CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 035: FIRST MEETING WITH SISTER-IN-LAW XU XIAOFEN

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"This must be the younger sister-in-law," the woman, Xu Xiaofen, hooked up the corner of her mouth with a gentle tone of courtesy.

But it was indeed ’good’, why get married at any other time but when her mother was gravely ill, it was simply heart-wrenching!

Most importantly, this woman had attempted suicide by jumping into the river and was ultimately ’bought’ back by the youngest brother as a wife, which was utterly disgraceful!

Although she was dissatisfied with the youngest brother getting married at this time, he was indeed old enough, so she didn’t have much to nitpick. Thinking about it, his choice of such a shameless woman as a wife was actually better for her, so she could uphold the dignity of an elder sister-in-law!

If he had truly brought home a girl from the city, as the elder sister-in-law, she would have had to bend over backwards for a younger woman, which would have been genuinely unbearable!

"Little girl, this is your elder sister-in-law," Xie Jingchen turned around and pulled his young wife over, introducing her to his elder sister-in-law.

"Hello elder sister-in-law, my name is Zhang Shanni," Zhang Shanni’s smile remained on her face, but as she looked at the elder sister-in-law before her, her gaze was calm and without ripples, unlike the natural warmth she felt when calling Zhou Xiuhua.

Seeing Xie Jingchen deal with his elder sister-in-law with just a perfunctory manner, the sincerity in her eyes faded slightly, but she did not make it blatantly apparent.

As a superpower user with spiritual power, she had a natural animal instinct towards people’s emotions. Even when she had just transmigrated and was reborn, she instinctively clung to Xie Jingchen without letting go, because her instinct told her this young man would not hurt her.

Even the emotions towards Mrs. Xie and Father Xie stemmed from the ’clean’ aura of the two persons themselves, and even the young nephews, in her view, were mostly pure and proper.

The only person at this very moment, the young woman before her, gave her a very subtle feeling. Therefore, on the surface, Zhang Shanni maintained the same smile, but inwardly, her hackles were raised, instinctively on guard.

Xie Jingchen standing next to her only felt a numbness in his head, instinctively protecting his young wife behind him. Sensing no danger or hostility nearby, he frowned slightly and glanced at his elder sister-in-law before turning to his mother and saying:

"Mom, on our way back with Ni, we hunted a few wild animals on Qingfeng Mountain, some fresh game to enhance our meal."

Xie Jingchen took the game out of the bag, and put the large male deer aside. Hearing a low exclamation from his elder sister-in-law, he just smiled and handed the two smaller ones to her, "Elder sister-in-law, if you have time, dress these two smaller ones. We can have them for dinner tonight. I’ll deal with that male deer later."

In contrast to the politeness of the third son, Zhou Xiuhua straightforwardly gave orders to the wife of the eldest son of the Xie Family:

"The eldest’s family, get these game animals prepared. Later tidy up things in the courtyard; we’re going to host a banquet tomorrow, so be quick about it."

Seeing the wife of the third son getting ready to take things out of the cloth bag, she hurriedly grabbed it and glared at the clueless little aunt, pulling Zhang Shanni as she was leaving, still instructing the eldest son’s wife about tasks to be done.

"I understand." Xu Xiaofen forced a reluctant smile, anyone would feel upset seeing their mother-in-law’s defensive expression, but she obediently replied in a humble tone.

Zhang Shanni, who was monitoring Xu Xiaofen with spiritual power 360°, frowned and was pulled back into the room by her mother-in-law.

Xie Jingchen chuckled to himself watching his mother’s actions, but did not follow, instead taking the male deer to the well, efficiently dressing it. This left the woman who wanted to grumble no choice but to keep her annoyance to herself.

After hastily preparing the game, Xie Jingchen returned to the left wing to prepare a hot bath for his young wife to dispel any ill luck, not caring about the elder sister-in-law’s thoughts—as it wasn’t his business anyway.

"What all did you buy?" Zhou Xiuhua directly pulled Zhang Shanni back to the main room of the left wing. Seeing neatly stacked bedding on the kang and couch, each placed in a corner, it was clear the couple had not shared a room last night. Her heart was both satisfied and dissatisfied. Ah well, grandchildren have their own fortunes. Having a rational daughter-in-law like Zhang Shanni is better than those like Si’er and Wu’er!

"Mom, sit down, let’s look together." Saying this, Zhang Shanni pulled her mother-in-law to sit on the kang, while she herself stood by the kang’s edge and began to take out the items they had bought, filling the space between them on the kang.

She was also displeased with the bloodiness on herself and didn’t want to dirty her sleeping kang (heatable brick bed).

