Before even entering the courtyard, Shi Yushu sniffed and said to Liu Defu with a look of pleasant surprise:
"Husband, I think I smell duck soup? Are we going to eat duck meat today?"
Hearing this, Liu Defu also took a big sniff, smelled it, and then said with a happy expression:
"I smell it too! I've been saying it, as long as we work hard, Mother won't treat us unfairly."
Hearing Liu Defu mention Mother, the happy look on Shi Yushu's face immediately disappeared, and she sighed:
"If it's Mother's soup, perhaps only her precious Son can eat it? Husband, why don't we just split the family with Father, Mother, and Brother?"
Shi Yushu saw clearly how biased her mother-in-law was in this Liu Family.
Because she hadn't given birth to a Son, she was like a sinner in this family, doing the most work, eating the worst food, and being scolded frequently.
Even their daughter became a "money-losing item" in the family's words.
This situation wasn't so obvious when she gave birth to their first daughter, but after the second daughter was born, her mother-in-law seemed to have completely erupted, no longer hiding her disgust towards her...
Hearing this, Liu Defu quickly came over, eagerly took the hoe from Shi Yushu's shoulder, and then comforted her kindly,
"Father and Mother are still here, how can we split the family?
Wife, I know you're wronged, just bear with it a little longer, and when Mother's anger subsides, it will be fine.
Next year, we'll have another male child, and Father and Mother will treat us like they treat Brother and Eldest Sister-in-law..."
His meaning was very simple, which was to tell Shi Yushu to wait a little longer, as splitting the family now would be unfilial.
Once they have a male child, his mother won't treat Shi Yushu like this anymore...
Shi Yushu was the type who was easily swayed, and her idea of splitting the family was dismissed again by Liu Defu's simple words.
Talking as they walked, the two entered the courtyard.
As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw a bicycle parked in the courtyard and the kitchen lights on.
Liu Defu was startled,
"Who came to visit? Why are the kitchen lights on? Wait, that smell of meat, it seems to be coming from our kitchen?!"
Shi Yushu was also completely bewildered. She didn't know whose bicycle this was and quickly walked towards the lit kitchen.
Liu Defu put the two hoes from his shoulder against the wall corner and also quickly followed towards the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Shi Lin had already learned about the treatment of their family in this Liu Family from Xiao Pan'er.
At this moment, hearing the movement outside the house, he looked towards the kitchen doorway and saw his Fourth Sister walking towards the kitchen.
He roughly remembered that before his Fourth Sister got married, among his sisters, Fourth Sister was considered relatively lazy.
And at that time, their Shi Family didn't lack meat because they had a hunter.
So, Fourth Sister, for that era, was relatively plump, almost the type described as slightly overweight in later generations.
You know, in this era of scarcity and widespread malnutrition, being able to be slightly overweight was how happy!
However, seeing his Fourth Sister again now, wow, her eye sockets were sunken, her cheekbones protruded, her hair was messy, and she was dark and thin all over, looking just like those street vagrants from later generations.
You know, his Fourth Sister had just given birth to her second child three months ago!
Based on Shi Lin's life experience from later generations, women usually gain weight during pregnancy, and after giving birth, no matter how hard they try to lose weight, they shouldn't be this thin in three months!
But the reality was, his Fourth Sister was really so thin that she was somewhat deformed.
Shi Yushu walked into the kitchen and saw that it was Shi Lin holding his daughter in front of the stove, a look of happiness appearing on her face,
"Lao Liu! Why are you here?!"
"I... I cooked rice, stewed a pot of soup, wash your hands and come eat. I originally wanted Xiao Pan'er to eat first, but she insisted on waiting for you."
Shi Lin originally wanted to say, 'I came to take you home,' but after thinking about it, he held back. It's better to let Fourth Sister and Xiao Pan'er finish eating first.
If he said it now, they might not even be able to eat the meal.
Don't waste this pot of good food he made.
Liu Defu walked into the kitchen and saw that it was Shi Lin. Smelling the aroma of meat in the pot, he also had a look of pleasant surprise.
He greeted Shi Lin with a smile:
"Lao Liu, why didn't you tell us you were coming earlier, so we could have come back earlier to prepare some dishes or something. And you even bothered to come to our house and cook for us..."
