Chapter 28.1

Translated by Aviana

Lin Qingwan had seen it many times. Regarding the matter of bathing the children, Wang-shi and Yao-shi seemed to have a bit of trouble.

Little children only want to have a good time and tend to be a bit playful, every day playing till they get dirty, and would have to take a bath in the evening. Adding all the children from the eldest branch and third branch, there were total of six children, and they would always run into each other when going to bath. In such cases, Wang-shi would always disregard Yao-shi, saying ‘wait a minute’. Even if the other person had already gone into the bathroom, as long as they haven’t begun bathing, they would have to come out right away and wait for them to finish.

Yao-shi being soft and weak-tempered, would always yield to Wang-shi. At times, looking at this makes Lin Qingwan’s blood boil in anger at her for not striving.

However, she also can’t intervene into other’s business. Can she even take this small issue and say Wang-shi’s bullying? As soon as she says such thing, Wang-shi would righteously criticize her for not respecting elders and disliking the young (here, the eldest is Wang-shi as she is the eldest daughter-in-law of the house, and the young are the children of the eldest branch). As such, she would be narrow-minded (the other person doesn’t even feel that she was bullying) and small-minded (for thinking too much out of nothing). After all, she didn’t say she wouldn’t let others bathe. She merely said to wait for a moment, no.

Meeting such a thick-skinned shameless person, it was always the person with thin skin ending up losing.

Lin Qingwan, being an avid follower of the principle of avoiding the troublesome-to-deal type of people, also wants Yao-shi to ‘avoid’ Wang-shi as much as possible, than being at odds whenever meeting.

Yao-shi was also not dumb. Naturally, she also clearly understood the meaning behind Lin Qingwan’s three words, ‘ very much troublesome’.

Recalling these ‘very much troublesome’ messy matters, Yao-shi felt bellyful of grievances. But she always had the temperament of enduring silently. As such, she could only swallow all grievances into the stomach.

“That person is just like a toad, cannot poison you to the death, but can make nauseous to death. My opinion is as we can’t provoke her, we might as well do our best to avoid her as much as possible, thereby reducing the chances of meeting her…” Lin Qingwan paused. “…And also be less aggrieved.” This is the main point she wanted to emphasize.

“Besides, Erniu and Sanniu are also slowly growing up. Can they still share the same bathroom as their older brothers every day? Moreover, the stove in the room can be used not only to boil the water, ah. It can also be used for some other stuff too.” Saying, so she playfully winked at her.

Yao-shi blinked, “To have a small stove for children…”

Yao-shi’s perplexed eyes suddenly flashed with realization, and was once again amused by Lin Qingwan’s wink. She broke into a laughter with ‘pfft’.

After laughing for a good while, Yao-shi adjusted her expression and asked in a low voice: “Second sao, if not for you giving me this idea, I would never have thought of this.” Lin Qingwan glanced at her and also lowered her voice, “Adults are okay, but don’t you think Erniu and Sanniu, these two girls are way too skinny? Sometimes you also have to think about the kids. Don’t always be like a soft bun, else you can be pinched easily by others.

Towards Yao-shi, Lin Qingwan hated iron for not becoming steel. But she can also relate to her to a certain level. As such she tried to persuade her like.

恨铁不成钢 (hèntiěbùchénggāng): lit. to hate iron for not becoming steel / to feel resentful towards sb for failing to meet expectations and impatient to see improvement .

Yao-shi’s face twisted in agony as her head drooped down habitually.

“Popo has always criticized me, saying that I was a hen that couldn’t lay eggs. Moreover, in these past few years, there were also no movements in my womb. If it wasn’t for my family’s man being good to me, I might have been sent back long ago.”

“It’s not as if you can’t give birth anymore. It’s just that in the past two years, you weren’t able to conceive. Just based on these, are you okay with people coming up with these so-called ‘conclusions’ about you?”

“So what if I am not reconciled with it? I am also anxious, but I am just unable to conceive.” This matter had been gnawing Yao-shi’s mind for a long time now. He-shi and Wang-shi had also grasped this matter to ‘handle’ her.

Regarding this issue, Lin Qingwan indeed didn’t know what to say.

There are many unfilial acts, but the worst is unable to bear to son. These two words, ‘no son’ were just like a spell that tightly bound like a hoop on the heads of the ancient women. You can’t not give birth; you also cannot just give birth to girls. It would be best if you give birth to a boy. Just give birth to one is also not enough. The more you give, the better it would be, and will have more backing, just like Wang-shi.

On the contrary, take Yao-shi for instance, even if you eat only bran at home, even if you work no less than men, in the end, if you were unable to give birth to a son, you are still beneath others. Or else, how could Wang-shi be blatantly able to bully Yao-shi like that. It was not because Wang-shi was able to give birth, but because, if in future third branch was still unable to have male offspring, they would still have to beg her to adopt her son to carry on the inheritance.

“Anyhow, I think it would be best if you don’t think too much. Sometimes, the more you think about the matter, the less likely it will happen. And, sometimes it happens when you least think about it.” This statement was not without basis. Lin Qingwan remembered watching a program in her previous life. It was about the implications of the heart. Year in year out, a person hypnotized himself. Over the years, even when there was no problem, she started to think there was something wrong.

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