Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Chapter 596: Chapter 310: Pregnancy

Just then, Mrs. Yang and Liu Yunlan walked into the kitchen. Seeing the others laughing so heartily, they asked what was so funny. Mrs. Zhang then recounted what they had just been talking about.

Mrs. Yang smiled. ”Sister-in-law, you should be content. With two daughters-in-law like yours, what is there to complain about? Some families have daughters-in-law who throw the household into chaos, and they just have to live with it. A little grumbling is unavoidable—I like to grumble myself, but I don’t have any sisters-in-law to respond, so there’s no one for me to argue with.”

Mrs. Zhang nodded. ”That’s exactly it. That’s why I had them live separately. For now, it’s just a couple of grumbles, but if it went on, their arguments could hurt the brothers’ relationship, and that wouldn’t be good.”

And so, the three women started chatting about all the gossip from the surrounding villages. Juhua and Liu Yunlan, while busy chopping vegetables and stir-frying, pricked up their ears to listen in. When they heard something amusing, they would secretly purse their lips to stifle a smile.

Juhua had to admit, she found it all fascinating. If one set aside judgments of right and wrong and simply viewed it as a slice of life, it was like a vivid drama of village life. Each person was a character, each family a story, all interconnected from one household and village to the next. While there were certainly plenty of unpleasant and unfair incidents, even more of the stories made you burst out laughing.

One story was about a family where the mother-in-law showed blatant favoritism. After killing a chicken, she would give all the good meat, like the drumsticks, to her own daughter to eat in secret by the kitchen stove. The leftovers—bony, miscellaneous parts like the head, feet, and wings—were then served to her daughters-in-law, who complained about it nonstop.

No sooner had Mrs. Zhang finished her story than Juhua burst out laughing, so hard she could barely hold her knife steady. Then Mrs. He chimed in, chuckling as she exclaimed, ”Oh, dear! Every time I cook a chicken or duck, I give the drumsticks to my youngest son. Juhua always just eats the feet and wings. At most, I’ll give her a drumette for a taste.”

Mrs. Zhang was stunned, unsure of what Mrs. He meant. She didn’t seem like the type of mother-in-law who would mistreat Juhua. And even if she did, it wasn’t right to say so in front of Mrs. Yang. Unsure how to reply, she simply looked at Mrs. Yang, waiting for her reaction.

Liu Yunlan and Mrs. Yang couldn’t stop laughing.

After laughing for a while, Liu Yunlan explained to Mrs. Zhang, ”Great-Aunt, Juhua genuinely loves those parts. Whenever we cook a chicken, she’s the first to snatch up the wings and feet, followed by the drumettes, heart, gizzards, and intestines. She eats the regular meat too, but she especially loves to gnaw on the neck and the meat along the backbone.”

Realization dawned on Mrs. Zhang. She clapped her hands and laughed. ”No wonder! That year she visited my house, she picked out the chicken feet and wings for herself. I thought, ’This child is being far too polite,’ just eating those miscellaneous parts. So I gave her a drumstick and some breast meat. She kept trying to refuse, but I just thought she was being modest. I even told her there was no need to stand on ceremony at her great-uncle’s home!”

Mrs. Yang and Mrs. He roared with laughter.

After she finished, Mrs. Zhang asked quizzically, ”Juhua must have only started liking these parts in the last couple of years, right? Otherwise... back when you rarely saw meat all year, to not like chicken drumsticks? You’d have to be a fool!”

Mrs. Yang nodded. ”That’s for sure. When she was a child, there was barely enough to eat. Who could afford to be picky?”

Juhua, meanwhile, was thinking to herself, ’Thank goodness the change in our fortunes has been so obvious. Otherwise, this preference of mine would really be suspicious. Of course, if we were still poor, I’d probably be chewing on bone fragments. Forget about chicken drumsticks; who would even remember having a favorite food back then?’

After a busy day, the guests departed, leaving only Liu Yunlan’s mother, Mrs. Zhang; Juhua’s maternal grandmother, Mrs. Wang; and two great-aunts. When you’re old, your remaining days are precious, which makes you miss your maiden home all the more. Even though the previous generation was no longer around, this was still the place where they had grown up. Moreover, their nephew Zheng Changhe and his wife, Mrs. Yang, treated them with great respect, so staying here never felt awkward or unwelcoming—only warm and familiar.

The eldest great-aunt held little Hulu, unwilling to put him down. She didn’t hand him back to Liu Yunlan to be taken to his room until he had fallen asleep. Rubbing her slightly sore arms, she turned to Juhua. ”Juhua, you need to take good care of yourself. It’s about time for you, too.”

Juhua had just finished helping Mrs. Yang clean the kitchen and was bringing out some melon seeds and peanuts for everyone to snack on while they chatted. Hearing the great-aunt’s comment, she was a bit baffled and asked, ”What do I need to take care of?”

The second great-aunt nudged her older sister with her elbow and said with a gentle smile, ”The young ones know their own minds; they don’t need us old folks worrying. Juhua is much younger than her sister-in-law. It’s perfectly normal for her to conceive a little later.”