But it was just a medium-sized cloth bag, yet Zhang Shanni kept taking things out of it, Zhou Xiuhua was also surprised. How did the little girl stuff everything in there? "Why did you buy so much fabric?"

"Mom, I found special bargains, fabric that didn’t require tickets! So I bought a bit more. Brother Chen doesn’t have decent clothes at home, so I thought I’d make him an outfit to wear new clothes tomorrow." Zhang Shanni quietly explained with a blush on her dark complexion.

Perhaps it was because she had heard her mom’s nagging in her previous life, wanting to be just like the petty squabbles between her mom and grandmother, she always felt that old ladies were naturally frugal, especially with the original host’s memories, she knew that the matrons of this era were formidable, saving wherever possible and scrimping even if they couldn’t, anyhow valuing and tightening hold on their silver was the right thing to do.

"Good, good!" Zhou Xiuhua was truly satisfied this time. Always thinking of her man, now that’s a good daughter-in-law.

"Mom, I also picked out some more fashionable fabrics, take a look and choose whatever you like. I borrowed clothes from little aunt, and I think she might like these two patterns, so I bought a few yards for her! If there’s extra, we can piece it together, and it would be nice to make new dresses for the little nieces too."

Zhang Shanni spoke while pointing out the fabrics for her mother-in-law to decide. It’s always right to listen to elders.

"Ni can make clothes?" After hearing so much, Zhou Xiuhua finally heard something serious.

"I can, but I’m not very good at it, Mom can check it for me when it’s done."

Seeing Zhou Xiuhua’s surprise, Zhang Shanni then slightly embarrassingly said. She felt like she was showing off...

Alright, she was indeed straightforwardly showing off. Marrying Zhang Shanni didn’t just mean getting a little village girl who only knew hard farm work!

"Okay, okay, since you can make clothes, let’s go to Mom’s room and do it later, there’s a sewing machine there, it will be faster!"

"There’s a sewing machine at home? That’s really great!" Zhang Shanni was truly happy this time.

Amazing! With a sewing machine, it would be much faster! It was already good enough to rush out hers and Xie Jingchen’s clothes by nightfall, but knowing that Xie Family had a sewing machine meant she could work faster and definitely turn the fabric into new clothes before tomorrow!

"Let’s go, let’s pack up the fabric and head to Mom’s room." Zhou Xiuhua didn’t expect this daughter-in-law to be so talented, this was definitely a pleasant surprise.

"Wait a moment, Mom, bring these candies, tobacco, and liquor over too. I’m not sure what kind of tobacco the uncles like, and I was afraid there would be a lot of people later on, so I got loose tobacco leaves, and we can have some kids help roll them when it’s time to entertain the guests," Zhang Shanni explained while stuffing a large bag of neatly packed tobacco leaves back into the cloth bag for her mother-in-law.

"That’s a big bag, you guys are lucky. It should be enough! Oh, Shuang* Daqu [*=gou], this liquor isn’t cheap, is it three and a half dimes?!"

"Yes, it really isn’t cheap, but we only get married once. Besides, if we don’t use those liquor tickets soon they would expire, so I made the decision and bought two bottles. More than that, the supply and sale cooperative wouldn’t even let me buy!" The two chatted and laughed their way back to the main house in the front courtyard.

Only to see Xie Jingchen came just in time, following his mother’s words to let the little girl wash off the blood smell, which to Zhang Shanni’s dissatisfaction, was a delightful surprise.

Because she was afraid of keeping her mother-in-law waiting anxiously, Zhang Shanni demonstrated the speed of taking a combat bath in an apocalypse, which Xie Jingchen saw and secretly chuckled at, offering to warm another pot of water for her to wash carefully again in the evening, making Zhang Shanni blush and run off.

Zhou Xiuhua watched Zhang Shanni skillfully cut and sew with her own eyes, just straight to the point!

Her old face was grinning, secretly amazed at how fast Third Son’s Wife was with her hands; in just a few moments, she had cut the clothes, straightened the fabric with a ’dat dat dat’ flurry of pedaling, finishing the sewing. In just about twenty minutes, she made a bright red top, inspecting the result carefully before being more than satisfied!

"Oh my, Ni, you work so fast, and your skills are good too, even Mom isn’t as fast as you!"

"Mom, you flatter me. By the way, Mom, could you tell me the measurements for little aunt, yourself, and Dad, and I’ll try to get them done before evening." Zhang Shanni saw it was only three o’clock, there was still time, and she could work quickly.

Plus, with spiritual power to aid her, her speed was not something ordinary people could catch up to.

"Okay, I’ll write the measurements on a piece of paper, you can take your time here, I’ll go help Third Son." Zhou Xiuhua handed Zhang Shanni the paper with the measurements noted down, and left the room with a smiling face.