Chapter 10: A Poor Reputation
"Is Miss Su home? Anyone there?"
Su He was awakened by a woman's voice. She had been so exhausted after washing clothes in the afternoon that she fell asleep beside her two children while checking on them.
Still groggy from being woken up, she wondered who it could be. Was there really someone in this village coming to visit her?
Stepping outside, she saw a farmer's wife wearing a straw hat, clearly just back from the fields.
As soon as the woman spotted her, she smiled and said, "Miss Su, I'm the wife of Old Zheng, the man who helped carry your firewood last night. You're too kind—just carrying a little firewood, and you gave us half a pound of meat."
So it was his family. Even in the original Su He's memories, that uncle hadn't been memorable.
In fact, not just that uncle—Su He had never really interacted with anyone in this village because they'd never crossed paths.
"It's only fair. I was the one bothering Uncle. It was late last night, so I asked him to help carry firewood from the mountain. Giving meat was the right thing to do," Su He quickly replied.
"Oh, that's what neighbors do!" the villager said. "Look, I just picked these fresh cucumbers from my vegetable patch—they're delicious. And these greens too, all for you." The woman set the veggies right on the floor in Su He's house.
"Oh no, no, you're too generous," Su He hurriedly declined.
"Please do! These veggies don't cost much. That meat must've cost you a lot, right? Meat's pricey these days—we can't afford to buy any."
Indeed, meat prices in this world seemed quite high at the moment. With no large-scale farming encouraged yet, pork mostly came from villagers raising pigs themselves, usually only slaughtered for New Year celebrations.
"Don't go thinking my veggies aren't good enough!" the woman joked.
"Of course not, Auntie. May I ask how I should address you?" Su He quickly decided she wanted to build a good relationship with her.
"My surname is Niu. Everyone calls me Aunt Niu."
"Aunt Niu, then I'll take them, then. I'll cook them tonight—I'm sure they'll be delicious," Su He said with a smile.
"Of course! The vegetables from my garden are all crisp and sweet. If you like them, feel free to pick more from my garden anytime. See that vegetable patch over there? That's mine," Aunt Niu said proudly.
"Great, thank you so much, Aunt Niu," Su He replied gratefully.
Hearing their conversation, the two children woke up and climbed down from bed, running barefoot into the living room. Spotting Su He, they immediately called out, "Mom!"
"Oh, why aren't you wearing shoes?" Su He chided before fetching their shoes from the room and helping them put them on.
Aunt Niu thought to herself that her husband had been right—the rumors were clearly wrong.
They'd never even interacted with Su He before, yet they'd believed the gossip about her. But now, seeing her in person, where was all that talk about her being awful? She was polite, well-mannered, and treated her children with care—nothing like the rumors of beatings and scoldings.
Watching how attached the children were to their mother, Aunt Niu couldn't help but say, "My, aren't these two sweet? Just a bit too thin."
"Heh, I've been fattening them up lately. Not sure if meat alone can help them gain weight," Su He replied.
"My second daughter-in-law's third and fourth children are about the same age as yours. You should bring them to the village more often—kids need playmates," Aunt Niu suggested.
"Thank you, Aunt Niu. We've been tidying up the house lately, so we haven't gone out much. But we'll definitely visit the village soon."
In their village, Su He's home was a bit out of the way, closer to the mountains.
The Fu family actually lived in the village center, but Fu Tinghua's mother couldn't stand the sight of Su He and didn't want to see her, so they got stuck with an old place on the outskirts.
As a result, even though Su He had moved to the countryside, aside from the first couple of days when Fu Tinghua's parents came to see their grandchildren, they never came back.
It was just too disgusting. Seeing Su He's bulky body, the couple couldn't help but think of their proud son and their hearts sank.
If their daughter-in-law had any sense, it might have been tolerable, but Su He's reputation was just plain awful.
Those who secretly envied the Fu family for having a son like Fu Tinghua now were laughing at them behind their hands for him ending up with such a wife.
Su He was domineering, rude, and out of control—but worst of all, she was lazy.
The two kids were always filthy, and the house was no better, like a pigsty.
Before, Su He would clean the house whenever Fu Tinghua returned home, afraid he wouldn't give her money if he saw the mess.
But after Fu Tinghua left for military service this year, Su He completely let everything go to pot, becoming utterly slovenly.
Why didn't Fu Tinghua's parents even like their own grandchildren? Because back then, Fu Tinghua had told them Su He was pregnant with his child and they had to marry.
So the old folks held it against the kids for trapping their son into this marriage, and thus disliked the kids as well.
When they'd talked enough, Aunt Niu drank a bowl of water at Su He's place and then made her excuses and left. Though Su He pressed her to stay for dinner, Aunt Niu refused and went home.
Once she was gone, Su He began preparing dinner.
Looking at the melons and vegetables Aunt Niu had brought, Su He decided to cook them that evening.
Shredded melon fried up real nice, and adding some meat made it even more delicious—her mouth watered at the thought.
"Mama's fixing supper now. Are you hungry?" Su He asked, patting Zai Zai's belly. The boy ducked his head shyly and said, "Mama, I'll help you."
Su He smiled and headed to the kitchen to cook. Unbeknownst to her, however, thanks to Aunt Niu's big mouth, the village was buzzing about her again.
After supper, a group of village women huddled at the village gate chewing the fat, including Fu Tinghua's mother, Wu Yanhua.
Once the usual round of gossip was over, Aunt Niu suddenly brought up Su He.
"Speaking of Ting Hua's wife, I saw her today," Aunt Niu said, glancing at Wu Yanhua.
Sure enough, at the mention of Su He, Wu Yanhua's face darkened.
"Ahem, I think Su He is quite decent," Aunt Niu added.
Another woman butted in.
"Oh, so you've met her once and already think she's good?"
"She even went to gamble at Old He's place in the village. My husband saw it himself."
"Yeah, I heard she even hocked their rice and salt."
"Lord have mercy, how can your Ting Hua tolerate such a wife? He should divorce her already."
"Exactly! If she were in my family, I'd tan her hide till she couldn't sit."
The hens clucked back and forth, as if they had a bone to pick with Su He.
Especially when others were worse off, it gave them something to feel superior about.
That was the mentality of rural folks—they got a kick out of others' misery.