The ones who felt most bitter and resentful were Huang Meili and her two daughters.
The moment they heard Chuntao had returned, all three of them were so furious their teeth itched.
Whenever Huang Meili thought about being caught red-handed by Zhou Zhijun in the middle of the night that day, she felt a flutter of guilt. But no matter how guilty she felt, it still couldn’t stop her sharp, vicious tongue.
“Li Chun Tao really has no shame. She actually had the nerve to come back to the village! Does she think that after running off for a while, people will forget what kind of woman she is?”
Zhou Xiaoying was squatting in the fields, pulling weeds. She had been working for quite some time, yet hadn’t moved forward even an inch. She muttered, “Li Chun Tao gave birth to two at once—and they’re a boy and a girl. Grandma’s definitely going to spoil those two rotten.”
“Exactly! Can you even have children like that? Twins—a boy and a girl, no less. Aren’t they afraid of violating the family-planning policy? Unlike our family—we had to pay a fine after having Xiaohai!” Zhou Xiaomei chimed in from the side.
Huang Meili gave a cold snort. “Sluts are always good at having babies. She gives birth to more than anyone.”
The women were squatting at the edge of the field, cursing and carrying on, when Zhou Zhimin rode his bicycle out from the village and headed in their direction.
The moment Huang Meili saw him, she immediately shouted, “Zhou Zhimin, where are you going?”
It turned out that Zhou Zhimin had been working in the western fields earlier when he ran into his elder brother, Zhou Zhiguo, and his wife.
Zhou Zhiguo had asked him whether he had sent Chuntao a postpartum gift.
At first, Zhou Zhimin had wanted to pretend he knew nothing about it. But since his eldest brother had brought it up, continuing to play dumb would have been too embarrassing.
Zhou Zhijun had always treated him well. His own brother had just welcomed boy-and-girl twins, yet he hadn’t shown even the slightest gesture of goodwill. If word got out, people would laugh at him.
After thinking it over, Zhou Zhimin returned from the fields, borrowed a bicycle from Zhou Xiaowei, and planned to go into town to buy two bundles of noodles and two packets of brown sugar—just enough to show that he cared.
He parked the bicycle at the edge of the field, walked over to Huang Meili, and lowered his voice. “I’m going into town to buy two bundles of noodles and two packets of brown sugar.”
The moment Huang Meili heard that, her brows knitted together. “What are you buying that for?”
“Big Brother and Sister-in-law have already gone. If we don’t go, it’ll look bad…”
Before Zhou Zhimin could finish, Huang Meili cut him off sharply. “They went because they have money! We’re not going. If we have money to spare, we’d be better off saving it for Xiaohai’s school fees!”
Zhou Xiaoying quickly joined in. “Our eldest uncle and aunt are just fools. If they want to go, let them go—it has nothing to do with us. We’re not going!”
The three women were each more muddleheaded than the last. Zhou Xiaomei had just opened her mouth when Zhou Zhimin shot her a fierce glare, making her swallow her words.
Lowering his voice, he said, “Second Brother has helped our family plenty over the years. We still owe him money and grain. We have to at least save face!”
He was telling the truth. Their family really did owe Zhou Zhijun quite a bit of money and grain. But Huang Meili was unwilling to admit it.
“We already gave him all the old couple’s savings for their coffins. Those things were compensation for what we were owed. We don’t owe him a thing!”
The sisters, Zhou Xiaoying and Zhou Xiaomei, couldn’t resist butting in again. Zhou Zhimin was so angry that he barked, “What do children know? Adults are talking. Stop interrupting!”
He didn’t want to argue with Huang Meili, so he softened his tone and tried to persuade her. “Meili, no matter what, family is still better than outsiders. Whenever our family has trouble, all we have to do is ask Second Brother and he’ll help us. If you ask outsiders for help, you’ll owe them a favor you can never repay.
“I’m unhappy that Mother favors him too, but we still have to keep up appearances. Otherwise, it’ll be even harder for us to hold our heads up in front of our parents in the future…”
“We don’t eat his food or drink his water. So what if we can’t hold our heads up? He doesn’t even take you seriously, yet you keep throwing yourself at him!” Huang Meili still refused to give in.
Zhou Zhimin patiently continued, “Second Brother is going to hold a full-month celebration for the babies, and all the relatives and neighbors will be there. We won’t be able to hide from it. If we bring too little that day, people will laugh at us. It’s better to send something over now. At least then, only we’ll know how much it was…”
After much cajoling and reasoning, Huang Meili finally relented with an angry snort. “Two bundles of noodles and two packets of brown sugar—that’s it! Don’t buy anything else! Don’t try to make yourself look generous when you can’t afford it. Even if you take more, no one’s going to thank you.”
Only then did Zhou Zhimin ride into town. He bought two packets of brown sugar and two bundles of noodles, then gathered the few dozen eggs they had saved at home and put them in a basket. He was preparing to take everything to Zhou Zhijun’s house.
It wouldn’t look right for a grown man to go alone, so he turned around and called for Huang Meili to come with him.
“Meili, you can’t be too blunt when dealing with people. You have to know how to smooth things over. Chuntao will be your sister-in-law from now on. If you don’t go, outsiders will think you have something against her. Come on, let’s go together.”
