The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

“Eat slowly, don’t let the fish bones get stuck in your throat…” Her praise made him very happy, as he was really afraid his wife wouldn’t like the dishes he cooked.

“Fourth Brother, the dishes you cook taste much better than Second and Third

Brother’s. Their cooking is just tolerable at best. Yours is delicious.”

Xiao Qinghe didn’t mind that his wife referred to his second and third brothers as ‘those two useless things’, knowing that she meant no offense, “As long as you enjoy the food.”

“You should eat too.” With her mouth stuffed with food, she remembered that he could help her serve rice, so she swallowed the food in her mouth and said, “Starting tonight, Fourth Brother, you should feed Second and Third Brother their meals. After a few days, they will be able to move and won’t bother you for long.”

“Alright. It’s not a bother.” He is very happy to do something for his family. He really doesn’t want to be a completely useless person, but fate plays tricks on people, and he happens to be disabled for life.

Su Qingyue noticed that Fourth Brother was sitting at the table to clean the fish. There was some distance between the table and the stove. To get to the stove to cook, he had to use his arm strength to move the stool little by little since his legs couldn’t move.

Making money to buy a wheelchair is the most important thing now.

After Xiao Qinghe had his dinner, Su Qingyue brought Second and Third Brother’s meals to the master bedroom bed, carried Qinghe over, and let him feed them.

She then went on to clean the pile of fish that were not finished yet.

After a while, Xiao Yuchuan’s voice came from the room, “Wife!”

Su Qingyue shouted back, “What is it.”

“We’re done with dinner!” “Oh!”

“Wife, come here for a moment!”

Su Qingyue put down the fish cleaning knife and went to the master bedroom, “I’ll collect the bowls in a moment.”

Seeing that the food on the table had been eaten and the bowls and chopsticks had been tidied by Xiao Qinghe and stacked to one side.

Qinghe said, “There are still so many fish to be cleaned in the kitchen. Let me help you.”

“Fourth Brother asked me to call you over. He wants to help you…” Yuchuan also said.

“Alright.” Su Qingyue felt a bit touched and carried Xiao Qinghe back to the kitchen.

He continued to clean the fish while she put the fish liver and roe into a bowl, freeing up the wooden basin to be filled with a very concentrated saltwater solution.

Originally, she was going to use salt to marinate the fish before drying them, but there wasn’t enough salt at home, so she could only change to using saltwater instead, which was better than nothing.

After applying saltwater, she threaded each fish with the previously made grass rope, running it through the fish’s gills and out of its mouth. She treated all the fish in this manner, first laying them on a banana leaf and then carrying them by the basin to the drying pole in the backyard. She tied each fish to the pole with the grass rope and made a knot.

After dealing with the fish, she also collected the half-dried shiitake mushrooms from the yard and prepared to sun them again tomorrow morning.

After all the work, it was not until twelve o’clock at midnight that she finally finished. It’s not easy to support a family without a penny.

Su Qingyue used a half-wet bath towel to help Xiao Qinghe wipe his body, and then carried him to the master bedroom. The water in the tub at home was also running low, so she only briefly wiped herself down before going to sleep.

There was so much to do at home that she only slept for four and a half hours before getting up, yawning. First, she lit a fire to cook a pot of rice. While it was cooking, she fetched a load of well water, emptied the toilet bucket, and prepared a pot of drinking water for the men in the master bedroom.

She ate her own food hastily, and when she carried their food into the men’s room, Auntie Hua from the Hua Family was already calling from outside the courtyard, ‘Wife of the Xiao Family, are you ready to go to the neighboring village?”