Translator: Flying-Lines
Today my mother-in-law was coming. Early in the morning me and my husband rushed to the train station after gobbling some food. I could tell my husband was very happy. All the way he kept nagging about where to take his mother to east some food, and where he was going to take her mother to hang out, etc.. I hid all my discomfort in my heart, and tried to be happy like him. After all it was the first time my mother-in-law came after we bought real estate after we got married. However unhappy I felt, I should be pretend to look happy.
The reason I felt unhappy for my mother-in-law’s arrival was that she was also unhappy when I came to her place for the first time. I had been there for four days, and she showed me a cold shoulder the four whole days. If it hadn’t been for my husband’s sake, I would have run away the first night. One should know that to meet her for the first time, I had been preparing for three whole months learning to buy a proper present and learn to cook, so she would accept and like her future daughter-in-law. But it turned out that I showed excessive passion to a cold person. I went there happily, but came back dejected, which great hurt my feelings trying to be a good daughter-in-law. Also it led to the unpleasantness the second time we met. This should be the third time we’d meet. I had an intuition that we still wouldn’t get along this time. As for how unpleasant it would be, I dare not think about it, and I didn’t want to think about it.
The railway station was overcrowded, which made me a little dizzy. After about half an hour, the train my mother-in-law took finally arrived. A 62 years old woman, standing among the crowd with a lot of packages, easily caught one’s eyes.
I shouted to my husband while staring at my mother-in-law among the crowd, “Mom! We’re here. Mom…”
Suddenly I stopped crying, because I saw a woman also carrying a lot of packages right behind my mother-in-law. The smile on her face was as bright as that on my mother-in-law’s face. I rubbed my eyes and tried to look clearly. Exactly! That woman was indeed following my mother-in-law,
I couldn’t help shivering on seeing that my mother-in-law was so close to that woman. That woman was my husband’s sister Lanhua, the child bride my mother-in-law had matched for my husband years ago. If my husband hadn’t gone to college, their child could already have bought things in the supermarket alone.
Obviously my husband also saw his sister Lanhua. He was stunned and glanced at me. He tried to say something but stopped, only holding my right hand.
Now my mother-in-law had come before us with Lanhua, crying with a strong local accent, “Finally! I’ve been in the train for a whole day. My bones nearly broke.”
“Xiaobao, Jing.” Lanhua said hello to both of us, smiling.
“Oh, I brought your sister Lanhua with me this time. Since both of you have to work, I think it’ll be boring to stay home alone, so I brought her as my company. After she gets used to things, try to find a job for her, or ask someone to introduce a job. Then she can earn some money with the family expenses. Let me tell you. My Lanhua can do all kinds of job, and also do them well.” My mother-in-law glanced at Lanhua, and then said so while staring at Liu Xiaobao my husband with a smile on her face.
“Oh, let’s go home first…Mom, give me. Look at you. You take so much stuff with you. I told you. You can everything here.” My husband glanced at me, with a forced smile, and then took the packages from my mother-in-law.
Watching them three in front of me, suddenly I had a feeling that I wanted to run away to a deserted area, take a deep breath and cast away this kind of depressing and awful feelings.
Translator: Flying-Lines
Today my mother-in-law was coming. Early in the morning me and my husband rushed to the train station after gobbling some food. I could tell my husband was very happy. All the way he kept nagging about where to take his mother to east some food, and where he was going to take her mother to hang out, etc.. I hid all my discomfort in my heart, and tried to be happy like him. After all it was the first time my mother-in-law came after we bought real estate after we got married. However unhappy I felt, I should be pretend to look happy.
The reason I felt unhappy for my mother-in-law’s arrival was that she was also unhappy when I came to her place for the first time. I had been there for four days, and she showed me a cold shoulder the four whole days. If it hadn’t been for my husband’s sake, I would have run away the first night. One should know that to meet her for the first time, I had been preparing for three whole months learning to buy a proper present and learn to cook, so she would accept and like her future daughter-in-law. But it turned out that I showed excessive passion to a cold person. I went there happily, but came back dejected, which great hurt my feelings trying to be a good daughter-in-law. Also it led to the unpleasantness the second time we met. This should be the third time we’d meet. I had an intuition that we still wouldn’t get along this time. As for how unpleasant it would be, I dare not think about it, and I didn’t want to think about it.
The railway station was overcrowded, which made me a little dizzy. After about half an hour, the train my mother-in-law took finally arrived. A 62 years old woman, standing among the crowd with a lot of packages, easily caught one’s eyes.
I shouted to my husband while staring at my mother-in-law among the crowd, “Mom! We’re here. Mom…”
Suddenly I stopped crying, because I saw a woman also carrying a lot of packages right behind my mother-in-law. The smile on her face was as bright as that on my mother-in-law’s face. I rubbed my eyes and tried to look clearly. Exactly! That woman was indeed following my mother-in-law,
I couldn’t help shivering on seeing that my mother-in-law was so close to that woman. That woman was my husband’s sister Lanhua, the child bride my mother-in-law had matched for my husband years ago. If my husband hadn’t gone to college, their child could already have bought things in the supermarket alone.
Obviously my husband also saw his sister Lanhua. He was stunned and glanced at me. He tried to say something but stopped, only holding my right hand.
Now my mother-in-law had come before us with Lanhua, crying with a strong local accent, “Finally! I’ve been in the train for a whole day. My bones nearly broke.”
“Xiaobao, Jing.” Lanhua said hello to both of us, smiling.
“Oh, I brought your sister Lanhua with me this time. Since both of you have to work, I think it’ll be boring to stay home alone, so I brought her as my company. After she gets used to things, try to find a job for her, or ask someone to introduce a job. Then she can earn some money with the family expenses. Let me tell you. My Lanhua can do all kinds of job, and also do them well.” My mother-in-law glanced at Lanhua, and then said so while staring at Liu Xiaobao my husband with a smile on her face.
“Oh, let’s go home first…Mom, give me. Look at you. You take so much stuff with you. I told you. You can everything here.” My husband glanced at me, with a forced smile, and then took the packages from my mother-in-law.
Watching them three in front of me, suddenly I had a feeling that I wanted to run away to a deserted area, take a deep breath and cast away this kind of depressing and awful feelings.
