RBCT Chapter 18 Li Xiangdong, Not Bad [Please read and recommend!]
Chapter 18 Li Xiangdong, Not Bad [Please read and recommend!]
The Li family's house, east wing.
"Sigh, Lijuan, what can I say about you? You seem so smart and clever, how did you end up marrying such an honest man like Li Xiangdong, and then having such a lazy and good-for-nothing brother-in-law?"
The dark-skinned, thin woman who spoke was Sun Caifeng, Zhao Lijuan's elder sister-in-law.
She wasn't much older than Zhao Lijuan, but she often acted like her older sister-in-law and was rather arrogant.
Before Zhao Lijuan got married, he tried many times to arrange for her to marry his older brother, but Zhao Lijuan was stubborn and would refuse no matter how much others asked her to do so.
After much deliberation, they chose Li Xiangyang's kind and honest older brother, Li Xiangdong.
As a result, Sun Caifeng's older brother is still single and unable to find a wife, which makes Sun Caifeng quite dissatisfied with her sister-in-law.
Every few days, whenever he has a spare moment, he likes to come over and tease her.
Zhao Lijuan is usually someone who doesn't back down when it comes to words, but whenever Sun Caifeng brings up this matter, she can only grit her teeth and bear it.
After all, Li Xiangyang's laziness and Li Xiangdong's honesty were well-known in the surrounding area, and no matter how sharp-tongued she was, she couldn't refute them.
But things are different now. Li Xiangyang is a completely different person. He is not only very diligent, but he has also become more capable.
Although Li Xiangdong remained honest and simple, the two brothers worked together very well, and their lives were visibly improving.
With the man in the family becoming successful, she naturally spoke with more confidence.
"Sister-in-law Caifeng, what you're saying is all outdated. My brother-in-law is not lazy at all now! He works with Xiangdong from dawn till dusk every day."
How to describe Xiang Dong... he may seem a bit simple and honest on the outside, but he's actually very thoughtful and caring.
As she spoke, she opened the camphor wood chest on the kang (a heated brick bed). This kind of camphor wood chest not only has a unique camphor wood fragrance, but it can also prevent mold and moisture. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was a high-end dowry item. The one in Zhao Lijuan's room was something she had begged her brother for a long time before she got married, and her brother finally agreed to have someone make it for her. It was very precious.
This is also one of the reasons why Sun Caifeng, as the eldest sister-in-law, is envious of her, since her family did not prepare any decent dowry for her when she married into their family.
Fortunately, Zhao Lijuan's brother was hardworking and diligent, and the Zhao family didn't have a lazy brother-in-law like Li Xiangyang, so their lives were much better than the Li family's.
She would occasionally help the Li family out, but she was a bit of a gossip and would always scold her equally gossipy sister-in-law whenever she brought something to their door.
Zhao Lijuan carefully opened the box, took out a small packet of butter paper, and slowly unfolded it.
Half of the milky white soap was visible.
"Sister-in-law Caifeng, look!"
A while ago, I mentioned to Xiangdong that I wondered what it would be like to wash my hair with soap, and guess what? He actually secretly went to town and bought me a bar of soap.
"This...is it really, really soap!?"
Sun Caifeng stared intently at the half-bar of soap in Zhao Lijuan's hand, and swallowed hard.
I can hardly believe it!
He had mentioned buying soap to Lijuan's brother at least five times.
But each time, Lijuan's brother rejected her with excuses such as it was too expensive, impractical, and not as good as wood ash water.
On one occasion, she even made an appointment with the widow Wang next door to buy soap together. The two of them had almost reached the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative when they were stopped by Lijuan's brother.
Just thinking about it makes me so embarrassed.
Judging by her own experience, she naturally wouldn't believe that there could be such a generous married man in the world.
He'd spend most of his day's wages to buy his wife a bar of soap that she might not even need.
"Lijuan, you didn't secretly buy this yourself, did you? Xiangdong would really spend money on something this expensive for you?"
"Sister-in-law Caifeng is joking. Although Xiangdong wants me to be in charge, a girl from our Zhao family would never do such petty things as stealing chickens and dogs."