Zhou Zhimin held the basket of eggs out to her as he tried to persuade her. Huang Meili curled her lip in disdain. “I couldn’t possibly be her equal. I’m not going!”
Unable to persuade her, Zhou Zhimin had no choice but to go alone.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw Aunt Zhou busy in the kitchen. He smiled and said, “Mother, Meili was overjoyed when she heard that Second Brother had welcomed boy-and-girl twins. She started saving eggs for them long ago.
“I went into town especially to buy the brown sugar and noodles today. She said there weren’t enough things, and that we still had some eggs saved at home. She’ll send more over in a few days.”
Everyone knew what kind of person Huang Meili was, and Aunt Zhou knew her better than anyone.
It was obvious that Zhou Zhimin was trying to put a good face on Huang Meili’s behavior.
He knew how to handle people. No matter how inadequate his wife was, he never said a word against her in front of outsiders.
Aunt Zhou gave a faint hum but didn’t expose his lie. “It’s the thought that counts.”
As a grown man, Zhou Zhimin couldn’t very well go into Chuntao’s room to see the babies, so he stood at the kitchen doorway and asked with a smile, “Sister-in-law said the babies are growing strong. Second Brother is truly blessed—he got both a son and a daughter in one go.”
The moment Aunt Zhou heard him mention her grandson and granddaughter, her face lit up with a smile, her eyes shining with delight. “They’re doing wonderfully. They’re so adorable…”
When Zhou Zhimin saw how impossible it was for his mother to hide her joy whenever she spoke about the twins, and how much love filled her eyes, he suddenly felt a pang in his heart.
He thought of his own three children. His mother had never shown them this kind of affection.
Just then, Zhou Xiaobao suddenly ran out of the main room and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Grandma! My little brother pooped!”
The moment Aunt Zhou heard him, she set down the rice ladle and hurried toward the main room. As she walked, she laughed and scolded, “That boy—he eats a lot, so of course he poops a lot. No wonder he’s growing so fast!”
Zhou Zhimin was reminded of the time Huang Meili had given birth to Xiaohai. Aunt Zhou had only bothered to cook them a meal. Whenever the baby needed to be changed or cleaned up, she hadn’t lifted a finger. Huang Meili had handled everything herself, staying up night after night.
It was a good thing Huang Meili hadn’t come along. If she had seen how lovingly his mother cared for Second Brother’s children, she would have gone home and started another huge fight with him.
Zhou Zhimin took out the noodles, brown sugar, and eggs and placed them on the kitchen counter. Then he picked up the empty basket and turned to leave.
Aunt Zhou entered the inner room, hurriedly cleaned Jianshe after he soiled himself, changed his diaper, then helped Nuannuan relieve herself and cleaned her up. Only after washing her hands did she return to cooking.
These past few days, Aunt Zhou had been so busy caring for Chuntao and the babies that her feet barely touched the ground. Chuntao felt deeply apologetic seeing how hard she was working.
She had wanted to change the babies’ diapers herself, but Aunt Zhou was afraid that Chuntao would suffer some lingering health problems during her postpartum confinement. She was also worried that Chuntao might not do it properly, so she refused to let her lift a finger.
Aunt Zhou served Chuntao a large yellow porcelain bowl of noodles with egg. Chuntao picked up the small bowl from the bedside table, filled it to the brim, and handed it to Zhou Xiaobao, who was sitting nearby.
The child hadn’t even eaten breakfast that morning. His stomach was rumbling with hunger, yet he stubbornly refused to take a single bite.
“Xiaobao, why aren’t you eating?” Chuntao asked softly.
“My ma won’t let me. She says you shouldn’t just eat other people’s food,” Zhou Xiaobao replied softly, his head lowered.
“Xiaobao, we’re family, not strangers. Hurry up and eat.”
Chuntao pressed the bowl into his hands and coaxed him with a smile. “When your little brother and sister grow up, they’ll want to eat your good things too. Will you share with them?”
Zhou Xiaobao immediately answered in his clear, childish voice, “Yes! Whatever good things I have, I’ll give them both!”
Chuntao reached out and gently ruffled his hair. “That’s right. You must eat the noodles your second aunt gave you properly, too. That way, when you give things to your little brother and sister in the future, they’ll be willing to eat them.”
Only then did Zhou Xiaobao cradle the bowl in his hands and start eating in small, careful bites.
Looking at the child’s obedient, sensible face, Chuntao couldn’t help thinking of her own childhood.
No matter how good other people’s things were or how much they urged her, she had never touched a bite.
Her grandmother had taught her from a young age: No matter how poor you are, you must never lose your dignity. If you eat someone else’s food, you’ll owe them; if you take something from them, you’ll be beholden to them. She had always remembered those words.
Zhou Zhijun had said that once she gave birth, he would go tell her grandmother the good news.
He had left early that morning, but she had no idea whether he had gone to Li Village.
She knew perfectly well that Wang Lanhua hated her. Even her grandmother was probably angry with her.
She was still sitting there in a daze when a burst of hurried, disorderly footsteps suddenly sounded from the courtyard.
A woman’s voice followed close behind, loud and clear.
“Aunt Zhou! Is Zhijun home?”
The voice sounded familiar to Chuntao, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember who it belonged to.
Her heart suddenly lurched, and an inexplicable sense of panic seized her.
