Chapter 163: The Grandmother Who Favored Sons Over Daughters
Chapter 163: Chapter 163: The Grandmother Who Favored Sons Over Daughters
"Who is the village chief?" Fu Xiaoxiao asked curiously, seeing Chen Chuan hitting Chen Dali for so long without anyone coming out. Could it be that there is no village chief in this village?
"Didn’t I say?" Chen Xiu paused, looking at Fu Xiaoxiao.
"Say what?" Fu Xiaoxiao looked at Chen Xiu blankly and asked.
"Mom is the village chief!" Chen Xiu glanced at Fu Xiaoxiao, pointed to Li Yanan who was working, and smiled.
"...Ah?" Fu Xiaoxiao was genuinely surprised.
"Are you very surprised?" Chen Xiu laughed at Fu Xiaoxiao’s reaction.
"I really didn’t expect it." Fu Xiaoxiao nodded. So, Li Yanan was the village chief, no wonder the villagers respected her so much.
"It wasn’t originally my mom. Before the old village chief passed away, he designated my mom to become the village chief. This is unique among the nearby villages." Chen Xiu explained to Fu Xiaoxiao. "In the past, in the villages, women couldn’t sit at the table to eat, and they weren’t allowed to enter the ancestral hall, still retaining those old bad habits."
"Grandma said, my mom was different from other girls since she was a child. It was precisely because of her uniqueness that she dared to say things others didn’t dare to say."
In those days, a formidable female comrade like Li Yanan made others shy away.
"She’s too amazing, independent, has her own opinions, doesn’t flatter anyone, and definitely wouldn’t do something she doesn’t want to for the sake of so-called face." Chen Xiu felt she wasn’t like Li Yanan only after hearing her grandma tell her these things.
Fu Xiaoxiao nodded. Being different can easily make one a target for criticisms.
"My mom said she almost got into a marriage exchange at that time. Fortunately, she met my dad. My dad went straight to propose, and everyone advised him, but he was determined to marry my mom." Speaking of her parents’ love story, Chen Xiu blinked happily.
"Your parents have a great relationship." Fu Xiaoxiao affirmed.
Although Chen Chuan is taciturn, he is the first to notice if anything happens to Li Yanan. Just like yesterday, while they were eating, Fu Xiaoxiao noticed that Li Yanan just coughed lightly, and Chen Chuan had already brought her a glass of water. When she was talking, Chen Chuan would see that her bowl was empty and silently fill it up.
These little details made Fu Xiaoxiao feel that Li Yanan was his number one priority, everything centering around her.
"Yeah, I never understood before. Dad didn’t like to talk, but Mom could tell when Dad wasn’t happy. Mom didn’t look angry, but Dad would go to the cabinet to get candy to coax Mom. I always took them as my role models, and eventually realized..." As a child who grew up watching her parents’ loving relationship, Chen Xiu didn’t understand when she was young. But under their subtle influence, she thought that when she got married, her relationship with her husband should also be like that of her parents.
"Not every couple can be like them."
When Chen Xiu married Li Si, she was filled with beautiful expectations. The more she did for Li Si, the less it was reciprocated like her father loved her mother, understanding what she wanted. He found her troublesome and felt that the kitchen should be managed by women, and the children should be taken care of by the mothers. He never thought of lending a hand.
He would just sit there as if it had nothing to do with him, not caring for the children, just waiting for the meal to be served.
But when the meal was served, he would start picking on it, thinking it didn’t suit his taste.
"I agree with that point, but I think, not all men are as irresponsible as Li Si." Fu Xiaoxiao patted Chen Xiu reassuringly, telling her not to lose hope.
"I’m seeing it clearly now. Luckily, you brought the kids to find me. If it had been any later, I might have given up on myself and actively sought to reconcile with Li Si." Chen Xiu smiled, relieved.
Fu Xiaoxiao and Chen Xiu looked at each other and smiled.
"It’s good, everything is just in time."
Fu Xiaoxiao and Chen Xiu sat by the field for a while, seeing that Chen Dali was being rebuked, thinking the matter is now over, and since Chen Chuan has already taught him a lesson, he shouldn’t cause any more trouble.
Apparently, they underestimated Chen Dali’s shamelessness.
That night, Fu Xiaoxiao and Chen Xiu slept together, talking like good sisters, while the four children played and laughed in the room next door.
Li Yanan and Chen Chuan were across from them, and Chen Hao was next door to them, perfectly facing each other with the yard in the middle.
Fu Xiaoxiao listened to Chen Xiu talking about the funny things from her childhood.
Back then, Li Yanan hadn’t yet become the village chief but was already a famous shrew in the nearby village. No one dared to marry her, but Chen Chuan came with a betrothal gift to propose. Her image was too strong, and Chen Chuan became known as a fool in everyone’s eyes, with everyone waiting for chaos after their marriage, thinking Chen Chuan would surely be subdued by Li Yanan or wouldn’t be able to stand it and fight back.
But contrary to everyone’s expectations, the two people with opposite personalities lived better and better lives.
First, they had their eldest, Chen Ze, a son.
Then they had their eldest daughter, Chen Ya, and second daughter, Chen Shi, within three years.
After two more years, they had Chen Hao and Chen Xiu.
The people who originally came to watch the show were dumbfounded. Chen Chuan and Li Yanan’s life got better and better, from a small straw house to a brick house, and they had child after child. In contrast, their own lives hadn’t improved in years; some were even getting harder.
"You don’t know, when my mom gets fierce, she doesn’t even spare my grandma. I really admire my mom. Why couldn’t I inherit that sharp tongue..." Chen Xiu laughed at Fu Xiaoxiao.
She genuinely wanted Li Yanan’s sharp tongue.
"Once, when my grandma’s hand was burned, my mom took her to the town hospital. While riding the ox cart, she cried to strangers about how miserable she was at home, making others think she lived alone and her children were unfilial and ignored her. My mom was sitting right beside her, listening to her complaints."
"Later, someone said the burn ointment in the hospital was very expensive, five yuan a bottle, and my grandma shouted that she wouldn’t get treated and might as well die. My mom had the driver stop the cart, and she dragged my grandma to get off, saying if she wouldn’t treat it, then they’re going home. My grandma clung to someone beside her, terrified, refusing to get off, and that’s when others realized that the ’unfilial daughter’ they talked about the whole trip was sitting right beside them."
Fu Xiaoxiao blinked. "Quite dramatic indeed, shouting to go home, but when really going home, she refused."
"Isn’t it! My grandma named my mom Li Yanan, hoping her next child would be a boy. From a young age, she wasn’t treated well because she wasn’t a boy, and got judged for it." Chen Xiu didn’t like this grandma, because due to preferring boys over girls, her mother suffered a lot of grievances.
When she was young, she and her siblings went to see their grandma, who always gave the food to the boys. She and her two sisters got nothing and were secretly cursed as money losers.
The best retribution for a grandma who favored boys over girls was that her son, whom she relied on for her old age, ended up not caring about her well-being at all.