CTF 0027

Xu Yin’s entire year took a city-wide joint exam right before the Lunar New Year. After the exam, they had almost a week of extra classes before the winter vacation began. 

After her sister-in-law safely gave birth, Xu Yin felt that a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She dedicated herself wholeheartedly to the end-of-term revisions and felt satisfied with her performance in the final exams.

On her way home, she ran into Xu Jianjun. He was carrying a big grass carp in his hands. 

“Yinyin, I was just heading to your place,” he said.

“Is that fish for my family?” Xu Yin teased, smiling.

Surprisingly, the fish was indeed for her family. He also handed her ten yuan. 

“That blueprint of yours… My mechanical class lecturer said that it’s very useful. I won a scholarship worth twenty yuan, but I can only give you ten.” Xu Jianjun scratched his head. He felt a bit embarrassed.

He wanted to use the remaining ten yuan to pay for some fees in his next semester and buy pastries and candies for his nieces and nephews.

Xu Yin took the fish but refused the money. 

Her little savings had grown to quite a substantial amount now. Not only did her older brother voluntarily reimburse her for all the expenses during her sister-in-law’s hospital stay, but he also gave her an extra fifty yuan. He told her to use it to buy new clothes for the New Year. Plus, the commission from selling clothes over the past six months amounted to at least two hundred yuan.

“From now on, don’t mention my name if anyone asks about the blueprint,” she said.

Xu Jianjun felt puzzled. “Why?”

“I don’t want to become famous,” she replied. She didn’t want to be investigated or studied.

Xu Jianjun couldn’t understand it, though. Wasn’t being famous a good thing?

“People fear fame like pigs fear getting fat.”

“…”

Xu Jianjun was speechless for a moment. He scratched his hair and said, “But I’ve told the teacher about how you modified your bicycle. What should I do?”

“How am I supposed to know?” 

“…”

Xu Yin felt a headache coming. Thankfully, she had already figured out a way to handle this and wasn’t too worried. Both she and the original host were pretty good at physics. The original host used to struggle with maths, but now, she had caught up with it.

She was a typical science student, with high intelligence and interest in her studies. Yeah, she could understand blueprints and successfully modify a bicycle, who said that she couldn’t do it?

Back at home, she saw that her mother had bought a jar of maltose. “Mom, are we making malt candy at home? When are we going to make it?”

“When your brother has some free time,” her mother replied.

Oh, her older brother had been busy these days. He was always either chopping wood or making coal balls to stock up on firewood, because spring was coming, and his wife would be following him to the army.

Xu Yin’s sister-in-law was actually feeling a bit torn on this matter. 

If this were six months ago, she would have gone without a second thought. 

But now…

“Yinyin, if I leave, will you still take clothing orders?”

Not taking orders would mean that they’d have no income, right?

“Of course, I won’t take any more orders.”

They had safely passed the most crucial point in the plot. After Xu Yin’s sister-in-law moved away with her husband, she wouldn’t have to endure her mother-in-law’s nagging anymore. So what was there to worry about anymore?

The main reason why Xu Yin had her sister-in-law make clothes wasn’t related to money.

She said, “Sister-in-law, if you want to continue making clothes, you can do so even when you’re living with Brother. Just put on the new woollen coat you’ve made, and people will surely ask about it. Business will come to you.”

After hearing what Xu Yin said, Xu Yin’s sister-in-law stopped hesitating and happily prepared for the New Year, while also packing the luggage she would take with her when she moved with her husband in the spring.

However, Mother Xu was not pleased with her daughter-in-law’s decision to follow her husband.

She called her daughter into the room. She wanted to scold her for agreeing to let her sister-in-law go. She was irritated and thought of pinching her daughter’s ear. 

“You silly girl! Why did you agree to let your sister-in-law live with your brother? When she makes clothes at home, most of the money goes to the family. But when she goes to the army, she’ll earn money for herself.”

Xu Yin rubbed her ear. “Mom, don’t talk so loudly. What if Sister-in-law hears you?”

