Chapter 2: Record of Moving to the City in the 90s (2)

When Su Dakui saw his youngest daughter open her mouth as if she was about to smile, her tears suddenly started falling instead.

It didn’t look like tears of joy at all. She was clearly feeling wronged.

The two huge snakeskin bags¹ in his hands hit the ground with a thud.

The big man immediately panicked. “What happened? Did your grandpa say something nasty again?”

Su Dakui had never gotten along with his biological father. His mother had died young, his father remarried and had four more children, and there was no place for him in that household, so in the end his maternal grandparents took him in and raised him.

Su Dakui followed his maternal grandfather and mother in taking the surname Su. Even now, the farmhouse courtyard in Shangsha Village belonged to the Su family and had been left to Su Dakui. It had nothing to do with the Mus.

Su Dakui had changed his surname when he was only five. Back then, the Su family and the Mu family had a complete falling-out. The Mu family, especially Su Huandan’s biological grandfather, swore he would never acknowledge Su Dakui as his son for the rest of his life and would act as if he’d never had him.

But after Su Dakui’s maternal grandparents passed away, the Mu family saw that he was capable and could make money, so they tried to use blood ties to force a reconciliation. Su Dakui refused, and to this day, not one good word had ever come from the Mu family.

As her biological grandfather, Old Man Mu would open his mouth and call Su Huandan and her two sisters little whores born of an old whore.

He said whatever insult he could think of. Everyone in Shangsha Village knew it.

The two families never interacted, and in the village there were hardly any households willing to deal with Old Man Mu either.

It made sense. If he could be that cruel even to his own granddaughters, who would dare have anything to do with someone like him?

The moment Su Dakui saw his youngest daughter crying, his first thought was that the Mu family had stirred up trouble again.

Su Huandan shook her head. The Mu family wasn’t that big a deal. The two families lived at opposite ends of the village, and Shangsha Village was huge. Not only was there a river more than ten meters wide between the village head and the village tail, there was also a stretch of private farmland in between. The distance was considerable.

Because they lived so far apart, they rarely saw each other. Aside from cursing them behind their backs, the Mu family hadn’t really harmed their household.

“It’s not them. It’s my youngest uncle. He insists we go help bring in his rice. If we don’t, Grandma comes rolling around in front of our door making a scene. Mom had no choice, so she contracted out the work at home. Starting today, she’s taking the three of us sisters to work at Uncle’s house.” She explained everything clearly and fairly. Her mother really did want to help her younger brother’s family, but what she had planned was to finish the work at her own home first and only then go help.

Wasn’t that how things were done in the countryside?

During harvest season, either several families who got along would join forces and work through the fields one household at a time.

Or every family would handle its own work first, then go lend a hand to relatives or close friends after finishing up at home.

When you lent a hand like that, you didn’t ask for wages. As long as they fed you, that was enough.

But Su Huandan’s youngest uncle wasn’t like that. He’d always been selfish, only thinking about himself and never caring about anyone else.

At the slightest thing, he’d send the old folks to cry and make a scene at Su Huandan’s front gate. Who could put up with that?

Unless Su Huandan’s mother could harden her heart and completely wash her hands of her natal family, there was no way around being manipulated by them.

In the past, Su Huandan had only felt that her mother was too weak, though she also understood her situation.

People lived for their pride. When a married woman’s natal family kept coming to her door and making a scene, how were outsiders supposed to look at her?

And so one compromise led to another, over and over again, until they finally cut ties only after things became unbearable.

But now that Su Huandan had taken a trip through the Underworld, experienced death, and experienced rebirth, she truly didn’t care about that bit of face² anymore.

Why wait until things became unbearable?

If you didn’t like something, you should push back. If you couldn’t stand something, you should say so to their face.

So the moment she saw her father, she went straight to him with her grievance.

