The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

Yang Dalin was driving an ordinary domestic truck.

We arrived at Zhujiazhuang in Lishu Commune in the afternoon.

As soon as the truck entered the village from the east, many children and other villagers gathered around it.

As the car drove to the middle of the village, Zhu Yuxiang, the village's brigade leader, also rushed over from his home.

It was early spring, and my rural hometown on the plains wasn't very busy.

At most, I just weed and water the wheat fields.

The children and women dug for wild vegetables and such.

Yang Dalin saw that Grandpa Yuxiang had arrived.

He quickly got out of the car and offered cigarettes to the adults on the street.

"Dalinzi, I almost didn't recognize you after not seeing you for the past two years."

"Uncle Yuxiang, how are you feeling?"

"Okay, okay, thanks to you these past two years, our income has increased significantly."

Are you just stopping by on your way home?

"Yes, Uncle Yuxiang, I'm on my way back to my hometown for a visit while on a business trip."

Would you like to come with me to my second grandmother's house for a while?

"Okay, let's go, I'll go with you."

Go, everyone, keep an eye on the children and make sure they don't get hit by a car.

"Come on, Dalinzi, I'll lead the way, you drive."

Yang Dalin stopped the anxious production team leader.

He took out two more large bags of candy from the passenger seat.

Let the deputy head of another village distribute the food to the children present.

Then they invited Grandpa Yuxiang to sit in the passenger seat and drive to his second grandmother's house at the west end of the village.

"Okay, then I'll ride in your big truck."

I've had the chance to ride in one a few times before, always in the truck bed. Today, I'll finally experience sitting in the cab of this big truck.

It's impossible for a brigade leader in a rural plain to have never seen or ridden in a large truck while attending meetings or participating in large-scale water conservancy projects.

Just like he said, he's ridden in the back of a truck but never in the driver's seat, and that's true.

Zhujiazhuang is very small now; the main east-west street is less than 200 meters long.

However, there were many children running around next to the car.

Yang Dalin didn't dare to drive too fast.

However, it only took a few minutes to reach the west end of the village.

Meanwhile, some busybodies had already run ahead to inform the Second Grandmother's family.

Not only did Second Grandma's whole family come, but they also came.

Several other families of the same surname Yang also came.

As mentioned earlier, Zhujiazhuang is a village with seven different surnames.

The Zhu family had the most members, while the Yang family had the second fewest, with fewer than ten members.

Second Grandma is the most senior among them.

She was a generation older than Yang Dalin's grandmother; she was the wife of the second uncle of Yang Dalin's grandfather, who had passed away early.

They should have called her Second Grandma, but Yang Dalin, like everyone else, omitted one character.

Second Grandma stood at the front, with her two sons, Yang Jinhai and Yang Jinjiang, beside her.

Behind them was a large group of Yang family members.

It's for both adults and children.

Yang Dalin parked his car on the side of the road.

Get off the bus quickly.

"Second Madam, Grandpa Jinhai, Grandpa Jinjiang."

"Hey, Dalinzi, good, good, you've grown taller and stronger."

"I'm doing well, Second Grandma. How are you feeling?"

"My old lady is doing very well, thanks to your cornmeal last time."

Come and meet your Grandpa Jin Hong, Grandpa Jin Shan.

Yang Dalin then greeted two men who looked to be in their forties, who were of grandfatherly age.

These are the elders of the other two families in the Yang family.

They all originated from the same ancestor; the branches simply diverged below.

However, Yang Dalin's family and Second Grandma's family are the closest to each other.

Yang Dalin offered cigarettes in turn.

Then he took out a bag of candy and had Grandpa Jin Hai give a small handful to each of the children and women.

Jin Haiye was generous in his actions; even those who weren't surnamed Yang and were just watching the spectacle received a few pieces.

The group chatted for a while on the street.

Second Grandma then invited Yang Dalin to come home for a drink of water.

Yang Dalin originally intended to take all the things he had in the car out.

However, there were just too many people present.

They had no choice but to get in the car, pull out two large burlap sacks, and follow the second grandmother to the home of her eldest son, Yang Jinhai.

Meanwhile, the team leader, Zhu Yuxiang, took the opportunity to urge the other onlookers home.

People were reluctant to leave and continued to stand at a distance to watch the spectacle.

The main room of Jin Haiye's house is too small.

It can't hold that many people.

Many people could only stand around the doorway or in the courtyard watching the commotion and listening to Yang Dalin and several elders talk.

After a while, as it was getting dark, many of the onlookers left, and the families of Grandpa Jin Hong and Grandpa Jin Shan also went home for dinner.

Only a few older male relatives remained.

As Yang Dalin was talking with several elders, he keenly heard Grandma Jin Hai and Grandma Jin Jiang catching chickens outside.

Yang Dalin knew this was an invitation to entertain him.

But killing chickens is out of the question.

He had quite a bit of meat in his sack.

Old hens are a valuable resource in the home.

We can't let them kill us just to entertain us.

Yang Dalin came out of the house, snatched the chicken from Grandma Jinhai's hand, and put it down, saying, "Grandma Jinhai, there's no need to kill the chicken. I have some meat with me. There were too many other outsiders earlier, so I couldn't take it out."

"Come to the kitchen, I'll get the meat out, and you can distribute some to all the Yang family members."

At this moment, Grandpa Jin Hai came out again and went to catch chickens.

He added, "If it weren't for your cornmeal last time, my family would have starved to death. In the past two years, we've only gotten a little better thanks to your company and the companies you introduced that buy pears and apples from our village."

Killing a chicken is nothing; it has to be done.

After much persuasion, and by opening the sack to show them the meat he had brought, Yang Dalin finally managed to calm the family down.

Yang Dalin brought a full 100 jin of wild boar meat this time.

There are still a few bolts of cloth hidden in the car.

There were too many other people in the village at the time, so I didn't take it out for fear of making others jealous.

The two large sacks contained 100 jin of wild boar meat, 20 jin of brown sugar, 20 jin of sugar cubes, 20 jin of salt, 50 jin of wheat flour, 20 jin of rice, 20 jin of millet, and 20 jin of soybean oil.

There were also some good seeds that Yang Dalin had acquired, but he wasn't in a hurry to take them out.

It's not too late to give it to them later.

Yang Dalin said, "Uncle Jinhai, this is 100 jin of pork. You and Uncle Jinjiang's family will each get 50 jin. Second Grandma is at your house, so your family will have an extra mouth to feed. We're eating at your house today, so we'll need some more meat. Your family will get 30 jin, and Uncle Jinjiang's family will get 20 jin. Grandma Jinjiang, you don't have any objections, do you?"

Grandma Jinjiang isn't old, just senior in her generation. She's not even forty yet, still considered young, and she's reasonable at this age.

She'd never seen so many succulents before, so what could she possibly object to?

"No objection, my family has no objection."

Yang Dalin said, "Okay, let's divide it like this."

Jin Haiye, divide the rest of the items in the same proportion. Our family will keep the lion's share, and the other families in the Yang family will get a smaller share.

However, let's divide the meat first today, and we can divide the rest tomorrow.

Or tomorrow I can visit each of your homes, and you can come with me and we can take you there.

Later, you can quietly have Grandpa Jin Hong and Grandpa Jin Shan each take some meat back home so that their families can also have some good food.

There were too many people just now, so I couldn't take it out.

I'm afraid others will be envious, so please explain this to me later.

Then, after they've sent the drinks to their respective homes and distributed them to their respective households, they can come back for more drinks.