Shi Lin glanced at him, too lazy to say a word.
He took bowls, scooped two bowls of white rice from the pot, placed them in front of Shi Yushu and Xiao Pan'er, then served them two bowls of duck soup, and said to them:
"Eat first."
Ah, this...
Liu Defu stood at the kitchen doorway, seeing that his Little Uncle had no smile on his face and wasn't paying attention to him, feeling a bit awkward.
Shi Yushu also felt that the atmosphere was a bit off at this moment. She forced a smile and pushed the bowls and chopsticks in front of her towards Shi Lin,
"Lao Liu, you eat first, I'll get my own rice."
"You eat, I ate before I left."
Shi Lin pushed the bowls and chopsticks back with a blank expression. The entire atmosphere in the kitchen was very oppressive.
Xiao Pan'er also felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange. Cleverly, she grabbed a duck leg from her bowl and offered it to Shi Lin.
"Little Uncle, eat!"
Towards the little one, Shi Lin didn't act so cold. He stroked her little head and said gently,
"Little Uncle has eaten, the duck leg is for Pan'er."
"Pan'er has a lot, Little Uncle eat!" Xiao Pan'er still insisted on giving it to Shi Lin.
Shi Lin had no choice but to accept it.
He turned around and retrieved the other duck leg from the pot, placing it in the little one's bowl.
"Pan'er and Little Uncle each get one, eat together!"
"Mhm, eat together!"
The little one smiled, her eyes narrowing into little crescent moons, looking very happy.
The oppressive atmosphere finally eased somewhat.
Seeing this, Shi Yushu and Liu Defu also breathed a sigh of relief.
Shi Yushu quickly got up to get bowls, then served two more bowls of white rice, one for Shi Lin and one for Liu Defu, and invited them to eat.
Shi Lin just gnawed on the duck leg the little one had given him, not speaking.
Meanwhile, Liu Defu eagerly came over, picked up the white rice, and wolfed it down.
As he ate, he praised indistinctly,
"This white rice is so delicious, soft, glutinous, and sweet, much better than mixed grain cakes! No wonder it sells for so much!"
"Wow, the duck meat is also so delicious, it's really too tasty!"
"You eat too, don't just watch, come on, eat!"
With him gobbling it down like that, Shi Yushu and Xiao Pan'er also relaxed a lot and started eating heartily.
Only Shi Lin watched the whole process with a cold eye, eating the duck leg in his hand.
About three catties of rice were cooked, and that three or four catty wild duck was made into a pot of duck soup. Just like that, it was all devoured by Shi Yushu and the other two!
Xiao Pan'er ate about one bowl of white rice and two bowls of duck soup, and the rest all went into Shi Yushu and Liu Defu's stomachs.
Among them, Liu Defu was the most capable of eating. When he was eating enthusiastically, he saw that Shi Lin's bowl of rice hadn't been touched, so he even took it and ate it.
After eating, Shi Yushu pulled Shi Lin outside the kitchen and asked:
"Lao Liu, what's wrong with you today? What happened?"
"Nothing, I just came to pick you and my two nieces up to go home. We're not staying in this Liu Family anymore!
Look at you, look at Pan'er, if you stay here any longer, I'm afraid you'll be starved to death!"
After eating his fill, Shi Lin no longer hid his intentions and directly stated his decision.
Just now, after he learned about the situation of their mother and daughter in this family from Xiao Pan'er, he decided to take them home.
This Old Liu Family is not a place for people to stay.
Why should his Shi Family's daughter be a slave for the Old Liu Family? And not even get anything good in return?
Doing the most work, eating the worst food, and still being scolded and bullied every day, is this damn life for people?
"Ah?!"
Hearing this, Shi Yushu was startled, and then her face showed pain,
"I'm already married, how can I go back home? It's not possible. Besides, your Fourth Brother-in-law also cares about me..."
"He cares about you like hell, he only knows how to talk the talk, what has he actually done for you?
He knows how biased his mother is, how much she bullies you, right? What has he done?
When we were eating just now, he kept telling you to eat, but he didn't pick up chopsticks for you even once, and he was the one who ate the most!"
From such a small matter, Shi Lin could see that this Fourth Brother-in-law was just a "mouth brother", only knowing how to talk the talk, doing nothing in reality, and unreliable.
