Rebirth Counterattack with Space

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: The Eldest Daughter-in-law’s Family Comes to Visit

Chapter 80 -80: The Eldest Daughter-in-law’s Family Comes to Visit

The people from Xie Laosi’s village could never have imagined that Xie Laosi’s family would announce their separation so suddenly.

Moreover, they announced it in the morning and by the afternoon had invited the village party secretary and the team leader to their home to witness.

Also present were the relatives of the two daughters-in-law of the Xie family.

The relatives of Xie’s eldest sister-in-law, Lin Meizhu, almost all of whom could come, did. They arrived just before lunchtime. When relatives visit at this time, indeed, none of them had eaten. Guests are to be welcomed, and since they were relatives as well, it was natural for the Xie family to invite them to eat.

Together with the children, a big noisy family of more than a dozen people arrived. Besides her parents, there were three brothers, sisters-in-law, two sisters-in-law, three nephews, four nieces, and her talkative and skilled at advocating for interests “super helper” aunt.

There were too many visitors, and their arrival was unexpected. When Xie Changgen had gone to the Yue family early in the morning to inform them, he actually said they should come before four in the afternoon. But unexpectedly, the guests arrived early at eleven o’clock.

At that time, on any ordinary day, the Xie family would just be starting to cook lunch. But today was different than usual. After the commotion yesterday, Lu Aimei, who was supposed to cook today, had walked off the job.

Early in the morning, Lu Aimei got up and instead of saying she would cook, she went straight to her mother-in-law, Tian Xiaoju, with a firm attitude demanding two pounds of hanging noodles, a pound of flour, and a large piece of cured meat to take away. Then, she picked some vegetables from her private plot of land. She simply shut the door, locking herself and her two children inside, using the wood stove to cook separately. She even turned Xie Changgen away from her door.

Tian Xiaoju originally did not want to give away the items. However, after being shouted at by Xie Laosi, and considering that the items Lu Aimei asked for were exactly what she had brought from her parent’s home a few days ago and handed over to her, Tian Xiaoju had no choice but to reluctantly agree, mumbling and grumbling as she handed over the goods.

Therefore, starting early in the morning, Tian Xiaoju was upset, and she was not the only one; her eldest daughter-in-law, Lin Meizhu, felt the same.

For breakfast, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law hastily made a pot of vegetable porridge diluted with mostly greens and paired it with salty vegetables. Lunch had not yet started cooking, but it seemed the two of them were planning to make do with vegetable porridge again…

So when the relatives of the eldest daughter-in-law arrived, their kitchen was still cold and unused.

Seeing so many people, Tian Xiaoju’s head exploded—feeding all these people would waste so much of her food! And there were not enough bowls or chopsticks to go around, not to mention not enough chairs and tables for seating. Even if she wanted to borrow some, there was nowhere to borrow from; at that time, every household would be eating, and who would have extra bowls or chairs and tables to lend?

Seeing the relatives of the eldest daughter-in-law fill up the main room, the in-laws sat expectantly, waiting for the meal to start, while others perched on small stools or simply squatted at the doorway of the main room. The children, filled with joy, were running wild, clamoring for meat and delicious food.

The talkative aunt came over with a beaming smile and said, “Don’t be too formal with us, no need to prepare anything too extravagant. Three or five dishes with some white rice, and one or two meat dishes would be enough. If there isn’t enough rice, you can make some noodles to get by.”

Tian Xiaoju immediately felt a headache brewing. If her father-in-law hadn’t made it clear yesterday that the family was definitely going to be divided, and that she was bound to follow the eldest son’s household from now on, she would never have entertained the idea of serving her eldest daughter-in-law’s relatives who showed up unannounced expecting a meal. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

More than a dozen people show up expecting to be fed, demanding three or five dishes with rice, two with meat, and even accepting noodles as a makeshift option? Did they think the food at their house was brought in by a strong wind? Their family only ate plain rice during the New Year, meat dishes were also eaten sparingly, at most shredded meat with green vegetables. How bold of an in-law aunt to make such a request?

But today was the day to divide the family property, and she had just offended her younger son’s wife yesterday. She couldn’t possibly afford to offend her eldest son’s wife’s family too, right? However, it wouldn’t do to fall out with them either. That didn’t mean she had to comply with their demands, though. She wouldn’t indulge their bad behavior — it was just a pipe dream.

So, Tian Xiaoju forced a dry laugh and was about to say something with a fake smile plastered on her face when Lin Meizhu, her eldest daughter-in-law, came over and looked her straight in the eye, “Mom, my family hardly ever comes over, we can’t give them poor hospitality. Besides, the family division is happening this afternoon. All the things need to be divided.”

Tian Xiaoju jolted, quickly realizing that indeed, in the afternoon all the things would be divided, and it was better to serve her eldest daughter-in-law’s family a lavish meal and then secretly hide away the remaining good items than to leave them to be split in half later. Since it was still before the division, it was only natural to treat her in-laws generously without just counting her own side’s share. Even if her husband and the second eldest son weren’t happy about it, they couldn’t really say anything.

With this scheme in mind, Tian Xiaoju finally smiled and nodded to her eldest daughter-in-law, “When your family comes over, of course we should prepare something nice to welcome them.”

Lin Meizhu, relieved, immediately smiled and said, “Mom, then I’ll help you out today. You need to prepare those meat dishes yourself to make them taste good.”

“Okay.”

Those words certainly pleased Tian Xiaoju, who smiled like a blooming chrysanthemum. As she walked, she whispered to her eldest daughter-in-law, “Just last month we milled fifty pounds of rice, sold twenty, and still have more than half left. Later on, take half of it out and hide it first, then steam the rest for rice. We also have over ten pounds of dried noodles left, hide half of it first too. Plus, we have cured meat, white sugar, oil, and such. Let’s hide as much as we can.”

“Mom, don’t worry, I know what to do,” Lin Meizhu winked, feeling a surge of comfort inside, smiling contentedly — it seemed like her mother-in-law was giving them the better deal. Over the years, all the family’s finances had been managed by her mother-in-law, and she didn’t believe her mother-in-law wouldn’t have tucked away some for herself. In the end, whatever she hid would still belong to her, right?

And compared to her father-in-law who had a lame leg, her mother-in-law was in good health and could certainly handle work around the house and in the fields.

The lunch was a hit, leaving Lin Meizhu’s family thoroughly satisfied.

Given the circumstances, the Xie family themselves waited till the end to eat. They let the guests eat the dishes first.

It wasn’t too troublesome for Lin Meizhu’s family to share tables. Even though there were not enough bowls, chopsticks, or tables, they didn’t mind upon seeing the dishes. A large family gathered around one table, several people sharing one set of utensils, and when it came to the meat dishes, those who were eager even used their hands to grab. Those without chairs simply stood to eat.

In the end, the food prepared by the Xie family wasn’t enough, and even the food reserved for their own family had to be brought out as there were still complaints of not being full. Unable to cope, they took out flour, mixed it with half of their own ground coarse flour, added water to form a batter, then mixed in strips of green vegetables, diced radish, a bit of oil, and salt. Heating the pan, they spooned in dollops of batter, one by one, to cook pancakes.