Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 270

Zhao Da'e was an outsider, but she saw things clearly. In the end, it was because her aunt didn't give her older cousin enough security, which is why her older cousin has been so unhappy until now. If her older cousin wants to get rid of her worries, her aunt has to talk to her herself.

Cheng Jinxi muttered to herself with some difficulty: "Sigh, life at home is tough, there's nothing I can do."

In fact, many people in rural areas treat their married daughters this way: the house is left for the sons, and the rooms are reserved for the future grandsons. In their minds, girls are meant to get married, so naturally no rooms are left for them.

Zhou Tianfu is getting married, and it's reasonable for anyone to agree. The family only has a few rooms; if Zhou Tianfu doesn't get married, everything will be peaceful. But once he's married, even if Cheng Jinxi wants Zhou Chunwen and her sisters to continue living there, do you think their daughter-in-law will agree? If the daughter-in-law doesn't agree, in the end, their son will also oppose them.

Not everyone is Zhao Tiesheng.

How many normal men would be mean to their wives to please their mothers? Aren't they all forget their mothers after getting married?!

Seeing that Zhao Dage had run away, Cheng Jinxi was angry but helpless, and kept muttering to herself, "This child, I can't even help him with anything."

Before long, Zhou Chunhong returned with the yeast. She placed the yeast on the table and left. Cheng Jinxi watched Zhou Chunhong's departing figure, hesitant to speak, but in the end, she could only sigh and go back to work in a huff.

This time, Cheng Jinxi needs to make some steamed buns. Zhao Da'e and Zhou Tianfu are leaving tomorrow to take the train, so Cheng Jinxi needs to prepare food for the two of them in advance.

First, pick up the basin, turn on the fire, pour water into the pot, cover it, and wait until the temperature is about right before adding some warm water into the basin.

Add some yeast and sugar to warm water, stir well, and wait a few minutes. The yeast water is now ready.

Pour the flour into a large bowl, slowly pour in the yeast water while stirring with chopsticks until the flour forms clumps.

Then she could start kneading the dough. Cheng Jinxi spent almost twenty minutes kneading the dough. Kneading dough is a skill. The force can't be too hard or too soft, otherwise the texture won't be good. However, after kneading the dough for a long time, Cheng Jinxi felt her arms were a little sore. But when she thought that her son might go hungry on the train, she had the energy to knead the dough again.

After a while, the kneaded dough was placed next to the heated brick bed to ferment, as the warm place made it easier for the dough to ferment successfully.

After finishing all that, Cheng Jinxi thought about it carefully, then knocked on Zhou Chunwen's door and called out, "Chunwen, are you there? It's Mom. I'm coming in."

The door opened, but it was Zhao Da'e who came in. Zhao Da'e looked at Cheng Jinxi with some difficulty, and then turned to look at Zhou Chunwen who was pretending to be asleep on the bed. She had no choice but to say, "Auntie, my older cousin has already gone to bed early. Why don't you go back first?"

This was also the excuse Zhou Chunwen gave Zhao Da'e: she didn't want to be alone with Cheng Jinxi at the moment.

But Cheng Jinxi glanced at Zhou Chunwen on the bed and saw that Zhou Chunwen was not properly covered with the blanket. She frowned slightly and quickly went over to pull the blanket up for Zhou Chunwen, saying, "It's so late at night, what if you catch a cold?"

Seeing how much Cheng Jinxi cared about Zhou Chunwen, Zhao Da'e said helplessly, "Auntie, since you're already here, why don't you wake up your older cousin now and make things clear?"

Zhou Chunwen, who was pretending to be asleep, was slightly taken aback, clearly not understanding what Zhao Da'e had said. Did her mother have something to say to her? But after a while, Zhou Chunwen thought that maybe she was just telling her not to overthink things. It was the same thing every time, and she had heard it several times already. She guessed it would be the same today.

Before Zhou Chunwen could finish her thought, Cheng Jinxi said, "It's because Mom is useless and made you suffer. I didn't take your feelings into consideration. But Mom has no choice. Your dad makes most of the decisions at home. I may seem to be in charge, but I don't have much say. Mom understands how you feel because I feel the same way. I've been married to your dad for over ten years, and we've had our share of conflicts. I often argue with him too. When I feel wronged, I want to go back to my parents' home, but Mom knows there's no place for me there."

“They all said that I was a married daughter and shouldn’t go back to my parents’ home. Even your maternal grandmother said the same thing to me, telling me to be more patient whenever we argued and not to go back to my parents’ home so easily. At that time, I felt wronged. My parents’ home was right next to me, but I couldn’t go back. There was no place for me there anymore.”

