TCFSRMR |Chapter 19

Seeing Shi Guorong burst into tears, the heart that Shi Guoan had been holding up finally settled down, and he handed over the water in his hand:

“Drink some water…”

But Shi Guorong, who had already come back to her senses, how could she still drink?

She pulled Shi Ying into her arms, looked her up and down, unable to get enough, and while shedding tears, she would from time to time look up and chatter to Shi Guoan:

“I said, why did she look so familiar… Big brother, look at Yingying’s eyes, how much they look like yours… these delicate eyebrows, and this high nose bridge, they’re exactly the same as eldest sister-in-law…”

If it weren’t for her belly being too big, Shi Guorong would have even wanted to pick up her niece and spin her around a few times. But although she couldn’t spin around, she still insisted on letting Shi Ying sit on her lap.

Shi Ying sat there uneasily for a moment, then still obediently climbed down from her lap:

“Auntie’s belly has a little baby inside, you can’t get tired…”

One sentence made Shi Guorong want to cry again:

“Oh, our Yingying, how did you become, so sensible…”

“The meal is ready too, come over and eat while we talk.” The old lady poked her head out of the kitchen while wiping her hands.

Then she turned back to look at the old man:

“Where’s Quanyou? Why isn’t he back yet?”

“He should be back soon.” But the old man clearly did not want to bring up this topic. “First set the dishes on the table, he should be back soon too.”

Shi Guoan frowned and looked at Shi Guorong:

“You went to the hospital alone just now?”

His younger sister was about to give birth, yet her husband did not even go with her to the hospital?

“Oh, her big brother, don’t take it to heart. Quanyou should have been busy today. If he knew you were coming, he would definitely have waited at home. It’s not that he knew…”

With the two elders of the Li family there, Shi Guoan also found it inconvenient to say anything more.

Luckily, after a while, brother-in-law Li Quanyou pushed the door open and came in. Seeing Shi Guoan, he hurried over with a smiling face:

“Big brother, you’re here.”

Like his parents, even though among the three brothers-in-law this one was the most polite, Li Quanyou was still oddly the one he feared the most.

“You’re back?” Shi Guoan nodded.

Brother-in-law Li Quanyou was apprenticing at the machinery factory, so he did seem to be busy.

“Mm, mm, I came back late, Big Brother, don’t mind.” Li Quanyou smiled honestly. “I went to fix someone’s water pipe, and it delayed a bit of time…”

Just as it happened, Old Man Li from the family came over. At the words, he became a little anxious. He had even helped his son cover for him, and in the end this little brat blurted everything out as soon as he opened his mouth.

Shi Guoan really did frown. But in the end, he still said nothing.

Over there, the old lady had already brought the food out. Apart from braised pork, scrambled eggs, minced eggplant, and those hard dishes, she had also mixed a cucumber, stir-fried greens, and specially made zhajiangmian. It looked extraordinarily plentiful.

“Oh, Mom, you made so many good things.” Li Quanyou said with a grin.

Shi Guorong was also somewhat surprised. After all, she knew her in-laws’ attitude best. They looked down on villagers very much. Usually when her second and third brothers came over, it was all ordinary home-cooked food all the way through.

Her mother-in-law had said that already, they were all family, so why be so polite?

What was made today was simply like the feast served when her son-in-law, who was the factory union chairman at the textile factory, came over.

“It’s rare for your big brother to come by once, I was even afraid I wouldn’t entertain him properly.” The old lady said smilingly, and called Shi Guoan and the others to sit. “Her big brother, hurry and bring the child over to sit.”

She also took a small bowl for Shi Ying, scooped up a bit of every dish and handed it over:

“Yingying, hurry and eat too, eat more, put on a little weight and your auntie will definitely be happy.”

When Shi Ying thanked her, the old lady’s face smiled even more, wrinkling up quite a bit.

It was only then that Li Quanyou noticed Shi Ying. He immediately became somewhat surprised and quietly asked Shi Guorong:

“Which niece of ours is this? Why do I think she looks a little unfamiliar?”

“That’s Yingying, my big brother’s daughter. She actually didn’t fall into the water before, she was stolen away, and now she has been found again.” As Shi Guorong spoke, she picked a piece of braised pork and put it into Shi Ying’s bowl, and could not stop wanting to shed tears.

That daughter of his elder brother who had died young?

Li Quanyou was also shocked, and subconsciously looked at Shi Ying: “Oh, what a great happy event. I said this little girl looked unfamiliar. It turns out she’s Big Brother’s daughter!”