“What if she hears me? I’d like to say it to her face! We haven’t separated our finances, so whether she earns more or less, it should all be handed over to me. You shouldn’t have started this and let her take a cut. Now, she’s gotten ambitious! I don’t think she wants to go live with your brother to take care of him; she just wants to earn money! And she doesn’t want to give it to the family; she wants to keep it for herself!”

Xu Yin suppressed a smile growing on her lips. Honestly, she couldn’t quite grasp the thinking of the older generation. Wasn’t it a good thing if their son-in-law and daughter-in-law earned more money and lived better?

She patiently explained to her mother. “Look, Mom, which family in the village has a daughter-in-law who can work like my sister-in-law? Which daughter-in-law earns more every month than an ordinary labourer? The more she earns, the easier Brother’s life will be. He can send his money back home, and you won’t have to worry about him running out of money, too. It’s a good thing! In short, Sister-in-law will be earning money to support their little family, while Brother will be earning money to support you, Dad, and me.”

Mother Xu still wasn’t convinced. “I’m just worried that she won’t spend the money on your brother and will just keep it for herself.”

“No, she won’t. She still has two children to raise! Mom, if she stays here, you’ll have to help her take care of her children. However, if she goes, you and Dad will get to relax. When I get into college, I’ll take you there for a tour around. Wouldn’t it be nice to play in a city where you want to play for a few days without having to worry about having no one at home to take care of the kids?”

Mother Xu shot her a funny look. “Sounds like you’re very confident in passing the exam.”

“I’m 100% sure of it. I just need to choose whether I want to go to the capital or a seaside city now.”

Mother Xu was finally coaxed by her. “Okay, then. Mom will wait for news from you!”

“You still don’t believe me!” Xu Yin pretended to be annoyed and stomped her feet. “Huh! I don’t want to talk to you anymore. I’ll ask my sister-in-law to learn how to make clothes!”

“Go, go! It’s best to learn all her skills. If you don’t pass the exam, you’ll still be able to make money by making clothes at home.”

“…”

Did her mother not believe that she could pass the exam?

In any case, due to the comfort and explanation that Xu Yin had given that day, Mother Xu no longer objected to her daughter-in-law’s moving away.

The Xu family had the most abundant and harmonious reunion in its history during the Lunar New Year.

On the first day of the lunar year, the whole family put on new clothes. When they stepped outside, they drew envious glances from many aunties, mothers, and daughters-in-law in the village.

Men generally didn’t pay as much attention to new clothes as women did, but they couldn’t stand the nagging of the women at home. When they ran into Xu Zhinian, they couldn’t help but grit their teeth. Everyone thought that he had used his earnings to buy new clothes.

Xu Zhinian had to accept the blame. He spent the entire Lunar New Year receiving unfriendly glances from the village’s elder men. He couldn’t fathom why.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Mother Xu took Xu Yin to visit her maternal family, while Xu Zhinian took Duoduo to visit Xu Yin’s sister-in-law’s maternal family.

Xu Yin’s sister-in-law’s maternal family didn’t live very far away. However, their house was located by the sea, where the land was either mudflats or saline-alkali land. There was no public transportation, so it would take at least over an hour to bike there.

They were quite poor, even poorer than Da’ao Village. Their customary gift was typically things like a bunch of seaweed or a handful of mud snails, which Mother Xu despised.

If it hadn’t been for the elder son of their cousin acting as a matchmaker and extolling Xu’s sister-in-law’s virtues, saying how extraordinary she was—how capable, and, most importantly, how she had a good figure for childbirth, Mother Xu would never have thought of marrying the daughter of such a poor family to her son.

After Xu Yin’s sister-in-law married into the Xu family, she was subjected to the constant scrutiny and nagging of her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and she rarely dared to visit her maternal family. 

This year, since she’d just had a son, and because she had some savings, she wanted to see if her maternal family was doing well. It would be even more difficult to visit them after she’d moved in with her husband.

However, because she had just given birth and was still breastfeeding her second child, she asked her husband to make the trip. Mother Xu heard this and frowned but didn’t say anything. After all, it wasn’t her money that was being used to buy gifts for her daughter-in-law’s maternal family.