As for this thing, is it expensive or not...? I'm just a woman, I don't know. Anyway, Xiangdong told me to just use it, so I couldn't be bothered to ask.
After Zhao Lijuan finished speaking, she couldn't help but steal a glance at Sun Caifeng, noticing that her face was ashen.
I felt nauseous, like I'd swallowed a fly; I couldn't vomit it up, and I couldn't swallow it down either.
I felt incredibly relieved.
Sun Caifeng was speechless for a moment after being confronted by Zhao Lijuan.
Especially her statement: "The Zhao family's daughter doesn't do anything like stealing chickens or dogs."
Isn't this obviously a veiled attack?
Sharp-tongued and full of empty talk, never telling the truth.
Sun Caifeng blushed and said in a sarcastic tone.
"Lijuan, you really have a silver tongue. You can talk a better game than an opera singer. You can even make the dead sound alive. I've really learned my lesson today."
"Sister-in-law, believe it or not, but wherever you wash with soap, it smells nice."
"Lijuan, don't provoke your sister-in-law. No matter how much you talk, I won't believe you."
Just as Zhao Lijuan and Sun Caifeng, the two sisters-in-law, were arguing fiercely, Xiao Chunsheng suddenly pushed open the wooden door and ran in.
He wiped his nose, didn't close the door, and just kept grinning foolishly before saying in a childish voice:
"Mom, Mom, Dad's back, and he even pulled out an old...nosed fish."
Hehe...heh, Dad wants you to go out and help."
"You unlucky kid, you never close the door when you come in, and all the heat escapes."
"Your dad brings fish home every few days, it's nothing new, why are you so smug?"
Zhao Lijuan glared at Xiao Chunsheng, complaining, but she was secretly overjoyed.
Facts speak louder than words.
No matter how much she explained to Sun Caifeng, it wasn't as convincing as the shovel fish that Li Xiangdong dragged back.
Of course, she wasn't afraid that Sun Caifeng would find out that her family went to the lake to catch fish to sell.
She knew her sister-in-law all too well; she might be sharp-tongued, but she wasn't a bad person at heart, and they were blood relatives.
No matter what, she couldn't bring herself to go to the commune and report her family.
He's not the same kind of person as Li Xiangdong's calculating second uncle.
"Sister-in-law Caifeng, it's cold outside. Wait for me inside for a bit. I'll get you two fish to take back and stew later."
Zhao Lijuan actually wanted Sun Caifeng to go with her to see the fish Xiang Dong brought back, but she deliberately said the opposite.
Because she knew that Sun Caifeng was also a gossip lover, and the more you forbade her to see it, the more she wanted to see it.
"What...? Where did this fish come from? No way, I'm not afraid of the cold, I want to go and see too."
Sure enough, Sun Caifeng took the bait.
As soon as I stepped outside the courtyard, I was surprised by what I saw.
Li Xiangdong really did bring back a lot of fish; the four or five sacks in the yard were filled with them.
There were crucian carp weighing one or two pounds, carp weighing three to six pounds, small bream weighing ten pounds or so, and many other miscellaneous fish of unknown origin.
Before she could finish expressing her surprise, Zhao Lijuan had already strung several crucian carp weighing over a pound each and a red carp weighing over five pounds on reeds and handed them to her.
"Sister-in-law Caifeng, what are you standing there for? Here, Xiangdong said crucian carp soup is good for children. I'll pick some for you to take back and stew for Xiaoqiang and Xiaocui."
"Look at that big carp, find some time to make some braised crucian carp with potatoes for my brother to enjoy with his drinks."
"This, this... no, I'm sorry, I only brought two eggs, and you gave me so many fish?"
"What's there to be embarrassed about? That's for my brother and nephews and nieces, not for you. Why are you being shy about it?"
Zhao Lijuan put her hands on her hips and suppressed a laugh.
"Okay, you're right. I'll cook it for them when I get back, and I won't touch it myself, is that alright?"
Sun Caifeng responded with a smile, knowing that Zhao Lijuan was teasing her.
I just don't understand,
How did Li Xiangdong, who is usually honest and simple, manage to catch so many fish in the dead of winter?