CH 117

Mo Feng stopped eating and looked at his mother, “It’s my grandmother.”

Ms. Liang stared at him coldly, “You don’t have a father, how did you get a grandmother?”

Mo Feng lowered his head and continued to eat. Mo Ling said, “You can go if you want, after all, you’re entering the same ancestral grave in the future.”

“I don’t want to go.” Mu Feng argued.

The footsteps and voices outside their courtyard were getting denser and louder. Someone can be heard through the courtyard wall saying, “How dare this Ms. Liang ignore her mother-in-law’s food on the fifteenth day of the New Year, and even make her cry on their ancestral grave? She’s so unfilial!”

“No wonder her three children weren’t taught well. The eldest daughter jumped into a well for a man, the son is fifteen years old and still doesn’t know anything, and the youngest daughter is only ten but spends all day flirting with men…”

Their words got nastier. Ms. Liang slapped his chopsticks on the table angrily, got up and walked out. The three children followed her closely.

A group of people stood at the south entrance of the alley, not far from the courtyard of Mu’s house. When they heard their house open, they all turned their heads to look over.

Ms. Liang raised her head and smiled slightly at the crowd, “If you all want to see drama, why not come closer and see how wronged the old woman is?”

Someone in the crowd said, “This woman is so rude, calling her mother-in-law ‘old woman’!”

“You probably don’t know yet! Mo Zenian and I have divorced, so this old woman is no longer my mother-in-law.”

The crowd stared at each other blankly, and someone said, “Since you’re divorced, why haven’t you gone back to your natal family?”

“I built this house, and my children are all here. Why should I go back to my natal family? The only thing that’s changed is that I’m not going to the Mo family’s ancestral grave after I die.”

It was the first case of divorce in Chenzhong Village. Which family didn’t have arguments, and the Mo family wasn’t bad in the eyes of the villagers. There was a man earning money outside, and there was a capable woman at home. Their children had already grown up, so why did they quietly divorce?

A particularly nosy woman asked, “Why did you two divorce?”

Ms. Liang replied, “Mo Zenian had a mistress, and even had a son with her. We never see him or any money all year, and we even have to take care of his mother. We also divorced so his mistress could marry him and his son could join his family genealogy.”

How could this bustle be complete without Mrs. Liu? She curled her lips and said, “Divorce isn’t anything glorious, you don’t have to flaunt it in the streets.”

“Divorce isn’t glorious, but it’s not shameful either. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Your divorce will harm the three children. How will they marry in the future?”

“Everyone has their own destiny. Since they’re willing to follow me, they have to accept both the good and the bad.”

The old woman was still crying in her ancestral grave. It was really commendable, even Ms. Liang didn’t have that much strength!

Uncle Pingshun ran over, panting as he said, “Why are you crying during the New Year? It’ll lead to misfortune!”

Mrs. Liu scrambled to agree, “That’s right! It’s so disturbing I can’t even eat!”

Ms. Liang replied coldly, “If she wants to cry for her ancestors, let her.”

Uncle Pingshun pushed aside the crowd to go to the ancestral grave, and everyone followed him. Only the four members of Ms. Liang’s family were left at the entrance of their home.

“Old lady, why are you crying during the New Year!”

The old woman stopped sobbing to say, “I’m so pitiful! Of my three sons, only Mo Zenian is left, but he’s never at home. Now I don’t even have someone to fetch water for me! Instead of staying alive, why don’t I go to the grave to accompany my late husband?”

“Don’t say that. Don’t you have grandchildren? Besides, your daughter lives in this village, doesn’t she come to see you often?”

“Married daughter is like spilled water, I can’t ask her to take care of me.”

“Then, you can follow Mo Zenian to the city.”

“Right now, he doesn’t even have a job, and I don’t know where his woman went. He even brought a child back and left him with me. He said he went out to find a job, but I don’t know where he went; I haven’t seen him for a few days. My water reservoir had emptied yesterday, and I didn’t even wash my face today!”

So it was all because no one fetched water for her.

Mrs. Liu spoke up again, “Isn’t it just fetching water? Ms. Liang is too miserly!”

Ms. Liang heard her words across the small willow forest, “If you’re not miserly, why don’t you fetch water for her!”

“What does this have to do with me!”

“If you know you have nothing to do with this, go far away and don’t mess around here.” [1]

Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, the old woman started crying again.

Uncle Pingshun furrowed his brow, “Okay, don’t cry, tears can’t be drunk as water!”

“Then I’ll cry to death here, and die of thirst! Then, you’ll have to find someone to bury me.”

“Don’t say such unlucky things before the year is over.”

Uncle Pingshun raised his head to look at Ms. Liang’s family, who was walking over. Ms. Liang said, “Don’t look at my Ling’er, she’s marrying by the end of the year at the latest. Feng’er has never done physical work, Yan’er is still young, and I suffer from a cough. I don’t know who’ll fetch water for me in the future! Isn’t she rich? When her daughter arrives, she always cooks meat. She should have enough money to hire someone to fetch water for her.”

Everyone said this was reasonable, and Mrs. Liu said with a smile on her face, “If you hire someone, don’t forget our family. Both Dagan and Ergan can fetch water, we’re neighbours, we can hear you if you shout.”

This woman really doesn’t leave a single penny on the floor!

Uncle Pingshun asked the old woman if this was acceptable, and she muttered, “I’ve never heard of anyone paying for drinking water.”

Mo Yan’s second grandma had joined the crowd at some point, “You can carry a clay pot to fetch water like me, and you won’t die of thirst. Don’t you have one? If you don’t know how to do it, I can help you.”

The crowd finally understood that the old woman wanted to live comfortably, but also didn’t want to pay.

Probably because she was tired from kneeling and the ground was cold, the old woman stood up, “How much will it cost?”

Mo Yan said, “It’s more fair to pay by the load. The well isn’t far from your home, so a load of water will cost two dollars, which isn’t much!”

The crowd had quieted down, and Mrs. Liu hurriedly said, “Okay, my family will take this job. In the summer, you can use as much water as you want, and if you need more, just call Dagan to fetch more for you.”

The old woman patted the dirt on her knees and said, “That’s just wasting money!”

Someone in the crowd laughed at Mrs. Liu, “You’re just getting two dollars a day.”

She raised her eyebrows and said, “Even flies have meat on them.” She stretched her hand out towards the old woman, “I’ll tell Dagan to fetch water for you.”

The old woman took out a couple of dollars from her purse and put it in Mrs. Liu’s hand, who asked Dagan to fetch water.

Post-translation notes: It feels pretty bad when Mo Yan has a single line in the entire chapter, when she’s supposed to be the main character…As always, thank you for reading!

[1] Better words have been spoken, but these are pretty good.