"Later I vowed that my daughters would never suffer like that in the future. I would make sure to leave a room for my daughters no matter what, so that they would have a place to stay even if they went back to their parents' home."

“But when we built the new house, we only had so much money. We could only build two rooms. I told your dad that one room would be for you two sisters no matter what, and it didn’t matter what your older brother did.”

"Later, when your eldest brother grew up and it was time for him to get married, our family owed him a lot. We didn't give him a room. When he was old enough to work, we taught him to work in the fields and didn't let him go to school. Now, the only people working in the family are your father and your eldest brother. They are the only two who earn money. You two sisters can even go to school for a few years and learn to read and write, but your eldest brother can't. He only has the strength to do hard labor, and that's how his life will be."

When Cheng Jinxi said these things, she looked a bit more weathered, and her face was full of helplessness. She knew in fact that Zhou Chunwen was not asleep. After all, she was her daughter and knew her to some extent. As soon as she saw Zhou Chunwen's little movements, Cheng Jinxi knew that Zhou Chunwen was pretending to be asleep.

In fact, Cheng Jinxi still blames herself. If she had worked harder, earned more money, and built another house, her daughter wouldn't have suffered.

"Mom also owes your older brother a lot. Right now, all Mom can do is help your older brother find a satisfactory wife, but it's very difficult. Mom really can't raise enough money for the bride price. When your older brother found out, he secretly shed tears and told me that it's okay if he doesn't get married for the next few years, and it's okay if he gets married when he has more money in a few years. When I heard that, my heart ached. Mom also wants to give you a good life, but Mom doesn't have much ability."

After saying all this, Cheng Jinxi felt less depressed.

Zhou Chunwen quietly clenched the blanket, her nose felt a little sore, and tears streamed down her face. It turned out that her mother was thinking of her too.

Zhao Da'e felt terrible after hearing this. She went over and took Cheng Jinxi's hand, and said earnestly, "Don't worry, Auntie, I will find a way to pay the bride price. I will work hard to earn money and help you raise the money."

Cheng Jinxi shook her head with a wry smile. She took Zhao Da'e's words as a joke. After all, how big could a goose be to earn so much money?

“Big Goose, you’ll be going to school after the New Year. I think you should just focus on your studies and not worry about your aunt. Making money is something adults should think about.”

After saying that, Cheng Jinxi covered Zhou Chunwen with the quilt again, and then said to Zhao Da'e, "To be honest, Da'e, sometimes I think you are more composed and clever than Chunwen. You are not easily bullied. If you become successful in the future, I will ask you to take care of Chunwen. Although you are cousins, you grew up together since childhood, and you are no different from biological sisters."

Before she could finish speaking, Zhao Da'e's expression turned serious, and she said earnestly, "Auntie, I understand. I will take good care of my eldest cousin, and the same goes for my second cousin. I swore to my eldest cousin that as long as I have meat to eat, she won't go hungry."

Cheng Jinxi couldn't help but laugh, "Silly child, it's not that exaggerated. I just wanted you to support each other more in the future, so that you wouldn't be bullied."

"Okay, I'll be going now. I still have a lot of things to do at home."

After saying that, Cheng Jinxi left.

After Cheng Jinxi left, Zhou Chunwen got out of bed. Her eyes were red and she could see tears streaming down her face.

Zhou Chunwen threw herself into Zhao Da'e's arms, sobbing, "Da'e, I never expected my mom to be so good to me, thinking so much for me. Today I even gave her a hard time, complaining that she only cares about my older brother."

Zhao Da'e patted Zhou Chunwen on the shoulder and comforted her, "Alright, alright, don't cry, big cousin. It's not too late for you to realize how good your aunt is now."

"To tell you the truth, when you were sleeping today, your aunt pulled me over and told me to talk to you and give you some advice. It's obvious that she cares about you, but she doesn't know how to express it to you. She has her own hardships, and she also hopes that you can have a good life. She blames herself more for not working hard enough to give you a good life."

The more she said this, the more heartbroken Zhou Chunwen became. She threw herself into Zhao Da'e's arms and choked out, "Da'e, I swear, I will definitely make something of myself in the future and give Mom a good life. I will never resent Mom again. I was just being unreasonable today and insisted on arguing about this and that."

