Chapter 31: The Meat and the Beans

Zhang Cuihong was so angry she ground her teeth, but there was nothing she could do about Lin Qinghuan.

“I’ll wait until the day you’re eating chaff and wild greens!” she said, then turned away in a huff, refusing to speak anymore.

Everyone on the oxcart stared at Lin Qinghuan with eager, greedy, and envious eyes. That was a whole basket of meat.

Even after removing the offal and bones, there were still over ten jin of lean meat. Enough to make cured meat that would last a year.

Just as she was thinking this, Old Madam Lin returned slowly, holding only a bag of soybeans. Probably to cook into bean paste.

Clearly, Lin Laosan’s compensation had been several dozen taels of silver, but Old Madam Lin just couldn’t bear to spend it. She lived frugally.

“Auntie, you went all the way to the county and only bought soybeans? Not even a little meat for the kids?” someone couldn’t help asking.

Especially since she saw Lin Qinghuan loaded with packages, a stark contrast to Old Madam Lin.

“They’re still young, always thinking about eating meat. If we lived like that, the family coffers would be long empty. Now I’m the one holding up this household inside and out, so I have to be thrifty.”

While praising her own hardworking virtue, Old Madam Lin couldn’t help taking a jab at Lin Qinghuan. Anyone with half a brain could tell she was referring to Lin Qinghuan.

“If the young don’t eat meat, what, wait until they’re in their coffins? They’d have to be able to eat it then.”

Lin Qinghuan’s words were a killing blow. The people on the oxcart instantly shut up.

All the way back to Peach Blossom Village, Old Madam Lin still harbored a sliver of hope that Lin Qinghuan might offer her a piece of meat to mend relations.

But Lin Qinghuan was truly shameless. After getting off the oxcart, she walked straight ahead without even a sidelong glance.

What an ungrateful wretch. Her own family couldn’t even get a bite of meat, and there she was spending money to feed outsiders.

Fuming, Old Madam Lin returned to the Lin home.

Second Aunt had just started steaming the sweet potatoes when she heard the commotion outside. Her heart leaped with joy.

A rare trip to the county, surely they’d bought something good.

But when she saw the soybeans in Old Madam Lin’s hands, her face completely changed.

“Mother, I told you before you left to buy some fatty meat. Jiadong is growing; he can’t do without some meat!”

Now, whenever meat was mentioned, Old Madam Lin thought of Lin Qinghuan, so her expression soured.

“Is the family short of food or drink? Every time we boil eggs, it’s for Jiadong. Even Yanhong and Yanlan don’t get any. What more do you want?”

Second Aunt choked, but she stubbornly retorted,

“Third Brother’s accident brought thirty taels of silver, didn’t it? Even if that b*tch Lin Qinghuan took ten taels, there’s still twenty.

Why do we have to live so frugally? Can’t we afford meat once every ten days or half a month? Even if we don’t eat it, the men working in the fields need it. Mother, you can’t be so selfish.”

Old Madam Lin’s head ached from the quarrel, but thinking of her son and grandson, she relented.

“Fine. Next time I go to the county, I’ll buy fatty meat, alright?”

Second Aunt was half satisfied, half not. She had agreed, but why not buy it this time? Who knew when the “next time” would come.

“Get cooking. I have something to discuss with everyone tonight.”

With that, Old Madam Lin went inside, making it clear she was done with household chores, from now on, those were the two daughters-in-law’s responsibility.

When Lin Qinghuan got home, the yard was quiet. She knew Qingyu must have taken the two children out to play. Relieved, she took the bedding and stationery from her space and carried them inside one by one.

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