CHAPTER 156: CHAPTER 156: WHY CARE SO MUCH ABOUT A DAUGHTER

Li Sheng was somewhat startled by Jiang Hu’s reaction. Growing up as the youngest in the family, he had always been fearlessly bold.

Aside from being scared by the murdering brigands during the chaotic war years, this was the first time he felt a hint of fear.

Particularly when Jiang Hu stood up with a cold glare and slapped the table, he felt a momentary illusion of being crushed by a mountain.

Jiang Hu was already tall. In the past, when times were tough, he was tall and skinny, like a reed.

In recent years, with better food and plenty of farm work, he had grown stronger as he ate well and worked hard.

When he stood up full of anger, Li Sheng, sitting opposite him, only felt that his vision went dark, as if under enormous pressure.

Luckily, Jiang Hu’s anger was quickly extinguished, and he returned to his usual self.

However, Li Sheng was very curious in his heart.

"Village chief, actually I do have some thoughts on this matter..."

"Brother Jiang, why are you so angry? Xiaoxue is not even a son."

The two voices sounded simultaneously.

Jiang Hu immediately frowned and looked at Li Sheng with dissatisfaction.

He used to think this kid was quite nice, but now he finds him increasingly annoying.

The village chief and Liu Yang also had a change of expression; this Li Sheng just knows how to pick the wrong thing to say!

The village chief smacked Li Sheng on the head, "Idiot, what are you talking about!"

Liu Yang, unable to hit him, just frowned to express his displeasure, "Li Sheng, whether Xiaoxue is a daughter or a son, they are Jiang Bro’s kids. Why wouldn’t he be angry?"

"Besides, if it were my daughter, and someone dared to have ideas when she’s only five or six, I’d break their legs!"

At first, Liu Yang was just explaining, but then he got carried away, thinking if he had a daughter and someone proposed marriage when she was five or six, he’d have chased them away with a stick, too.

With this thought, he suddenly felt that Jiang Bro’s earlier anger was perfectly normal.

Li Sheng, having been scolded, felt incredibly wronged.

"I was just curious. Doesn’t everyone dislike girls?"

"Last year Sister Yang gave birth to a girl, and everyone was saying she had a money-losing daughter, right?"

"Even Sister Yang herself was down about having a daughter. When she held the child, she never smiled."

At least from his perspective, girls were undervalued from childhood, often called worthless, and when it came to food, clothing, and items, sons always got the priority, daughters were left with the old things.

For example, his older brother’s family, they did have a daughter, his niece, just five years younger than him, but during the time they were fleeing, she didn’t have enough to eat, and she starved to death.

He actually liked that little niece of his, obedient and sensible, with a very adorable smile.

But the image of that little niece starving remained etched deeply in his memory.

Her eyes protruded, cheeks sunken, skin and bones, even her skin had turned gray-black, making him still feel a bit of fear recalling it.

Yet, at that time, neither grandpa nor grandma cried.

He also had a little nephew, two years younger than the niece, just five or six then, but even during the escape, he had enough to eat and drink — never went hungry.

This didn’t only happen in his family, nor just once; almost every refugee had such experiences.

Therefore, at the age of merely thirteen or fourteen, Li Sheng suddenly understood one truth.

Daughters are worthless, expendable.

Sons are important, must have.

At least, in the eyes of the majority, that’s how it is.

Even now, when women in the village give birth, if it’s a son, everyone’s happy. If it’s a daughter, gossip follows behind their backs.

Even though everyone is worried about finding wives for their sons, it remains the same.

So Li Sheng was puzzled as to why Brother Jiang cared so much about Xiaoxue?

Little Rice is the reincarnation of Little Lucky Star, bringing fortune to Fu’an Village, and everyone likes her.

But Xiaoxue isn’t.

Xiaoxue is the same as other girls he remembers, taking care of siblings, doing housework, farm work — nothing special.

Why was Brother Jiang so angry?

And it was just due to a misunderstanding that he got so angry.

Especially with his father and Brother Liu Yang’s scolding responses, he felt even more baffled.

When he lost his little niece, his father only sighed and said that it was fate.

When Sister Yang gave birth to a daughter, didn’t Brother Liu Yang also say that Brother Yang’s family had only one son and wasn’t prosperous?

Li Sheng felt genuinely wronged and truly couldn’t understand,

but he also knew he couldn’t make things too clear at this moment.

Instead, the village chief and Liu Yang were stunned by Li Sheng’s simple yet grave question, unsure of how to explain.

Is Jiang Hu’s daughter different?

But Xiaoxue is indeed just an ordinary daughter?

Instead, Jiang Hu wasn’t angry this time; he just knitted his brows slightly.

"Li Sheng, let me ask you, is your wife, your mother, women? Were they someone else’s daughters before they married?"

Li Sheng was taken aback, then nodded, "Of course."

Jiang Hu smiled, "See, their own wives and mothers are women — why wouldn’t they like daughters?"

None of the three spoke.

Jiang Hu asked again, "Isn’t your wife already three to four months pregnant? What if it’s a girl? Would you not want her?"

This time, Li Sheng reacted quickly, shaking his head, "Of course not; a daughter is also my child, how could I not want her? Even if she were a daughter, she should be well-raised."

If she could, like Xiaoxue, do what she likes, such as embroidery, it would be even better.

Jiang Hu was quite satisfied with this reaction, "That’s it, then. It’s enough to cherish your own kid; what others say has nothing to do with me."

Li Sheng felt like he finally understood something. Yes, cherish your own child, that’s perfectly natural.

Back then, when he lost his little niece, didn’t his brother and sister-in-law cry for a long time? His sister-in-law even fainted from crying.

They surely cherished the little niece too, right?

It’s just that his brother was honest, his sister-in-law weak, and they couldn’t make decisions in the family.

If they could have been like Brother Jiang and Sister, making their own decisions about everything, the little niece surely wouldn’t have starved to death?

At most, his nephew would have been a little hungry...

Just like back then with Jiang Yu and Xiaoxue, both were skin and bones from hunger, but they survived.

Li Sheng suddenly understood.

Your child, you cherish, that’s only natural!

Li Sheng was only seventeen or eighteen, even though he was married, he was still like a child, with thoughts written all over his face, easily read by others.

Jiang Hu suddenly laughed, a meaningful chuckle.

"Speaking of which, isn’t it because most of the girls got lost during the escape that it’s hard for the boys in the village to find wives now? Otherwise, why would it be like this?"