The One-Month-Old Banquet

He knew that she was greedy, but he had not expected that she would go overboard to such a degree.

His mother had only just started her confinement, and here she was making trouble.

Liu Guimei shook her head in fear. "No, no."

"Then how did this soup become like this?" Fu Erxing did not believe her at all. He knew his wife's personality very well. She was lazy, good at slacking off and liked to take advantage of others. "Who else but you would have drank it?!"

"I accidentally spilled some of it while cooking. I was afraid of being scolded, so I added some water in." Liu Guimei refused to admit her mistake.

Was that really just 'some' water?

She was still lying through her teeth at this juncture.

Not wanting to argue at the dining table, Fu Erxing angrily dragged Liu Guimei into their room.

This woman needed to be taught a lesson.

He recalled too that if the butler hadn't told him about the selling price of the pigeons earlier on this afternoon, his wife might have kept more than half of the money for herself.

He had wanted to close one eye to not embarrass her. However, she didn't learn her lesson and was becoming even more outrageous.

If he continued closing an eye now, she would certainly make even more trouble for the family in the future.

Fu Erxing was furious.

Mdm Fu and the others did not stop him. They could not tolerate having such a troublemaker in the family too.

"I was wrong, I was wrong! I won't dare to do it again."

Cries of pain came from the room.

Liu Guimei was taught a harsh lesson.

Fu Xiaoma felt sorry for his mother and wanted to go over to take a look. Fu Erxing came out of the room.

Not wanting to scare his son, he spoke in a gentle tone, "Xiaoma, come and eat with Dad. Don't learn from your mother, alright? Learn from your elder aunt."

They were both daughters-in-law. Yet Jiang Xinghua was so much more virtuous.

Before she married him, Liu Guimei was not like this.

She was very hardworking and did not slack off at all. She would never take advantage of others too.

After she had given birth, she seemed to have become a different person. At one point, he felt like he couldn't recognize her anymore.

Fu Xiaoma nodded in slight confusion.

At the dining table.

Fu Erxing felt very ashamed of what his wife had done and apologized to his family on behalf of her, "Father, Mother, my wife was greedy and inconsiderate. This won't happen again in the future."

"It's alright, Erxing, let's not talk about it anymore. Come and eat."

They knew very well that he wasn't responsible for the actions of his trouble-making wife too.

All along, to keep the peace in the family, Mdm Fu would close an eye to most of her actions as long as she did not go overboard.

In any case, she was her grandson's mother after all. She had to save her some face.

However, that seemed to have encouraged her to go further and to push her limits time and again.

"There you go, Erxing. Have a drink." Fu Daxing passed him some wine, asking him to not be angry over such a small matter.

"Okay, cheers."

Mdm Fu did not want the three children at the table to be exposed to such disharmony and said, "Xinghua, leave some food for her."

Jiang Xinghua took a bowl and placed some vegetables and meat in it. She then put the bowl into the pot and covered it securely.

Similar incidents had happened before at home.

The marriage between Fu Erxing and Liu Guimei was filled with quarrels.

It was very different from the relationship between her and Fu Daxing. Throughout their marriage, they had never argued with each other before.

Jiang Xinghua knew that it wasn't her place to get involved in the couple's personal issues.

"Xiaoma, eat more." Jiang Xinghua was looking after Xiaoma alongside her two children. They were all eating to their heart's content.

Children were forgetful and quickly forgot about the dispute earlier on.

Liu Guimei's absence did little to diminish the moods of everyone at the dining table.

The atmosphere was happy and harmonious as the family chatted and laughed.

"By the way, why don't we hold a one-month-old banquet for our Fubao? We can't deprive Fubao of what others get to have," Old Mrs Fu suddenly suggested.

Indeed, she was the Fu family's first ever daughter. It was a cause of a mass celebration.

That could eradicate the family's unlucky past.

They could show all the villagers that their Fu family now had a daughter too. They had defied the rumored destiny that the family could only have sons.

She had long wanted to do this. Back then, Old Mrs Fu's husband was unable to rest in peace because of this. He had longed to see a girl in the family too but his wish could not come true during his living years..

