Chapter 9: A Bad Brother-in-law Isn't Actually That Bad

At the Chen household, a large bowl of fragrant rabbit meat was placed in front of Chen Jie, its glistening oil enough to make anyone drool.

Sitting across the table were Su Yunjin and the little bean, Su Yunrui.

At this moment, the little bean’s eyes were fixed on the rabbit meat in front of Chen Jie, unable to look away for even a second. She swallowed her saliva desperately, yet she didn't dare reach out with her chopsticks.

She still remembered the time she had eaten her brother-in-law’s scrambled eggs, only to be slapped twice and left hungry for an entire day.

Even though she was starving now, she didn't dare to eat.

Just then, Su Yunjin split the wild vegetable bun in her hand, giving half to the little bean and keeping the other half for herself, while placing all the rest on Chen Jie’s side. In truth, Su Yunjin ate very little; in the past, Chen Jiusi had called her a spendthrift.

He only allowed her to eat half a wild vegetable bun every day—the kind made mostly of wild greens without any sorghum flour.

The little bean held the wild vegetable bun, her eyes still unable to tear themselves away from the meat. She took a large bite of the bun and muttered to herself, "The rabbit meat doesn't taste good, it's sour, it's sour..."

As the little bean mumbled to herself, Su Yunjin kept her head down, eating her wild vegetable bun and not touching the stewed rabbit meat in front of Chen Jie.

This was a rule set by the former Chen Jiusi: all the good food in the house belonged to him, the head of the household, and only after he had his fill could the little bean and Su Yunjin have the leftovers.

Chen Jie sighed and reached his hand toward the little bean. She jumped in fright—was she going to be beaten just for looking?

Her little face turned pale with terror, but the slap she imagined never came.

When she opened her eyes, she realized her rice bowl was gone. The little bean almost burst into tears; it was over, the bad brother-in-law wasn't going to let her eat again.

But the next moment, something unexpected happened. Under the confused and shocked gazes of the Su sisters, Chen Jie took the large, full bowl of rabbit meat in front of him and scooped a third of it into the little bean’s bowl.

Then, he took Su Yunjin’s bowl and scooped another third of the rabbit meat into hers.

After doing this, he placed the bowls back in front of the two women, who stared at him in bewilderment.

Chen Jie knew that explaining was useless, so he said in a commanding tone, "Eat it all."

The two women looked at Chen Jie in astonishment. Chen Jie didn't offer an explanation; he opened his mouth wide and began to eat. He took a bite of the rabbit meat—it was slightly gamey. There were no spices in the house; if there had been, he could have blanched it to make the flavor even more delicious.

However, his body had likely gone without fat for so long that even with the slight gamey taste, it tasted exceptionally good!

The two women were still staring at him in disbelief.

"What are you looking at me for? Eat!"

Chen Jie spoke up.

The little bean couldn't help but swallow her saliva and ask, "Sister, brother-in-law, I... can I really eat this?"

Chen Jie laughed. "Nonsense. If I tell you to eat, you eat. Your brother-in-law says so."

"Then... then I'll eat."

The little bean couldn't hold back any longer. She took a bite of the rabbit meat, and instantly, she was intoxicated by the flavor.

It was so delicious!

Tears welled up in the little bean’s eyes, but her body remained curled up. She suspected that the bad brother-in-law was deliberately toying with her, and that once she ate, he would have an excuse to beat her.

But for meat this delicious, even a beating would be worth it.

However, the expected slap never came. When she opened her eyes, she saw Chen Jie looking at her with a smile. "Is it good?"

"Mm."

The little bean nodded. Chen Jie said, "Then eat more. If it's not enough, we still have another bowl of meat."

The little bean’s eyes lit up at these words. She stopped worrying about anything else and began to eat voraciously. