.