After he made out Shi Ying’s appearance clearly, he also somewhat understood why the little girl disappeared and why Shi Big Brother and Shi Big Sister-in-law had such a huge blow.

This little girl, no matter how you look at her, is pleasing to the eye.

Thinking this, he looked again at Shi Guorong’s belly. After her baby comes out, will it also be this cute?

After finishing the meal, Shi Guorong was a bit stuffed, so she took Shi Ying to walk around the courtyard. Granny Li and Old Man Li left after eating.

The old man liked to go under the big tree after meals to chat with people, while the old lady was holding back a bellyful of words and wanted to go out and show off.

For example, how many good things her daughter-in-law’s maternal family sent over, and for example, the protagonist in that child-stealing incident a few days ago was her daughter-in-law’s niece, and right now she was still visiting in their house.

Li Quanyou, meanwhile, accompanied Shi Guoan as they sat there drinking tea.

Just now, when everyone was there, it was nothing. Now that only he was left, Li Quanyou immediately became restrained again, and kept pouring water for Shi Guoan;

“Big brother, drink tea…”

Shi Guoan blocked it with his hand:

“Don’t be busy. Sit down and let’s talk.”

“Ah, okay.” Li Quanyou obediently sat down, sitting very straight like an elementary school student.

“Are things at your factory usually very busy?”

“A little, but mostly it’s the masters and the others. I’m not that busy yet…” Li Quanyou answered honestly. “My skills aren’t up to par yet, and a lot of the time I still can’t quite handle things.”

His master was a level-eight worker, and was obviously much busier.

“When you’re learning things, be humble, use your hands and legs, and even when there’s nothing to do, follow along more, run around more, learn more and see more, and you can always learn real skills…”

“Mm. I know, Big Brother.” Knowing that his elder brother-in-law was doing this for his own good, Li Quanyou hurriedly nodded.

“It’s just that, if you’re not busy, then come home more often too,” Shi Guoan changed the topic. “After all, you’re about to become a father. In the future, with the old above and the young below, whatever things you should take up, you need to take up, and when considering things, you also need to think more comprehensively… Rongrong is pregnant, so when you have nothing to do, accompany her more often…”

Back when Shi Guorong first entered the city, there were many who took a fancy to her. After all, she was nearly 1.7 meters tall, had a pretty face, and was a worker at the textile factory, so of course she was very sought after.

Relatively speaking, Li Quanyou’s conditions were actually just so-so.

Although he was also considered tall, his looks were average, and another thing was that Li Quanyou was not a regular worker either.

Shi Guoan asked himself, and he was not the kind to despise the poor and favor the rich either, as long as his younger sister liked him.

Back then, on the first month when Shi Guorong went home, she brought up that the wife of the factory union chairman had introduced her younger brother from her maternal family.

Shi Guoan had even specifically told Shi Guorong then that when looking for a partner, there was no need to look at how the other family was doing. The key was that the person had to be good, especially good to Shi Guorong.

Shi Guorong had said at the time that she remembered. Later, every time she went home, she would mention Li Quanyou’s family, saying that the Li family treated her very well, that Li Quanyou’s mother often went to the factory to bring her meals, with several pieces of meat buried in the lunchbox, and fruit and candy were often sent too.

Li Quanyou’s several sisters also often bought clothes for her…

At that time, Shi Guoan himself was in a terrible mess, so he only asked someone to inquire about Li Quanyou’s family. It was said this family was also not bad, and Li Quanyou was an honest person, so he did not bother any further. Only now did he belatedly realize that, during the time Shi Guorong had not yet married, wasn’t Li Quanyou’s participation a bit too little?

It did not seem like Li Quanyou was marrying a wife, but like his family was marrying.

Before marriage, fine. Now they were already married, and Rongrong was about to give birth. How could he still act as if nothing was wrong, not accompany Rongrong to the hospital for a checkup, and still wander around outside until he came back at lunchtime?

Even if Li Quanyou was stupid, he belatedly heard that something was off.

His elder brother-in-law seemed to be blaming him for not accompanying his wife to the hospital. He hurriedly explained:

“I originally wanted to go with Rongrong too, but right after I went out, I ran into Sister-in-law Shujuan…”

Realizing something, he hurriedly explained again:

“That, Sister-in-law Shujuan is my buddy’s wife. Before she got married, she was from Back Street, and she and my buddy and the rest of us all grew up together… It’s just that my buddy had a serious illness before, and it wasn’t cured, and he passed away. When he was leaving, he entrusted his wife and child to us few who were close to him, saying for us to take care of them more…”

As he said this, his face was full of sympathy:

“When Rongrong and I went out, we happened to run into Sister-in-law Shujuan. Sister-in-law Shujuan said her hand pump was broken, and if it wasn’t fixed quickly, she wouldn’t even have lunch at noon…”

“That, when I went over, Rongrong also knew, and she agreed too… If you don’t believe me, ask her…”

“You asked in front of her whether you could go and fix someone else’s well?” Shi Guoan suddenly interjected.

