“You are mistaken,” Ouyang Meihua retorted, by no means believing her psychological resilience was poor.
“If there’s someone by your side you already think is formidable, and suddenly one day you discover that you’ve only seen one facet of that person.”
“And the other side of that person is so far ahead you couldn’t catch up even with a rocket, how would you feel?”
“Take your eldest sister, for example. You two were considered to be on similar footing.”
“Then one day you find out your eldest sister owns a large company, with its landholdings getting bigger and bigger. How would you feel?”
How would she feel?
Shen Jianrong pondered. If her elder sister suddenly owned a plot of land suitable for building a housing complex, she, she would definitely be envious and jealous.
Why should sisters with similar backgrounds experience such a vast disparity in wealth?
As the thought arose in her heart, she put down the vegetables she was holding and bowed to Ouyang Meihua, “I am inferior to you.”
Shen Jianfang also imagined it. If she were to discover that her younger sister was the boss of a major company, possessing wealth that made insiders envious, she wouldn’t be as magnanimous as Ouyang Meihua.
Wanting nothing, saying nothing, only valuing sisterly affection.
She would even abandon her sisterly bond, so who would care about the bond between sisters-in-law?
With this thought, she hoped even more that her youngest daughter could succeed in her ‘talks’ with Li Weiyan.
“Sister-in-law, hurry and bring the vegetables in to wash and chop,” a voice called from the kitchen.
“Coming!” Ouyang Meihua, carrying the picked vegetables, entered the kitchen first.
Shen Jianfang nudged her younger sister, “From now on, the children born to Ziyu and surnamed Yu, you must teach them well.”
According to Ouyang Meihua’s words, the Li family’s wealth was even greater than they had imagined and would continue to grow.
If blood brothers inherited vastly different family fortunes and were not taught properly, it would be the beginning of family chaos.
“I’m not worried,” Shen Jianrong said indifferently. “Jing Hai wants a grandson who can take over his position.”
“If they can’t resist even this temptation, then they are not fit for the military.”
Shen Jianfang considered this. “Yes, you have a point.”
Li Zhengguo returned from work and brought the latest news.
The old Yu couple had been released, but due to Lin Er Lai’s actions, the couple had decided to resign.
Tian Jing stirred the dishes diligently. “Their family matters have nothing to do with us. That Lin Wan will cause trouble sooner or later.”
The current world was filled with temptations everywhere; it was no longer an era where being full and warm meant happiness.
Seeing that his wife did not want to hear about it, Li Zhengguo changed the subject and went to the nursery to call his elder brother and brother-in-law for dinner.
Ouyang Meihua quietly asked her sister-in-law, “Tiantian, don’t you have any discoveries?”
Tian Jing, who was stir-frying, finally shifted her gaze from the wok.
“Even if I knew, I wouldn’t say it. If I spoke, I’d be blamed. Let her go out and experience the world to understand what society is like.”
After speaking, Tian Jing turned her gaze back to the wok. The number of times she needed to stir-fry her dishes was predetermined.
When the predetermined number was reached, the flavor would be right.
Li Min also brought her eldest son and his wife.
Upon entering the courtyard, they asked their younger sister-in-law to counsel Hua’er.
Tian Jing looked at Lin Hua’er’s pregnant belly and asked, “Hua’er, are you annoyed because the two babies in your belly are too active?”
“No, no.”
Lin Hua’er quickly waved her hands. She was overjoyed to finally be able to have a pair of real twins, how could she possibly dislike them?
Tian Jing then asked, “Then why would you do something so misguided for people who are not related to you?”
“Think about how your father treated you and Duo’er in the past?”
“The way he is treated by his two younger daughters now is just retribution.”
Lin Hua’er’s face turned awkward. “Little Aunt, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t bring myself to hate him anymore.”
“Very good,” Tian Jing nodded. “Not hating him means you are living happily and have forgotten the past hardships.”
“It also means you have grown up and can view past events with a tolerant heart.”
“Don’t think too much, be careful not to harm the babies in your belly.”
“They still need to grow inside your belly. If you don’t protect them, who will? You must persevere until they are full-term, alright?”
Lin Duo’er nodded vigorously. “I understand, thank you, Little Aunt.”
