Dinner arrived, and Yu Ziyu actively helped out again, with Li Weibao accompanying her.
Li's mother tried to shoo them out to play, but they wouldn't budge.
"Grandma, we'll stay with you. No matter how tiring these chores are, having someone by your side makes it happiness."
"My mother always wished for my father to keep her company in the kitchen. Even if he didn't do anything, just watching was happiness."
"I didn't understand it before, but I tried my best to stay with my mother."
"Now I understand. The memories of these ordinary, everyday trivialities with you, Xiaobo, and Grandma will be the motivation for me to keep going."
Yu Ziyu's words made Li's mother's heart ache. "Ziyu, we've wronged you."
"Not at all," Yu Ziyu shook her head. "Some families live together every day with constant arguments and friction, even escalating to hatred in the end."
"But mine is different. Whenever Xiaobo comes back, he always shows me his best side."
"And the time we spend together is simply too short to be wasted on meaningless things."
"When we're old and look back on our lives, there will only be beauty, no conflicts or complaints."
"Isn't a life like that the best life? Besides, Grandma and your parents also dote on me, I'm very happy."
"I'd rather have imperfect beauty and happiness than a heart full of resentment and regret."
"Good child, good child," Li's mother could only utter these three words.
Li Weibao pinched his wife's nose. "An idealist. I would gladly welcome you calling or texting to complain about me."
Yu Ziyu grabbed the large hand on her nose and turned it over to see it covered in a mixture of mud and vegetable juice.
She pouted. "You got dirt on my nose, didn't you?"
"No," Li Weibao stared at his wife's dark nose and shook his head. "Really, no."
"Liar, you're lying." Yu Ziyu reached into the vegetable basket.
The freshly picked vegetables were still dripping with juice from their roots, so her palms were also dirty.
She raised her hand to smear Li Weibao's face. Li Weibao sat up straight, leaning his head back, preventing Yu Ziyu from reaching him.
"Really, no. Don't bully me."
"Grandma~" Yu Ziyu sought help. "Xiaobo is bullying me."
Li's mother had been smiling, watching the two of them playfully tussle. Now that her granddaughter-in-law called for help, she stepped forward to assist.
Li's mother pushed her grandson's head from behind. "Stop messing around."
Li Weibao feigned resistance.
Yu Ziyu took the opportunity to smear the juice on her hands onto Li Weibao's face and nose.
"Hahaha, you're a little calico cat."
Li's mother directly twisted her grandson's head. Seeing his smudged face, she also chuckled. "Hehe, that's good. It's just like when you were young and used to get your face smudged like that from tending the fire."
"Really?" Yu Ziyu pressed. "Grandma, how old was Xiaobo when he started tending the fire?"
Li's mother released her grip. "Around four or five. At first, his elder brother took him along to tend the fire, and then he could do it himself. His elder brother would help me pick and wash vegetables."
Yu Ziyu took the vegetable basket to the sink to wash. "Then how did he get his face smudged like that?"
Li's mother added firewood to the stove. "He was little then. When it was cold, his nose would run..."
"Grandma!" Li Weibao quickly stopped his grandmother from revealing too much. Embarrassing childhood stories shouldn't be told.
Yu Ziyu turned to look at Li Weibao's face and nodded. "I can imagine. The effect of snot mixed with soot."
As she spoke, she pictured a handsome little boy with snot dripping from his nose and black soot on his face.
The little boy raised his sleeve and wiped his face left and right, drawing streaks of snot and soot diagonally across his cheeks.
This imagination made her burst into laughter. "Xiaobo, I think you must have been very cute back then."
Li Weibao looked at her helplessly. "You, I don't know what you're making up."
"When we were kids, we all had handkerchiefs in our pockets."
Yu Ziyu asked Li's mother again. "Grandma, how exactly did Xiaobo get his face smudged?"
"Hehe," Li's mother laughed. "He took out his handkerchief to wipe his nose, and ended up smearing black soot all over his face and nose."
Yu Ziyu didn't understand. "Why?"
Li's mother said, "Because he didn't wash his hands."
Yu Ziyu froze for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Xiaobo, when you took out your handkerchief, didn't you look at your hands?"
Li Weibao was speechless. Could he say he was a bit slow-witted as a child?
"I forgot."
Forgot? This answer made Yu Ziyu laugh so hard she could barely breathe. Xiaobo must have been very adorably clumsy as a child.
