Linxia

Chapter 9, Aftermath

The Fang family's dispute over food started because the second and fourth rooms were short of food. The fourth room then started to blame the second and third rooms, and the situation escalated until Fang Liu's string of taunts reached a climax and Old Man Fang made the final decision.

The matter is over, but the aftermath remains.

……

This side of the second room.

After each family came back separately, Fang Zhonggui asked, "How much did your mother's family give you?"

"I'll give you one or two ounces. There are almost two pounds left! I'm not stupid. These are for my son to eat. No one else can take them away."

Fang Wang took out the grain bag and said happily, "These two pounds, plus the little bit left in our family, will be enough to get us to the county town."

Yes, the couple was playing a double act before! This was the pattern in the village in the past. Fang Wangshi was aggressive and unreasonable, while Fang Zhonggui played the role of "reasonable, but not very good at controlling his wife".

With this kind of situation, one with the bad face and the other with the good face, not only can they often take advantage of others, but people will also praise Fang Zhonggui for being reasonable and a good person, or sympathize with him, saying, "How could such a decent man like Fang Zhonggui have such a fierce wife?"

"Ugh!"

Fang Zhonggui suddenly sighed, "Dad's last words were probably aimed at me! I think Linzi from the Third House seems to have figured out something, as seen from the request for food two days ago. This kid from the Third House has finally figured it out, and is very smart now."

Being a parent is like this, they will not miss any opportunity to show off their children's achievements. In the past two days, Fang Sunshi has been publicizing the matter of Fang Lin asking for the grain back. Many people in the village also know that Fang Lin is a powerful person who is not easy to mess with.

Speaking of the Third House, Fang Wang's face was not looking good: "The Fourth House was scolded a lot today, and our Second House was also throwing a tantrum, but the Third House just picked up the ready-made things! The more I talk, the angrier I get. Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore, let's eat! Eat!"

It is the right of the hostess of the family to be in charge of cooking and serving rice. On the second branch's side, it was naturally Fang Wang who was in charge of cooking. She served the most to Fang Zhonggui, the head of the family. Her son Fang He came second, she came third, and the two girls Fang Cao and Fang Xiaoxiao came last, serving the same amount.

When fetching water in the evening, the eldest daughter Fang Caoer picked up two pheasant eggs. Therefore, there were egg drops in the coarse rice and wild vegetable soup tonight, which was relatively rich.

"Sister!" Fang He held his own bowl, rolled his eyes, and tried to pick up some egg drops from Fang Cao'er's bowl. Fang Cao'er naturally refused and dodged.

When Fang Wang saw this, she scolded Fang Cao'er: "As a sister, you don't even know how to give in to your brother!"

When the youngest Fang Xiaoxiao saw this scene, she quietly sat further away, which made Fang He's idea of ​​eating from her sister's bowl fail.

When Fang Wang saw this, she turned around and scolded Fang Xiaoxiao: "You don't know how to respect your elder brother at such a young age. What will you do when you grow up?"

Whether it was Fang Cao or Fang Xiaoxiao, they listened to Fang Wang's scolding without making any excuses and just lowered their heads.

They know that at home, whichever side their mother supports is right. This kind of thing happens too often... they've gotten used to it.

……

Four rooms.

"I've lost all my face today." Fang Jiping handed over the remaining two kilograms of food after returning half of it: "Put it away!"

"Hey!" Fang Qin agreed. Knowing that her husband was in a bad mood, she comforted him, "Anyway, it's enough. We can get through this day or two and get to the county reserve warehouse to distribute grain. Then we'll be fine."

"Too!"

Fang Jiping looked at his well-behaved and lovely son Fang Sui'an, and felt that being scolded by his sister-in-law was nothing.

He is not like his third brother, who is so concerned about his reputation that he would rather suffer losses himself. For the sake of his son, he can bend his waist, bend his knees, and bury his face in the mud - as long as his son can get better.

……

This is the big room.

"What you did today... was too much!" After coming back, Fang Boxian had a gloomy face and sat alone for a long time like a sullen man before he uttered this sentence.

Fang Liu knew that her husband was angry, angry that she was too rude to her brothers, but she didn't think she had done anything wrong: "If it's not ours, I won't care about it; but if it's ours, no one else should take advantage of it easily, even if it's your brother!"

