Chen Lishu saw Zhang Qin's dilemma and said with a smile: "Thank you sister-in-law for your kindness. I'll do it myself."
"I'll help you."
The two looked at each other and smiled, neither taking Liu Yuemin's words seriously. Angrily, Liu Yuemin dropped the plate with a bang and turned around to leave.
After cleaning up the kitchen, Chen Lishu returned to her room, lay on the kang and began to plan her future.
We still have to do the business of exchanging grain. We can earn a little more before the end of the year. The production team will resume work after the end of the year, and I’m afraid we won’t have time by then. We also need to read books. It’s the winter of 1975, and there are less than two months left.
Years of preparation.
I fell asleep while thinking about it.
"Bang--"
With a sudden sound, Chen Lishu opened her eyes from her sleep in shock.
It dawned very late in winter, and there was no electricity in the village. It was so dark in the house that it was hard to see anything.
Chen Lishu stared at the dark beams for a long time before she came to her senses.
This is not the Chen family, she has already married into the Gu family.
"What kind of monster are you doing so early in the morning? Why don't you let people sleep well?" Gu Xingmin's irritable voice came from next door. Chen Lishu hesitated and grabbed the cotton-padded jacket on the side, put it on and fumbled to get up and get off the kang.
As soon as she arrived at the door, she heard Liu Yuemin's voice coming from outside: "What kind of monster am I? My new daughter-in-law can't get up to cook, why don't I do it myself?"
Chen Lishu's hand when opening the door paused, and then she quickly opened the door like a normal person.
"I got up late, second sister-in-law, it's me who should do it."
There was a small kerosene lamp as big as a bean burning on the window sill. Chen Lishu quickly walked over and took two steps to take the basin from Liu Yuemin's hand.
"Third brother and sister, I don't mean anything against you. It's okay, adults. The children in my house are not always hungry."
Chen Lishu shook her head: "I should have gotten up early to cook. Second sister-in-law, you should go back to the house first."
Seeing that she had a good attitude, Liu Yuemin finally nodded with satisfaction: "Then I'll go back to the house first."
Seeing Liu Yuemin entering the house and the door being closed with a creak, Chen Lishu could no longer maintain the smile on her face. She lowered her cold eyes and began to prepare breakfast.
"Third brother and sister, why do you get up so early?" Zhang Qin yawned and walked in. When she saw Chen Lishu sitting by the stove and lighting the fire, she asked in confusion.
Chen Lishu raised her head and glanced at the sky that had not seen light for a long time outside. She thought of something and her delicate brows furrowed: "Sister-in-law, what time is it?"
There was no clock in her room, and she had no watch, so she had no idea what time it was.
"It's only around five o'clock. I couldn't sleep, so I came over and cooked the meal. When did you get up?"
It was only after five o'clock? Chen Lishu frowned, no wonder it was still dark. It seemed that she had been tricked by Liu Yuemin.
Zhang Qin looked at the steaming pot and guessed that she might have gotten up at four o'clock.
I thought her new daughter-in-law was so active because she was afraid of what her parents-in-law would say, but she didn't have the nerve to say anything.
"You don't have to get up so early in the future. There's not much work in winter, and the family usually doesn't eat until after seven o'clock. Just wait until daybreak before getting up."
As soon as she finished speaking, a rooster crowed outside.
Chen Lishu smiled at her: "Okay, I understand, sister-in-law."
Soon everyone in the Gu family got up one after another, and knowing that Chen Lishu had made breakfast, Li Xiulan and her wife Gu Shoufu looked at each other and became more and more satisfied with their daughter-in-law.
She was married under so much pressure, and she didn't ask for any favors. She would be like other people's daughters-in-law. Hei Gulong got up to make breakfast. In Li Xiulan's heart, there was simply no better daughter-in-law.
.
"Mom, you don't know. There is no clock in the third sister's room and she doesn't know the time. When I got up around five o'clock, she had already prepared the meal."
Zhang Qin told this to her mother-in-law as a joke, but Li Xiulan immediately said after hearing this: "The clock on the cabinet in my house will be moved by Xingye to Lishu's house in a while."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Gu Xingmin and his wife coming in yawning, and pointedly said: "It's impossible to live without a sense of time."
The clock is really not of much use to Chen Lishu. She still wants to buy a watch after making money. That thing is more practical than a clock.
Therefore, he declined with a smile: "Mom and Dad, you are used to looking at the time. It would be hard to give up if you take it away all at once. Besides, if I want to check the time, come over and take a look, too."
"Mom, are you going to give the clock in your house to your third brother and sister?" Liu Yuemin was not sleepy anymore and immediately said with wide eyes.
When she and Gu Xingmin got married, they had so many troubles that they finally got a broken clock from somewhere else for their house. She had to turn the clock every day to match the time with the big house, otherwise work would stop.
Seeing Li Xiulan nod, Liu Yuemin's face immediately fell.
Why did Chen Lishu give her the clock as soon as she arrived?! "Mom, I don't agree!"
Li Xiulan gave her a blank look: "I didn't ask for your opinion."
"Yes, Mom, your partiality is a bit too much." Gu Xingmin muttered with his eyelids lowered.
"There are two of you, and she is the only one in the room. Why am I partial?"
Gu Xingmin curled his lips, saying that she was a mother. He raised his legs and sat down at the dining table. Just as he was about to eat, his father knocked his chopsticks on the plate: "I didn't see that everyone didn't come to the table. You are a starving ghost."
?”
"Mom and Dad, there's really no need to move. I can just come over and take a look later if I want to."
Seeing her insistence, Li Xiulan and his wife said nothing. The family had breakfast, and as soon as Chen Lishu finished cleaning the kitchen, Li Xiulan called her into the house.
"When I come back tomorrow, here is ten yuan, so I won't prepare anything. You can go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some if you need anything at home." Li Xiulan said, taking out a big unity sheet from the kang cabinet and handing it to Chen Lishu.
Canned sugar and the like were given by the Chen family, but it was not much help under the conditions. The couple discussed it and simply gave the money directly. Whether the daughter-in-law wanted to buy things or give the money directly to her mother-in-law, it was up to her.
Chen Lishu looked at the ten yuan in her hand and knew that the old couple were helping her parents in disguise. She pursed her lips and took the money, and whispered: "Thank you, Dad and Mom."
"You kid, why are the whole family so polite?" Li Xiulan felt a little embarrassed when she thanked her and waved her hand away.
Outside, Liu Yuemin grabbed Zhang Qin and moved toward the old couple's room. She pursed her lips and said in a low voice: "I called people into the room. I guess she must have secretly given me something good again. Look at the chest of drawers in her room.
When we got married, we only had two wooden boxes. It was obviously partial! Sister-in-law, aren't you angry?"
Zhang Qin did not answer her words, but gently advised: "We got married a few years ago. The conditions were poor at that time, so it would be good to have two boxes. Now some people's betrothal gifts cost two hundred. What else is there?
Three spins and one snap, seventy-two legs. Three younger siblings are really not many."
"I don't know if you are really stupid or if you are too talkative." Liu Yuemin turned around angrily and went back to her room.