In her previous life, no one had complained. Her mother didn’t dare say she was going to work at her younger brother’s house either. It wasn’t until her youngest uncle came stomping over, cursing and demanding to know why they hadn’t gone to help at his place, that her father slapped him so hard his face swelled like a pig’s head. Overnight, her uncle became famous throughout the surrounding villages.

This time, who knew whether he’d still end up with a pig’s head.

In this life, her dad, Su Dakui, was the kind of man who only ever took advantage. He had never been the one to suffer losses.

Su Dakui pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his daughter’s face. “All right, it’s nothing worth crying over. You’ve got your dad here. I won’t let you girls go work in the fields. And don’t blame your mom either. She hasn’t had it easy. She got saddled with lousy parents.”

Father and daughter went into the main room, where Jiang Chunhua’s eyes were already red.

She had heard their whole conversation. Her husband understood her, but her daughter really had been wronged too.

She hadn’t handled this matter well.

She had always felt that putting in a bit of labor wasn’t really a loss. Her natal family had tricked money out of her again and again, and hadn’t she refused them every single time?

Thinking of it that way, Jiang Chunhua felt much better, and her confidence came back.

In times like these, money was what really mattered.

“Huandan, mix some water for your dad so he can wash his face. Mom’s going to make dinner. In a bit, have your dad kill the rooster in the backyard. Haven’t you been craving it?” The little girl had cried from feeling wronged, so killing a chicken to nourish her would keep her from thinking she had a wicked stepmother.

After Jiang Chunhua left the main room and went to the kitchen, father and daughter exchanged a look. Su Dakui curled his lip and tapped Su Huandan’s nose. “Mm, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. You’ve been sharper than your two sisters ever since you were little.”

A couple tears in exchange for a whole chicken, there wasn’t a better bargain than that.

Su Huandan only shrugged. “I just can’t stand seeing my youngest uncle’s family bully Mom like this all the time.”

Su Dakui nodded. There was nothing wrong with that. His father-in-law’s family had four daughters and one son. The son was the youngest, and his wife Jiang Chunhua was the second-youngest. The three elder sisters before her had all been sold off in marriage.

What heartless people. To outsiders, they said they’d arranged good marriages for them, but the bride price³ started at a thousand yuan. The eldest sister had been married off to a cripple, the second sister to a blind man, and the third had at least gotten someone physically whole, but unfortunately he was a fifty-year-old old man.

Throughout the surrounding villages, people said that the Jiang Family’s first three daughters had all married into the city and gone off to enjoy the good life.

On the surface, that really was how it looked. City people had formal jobs and salaries, and their lives seemed blessed. But after marrying in, they had no say in the household. Their in-laws treated them like servants, and the children they gave birth to weren’t even raised by them. What kind of life was that?

Only they themselves knew the bitterness underneath.

So after they got married, they cut ties with their natal family.

Whether she cut ties of her own accord or was made to by her in-laws, no one could say for sure!

In any case, a thousand yuan could be considered repayment enough for her parents’ kindness in raising her.

Maybe after seeing the first three daughters all slip away, by the time it was the fourth daughter Jiang Chunhua’s turn, they no longer dared to arrange that kind of marriage.

After much picking and choosing, they found Su Dakui, a capable man, a country fellow, someone who cared about local opinion. If he dared ignore his aged and frail parents-in-law, people from every village within ten miles would raise a fuss and shame him to death.

Su Huandan’s maternal grandparents had counted on bleeding their fourth daughter dry, and that was how they married her mother off to her father.

And what was the result?

Su Dakui was not the kind of man anyone could push around.

If Jiang Chunhua was willing to put in the effort to care for her parents, Su Dakui didn’t mind, but if Jiang Chunhua dared take money from their household and give it to her maiden family?

Su Dakui neither beat people nor cursed at them. He’d just divorce her and tell her to get back to her mother’s home!

Fortunately, Jiang Chunhua was smart. She knew exactly what kind of man her husband was, so she always stayed right on the line and never crossed it.

Translator’s Notes