Zhou Chunlan stared at Brother Yong, who was watching her coldly. For some reason, her usually glib tongue was tied.

After a moment’s stupor, she stammered, "Guohui isn’t awake yet. I can’t move him by myself!"

"Don’t worry, I’ll have someone help you take him to the station," Brother Yong said, then looked at her and gestured for her to leave.

Zhou Chunlan looked at Lin Yuezhen, not ready to give up. "Big Sis, if you and your husband treat us like this, aren’t you afraid we’ll go tell all your relatives and friends how you treat your own brother’s family?"

Lin Yuezhen shook her head sadly. Brother Yong stepped forward to pat her shoulder, then turned to Zhou Chunlan with a look of complete indifference. "Go ahead, say whatever you want. I don’t mind telling you, I didn’t even invite my own brothers today."

This was a lesson he’d learned after being taken advantage of countless times. The best way to deal with such opportunistic relatives was to have no contact with them at all.

Otherwise, you’d end up slaving away for them, and you could never expect them to feel guilty or have a change of heart.

Zhou Chunlan shot to her feet and strode toward the room’s entrance. She went to the side room and slapped the snoring Lin Guohui on the back, bellowing:

"You useless lump, get up! They said they’ll treat us like distant relatives, not as brother and sister!"

Lin Guohui leaped out of bed and stared at Zhou Chunlan, still shaken. "Good heavens, you nearly scared me to death!"

Zhou Chunlan glared at him in disgust. "Why don’t you piss in a puddle and take a good look at your pathetic self! Getting kicked out by your own sister and brother-in-law! What face do we have left?"

She had thought they could just show up in East Market and easily get something to take back home. Who knew they’d end up having to pay for their own round-trip tickets? The plan to freeload had backfired spectacularly, and now Zhou Chunlan wanted to skin Lin Guohui alive.

"I’m going to find the mute." Lin Guohui got out of bed, put on his shoes, and left the room. He saw that all the relatives in the courtyard were staring at the side room in surprise, whispering amongst themselves. Meanwhile, Brother Yong stood calmly at the entrance to the main hall.

Brother Yong looked at Lin Guohui. "Yuezhen told me that when she was rescued, she asked you to pay for her medical treatment, but you refused. You told her it’d be better if she died and was reincarnated sooner."

"In the end, a distant uncle paid to save her. After she woke up, she wrote a document severing ties with you, and it’s on file with the brigade leader. I’ll say it again: we can be neighbors, but not family."

Humiliated and enraged, Lin Guohui shouted toward the bridal chamber, "Mute, get out here! Lin Yuezhen..."

Brother Yong sighed and clasped his hands in a fist-and-palm salute to the relatives and friends in the courtyard. "My apologies for making a scene."

Liu Da smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "Ah Yong, I’d advise you to have as little contact as possible with such malicious relatives."

The uncle recording the gift money added, "Exactly. I’ve never seen a brother-in-law like this. Not only did the two of them show up empty-handed, but they didn’t even help greet guests. The moment they sat down, they just hogged all the good dishes. It’s utterly shameless."

An elder said to Lin Guohui, "Young man, today is a happy day for Ah Yong and Yuezhen. As her brother, if you really cared about your sister, you wouldn’t be causing a scene here."

Lin Guohui slapped his chest with a look of anguish. "I’m causing a scene? We came all this way for the wedding feast—that’s already giving them plenty of face! Now that she’s living a good life, she looks down on her own little brother."

Lin Yuezhen walked to the entrance of the main hall and signed at him: "Lin Guohui, have you no shame? You’re a grown man, yet you don’t work hard to earn your own money. All you do all day is scheme about how to take advantage of others."

Lin Guohui was afraid of Brother Yong, but he showed no such courtesy to Lin Yuezhen. He pointed at her and roared, "What advantage did I take of you? You were married for years and couldn’t have children, so they despised you and kicked you out. We were the ones who took you in..."

All the friends and relatives in the courtyard looked at Brother Yong in surprise, their eyes asking if he knew the truth.

