"Chen Yang, is that you back? Come help me tie my sleeve, the duck-chopping sleeve has fallen off."
Chen Juan lay on the rocking chair, distressed about the upcoming married life. Shen Xue, hearing the commotion outside, thought Chen Yang had returned.
"Second brother?"
Chen Juan heard the voice and glanced at the two large bundles in the house.
"Chen Yang..."
Shen Xue pushed open the door. Chen Juan was just getting up from the lounge chair. Their eyes met.
The air suddenly quieted.
"Hello, I'm Chen Yang's elder sister, Chen Juan."
Chen Juan paused when she saw Shen Xue, who was wearing an apron, then offered an awkward yet polite smile.
"Hello, elder sister. I'm Chen Yang's wife. My name is Shen Xue."
Shen Xue, without bothering to wipe the duck-grease from her hands, quickly wiped them on her apron.
Before, with Chen Yang introducing them, she hadn't felt awkward. Now, with no one else around, she felt the unfamiliarity of being without Chen Yang.
Chen Juan also felt embarrassed. It was her first time meeting her sister-in-law, and she had been lying around so carelessly on the rocking chair, which was hardly proper.
"When did you arrive? Why didn't we know anything and weren't informed to pick you up at the station?"
Standing up straight, Chen Juan felt her embarrassment lessen slightly. She quickly started talking to avoid further awkwardness.
"Elder sister, a letter from Wansheng Province would take at least ten days to half a month to arrive. We hadn't decided on a specific date initially. By the time we did, it was too late to send a letter. If we had sent one, we might have arrived before the letter did, so we didn't notify Mom and Dad or you."
"We got off the train around two in the afternoon, then took a bus home. Mom and Dad took the children out to buy roasted chicken. Chen Yang said he was going to buy pork knuckles to make Dongpo pork for you, and I was just preparing the salted duck."
As Chen Juan spoke, Shen Xue quickly replied, and their communication flowed more easily, with the initial awkwardness gone.
"Wife, I couldn't get pork knuckles, but I bought a large piece of pork belly. We'll have Dongpo pork today."
Chen Yang entered, carrying a knife of pork belly and a small bag of star anise, cinnamon, and other spices.
As soon as he entered, he met Chen Juan.
"Sister."
Chen Yang quickly walked over, wanting to hug his elder sister, but holding the meat, he was afraid of soiling her clothes.
Unlike his younger sister, who was too young to understand when he left, his bond with her, though brotherly, wasn't as close.
Chen Yang and Chen Juan were only a year apart. When Chen Yang went to the countryside, Chen Juan was already eighteen. They grew up together.
Whatever good food or fun things there were at home, Chen Juan always prioritized her younger brother. The siblings were very close.
When the policy for educated youth to go to the countryside was implemented, only one person from a family was allowed to stay in the city. Chen Yu was still young and not counted, so either Chen Yang or Chen Juan had to go.
It was precisely because of their close sibling bond that Chen Yang voluntarily offered to go to the countryside as the only male in the family, allowing Chen Juan to stay at home.
Later, when Chen Yu grew up, the educated youth policy wasn't as strict, and with the restoration of the college entrance examination, Chen Yu attended high school and was not assigned to the countryside.
"You've gotten thinner, and taller."
"You're darker, but your body is more robust."
Chen Juan looked at Chen Yang. He must have spent a lot of time in the sun and moving things while catching fish. His biceps had developed. If he wasn't wearing a brand-new polyester shirt, he would have looked more like a farmer.
It was impossible for Chen Juan not to feel a pang of heartache.
After all, she was able to stay in the city because she and her second brother had to choose who went down, and her second brother chose to go. Not to mention that she had now joined the Jinling Education Bureau and was working in an office.
Chen Juan had always felt a sense of debt towards Chen Yang.
"Sister, my body is very strong now. Didn't you always dislike how thin and weak I was when I was little, fearing I'd get beaten up by others?"
"Look at me now, I'm as strong as an ox."
Chen Yang could see that Chen Juan felt indebted to him. After he returned to the city, his brother-in-law and sister had taken turns tutoring him and helping him get into university.
Even for the overseas study quota later, his elder sister and brother-in-law had paid a great price to help him secure it.
He was living very well now. If he hadn't gone to the countryside, how would he have met Shen Xue? And how would he have such sensible and obedient children now?
He was content.
He didn't want his sister to carry the burden of guilt forever.
From childhood to adulthood, how many fights had his elder sister gotten into protecting him? How much good food had she secretly saved for him?
If they were to truly tally it, it was long past the point of figuring out who owed whom between him and his elder sister.
They were siblings, after all. What was the point of keeping score? Whoever had the means would help each other out. In his previous life, when he became successful, he had pulled both his elder sister and younger sister along, and they hadn't lived any worse than others.
This life was even better.
"You're the clever one, you brat."
"Your brother-in-law will be here tonight. You haven't met him yet. Help your sister vet him properly later."
Chen Juan pinched Chen Yang's earlobe like when he was little.
Old people often said that big ears brought good fortune, so Chen Juan would often tug at her brother's ear, hoping he would live a long life. This habit continued until Chen Yang went to the countryside.
Five years later, as she tugged at her brother's ear again, Chen Juan's heart ached.
Her colleague Sister Wang had introduced this potential suitor, and his parents were satisfied, and she herself felt he was decent. However, Chen Juan still hoped her brother could give her his opinion.
If Chen Yang also thought he was acceptable, she would be even happier.
"Sister, don't worry."
"This time I brought a jar of wine personally brewed by my father-in-law. He originally intended to give it to our in-laws as a treat. Today is a good occasion to share it with brother-in-law." Sudannovel.com
"Get him drunk, and then we can have a good chat."
Chen Yang deliberately teased Chen Juan. He knew very well that his elder sister had already fallen for her fiancé.
He wasn't worried about his brother-in-law at all. Even having been reborn from his previous life, he couldn't find any fault with him.
From the day they got married, he never let his elder sister do any dirty laundry or enter the kitchen. He took care of all the household chores.
Chen Yang remembered when his elder sister was in labor, screaming in pain in the delivery room. His brother-in-law, a grown man, had held onto the lounge chair outside the corridor and cried inconsolably.
He had mumbled, "No more children, no more. It's too much suffering."
As a result, in the 1980s, when others were competing to have children, his sister and brother-in-law only had one son and no more children.
For such a man, Chen Yang couldn't find any reason to pick on him.
"He can't drink, why are you trying to get him drunk?"
Upon hearing that Chen Yang intended to get Li Zhengpeng drunk, Chen Juan couldn't help but mumble.
"Sister, you're not even married yet, and you're already siding with outsiders."
Chen Yang could tell that his elder sister had already fallen for him, but she was pretending to be tough.
"You rascal, you're making fun of me again."
Chen Juan blushed, knowing she had said the wrong thing. She had always been unable to win an argument with Chen Yang since childhood, and it was still the same now.