Chapter 22.2

Translated by Aviana

Wang-shi quickly came over with two teacups. Lin Qingwan stepped forward to the praying mat in front of the k’ang, kneeled on it, held the teacup with both hands, and raised the teacup above her head with her head respectfully hanging half down.

“Father, please have the tea.”

“Good, good, good.” Yang laoye drank a sip, pursued his lips, and then passed a small red envelope to her.

Lin Qingwan, after receiving the red envelope, handed it over to the Yang Tiezhu standing beside her and then took another teacup before offering it to He-shi with the same respectfulness.

He-shi was very much unwilling to receive the tea but had no other choice but to accept it with so many people staring at her hands.

She took a sip before quickly throwing it aside on the k’ang table.

And then, after a while, a small red envelope was thrown into Lin Qingwan’s arms.

Lin Qingwan didn’t have any being wronged appearance because of He-shi’s attitude. Rather she picked up the red envelope with a smile on her face as if she hadn’t seen He-shi’s attitude.

“Thank you, father, thank you, mother.” Her facial expressions and demeanor seemed to be just like any other newlywed little xifus, all the while having a bashful smile with tenderness and loveliness in her eyebrows.

Seeing her sense of propriety made her brother-in-law’s, sister-in-law’s, and so on standing at the side sigh in secret. To be able to make He-shi speechless with few words was indeed quite rare.

After that, she met the rest of the family members, as Yang Tiezhu introduced them to her one by one.

Along with her dasao Wang-shi, third dimei Yao-shi, and He-shi’s unmarried daughter Yang Ermei, whom she had already met, there were also the other male members in the family – Eldest ge – Yang Tieshuan, third di – Yang Tiegen, and also fourth di – Yang Xuezhang.

哥 (gē): Eldest brother

弟 (dì): Younger brother

One by one, Lin Qingwan greeted them. As they all were of the same generation, she gave the customary greetings between equals. Yao-shi and Yang Tiegen were younger than her, so they would have to also serve her tea in return after receiving tea from her.

Yang Tieshuan couldn’t conceal his amazement upon looking at Lin Qingwan, thinking that the lao’er’s daughter-in-law turned out to be this beautiful. No wonder in these past few days, he was so generous with money and even had conflicts with He-shi. Although Yang Xuezhang was also a little surprised, he felt disdain when he recalled that she was a bought woman.

Next was precisely the group of little carrot heads*. Eldest branch had four children: three sons and one daughter; Yang Dalang was ten years old, Yang Erlang was nine years old, Yang Sanlang was four years old, and Yang Daniu was seven years old. The third branch had two daughters, Yang Erniu and Yang Sanniu. The older one was five years old, while the younger one, Yang Sanniu was four years old, the same age as Yang Sanlang.

* 小萝卜头 (xiǎoluóbotou): Literally little carrot heads. It refers to little kids.

This group of little carrot heads swarmed around her, shouting ‘second shen*, second bomu*’. Lin Qingwan smiled, stroking their heads, and gave each one of them a small red envelope.

* 婶 (shěn): wife of father’s younger brother

* 伯母 (bómǔ): wife of father’s elder brother

After all this, it was already past the time for breakfast. Thus He-shi simply decided to have breakfast and lunch together and instructed Yao-shi to go to the kitchen and prepare the meal.

Originally Lin Qingwan also wanted to help her, but Yao-shi rejected her, saying that newlywed xifu must not cook for the first three days. As such, she could only give up.

Not long after, the food was served.

All the food was leftovers from yesterday’s banquet. As the weather was sizzling hot, He-shi didn’t lock up the food and add a dish every few days like in the past. Rather she adopted a posture of letting everyone unrestrictedly eat till their stomachs fill.

There were two different tables for eating, one was for adults, while the other was for kids. Lin Qingwan sat at the table for adults along with Yang Tiezhu.

Looking at such an oily food for the first meal early in the morning, Lin Qingwan suddenly lost her appetite. However, contrarily she saw other people eating with relish, including He-shi, who was eating savoringly, and Wang-shi, who was taking big mouthfuls.

Yang Tiezhu saw his wife not eating. Thinking that she was embarrassed, he hurriedly picked up a few chopsticks full of a dish for her.

At this He-shi snorted, but did not speak.

Lin Qingwan also took the chopsticks and ate with everyone, but didn’t eat much, eating exceptionally slowly. Staring at the food in her bowl filled by Yang Tiezhu, she was genuinely unable to eat anymore.

Yang Tiezhu saw his wife finish eating and was about to serve even more, but Lin Qingwan tugged him underneath.

When everyone on the table was almost done eating, Lin Qingwan put down her chopsticks.

The newly married couple, both bride and groom alike, didn’t need to work the first three days.

As such, after finishing eating breakfast, Lin Qingwan and Yang Tiezhu returned to their room.

As soon as they went in, Yang Tiezhu asked her, “Wife, have you eaten enough? I saw you ate very little.”

Both of them went and sat on the k’ang. Lin Qingwan laid down to one side, while Yang Tiezhu sat beside her.

Lin Qingwan shook her head, “I’m not hungry. I don’t feel like eating.”

After being in the main room this while, she felt her body ache terribly, and on top of that, to eat such an oily food early in the morning made her even more difficult to swallow the food past the throat.

“My mother… her attitude just now, don’t take it to heart.” After thinking about it, Yang Tiezhu once again opened his mouths, “Wife, you have suffered.”

Regarding He-shi, he simply didn’t know what good to say. On the first day of their marriage, she showed such a face to his wife.

Lin Qingwan smiled and comforted him, saying: “I didn’t regard it as grieviance After all, she is our elder. As long as she is not excessive, it’s fine.”

After saying so, she shot a quick glance at him, “Don’t worry! When I was at eldest gumu’s* place, she didn’t give me any fewer lessons at home, afraid that I would have to eat loss here. ”

* 姑母(gū mŭ): sister of father

“No wonder you didn’t appear to be wronged one bit just now.” Yang Tiezhu scratched his head suddenly upon suddenly realizing the cause and burst into loud laughter. “Nevertheless, my wife is smart.”

Lin Qingwan ignored his naive attitude. She took a quilt from the kang cabinet, and a pillow threw them on the k’ang, and casually laid down.

Looking at the tiredness on her face, Yang Tiezhu thought of rough hands and feet and couldn’t help but feel somewhat distressed.

He stood up, held the k’ang table, set it down, and carried Lin Qingwan along with the bedding to the side. He then took a quilt, and let Lin Qingwan lay on it.

Lin Qingwan also didn’t speak, as she watched him doing all this stuff. Looking at him, she couldn’t help but purse her lips into a smile.

But the quilt was really good, soft and comfortable. She closed her eyes and changed to a comfortable position.

Not long after, she felt another person by her side. She peeked through the narrow slits of her closed eyes to see Yang Tiezhu getting in slowly with a silly smile, lay down next to her, and once again stealthily take her into his arms.

The curve on Lin Qingwan’s lips became even wider as she buried her face into the man’s embrace, intending to sleep for a while.

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