Chapter 317 - 15: The Doomed Sister-in-law in the Group-Pampered Novel

When it was time to hang the lock, everyone watching urged Xie Jian to hurry up and hang it.

"Once the lock is hung, you’re the master of the house! Hurry up!"

In the village, when a new house is built, it’s usually the men who hang the lock; after all, men are the ones who genuinely put in the effort and money to build the house, while women just watch from the sidelines.

When it came to Xie Jian, he directly handed the lock to Jiang Lai.

"You go ahead."

The people watching around were all incredulous, and some joined in the teasing.

"If a woman hangs the lock, then she’s the master of the house from now on!"

"Is our Jian afraid of his wife!"

"Jian, you should hang it instead. It’s unheard of for a man not to hang the lock."

Hanging the lock just means putting a new lock on the door latch, signifying that you are the home’s master. It’s one of the particularly important ceremonies for the villagers.

Xie Jian still looked at Jiang Lai without saying a word.

"Alright, alright, we’ll hang it together. We both have a say in this home."

After saying this, Jiang Lai held Xie Jian’s hand, both of them holding the lock, they hung it together, causing an uproar among the onlookers.

"With such a big house, just the two of you living here is too spacious. Wouldn’t you have to have one baby a year?"

All the women looked at Jiang Lai with envy.

After all, their own men may not be as capable as Xie Jian, not to mention always shouting and being unpleasant. Looking at Jiang Lai’s fair and delicate appearance, she seemed to have married into the Xie Family without suffering much hardship. Now, with the house divided, she keeps whatever she earns, and life definitely gets better and better.

"Jiang Lai is so fortunate; she lived in a place worse than a doghouse at her parents’ home; once she came to the Xie Family, she immediately could live in a big brick house!"

"Blessed indeed, but back then, Xie Jian only gave two hundred as a bride price, who would be willing to let their daughter marry over? Every family is tight, don’t they all hope their daughter can demand more bride price to marry off a son?"

A few women nodded.

"That’s true. Looking at it this way, Jiang Lai’s family suffered a loss too, didn’t her brother still not have a wife? Now that the sister has a good life, she still has to help out."

"She should help out. After all, raising a daughter grown up and pretty with hands and feet for only a bride price of two hundred is a big loss!"

These women all have daughters and sons, thinking if their own daughter would only get two hundred bride price in the future, they absolutely couldn’t agree with this. Once married, she’s someone else’s; no matter how well she marries, if she doesn’t help the maternal home, it’s useless.

"Lv Cuiping cares so much about her daughter, isn’t she going back with big bags to the maternal house every year? Xie Jian is doing countless chores for her maternal home throughout the year! Women, they ultimately rely on their maternal family."

Everyone nodded, and when they thought about Jiang Lai’s troubling maternal home, suddenly the big brick house and Xie Jian in front of them seemed less enviable.

Jiang Lai completely ignored the gossip in the village. Once people mostly dispersed, she handed the rabbit and wild chicken she caught in the woods to Xie Jian to deal with them together.

"Let’s have a treat tonight, clean them up well."

Without saying a word, Xie Jian took the rabbit and the wild chicken to the nearby creek, using the knife in his hand skillfully to gut and clean the rabbit and chicken, then washed the insides clean instead of throwing them away.

To make it convenient for Jiang Lai to use water, Xie Jian had already placed a smooth and clean slab by the creek, with a small wooden stool behind it. Even though it was far from the well water, the mountain spring water flowing down was completely suitable for consumption.

While cleaning, suddenly a tan wild chicken appeared on the opposite side of the creek, flapping its wings and straight away flying across the river, unexpectedly landing right into Xie Jian’s arms.

Xie Jian never thought such a freebie would fall right on him, stunned for quite a while, then grabbed the chicken, prepared to slaughter it, but suddenly felt warmth from his hand, soon discovering a round object in his palm.

Looking down, it was a clean white egg.

Not only did a wild chicken fall from the sky, but it could also lay eggs.

Xie Jian calmed down for a moment, holding the wild chicken and the processed meat, heading back. Jiang Lai was steaming rice in the house, and upon turning around, saw Xie Jian with a lively chicken standing in front.

"This chicken flew over on its own and laid an egg."

Saying this, he took a chicken egg from his pocket and handed it to Jiang Lai.

"It’s strange, our luck is too good."

Jiang Lai occasionally picks up fish and meat by the creek, but this was the first time Xie Jian surprisingly brought back a wild chicken that could lay eggs without any reason.

This made Xie Jian have countless doubts and feel unreal about the current life, am I really not dreaming?

Logically, this kind of luck should be his sister’s after the separation; how did he encounter all these good things?

Seeing Xie Jian’s perplexed and thoughtful expression, Jiang Lai naturally took the chicken and hugged it.

"Who knows, maybe you’re also a lucky star, previously all luck was absorbed by your sister before the separation."

Xie Jian’s eyes showed disbelief.

"This might be a geomantic treasure ground."

"Or maybe it’s just people coming less and there are nice things around, don’t overthink it; let me cook, you go make a pen for the chicken, we’ll have eggs daily now."

Xie Jian, still puzzled, said nothing more and went out to make a chicken pen.

Jiang Lai then stewed the rabbit and potatoes in a pot, chopped half a fish to pan-fry, and once both sides were golden and crispy, added broth and lined the pot’s circumference with corn cakes.

The smoke from their chimney released a fragrant aroma, unprecedented for the times when the smell of oil and meat was so rare, and as soon as it was emitted, those closest to them, the Xie Family, instantly smelled it. After finishing farm work, Eldest Xie stood at the doorway savoring the aroma.

"Surely our daughter found some good stuff again!"

People passing by around them swallowed their saliva in envy.

"Your family lives well, having meat to eat on casual days!"

Lv Cuiping looked proud but dared not be too ostentatious for fear of arousing jealousy.

"My daughter is a lucky star, you all know that, she often brings back good things, just about enough for our family to feast every now and then."

"You’re blessed! Having three capable sons and a lucky daughter!"

Lv Cuiping laughed, raising her head proudly.

This was her foundation for confidence in this village!

The aroma kept wafting into everyone’s noses, richer and more enticing than previous meat cooking scents, making Xie Guo and Xie Qiang’s mouths water, urging to head indoors.

Xie Yumian didn’t toil on the land, occasionally coming back to cook dinner with her sister-in-law. Now, any aroma was undoubtedly from the Xie Family, and today Lv Cuiping was hungry, swallowing saliva and walking into the kitchen planning to eat a lot tonight.

Upon entering the kitchen and lifting the lid, there was unexpectedly no anticipated aroma, only a big pot of taro porridge — not to mention meat, there wasn’t even a hint of oil.