Tears suddenly streamed down Lin Yuezhen’s face. The hand she pointed at Lin Guohui was trembling. ’What on earth did I do to deserve this?’ Other women had brothers who would storm their in-laws’ homes to demand justice if they were mistreated.

But when she was driven back to her parents’ home, only her elderly mother took her in. Her brother and sister-in-law not only refused to stand up for her, but they also spread vicious rumors, as if afraid people *wouldn’t* know why she’d been sent back.

"You bastard! Even if Yuezhen can’t have children, she’s my wife for life! It has nothing to do with you!" Brother Yong strode forward, grabbed Lin Guohui by the collar with one hand and Zhou Chunlan with the other, and dragged them both outside the courtyard gate. He pointed at them and warned, "If you ever dare to come to my house again, don’t blame me for what happens."

"He’s killing us! Lin Yuezhen’s husband is trying to kill her own brother!" Zhou Chunlan howled, screaming outside the gate.

But no one paid them any mind.

Lin Guohui tugged at her arm. "Let’s go. Any later and we’ll miss the last bus."

Furious, Zhou Chunlan kicked him. "I must have had the worst luck for eight lifetimes to marry a useless coward like you." With that, she turned and stomped off.

Lin Guohui hurried after her. As the couple reached the mouth of the alley, they happened to run into Lin Lan and her father.

Zhou Chunlan glanced enviously at the magenta woolen coat Lin Lan was wearing, then called out to Lin Changyou, "Uncle, Yuezhen and her husband are so heartless! They won’t even acknowledge her own brother."

Lin Changyou gave them a faint glance. "You should hurry to the station. If you’re quick, you can still catch the last bus. Otherwise, you’ll have to stay at a motel tonight."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Lan pedaled away on her bicycle.

Zhou Chunlan and her husband stamped their feet in frustration, then rushed out of the alley and hurried toward the station.

****

After Lin Lan left, Wu Shufen started to fry the oil-sealed pork. Wu Shuqin and her daughter stared in amazement at the sausages hanging from the rafters of Lin Lan’s house, and at the cured bacon and oil-sealed pork marinating in a basin.

Wu Shuqin asked with a smile, "Second Sister, Little Lan’s family is really something else! This much meat must have come from a whole fattened pig!"

Wu Shufen nodded cheerfully. "Little Lan has been able to do so well here thanks to her husband’s relatives looking out for her. They moved into the city and have no place to raise pigs. There’s also Xiuyun’s family; they’ve been very good to Little Lan, too. Once this meat is all cured, we’ll give some to each of them, so there won’t be much left."

Wu Shuqin nodded. "That makes sense. Relationships last longer when there’s give and take."

Wu Shufen cut the leaf lard into small pieces and put them in the wok, adding half a ladle of water. After the lard rendered its fat, she poured in half a jar of rapeseed oil.

Once the mixed oils in the wok came to a boil, she added a suitable amount of salt, then placed the marinated pieces of pork into the hot oil one by one to fry.

Wu Shuqin watched for a while, then said to Wu Shufen, "Second Sister, I heard from my brother-in-law that our oldest sister’s daughter, Qiaohui, is here helping Little Lan?"

Wu Shufen gently prodded a piece of meat, flipping it over in the wok. She looked up and smiled. "That’s right. Qiaohui has been here for a while now. That girl is diligent and very considerate. Little Lan is very fond of her."

Wu Shuqin walked over to the stove. "Second Sister, is Little Lan still short on help? My Xinglan is just sitting around at home with nothing to do. I was hoping to ask Little Lan to help find her some work."

Wu Shufen glanced at Tong Xinglan, who was sitting in front of the stove’s firebox. "I haven’t asked Little Lan. I’ll talk to her about it when she gets back."

’She reminds me of Lin Lan when she was young,’ she thought, ’spoiled rotten by my sister and brother-in-law.’

But then again, Lin Lan used to be just as immature. By the time she grew up and learned her lesson, she had already suffered a great deal.