The three children in the eldest family could feel the low pressure caused by the quarrel between their parents.

"Dad, don't be angry!" The eldest son Fang Chuanzong has thick eyebrows and big eyes, and he is honest, as if he was cast from the same mold as Fang Boxian. "That's right!" The second son Fang Chuanhui is eloquent, more like Fang Liu, and can be seen to be shrewd at a young age: "Today's incident is my uncle's fault, Dad and Mom, we don't need to be angry because of someone else's mistake!"

"Dad!" The younger daughter Fang Yuyu also hugged Fang Boxian's arm and shook it like a spoiled child.

Faced with his three sensible children, Fang Boxian's anger towards Fang Liu, which was already not much, subsided. He knew that his wife was doing it for the sake of their children - with three kids in the family, everyone said that the little brats would eat their father into poverty, and his family would not have a good life either!

It is true that he is the eldest brother in the family, but he is also the father of three children. What can he do?

"Ugh!"

Fang Boxian sighed again, and after a long silence, he said, "It's all because of poverty!"

……

Mr. Fang and Grandma Fang fell behind, obviously wanting to have a few words in private.

"Old man, the third brother's family seems to be a little different today. They have become more careful." Grandma Fang said.

"It didn't hurt anyone."

Mr. Fang sighed: "As long as you don't hurt others and have some heart, it's still good."

"It's you, old woman, taking things out of the main house is not the way to go. After all, we still have to live in the old house in the future."

He paused, then continued, "Don't give anything to An'an from the fourth room anymore."

"Alas, I just feel sorry for the fourth child's An An, and I feel bad for him..."

Grandma Fang didn't say anything else, because she knew that what she was doing was wrong, but she couldn't bear to see her grandson looking so pitiful and hungry.

Fingers are of different lengths, and most old people prefer the younger ones, let alone the youngest grandson of the youngest son?

Of course, she also loved her grandchildren Fang Chuanzong, Fang Chuanhui, Fang Lin, and Fang Yuyu, but she loved Fang Sui'an from Fang Jiping's family even more - just as all people are born equal, but some people are more equal.

……

At Fang Lin’s house.

The family was unaware of the discussions of the other three families, as well as Grandpa Fang and Grandma Fang. After dinner, they started making rice balls.

Because Fang Sun was worried that it would be difficult to find firewood in the county town, she decided to cook most of the food. She made a lot and the whole family got involved.

Uncle Fang took over the heavy work of chopping wood and fetching water; Fang Lin lit the fire and controlled the size of the fire; the main cooks were Fang's mother and Tian Xuan. It must be mentioned here that Tian Xuan was very clever and skillful. With her hands, she could make a rice ball with just a flick of her fingers like a butterfly. It was fast and beautiful, and she was even better than Fang's mother.

Under the clear moonlight that flowed like water, the family members were busy doing their own job. At this time, Fang's mother didn't scold Tian Xuan as usual, and there was a warm and happy atmosphere.

"Hey, mom, the edges of this small bag of coarse rice are damp and moldy. Let's throw it away!" Fang Lin took a grain bag and said this when he saw that the coarse rice on the edge was damp and moldy.

"Don't want it anymore? You are not the head of the household, so you really don't know how expensive firewood and rice are. What's wrong with it getting damp and moldy? Doesn't it mean it can't be eaten if it's moldy?" The person who was speaking was her son. If it was Tian Xuan, Fang Sun would have started scolding her long ago.

"Mom, we are on the road, what if something goes wrong with the food and we get sick?" Fang Lin saw that Fang's mother didn't take it seriously, so he emphasized: "Mom!"

Fang Shuyou was silent for a moment, then said, "Linzi is right about this matter. Health is important."

"Mom, just listen to Lindi!" Tian Xuan also said.

"Okay!" Fang Sun couldn't persuade the father and son, so she glared at Tian Xuan. She agreed not to have it, turned around, and made a small ball out of it, but made a small mark on it and prepared to eat it herself.

Really, she has been farming for so many years, doesn’t she know whether the crops are edible or not?

After working for half an hour, the rice balls were finally ready when everyone else had gone to bed. The family turned off the fire and rested.

……

(End of this chapter)