Chapter 30: Settlement

With the household registration book and property certificate in hand, Lu Jiaxin explained her situation to the police at the station. Under their sympathetic gaze, she successfully registered her residence at the Radiance Road Subdistrict Office.

Having accomplished a big task, Lu Jiaxin was in a great mood, "Xue Mao, to celebrate my new lease on life, let's have a feast today."

Hearing that they were going out to eat again, Xue Mao's scalp tingled, and he said, "Sister Xin, let's not go out to eat anymore. I'll go to the market and buy some good ingredients to cook at home."

He had been so idle he was almost getting moldy; he couldn't keep spending like this.

Lu Jiaxin also knew how to cook. Actually, before college, her fingers had never touched spring water, but after living on her own in college, she started learning how to cook. Later, when she studied abroad in Romantic Country, her culinary skills greatly improved. She had no choice, if she didn't cook for herself, she would have had to live on bread every day.

"Alright, buy some more meat."

Xue Mao went to the market and bought a chicken and three pounds of meat. When he got back home, he didn't rush to cook but first prepared medicine for Lu Jiaxin.

Smelling the medicine, Lu Jiaxin couldn't concentrate on her reading. When the medicine was ready, Lu Jiaxin pinched her nose and drank it down.

In the beginning, without experience, the bitter taste lingered in her mouth after she drank the medicine. She rinsed with water, and only after a while did the taste fade away. Later on, having gained some experience, she would quickly rinse and pop a candy in her mouth after taking the medicine, which suppressed the taste effectively. With this method, taking medicine no longer felt like torture.

Looking at the chicken that had been prepared, Lu Jiaxin said, "Xue Mao, let's use half of the chicken for soup and the other half for braised chicken with potatoes."

"Okay."

Just as the chicken was placed into the stew pot, the voice of Lu Jiajie sounded from outside, "Jiaxin, Jiaxin, open the door, it's me."

Xue Mao jogged to open the door, and after letting the person in, he whispered a reminder, "Fifth Brother, Sister Xin is studying in the room."

"Xinxin, Xinxin, come out quick, I've brought something tasty," called out Lu Jiajie.

Lu Jiaxin, hearing his call, wondered why he would deliver something at this time. After coming out, she asked, "Fifth Brother, don't you have to work?"

"No worries, I took half a day off," he replied.

Lu Jiaxin felt he wasn't very committed to his job, taking leaves all the time. But as a sister, and because he was making the effort for her sake, it wasn't really her place to criticize.

Lu Jiajie said, "Xinxin, each crab in this basket is over half a pound. For lunch, let's have steamed crabs, and for dinner, spicy crabs. We can use the leftover crab roe to make buns for tomorrow morning."

Xue Mao dampened the enthusiasm, saying, "Fifth Brother, she's currently on medication and can't eat crabs as they are too cooling."

Lu Jiaxin's good mood vanished in an instant, and she looked at Xue Mao with a sense of grievance. If he hadn't mentioned it, she would have just eaten them, but now that it was out there, she didn't dare to touch them even though she really wanted to.

Lu Jiajie smacked his forehead, saying, "Ah, I completely forgot about that. Xue Mao, then steam six crabs for later, and we can make the spicy crabs with the other six tonight."

Both he and Xue Mao could eat a lot; three crabs each would be no problem.

Lu Jiaxin said with a smile, "I'll steam four for lunch, and you can take the rest back for your sister-in-law and Qiangqiang to eat. It just so happens that I made chicken today, so I'll scoop a bowl of that for you to take over as well."

Lu Jiajie quickly waved his hand, "No need, no need, if they want to eat, I'll go buy some."

Lu Jiaxin said with a laugh, "Fifth Sister-in-law is careful with money, she wouldn't want to buy crabs for the kids. You'd better save your pocket money, otherwise, if Fifth Sister-in-law finds out, she'll argue with you again."

Lu Jiajie had no answer and could only say that a penny can stop a hero.