“Ah? Yes.” Li Quanyou nodded, but did not feel that there was anything wrong.

It had originally been agreed that he would accompany his wife for the prenatal checkup, but then he went to help someone fix a well, so of course he had to ask.

It was his wife who said it was fine not to go with her, otherwise she would go by herself.

“The hospital is quite close to our house. I have a cousin who also works in the hospital. Today, when I said I was going for a prenatal checkup, my mom greeted my cousin early in the morning. As long as Rongrong goes over and finds my cousin, that’ll do…”

“Can your cousin replace you?” Shi Guoan knocked his teacup on the table with a thud.

Li Quanyou startled and immediately sat even straighter:

“I, I just thought that if I went, it wouldn’t be of much use…”

He had not never gone along before. When he got there, it was all women carrying big bellies, and those women were almost all by themselves too, very rarely with men accompanying them.

And when the wife went in for the examination, men were not allowed in either. He could only wait outside idly, so in that case, what difference did it make whether he went or not?

“Not much use? If it’s not much use, then why does the child in the future have to call you father?” Shi Guoan’s face completely darkened. “From the way you say it, is this child something Rongrong is giving birth to for herself, and it has nothing to do with you?”

Li Quanyou’s lips moved, but he did not know how to say it.

Shi Guoan also simply did not intend to give him a chance to explain:

“If I’m not mistaken, Rongrong discussed today’s prenatal checkup with you first, right? And then when it was time to go, you dumped her there and went to help other people? What, your own wife and the child in her belly aren’t as important as someone else’s mouthful of water?”

“When someone’s man is gone, it’s right to help, but you also said just now that when your good brother passed away, the person he entrusted them to wasn’t just you, right? You have something to do, and everyone else has something to do too? And your buddy doesn’t have brothers or sisters? Without you, is his family really not even able to get a mouthful of water? They have plenty of people they can rely on, but what about Rongrong? The person she can rely on is only you!”

“Taking a step back, even if it really absolutely had to be you, couldn’t you just wait until after Rongrong finished the prenatal checkup to go help fix it? Is eating a meal a little later more important, or are your wife and the child in her belly more important? I don’t believe you don’t understand this logic!”

“As for you saying your cousin is in the hospital, your cousin is a doctor. Can she leave the other patients aside and just revolve around Rongrong alone? How long can Rongrong be inside for the examination? If you don’t go, wouldn’t all the other registration and such have to be handled by her alone?”

The more he said, the angrier he got:

“And you still say that Rongrong also agreed. You’re a grown man, can Rongrong not give you face in front of outsiders? Since you already agreed to go, how could Rongrong say not to let you go?”

“…Didn’t you forget what I told you when you weren’t married yet? We don’t ask your family to be rich and powerful, we only ask that you treat Rongrong well. And in the end, is this how you treat her well? Letting a woman who is about to give birth go for a prenatal checkup alone, are you really not worried at all?”

“Rongrong is most afraid of pain. If a small red mark appears on her hand, she has to cry for the whole night. Now, she is willing to have a child for you. How important you are in her heart, don’t you know?”

“During this time, you wouldn’t not know that Rongrong hasn’t been feeling well, right? I saw that the top of Rongrong’s foot was even swollen, and you really didn’t see any of it at all…”

Li Quanyou could still sit straight at first, but in the end, he had his head hanging low, and did not even dare look at Shi Guoan at all…

Rarely had he seen his elder brother-in-law with such a stern face. Li Quanyou grew even more frightened, and after quite a while he stammered:

“Big brother, don’t be angry. I remember all the things you said, and in the future I will definitely accompany Rongrong…”

“Do I still need to teach you these things?”

“Rongrong puts up with you, and you also have to put up with her. She doesn’t want to make things hard for you, so you have to care for her even more.” As Shi Guoan said this, he also felt somewhat hurt. His younger sister had been taught by the family to be too sensible, which was why she endured everything without saying anything.

“I, I remember, Big Brother.” Li Quanyou’s expression grew even more awkward, and he carefully went to top up Shi Guoan’s water.