Having come to her senses, she apologized to the Shen sisters. “In-laws’ eldest aunt, in-laws’ mother, I was physically unable to move yesterday and could not come over. I am truly sorry.”
From the moment Lin Hua’er entered, Shen Jianrong and Shen Jianfang had been staring at her belly.
Now that the heavily pregnant woman was speaking to them, they waved their hands, indicating that these formalities were unnecessary, and then proceeded to ask questions they were curious about.
They asked so many questions that Lin Duo’er, a mother of twins in her second pregnancy, didn’t know how to answer.
How would she know how she conceived twins?
What she ate before her pregnancy, how could she remember?
What she liked to eat, she did know. “It’s the vegetables we grow ourselves.”
Shen Jianfang and Shen Jianrong immediately directed their ‘arrows’ at Tian Jing.
“Tian Jing, this time, we need you to increase the quantity of vegetables, and add more dried vegetables as well.”
Tian Jing shook her head. She hadn’t prepared much. “Tomorrow, you can go ask the villagers yourselves if they have any more dried vegetables.”
“As for fresh vegetables, you could fill a truck and still not run out.”
As a result, after dinner, the sisters took a walk to aid digestion and went from house to house asking for dried vegetables.
They managed to acquire quite a bit.
The sisters, with their big eyes and small bellies, woke up the next morning to find that the dried vegetables sent by the villagers filled six or seven sacks.
What to do?
The sisters looked at Tian Jing.
Tian Jing raised her eyebrows. “You two haven’t forgotten about the post office, have you?”
Right, right!
The sisters quickly ate breakfast and then went to mail packages.
Tian Jing packed the dried wild game she had prepared into cardboard boxes, just in time to mail them all at once.
The sacks and boxes were too large, so they used Ouyang Meihua’s pickup truck.
Passing by the first and second villages, Tian Jing took them inside to select handmade cloth shoes, which could also be mailed back together.
By the time they returned after mailing the items, it was noon.
Ouyang Meihua had prepared the meal. “Don’t be picky, my cooking is very ordinary.”
When there was food ready, who would be picky?
The sisters were exhausted.
Tian Jing did not help them carry the goods, saying that they bought things without a budget, and that being tired would help them learn a lesson.
This was because they had bought over two hundred pairs of cloth shoes from the previous four villages and also bought several sacks of dried vegetables.
Mailing them meant paying for the shipping, so who knew it would also involve manual labor?
The post office certainly didn’t provide help with carrying, but at the reception area, they were asked to open each sack and inspect it.
In a fit of pique, they bought cardboard boxes and bags from the reception area and repacked them handful by handful for the clerk to see.
They insisted on showing every handful of dried vegetables and every piece of dried wild game, confirming with the clerk that they were permissible for mailing before placing them in the boxes.
That was why they returned late, and why they were so tired and hungry.
The sisters wolfed down their food until they were half-full before slowing down.
Tian Jing smiled and asked them how they felt.
Shen Jianrong swallowed the soup in her mouth. “No one recognizes me, no one knows my identity, and I’m treated like an ordinary outsider. I feel so wronged.”
Shen Jianfang nudged her younger sister. “Jing Hai should make you a sign to hang on your chest, saying: I am Mrs. So-and-so.”
“Go away!” Shen Jianrong retorted unceremoniously at her elder sister. “Didn’t you start arguing with the clerk first? That was just their normal work procedure.”
Shen Jianfang did not concede. “I already told him it was all dried vegetables and dried wild game, and he still asked us to turn it out for him to see. How do you turn out a sack of dried vegetables?”
“I asked him to look carefully. I was completely cooperating with his work.”
“Alright, alright, you were right.” Shen Jianrong conceded.
After the sisters finished their argument, Tian Jing gave them a reminder:
“All the villagers in Kūshān eat vegetables from Kūshān, but only Lin Hua’er is carrying twins.”
The Shen sisters paused for a moment, then said indifferently:
“Dried vegetables can be stored for a long time. When the weather gets hot, fresh vegetables will spoil within two or three days if taken back.”
Since the sisters could understand, Tian Jing was relieved.
Even if she hoped their two families’ daughters could also conceive twins, it was too early to start preparing for pregnancy.