Lu Jiaxin knew he cared about his face and usually, she would let it slide, but this time she didn't avoid the subject: "Qiangqiang and Xiao Feng have lost a lot of weight recently; we need to let them have more nutritious food. It's not convenient to give them extra meals at the Ma family, so bring them over to my place on the weekends."

She knew all about his situation. Because of the Planned Parenthood policies, Ma Lili had Xiao Feng and then was taken for sterilization, rendering the original agreement useless.

It was national policy, not a breach of promise by the Lu family, and though Father Ma felt dissatisfied, he could only accept it. Unexpectedly, Big Sister Ma felt discontent, feeling she was treated unfairly compared to her sister. As a daughter of the family, Ma Lili lived in a spacious house of over fifty square meters at her parents' place, where her parents looked after her child, and she lived comfortably, which made her look like a young girl. In contrast, Big Sister Ma had to endure her mother-in-law's caprices and her sisters-in-law's ostracism, all the while her family of five squeezed into a space of twenty square meters. Feeling unjust, she began taking her children home frequently last year and would find ways to needle Lu Jiajie and Ma Lili with her words.

Big Sister Ma used to make snarky comments before, but she used to visit only two or three times a month, and beneficiary Ma Lili tolerated it. Yet unexpectedly, after spring began, Big Sister Ma suddenly suggested that her youngest son be adopted by her parents to carry on the Ma family name.

No one to carry on the family line was already a sore point for Father Ma and Mother Ma, so upon hearing her suggestion, their attitudes changed dramatically. However, the parents of Brother-in-law Ma didn't agree, causing the matter to come to a standstill.

Ever since Big Sister Ma had mentioned adoption, not only did she hand over her youngest son to Father Ma and Mother Ma to take care of, but she also began bringing her other two children home for meals now and then.

Ma Lili contributed to food expenses every month, but Big Sister Ma never paid. The amount of food didn't increase, but the number of people eating did, and the quality of meals declined markedly. Sometimes Qiangqiang and Xiao Feng couldn't get enough to eat, which pained Lu Jiajie and Ma Lili a lot.

Yet even this did not satisfy Big Sister Ma, who demanded that Ma Lili and Lu Jiajie move out. Ma Lili didn't refuse, but she had her conditions: she would only move out with her husband and children if Little Fatty's surname was changed to Ma and his household registration was transferred to her parents' names. Until then, she wouldn't leave.

Because of this issue, the relationship between the two sisters became very strained. On this matter, Father Ma and Mother Ma were still clear-headed, stating they would only agree to them moving back with the children once they were registered under their names. But Brother-in-law Ma's parents wouldn't budge, so the issue remained unresolved.

Lu Jiajie didn't want to take things back home: "Taking things back, Fifth Sister-in-law and Qiangqiang won't even get much of it."

He wasn't someone who didn't love his wife and children, but the problem now was that his in-laws favored Little Fatty Yan; they prioritized anything good for him first.

Lu Jiaxin was taken aback, not expecting the conflict to be so deep. She said, "How about this? You bring Fifth Sister-in-law and the two kids over to eat at my place. It just so happens that I've been finding meals with Xue Mao too quiet. If they come, it'll be livelier here."

Seeing her offer, Lu Jiajie didn't stand on ceremony, as being too polite would seem distant: "Okay, then I'll bring them over after work."

After finishing his meal, Lu Jiajie went back to work.

Xue Mao asked with some confusion, "Sister Xin, there were twelve crabs, we ate four at lunch, that still leaves eight. There are only six people in the Ma family, that's two extra, so why did Brother Jie say that Fifth Sister-in-law and the kids wouldn't get much?"

Lu Jiaxin briefly mentioned the situation at the Ma family. Every family had its own issues to deal with, she was in no position to gossip about the Ma family.

It made Xue Mao think of his own situation, and he said with some distress, "Sister, why do blood relatives calculate each other over money and possessions like this?"

"Because of selfishness, because of greed," she replied.