“Don’t pour anymore, I should be leaving too.” As Shi Guoan said this and was about to stand up, he accidentally caught sight of a shadow swaying outside the room door.

When he came out, he was just in time to see Shi Guorong standing below the steps, holding Shi Ying’s hand.

Shi Guorong’s eyes were red, obviously she had cried again.

Knowing that Big Brother loved her the most, and fearing that the two would quarrel, hadn’t Shi Guorong quietly stood outside the door?

She had just happened to hear the heartfelt words between her big brother and husband.

To be honest, Li Quanyou was not a bad person, in fact he was even a great person in another sense, very enthusiastic toward everyone. As long as someone asked him for help, he would always agree first thing.

It was just that when they were dating, it had not been discovered. After they got married, Shi Guorong only then noticed that Li Quanyou was too enthusiastic toward outsiders. On several occasions when the two had made arrangements to go out and have fun together, they had not been able to go because Li Quanyou suddenly had to help someone.

Back then, Shi Guorong was somewhat unhappy, feeling that Li Quanyou always put other people and other people’s matters too heavily in his heart, and always put her at the very end.

After the matter passed, she would again feel whether she was being too petty. After all, her husband was helping people.

After all, just like Li Quanyou said, the two of them were not doing anything important, just going out to have fun. Wouldn’t it be the same to go out another day?

But later she found that, for Li Quanyou, things like putting her aside in order to help others was simply commonplace. Even after she became pregnant, it still happened from time to time. Just take that Sister-in-law Shujuan. Once when she went out to the street to buy groceries, she ran into Sister-in-law Shujuan also carrying her child to buy groceries.

Originally Li Quanyou was supposed to help her carry the groceries, but in the end it turned into helping Sister-in-law Shujuan carry the child, and then she, with a pregnant belly, and Sister-in-law Shujuan each carried a bag of groceries…

After Shi Guorong went home, she cried for quite a while. After the old man and the old lady found out, they also caught Li Quanyou and scolded him for a while, saying that his wife was still carrying his baby, so was the Li family’s descendant important, or was someone else’s child important?

Afterward, Li Quanyou did admit his mistake to her, but the implication was still that Shi Guorong was somewhat inconsiderate, after all, wasn’t it just helping Sister-in-law Shujuan carry the child? Her husband was gone, how pitiful.

Only, Shi Guorong had nowhere to say such grievances. First, her husband was the one she chose. At that time, Big Brother had even specifically called her aside, repeatedly reminding her that marriage was too important for a girl, and telling her to be sure to choose carefully…

Big Brother had always been worn out for this family, and she did not want, after getting married, not only failing to help Big Brother share any burden, but also continuing to drag him down.

Big Brother’s life was already hard enough!

She had never expected that Big Brother would come just this once, and immediately notice the grievances she had suffered…

“Don’t cry.” Shi Guoan reached out and wiped away Shi Guorong’s tears. “When you feel wronged, don’t always keep it bottled up yourself. I see that Quanyou is not someone who won’t listen to reason. If you have anything to say, don’t always keep it in your heart. If you don’t say anything about any grievance, over time, husband and wife will also grow distant…”

“Yes, yes,” seeing Shi Guorong cry, Li Quanyou looked timidly at Shi Guoan and followed along in agreement, “I’m just slow to react sometimes. Rongrong, if you want anything, just tell me…”

“It’s getting late too. I should take Yingying and head back.” Shi Guoan looked at the sun and also stood up.

Shi Guorong was undoubtedly very reluctant, but she also knew that Big Brother probably still had other matters. In the end, she endured her sadness and saw them out.

When the two of them saw Shi Guoan off and turned back, Li Quanyou, in order to make up for his mistake, proactively proposed accompanying Shi Guorong to walk over to that little grove.

In the end, before they even got out of the alley, they ran into a somewhat petite, pale and thin woman head-on, with a two- or three-year-old child in her arms.

Suddenly seeing Li Quanyou, who was carefully supporting Shi Guorong over, the woman froze while holding the child. Though somewhat timid, she still stammered out:

“Brother Quanyou, Sister-in-law Guorong, are you two busy with something?”

“Ah, yes. Sister-in-law Shujuan, what are you doing?”

“Wasn’t it because you helped me fix the hand pump before? I wasn’t watching for a moment, and Little Treasure started playing with water there. It should be that the well water was a little cold. I just touched Little Treasure and felt that his body was a little hot now…”

“Is that so?” Hearing the woman say this, Li Quanyou was obviously somewhat worried, and subconsciously stepped forward, wanting to take the child, when his foot suddenly paused.

