Chapter 73: The Truth About 73 Men Marrying into a Family
Ye Gaosheng returned home in the mid-afternoon, already so cold that he stomped his feet as soon as he entered the house. He handed his things to Ye Jiu and rushed back to his own room.
Ye Jiu watched after him, annoyed at the sight of his shoes already soaked through.
It was all her own fault for being so focused on trying to make money that she had neglected the icy, snowy weather.
Her fourth brother was wearing cloth shoes, and the snow on the road hadn’t melted. After walking for several hours, wouldn’t his cotton shoes be completely soaked, his feet nearly frozen?
The bone broth in the kitchen had already been simmering and was flavorful. Mrs. Zhang was tending to the fire. Ye Jiu placed the items Ye Gaosheng had brought back, including the carrying basket, behind the door of the main house when no one was around, then entered the kitchen and said, “Sister-in-law, Fourth Brother is almost frozen solid after coming back from town. Could you help make a bowl of noodles to warm his stomach?”
Ye Jiu could make noodles in her previous life, but her current body was still small and lacked the strength. She could handle cooking noodles, but rolling them out herself was an impossible feat.
Mrs. Zhang wasn’t usually so conscientious, but at this moment, she hesitated. “Little sister, it’s not that I don’t want to make it, but all the flour is locked in the cupboard!”
“It’s okay if you’re willing to make it. I’ll take care of getting it from mother,” Ye Jiu said with a smile.
“Alright, as long as we have the ingredients, rolling out some noodles doesn’t take much effort,” Mrs. Zhang stirred the pot of rich bone broth as she spoke.
Ye Jiu went back to the main room and said to Mrs. He, who was idly lying on the kang bed with her eyes open, “Mother, it’s all my oversight that Fourth Brother has been so cold. Give me the key to the cupboard, and I’ll have Sister-in-law make him a bowl of noodles to warm his stomach.”
“Why make noodles now when it’s not even mealtime? There are still some leftover steamed buns from this morning. Just have your sister-in-law heat up a couple for him,” Mrs. He spoke with a pained expression. “He’s already a grown man about to get married, not so precious. We only have so much wheat flour left, and that stuff doesn’t last. We’re saving it for making dumplings during the New Year.”
Fortunately, it was Ye Jiu who had come with this request. Had it been someone else, they would have already received a torrent of scolding.
Ye Jiu felt embarrassed. How cold-hearted Fourth Brother would feel if he heard this!
In other families, sons were the treasured ones. Even if daughters were loved, they were never considered more important than sons.
After all, sons were essential for continuing the family line and providing for old age.
Yet Mrs. He treasured her daughters like jewels and treated her sons like grass. It was a mystery whether some past trauma had caused this.
Everyone thought Third Brother had willingly married into his wife’s family because he despised poverty at home, but Ye Jiu knew that before marrying in, Third Brother had come back to secretly ask for their mother’s opinion. At that time, she had said, “We’re poor and can’t give you a good future, so since the Yan Family values you, go ahead.”
Then, Third Brother left in anger. He came back because he felt that their mother did not love him and deliberately said such things to test his standing in her heart. However, he hadn’t expected her to respond the way she did, prompting him, in a fit of rage, to become a live-in son-in-law in the town for the Yan Family.
Perhaps she was too young at that time, and with her health not fully recovered, she spent her days as if in a daze, which is why they didn’t avoid talking in front of Ye Jiu.
Third Brother came back once, and perhaps treated her like an emotional dumping ground before he left. It wasn’t easy being a live-in son-in-law, and Third Brother regretted his hasty decision. However, the deed was done, and it wasn’t something he could simply take back.