Chapter 19: Use Your Wit to Find a Solution
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Cheng Jundong completely disregarded the three hundred yuan compensation, only thinking about how his mother risked so much to earn tuition fees for the children. The more he thought about it, the more miserable he felt—he owed his mother so much!
Su Li didn’t even have to look to know that Cheng Jundong’s motherly love ran deep.
She glanced again at the fifth son, who was loafing around in the yard, bored enough to count ants instead of going to work.
“Lao Wu, come here.”
Cheng Junguo stood up and patted the dirt off his hands and pants.
“Mom, I’m coming!”
Su Li led the way, Cheng Junguo followed, and the two of them entered the old lady’s room, one after the other.
Inside, Su Li took a broom and swept the kang (heated brick bed), patting along the edge.
“Lao Wu, come here.”
Cheng Junguo’s eyes lit up. Judging by his mother’s tone, she was surely about to give him something good.
“Mom, what’s up?”
He sat down eagerly, guessing whether the old lady was going to give him money.
“I have to deliver mooncakes tomorrow.”
The words “mooncakes” were spoken so quietly by Su Li that it created an atmosphere of conspiracy only the two of them knew.
“I have to go alone. You mustn’t show your face. Mom will save the money, and no one else will know about it.”
When Cheng Junguo heard he couldn’t appear in public, a faint sour feeling crept up again. But thinking about how they only sold two yuan worth yesterday, he nodded firmly in agreement. Then he heard his mother sigh.
“Mom, what’s wrong?”
Su Li looked at Cheng Junguo helplessly and began to set a trap... by reasoning.
“This matter is just between us two. We have to do it secretly. They know I bake mooncakes, and I always say I give some to your sisters-in-law to take home to their families. They never think much of it.”
“Tomorrow, I’ll wait until they all go to the fields and then leave. I’ll come back just in time for your sister-in-law to come home for lunch, so no one will know I went out.”
“It’s just that I’m afraid someone might suddenly come back and find me not at home, and then it’ll be hard to explain. What do you think we should do? Mom’s really out of ideas. You’ve read more books, so help Mom think of a plan.”
Cheng Junguo understood and really started thinking hard.
Su Li looked expectantly at him, full of trust, as if her eldest son was incredibly smart.
“Mom, tomorrow I’ll go to work and watch them. If anyone comes home, I’ll stop them.”
“No!”
Su Li’s face hardened.
“I don’t agree. These days they’re picking corn outside, that work’s too tiring. Mom can’t bear to see you do it. No, think of something else.”
Su Li looked full of concern, and Cheng Junguo felt a warm sweetness welling up inside.
His mother truly cared for him wholeheartedly! His position was secure—those worries from a few days ago were all for nothing.
“Mom, let’s do it this way. I’m not incapable!”
“My son—”
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“Mom, listen to me.”
Cheng Junguo was unusually assertive, feeling quite good about it, especially when Su Li, both worried and proud, grasped his hand and said, “Son, you’ve really grown up.”
Cheng Junguo smiled as he left Su Li’s room, but her expression immediately vanished.
Sigh, it wasn’t very effortful—so the sense of accomplishment was low.
By nearly seven in the evening, all the workers had returned.
Dinner was made by Su Li, all in one pot:
A stew of green beans, potatoes, and eggplant, with cornmeal pancakes on the side, and a pot of tomato and egg soup.
The second son’s wife, Li Meilan, finally got to eat, and a single cornmeal pancake tasted as sweet to her as a peach.
Su Li thought to herself: born in the wrong era—if this were modern times, she’d easily have millions of followers as a food vlogger.
The second son, Cheng Junnan, ate first, finishing the broth at the bottom of the bowl, smacking his lips.
“Mom, didn’t you buy any meat today?”
So was his work today all for nothing?
Su Li put down the soup bowl: “I think you look like meat!”
Cheng Junnan ignored the scolding, already planning which spot to fake pain in tomorrow.
Su Li took it all in, got up, and brought out what she had bought today.
“For the third son’s wife, elastic bands.”
“For the fourth son’s wife, gray thread.”
Two items, neither too many nor too few, exactly what they had asked for. The third daughter-in-law Yu Xiaohui and the fourth daughter-in-law Zhang Mingyue took them, each wondering silently: the old lady actually bought them.
The eldest daughter-in-law, Miao Xiaocao, looked enviously, the only one without anything, and tears began to well up again.
Su Li, never one to tolerate fussiness, spoke up:
“Eldest daughter-in-law, you didn’t say anything, so I didn’t know what you wanted.”
Miao Xiaocao was a little stunned; she had thought saying no would please the old lady.
“Mom, why didn’t you ask me?”
The second daughter-in-law Li Meilan said enviously, “If I’d known...”
“Why ask you! What else could you want besides food?”
Li Meilan blinked, actually thinking for a full minute but couldn’t come up with anything they lacked.
Su Li rolled her eyes.
“You’re about enough. Work hard in the fields tomorrow. Seeing you makes my eyes hurt!”
Li Meilan pouted and immediately started faking illness.
“I’m not fully recovered yet.”
“That’s right, Mom, my wife feels bad. I’ll stay home to take care of her tomorrow.”
Su Li had expected this, and slowly stood up.
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“Quickly clear the table and go to bed early. Autumn harvest is terribly tiring. I’ll have your eldest brother bring some pork belly home tomorrow morning.”
Pork belly???
Just hearing those three words, the second son and his wife began to salivate. Er Niu hurriedly pulled at his parents, speaking in a seemingly low voice that everyone could hear.
“Mom, Dad, you two go work tomorrow. No work, no meat!”
“Yeah, yeah, if you two don’t go work, you’ll just be fighting with me and brother for the meat again.”
Er Niu joined in to spill the beans, and the second son Cheng Junnan slapped him.
“Nonsense! That’s called filial piety, not fighting.”
Cheng Junnan was thick-skinned and turned around with a big smile, calling out to Su Li:
“Mom, we’ll definitely go to work tomorrow.”
“Alright then.”
Su Li didn’t look back, just responded and went back inside.
Outside, after watching the second son’s antics, several families quietly mocked him. At such an age, he’d lost all shame over a bit of food.
But Cheng Junnan had a great attitude—no matter what they said, the food in his own mouth was what counted.
The daughters-in-law tidied up together, finishing in just a few minutes.
Everyone returned to their own homes, washed up, and went to bed early.
Su Li went inside but soon came back out for a walk.
No one thought much of it; the old lady often went to the village entrance to gossip with other elderly women.
But Su Li didn’t go to the village entrance; she took a detour to the village chief’s house.
When the village chief’s wife saw Su Li approaching, she warmly invited her in and poured her some water.
Su Li didn’t waste time. Seeing no one else inside, she took two dimes from her pocket and quickly slipped them to the village chief’s wife.
“Sister-in-law, I want to borrow your bicycle tomorrow.”
The village chief’s wife tried to return the two dimes, having been pleased with the mooncakes Su Li delivered last time and not wanting to seem distant.
“No, I’ll be borrowing it again later, and I don’t want others to see me borrowing the bicycle. You’ll have to push me all the way to Sancha Junction.”
“I’m borrowing your bike and troubling you—if you don’t take the money, I’ll leave.”
The village chief’s wife understood and agreed quietly:
“Don’t worry, I’ll secretly push you there.”
She didn’t ask what it was all about, especially since she’d taken the money.
Both were satisfied, and Su Li smiled warmly, striking up casual conversation.
“Village chief, tomorrow my Lao Wu is going to work. The child’s grown up and says he wants to work harder to show filial piety. You help me praise him in front of everyone, alright?”