Looking at Shi Guorong beside him, whose belly was huge and whose feet were also swollen, then looking at Shujuan, who was helpless and pitifully looking at him, he ultimately avoided Shujuan’s gaze. He took back the hand he had extended and said dryly, “Then hurry, hurry and take him to the clinic to have a look. There should be fewer people at this time… I and Rongrong will go over first…”

Clearly not expecting Li Quanyou to say this, the woman froze. Even after Li Quanyou and Shi Guorong had walked far away, she was still stupidly standing there holding the child.

On the evening of the second day after returning from the county seat, Shi Guoan began preparing to brew soy sauce.

After all, small business was not allowed right now. Even though Shi Guoan had a good reputation in the village, he still did not dare to be careless.

He only started once it was late and everyone had gone back to rest.

Although Yin Zhaodi was unwilling a hundred times over, she was even more worried that the raw materials and such they had prepared would go to waste.

Not to mention the other things, sugar was genuinely a precious thing.

If that got ruined for nothing, she’d be heartbroken to death.

So she took the initiative and volunteered to take on the job of tending the fire. In her understanding, when making food, tending the fire was the most important. If the fire was too strong or too weak, it would affect the taste.

Shi Guoping went outside to carry firewood, squatted nearby and from time to time handed one to Yin Zhaodi, and intermittently looked with reverence at Shi Guoan, who had already tied on an apron.

His big brother really was the most amazing. He even knew how to brew soy sauce.

Shi Guoan first threw the washed small river shrimp and small fish, after draining off the water, into the pot to dry-roast over low heat. After hearing that when the fish and shrimp in the pot collided with each other they would make a rustling sound, he then scooped them out and placed them on the cutting board to cool.

“So fragrant…” Shi Nan poked her head out and subconsciously stuffed her little hand into her mouth.

“Don’t eat your hand.” Shi Ying held her little hand.

“I’ll serve some for you. You three go eat over there.” Shi Guoan casually took a porcelain bowl and, while serving it out, said.

He sent the porcelain bowl to the front of the few children, and seeing the children eating so sweetly, Shi Guoan’s face also broke into a smile.

“Big brother really dotes on children too much,” Yin Zhaodi looked on and felt a little worried. Her eldest brother-in-law was good in every way, but when facing children, he had no bottom line at all. He said he was brewing soy sauce, but he hadn’t even started brewing yet, and he had already let the children start eating first.

And those strawberries, their appearance was so good, taking them out to sell would definitely make money, but Shi Guoan refused, saying there wasn’t much anyway, so he’d just leave them at home and let the children eat their fill. And as for the old lady and old man, no matter how many times they said they weren’t eating any, Shi Guoan acted like he hadn’t heard, and kept bringing over bowl after bowl…

“Your big brother just likes children.” Miao Xiuxiu said while scrubbing the pot.

“Isn’t life just about the children?” The old lady said with a smile. “Nothing is more important than our children.”

While they were talking, the pot was heated again. Shi Guoan poured the sugar he had bought into the pot, and then called to Yin Zhaodi not to add more firewood, since the remaining fire in the stove was enough.

Before long, the sugar in the pot turned into a beautiful deep agate color. Shi Guoan then poured in hot water and stirred it evenly.

He then took the Sichuan pepper and bay leaves that had been picked and washed earlier, as well as the several kinds of unidentified plants Shi Ying had given him.

These few were all plants that 001 had indicated could be used to replace other seasonings.

At first, when Shi Ying insisted that these few could also make dishes smell good, Shi Guoan did not really believe it, but after taking them and stir-frying them with scallions, the final flavor of the dish really was even more delicious.

At this point, he simply threw them all in. Then he poured in the sun-dried soy paste.

While waiting for the water to boil, he also took a rolling pin and crushed all the cooled little fish and shrimp on the cutting board into minced bits, then scooped them up and put them into a bowl.

When he turned around, however, he saw that Shi Ying had already ladled water, then put in the white flour and started stirring. He was immediately greatly comforted.

His daughter was truly clever. He had only said it once, and she had actually remembered it.

Yin Zhaodi sniffed –

She didn’t know if it was an illusion, but she always felt that this year’s wheat, when ground into white flour, was especially fragrant. Especially when Shi Ying stirred it around with chopsticks like this.

Soon, it reached the final step of brewing soy sauce. Shi Guoan held Shi Ying’s hand, poured the evenly mixed flour and water into the pot, and finally put in the crushed little river shrimp and fish powder. After pushing the spoon a couple of times as well, he stirred it evenly and took a deep breath:

“Done.”