Chapter Twenty-Four: The Mother-in-Law Arrives

  But Lin He's family doesn't have much money at home either, so they plan to let Mr. Wen pay the costs of preparing the store first and then return the money when Bubba Store makes a profit later. However, for the first few months, there may not be any silver money earned, just starting out, apart from the cost of renting the store, labor costs, material costs, it's good if they can maintain a balance between income and expenses every month.

  Adding the cost of decorating the house, and other expenses, it's a large sum of money. Lin He knows how much money is left at home, and they still need to pay for Mr.'s fees, as well as the expenses for the entire winter, and when spring arrives, there will be more expenses, so I'm afraid there won't be much left.

  Lin He felt heavy when he got the silver he earned every month, but it was really not easy to spend. Alas, money is hard to earn and easy to spend everywhere.

  Lin He sometimes thought that this person's life was really strange. In his previous life, he was a busy office worker every day, but in the end, he yearned for a beautiful pastoral life, longing for days of rising with the sun and resting with the sunset.

  But when she herself came to experience this kind of rural life, she was again drawn to the tense urban life she had before. Perhaps people are always like this, never satisfied with their current state of life.

  Lin He shook her head and laughed at herself, putting aside these thoughts. Every time she saw her current home and family, she felt very comforted in her heart.

  Xiaobao and San Ya's changes were the fastest. When Lin He first came, San Ya and Xiaobao both had yellow hair that was not very attractive, with a pale complexion and thin body. Now, both of them have gained some weight, their faces are rosy, especially Xiaobao, whose belly has already started to round out, and his small body is becoming more robust.

  His parents are also more spirited than before, their complexion is no longer waxen yellow, they have some color in their faces. Even Dabao, who has only been back for a month or so, has improved his spirits greatly. From these changes, Lin He feels that everything he does is worthwhile.

  Although life is still not rich now, it's a big difference compared to when I first came. It's okay, let's take it slow, everything takes one step at a time.

  The next day, Lin Erniu went out to ask around and see if there were any idle scholars at home who could be invited back to be their teacher. In this era, people who had passed the imperial examination as a scholar usually became teachers if they did not continue their studies.

  Lin He also cleared out Xiaobao's room with Huang Shi, but actually there was nothing to move, everything was left as it was. Only Mr.'s bedding needed to be prepared, and there were still some cotton and fabric at home. Huang Shi also made a quilt by sandwiching the cotton between two layers of cloth and put it under the bed, and some dry grass was also laid at the very bottom of the bed.

  Actually, in this place, ordinary families usually use straw mats, who uses quilts? Some just cover with a blanket is enough. But Lin He said that adding a layer of quilted blanket would be warmer, so all the beds at home are like this, and Mr. added one more layer too. The quilt was originally used by Xiao Bao, but Xiao Bao never used it, the cotton inside is newly bought this year, very warm.

  When they were preparing to entertain Mr. Zhao at home, Mrs. Zhao came and saw Huang Shi and Lin He in the room, so she asked them what was going on, and Huang Shi told her the truth.

  "I didn't expect Zhao to scold Huang's wife from head to toe: 'You're just a spendthrift, aren't you? You even invited a guest! I think you don't know your own weight. Do you think inviting a guest doesn't cost money? Everything costs money! My son is really pitiful, marrying such an incompetent housewife. It's hard-earned silver, but it'll all be squandered by this wasteful wife. How will my son live in the future?'"

  Lin He was startled by her grandmother's sudden shout, Zhao Shi had been back for so long, Lin He thought that apart from not getting along with her mother, her grandmother was still okay in other aspects and hadn't done anything particularly bad. But today she heard her grandmother scolding her mother indiscriminately, which opened her eyes, it seemed that this Zhao Shi was indeed an unreasonable person.

  Huang was told by Zhao that he just lowered his head, and after a while, he said in a low voice, "The child's father also agrees. Dabao is getting bigger and bigger, and has long passed the age of entering school. There are still many children at home, Xiaojun and Xiaoshan are also so big, it's better to invite a teacher back to teach, and the children can also learn more words."

  Zhao's family heard these words, and became even more shrill, "When did your family become a rich family, you can raise two outsiders, raising outsiders is not counted, now you also want to invite a teacher for someone else's child, I think you are determined to ruin this family. You won't stop doing this, what's wrong with the child not recognizing characters? Our second cow doesn't recognize characters either, and it has grown up like this. Reading books is not something that people like us can afford."

  Lin He knew that her grandmother had an opinion about Qin Lao Ye and his two grandsons living with them, thinking that Qin Lao Ye was an outsider but could live with them in their son's house, while she and her husband seemed to be treated worse than outsiders. Fortunately, Qin Lao Ye was not at home today, as it was market day and he had gone to the market with Er Niu; if he were at home, it would have been unbearable for him to hear this.

  "Huang looked at Zhao and continued to say in a low voice, 'Old Qin is self-sufficient and earns his own money, we don't support him. He and his grandson are indeed pitiful. You and your father also have your own house to live in.'"

  Lin He felt that her mother was usually honest and spoke reasonably, but when she encountered her grandmother, she became evasive and couldn't even say a word properly, the more she spoke, the more mistakes she made.

  As expected, Zhao immediately jumped up and said, "We have our own house, you don't need to take care of us. Qin Lao, what are you doing? Are you saying that we old couple don't work and want you to support us? You say others are pitiful, but what did we get from raising our son?"

  After finishing speaking, she plopped herself down on the ground, looking like she was planning to protest for a long time. If Huang didn't give her an explanation today, she wouldn't get up. Lin He turned his eyes and ran to Zhao's side, shouting in a crisp voice, "Grandma, hurry up and get up! The ground is cold and it will hurt your body. I'll be heartbroken if you catch a chill. You're my real grandma, after all. What does Qin Laotou have to do with us? He's just someone who helps our family herd cows."

  Zhao saw his granddaughter, smiling and big-eyed, with red lips and white teeth, speaking in a flattering tone, her anger dissipated somewhat, no longer crying out loud. However, she still sat on the ground. Huang stood for a while, seeing that people from the village were already peeking inside, walked over to Huang's side, supporting her as he said "Mother, please get up first and then we'll talk. It's all my fault, otherwise it wouldn't be like this. Let's wait until Second Bull comes back and tell him about these things, what do you think?"

  Mr. Zhao felt that he had finally regained some face, and since the weather was also cold, sitting on the ground was indeed a bit chilly, so he just hummed and stood up, but his complexion still didn't look good.

  After a while, Zhao asked again, "You just said that Xiaoshan also reads books together with you, is it true?"

  Huang was startled by Zhao's sudden question, thinking she was going to make a scene again. But when she heard the question, she replied, "Yes, mother, you see that Dabao is already so big, he doesn't know how to farm or do anything else. His father thought of sending him to school, but now there are no schools recruiting students. With so many children at home and Xiaoshan also reaching school age, we plan to invite a teacher back to teach for a few months, and then send Dabao to school next spring."