Second Fu smacked his legs and agreed eagerly, "Yes! Good idea. Dear, I think what Mother said is feasible."

They only had one daughter. They had to celebrate even if it meant that they had to sell everything.

Whatever the others had, his daughter would have it too.

Fu Daxing and Fu Erxing expressed their eagerness too before Mdm Fu answered. "Mother, we only have this one sister. We have to give her a one-month-old banquet. If you're worried about money to put together the celebration, the two of us will work harder to cut more firewood and sell them. We cannot deprive our sister."

They only had one sister, so they had to make it happen by hook or by crook.

If the brothers were agreeable to the idea, Mdm Fu was even more so.

Mdm Fu agreed immediately. "Alright, we'll hold a one-month-old banquet for your sister. Everyone in the village will get candies to share our happiness. We can invite our relatives and close neighbors over for a meal. We could seat a few tables."

Normally, Mdm Fu would have been hesitant.

This was because one-month-old banquets were usually held only when a family gave birth to a son. Only wealthier families would hold one-month-old banquets for daughters.

As for their family, they had never done it before at all because having sons had all along been destined for the family. It was neither a surprise nor a cause of celebration.

On the contrary, they would be slightly depressed.

With the poor financial situation at home, they wouldn't have been able to hold anything anyway.

Now that the family had some money, they could afford to lighten up on their usual worries.

It was not a problem to hold a grand one-month-old banquet.

For some reason, she had a hunch that they would definitely be able to earn back the money that they were going to spend.

Daxing said, "Then let's do that. Tomorrow, Erxing and I will go up the mountain to cut firewood in the morning and send them to Minister Wang's house. Minister Wang had said that he would buy all the firewood that we are selling in the future. He also said that he would buy them at the original price and there's no need for us to cut the price."

They would also follow up on his previous mention about offering them both a job.

"Then I can't stay idle either. I'll go up the mountain to find some medicinal herbs to sell." Second Fu was also full of enthusiasm.

He would work hard to earn money for milk for his daughter.

"Then I'll hurry up and make new clothes for Fubao." Jiang Xinghua said.

She would find more work to do so she could give her some small gifts during her one-month-old celebration.

All of them spoke fervently, feeling that there was more and more to look forward to in the future.

Midnight.

Fu Erxing was still angry with Liu Guimei and hence took Fu Xiaoma to another room to spend the night in.

He couldn't be bothered to have any word with his wife.

Inside the room, Liu Guimei sobbed loudly from time to time. She was doing this intentionally to keep the whole family up at night.

Unfortunately, everyone's attention was on Fu Xing'er and had expended lots of energy making plans for the one-month-old banquet.

All of them were sleeping soundly.

No one paid her attention even when her stomach growled furiously. Hence, Liu Guimei simply stopped sobbing.

She wiped her face with her hand. There were no tears at all.

She's starving.

They were simply too much, treating her like this.

They didn't even ask her to come out of the room to eat dinner.

It was as if she had done something absolutely heinous, when all she did was to drink some pigeon soup.

She did not even have a tinge of guilt.

While everyone was asleep, she opened the room door quietly and walked towards the kitchen.

She kept her movements gentle and silent.

She lifted the lid of the pot softly and skillfully. There was a bowl of porridge and a bowl of meat and vegetables inside.

"So little? If it weren't for me, how could you guys have the chance to enjoy such good food today?" She muttered her complaints.

She had forgotten about how much meat she had eaten before she was taught a lesson by her husband.

The habitual criminal opened the kitchen cabinet to get some more food, but her hand stopped suddenly just as she was reaching for some pig trotters.

Her entire body shook.

She quickly retracted her hand and closed the cabinet.

Forget it, forget it. She'd better not eat it.

She touched her swollen face and grimaced in pain.

Stupid man, how could you hit me so hard.

It hurt so much.

She couched in the kitchen like a mouse and wolfed down the food that Jiang Xinghua had left for her.

After finishing the food, she placed the bowls and chopsticks back into the pot and left without washing them.

The next morning.

Jiang Xinghua had gotten up early to work and saw Liu Guimei heading out with a bag. She asked, "Guimei, where are you going?"

Liu Guimei left with her bag without saying a word.