After listening, Zhao Da'e shook her head and said, "Big sister, this isn't your fault. You have the right to be a little temperamental. Otherwise, you'd be depressed if you kept it bottled up inside. Besides, we've already talked it out, right? Otherwise, keeping the conflict going would be bad in the end, and you'd have a knot in your heart. Actually, I think the core issue is: when my aunt's word is law, you don't suffer much, but when my aunt is gone, you have no home. Why did our aunt have nowhere to go after her divorce? It's because Grandma's word no longer counts..."

Zhou Chunwen cried for a while longer, then got up. She hadn't lost her composure like this in a long time; she was indeed somewhat moved by the scene before her. However, it wasn't a major problem.

"But Big Goose, you sound like a little adult when you say these things."

Zhou Chunwen wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and said, "Sometimes I feel like you're not like a seven-year-old at all."

Zhao Da'e felt a jolt of surprise. She smiled awkwardly and said, "These are all things my mom told me. She's encountered similar problems and often complains to me about them. After hearing it so many times, I naturally started saying these things too."

After listening, Zhou Chunwen nodded in agreement: "My third aunt had it even harder."

Zhao Da'e was somewhat dazed after hearing this, recalling the tragic ending of her past life. Her mother had died of depression and had suffered many injustices. She couldn't help but sigh.

All Zhao Da'e can do is try his best to prevent his mother from suffering too much in her life. He wants to work hard to earn some money so that his family can live a better life.

When you have money, life is easier. When you don't have money, you don't need to do anything else; you can fight all day long. It's not just that poverty makes life miserable for couples; when people are poor, no family is harmonious.

Even if my aunt's family is doing alright now, if they had money and built another house, there wouldn't be so many problems!

The two exchanged a few more words, and Zhao Da'e, who was exhausted from walking for a long time, went to sleep.

The next morning, Cheng Jinxi arrived at the kitchen early and saw that the kneaded dough had doubled in size. When pressed, it left a dent that did not shrink back, which meant that the dough had fermented very well.

Knead the risen dough again, press it down to release the air, roll it into a long strip of even thickness, sprinkle some flour on it so it's not too sticky, and then cut it into small pieces.

At the same time, Zhou Chunwen also got up early and came to the kitchen to help Cheng Jinxi. She put firewood in the fire and poured water into the pot to start heating.

When Cheng Jinxi saw Zhou Chunwen come to help, she felt a warmth in her heart, realizing that Zhou Chunwen had come to terms with things.

She called out, "Chunwen, cook some more porridge for Mom."

Zhou Chunwen nodded and quickly went to work, which made Cheng Jinxi smile. Now that her daughter is grown up, she can help with all kinds of chores.

Turning back, Zhou Chunwen shaped the small dough balls into buns, and then steamed them for another 15 minutes after the water in the pot boiled.

While the steamed buns were steaming, Cheng Jinxi went to the cellar and took out a large cabbage. She drew some well water, broke the cabbage apart, washed it, placed it on a cutting board, chopped it into pieces, and put it in a basket for later use.

Then, put a spoonful of lard into the small pot and heat it for a while. After the lard melts, Cheng Jinxi put all the cabbages from the vegetable basket into it.

It's still quite cold, but the kitchen is steaming.

The vegetables sizzled in the pan, and Cheng Jinxi tossed them a couple of times, continuing to stir-fry the cabbage.

Add salt, soy sauce, and chicken bouillon to bring out the aroma. Then add a few chopped garlic cloves and chili peppers to enhance the flavor. Stir-fry a few times, and the cabbage is ready.

Remove the pan from the heat and place the stir-fried cabbage on a plate on the table.

There was still some oil left, so Cheng Jinxi took out a few freshly laid eggs from the henhouse, cracked them, and started to fry them. She fried one side of the eggs until they were golden brown, then flipped them over and continued frying. They were done in a few minutes.

Meanwhile, Zhou Chunwen scooped up the cooked porridge into a bowl and placed it on the table.

The steamed buns were almost done. When Zhao Da'e came to the kitchen, Cheng Jinxi was removing the steamer. The kitchen was filled with steam, making it difficult for Zhao Da'e to see clearly. However, to be fair, today's meal was quite plentiful, with cabbage and eggs.

The steamed buns were plump and white. Zhao Da'e picked one up directly. It was a little hot when he first picked it up, so he had to alternate between his left and right hands to keep it warm. After a while, Zhao Da'e blew on the steam from the bun, broke it open, and took a bite. The soft texture and sweet taste made Zhao Da'e's eyes light up.

She gave Cheng Jinxi a thumbs up and praised, "Auntie, these steamed buns are so delicious! They're soft and fluffy, and the sweetness is just right. In short, they're delicious! I'm going to eat several more today!"