Li Weibao took Yu Ziyu's vegetable basket. "Go laugh your fill over there, and I'll wash the vegetables."
Yu Ziyu laughed until she was tired, sat on a small stool to rest for a bit, then pulled the stool over to the stove. "Grandma, let me try."
Li's mother stood up. "Alright, you try, and I'll cut the vegetables."
"What's in the pot?" Yu Ziyu stared at the steaming wood-fired stove.
"Stewed wild rabbit."
Yu Ziyu nodded happily. "Grandma's rabbit stew is the most fragrant."
When Tian Jing came to help in the kitchen, she found a little calico cat sitting by the stove.
She asked with a smile, "Where did we get a little calico cat?"
Yu Ziyu looked up. "Mom, are you talking about me?"
Tian Jing nodded.
Yu Ziyu seemed unconvinced. "Mom, you watch the fire, I'll go to the washroom to check."
Li Weibao followed her to the washroom. "How is it? Do you feel the pain of tending a wood fire?"
In the mirror, a face covered in black soot appeared.
"Oh dear," Yu Ziyu exclaimed. "How did this happen?"
As she spoke, she turned on the faucet to wash her face.
Li Weibao grinned. "You added too much firewood, and after taking some out, you crouched down to blow on it."
Yu Ziyu wiped the water droplets from her face. "Last time I was here, I saw Grandma and Aunt doing the same thing. Wasn't that right? I did get the fire going."
Li Weibao nodded. "Yes, it was right, but your face was too close."
Yu Ziyu chided him. "Then why didn't you tell me?"
Li Weibao lowered his head and whispered in her ear. "If I told you, would I still get to see you as a little calico cat?"
Under Yu Ziyu's chiding gaze, Li Weibao added, "I also want to have various versions of you in my heart to accompany me during the days I can't be by your side."
Yu Ziyu smiled, her eyes crinkling. "Alright, then let's 'attack and frame' each other."
"You're most welcome," Li Weibao lowered his head and kissed her on the cheek. "The little calico cat just now was very cute."
Yu Ziyu poked his chest. "If she was so cute, why didn't you kiss her directly, but waited until I was clean?"
Li Weibao grabbed her hand. "Next time, then."
"Humph!" Yu Ziyu let out a light snort. "I already know how to tend a wood-fired stove, there won't be a next time."
...
In the kitchen, Li's mother quietly told her younger daughter-in-law about Yu Ziyu's words and actions.
Tian Jing remained silent.
She was still figuring out how to get along with her daughter-in-law.
Her four children were mostly raised by their grandmother.
She hadn't been absent, but she had let them grow up like wildlings.
Her daughter didn't blame her and actually enjoyed the freedom.
However, her daughter-in-law was different from her daughter.
She could only try to treat her daughter-in-law like she treated her son.
As for wanting to trust her wholeheartedly like she did her own daughter, that was impossible.
Her mother-in-law could be considered the best mother-in-law in the world, but a mother-in-law was still a mother-in-law, not her own mother.
Just as her mother-in-law never treated her like she treated Li Min, she couldn't expect the same.
She wasn't as irresponsible as Li Min, so her mother-in-law couldn't scold her, nor could she have that intense emotion of disappointment mixed with love that she had when scolding Li Min.
People are selfish.
She treated her daughter-in-law the way she treated her son, but if there was a problem between the son and daughter-in-law, no matter who was right or wrong, her heart would naturally lean towards her son.
She was human, not a god.
On their return visit day, Yu Jinghai had shown some conflicting emotions towards Xiaobo, didn't he?
This was the inevitable consequence of a change in status.
She wouldn't be an enemy to her daughter-in-law, but she couldn't be like her mother-in-law either.
Back then, her mother-in-law needed her; her mother-in-law saw her value.
Her daughter-in-law, on the other hand, had made no contribution to this family and had received various benefits from it.
In this era where everyone spoke of equality but true equality was impossible, Yu family's background had no advantage in front of her.
She had no expectations from the Yu or Shen families; rather, the Yu and Shen families had expectations from her.
Therefore, for Yu Ziyu to integrate herself fully into this family was something she had to strive for.
She didn't regard her daughter-in-law with hostility, nor did she fawn over her. She certainly wouldn't be moved by a few words like her mother-in-law was.
Life is long.
She was not dissatisfied with Yu Ziyu, nor had her mindset changed after the shift in status.
She looked at actions and results.