Chapter 68: Not as good as those above, but better than those below.
“This popcorn smells delicious. Why don’t you try some, mom?” Liu still felt somewhat uneasy and offered the popcorn to Han.
“Get away, why would I try something? Don’t stuff dirty or smelly things into my mouth.” Han was impatient and pushed Liu’s hand away.
Caught off guard, Liu couldn’t hold onto the popcorn, and it fell to the ground.
The floor was laid with green bricks, slightly damp from the rain, and the constant traffic had made it wet everywhere. When the popcorn fell, some of it landed in the mud, turning the originally white popcorn dirty.
Liu hurried to pick it up.
“You can’t even hold onto something, always eating so much, yet you have no strength? I don’t understand how someone your age can be so restless and impulsive all the time.” Han impatiently lifted her foot and headed towards her room in the east courtyard.
“Take some time to learn from the eldest daughter-in-law, and grow up a bit, show some improvement…”
The admonishing words continued to echo from the east room. Liu picked up the popcorn and found that no matter how hard she wiped, she couldn’t clean off the mud on them, making her nose suddenly feel sour.
“Don’t take it to heart, mother is just talkative, nothing more.” Bai Youguang came out from the west room to comfort Liu.
Liu wiped her eyes with her sleeve and uttered an “mm.”
Seeing that Liu was still visibly upset, Bai Youguang continued, “Compared to Sister Feng’s family, it may not measure up, but compared to Sister Meng’s family, it’s much better. It’s a case of being better off than some and worse off than others.”
Feng came from a wealthy background and never had conflicts with her in-laws after marriage. They treated her like their own daughter, chatting together at the door and going to the market together, often mistaken for mother and daughter. Feng was envied by everyone in the village.
On the other hand, Meng’s family was not well-off. She was married into the family to settle debts owed by her parents. After giving birth to three daughters and no sons, her husband treated her coldly, and even her in-laws looked down on her. The household chores were shared among the sisters-in-law, but Meng did most of the work alone. The food in the house was tightly controlled by her in-laws, fearing she might send resources to her parents’ family, treating her with suspicion like a thief. Their life was truly difficult and challenging.
As for Liu, her mother-in-law’s words were indeed harsh at times, but her father-in-law was relatively kind. Although most of the household money was managed by Han, Bai Youguang only needed to contribute half of his earnings, and they could decide on the rest themselves. Han never interfered with household food, even when he cooked extra eggs for the children, she remained silent.
Indeed, as Bai Youguang had said, they had enough to get by, but better than the worst.
With this realization, Liu felt much better. She handed the popcorn she was holding to Bai Youguang. “This was given by Sister Su for the children to try.”
“Okay.” Bai Youguang nodded in relief.
Meanwhile, Su Mulan brought Da Huang back home, placing him in the main hall to watch over the partially dried sweet potatoes. She herself remained vigilant inside the house, holding a long bamboo pole.
Only when exhaustion overwhelmed her did she finally go back to sleep.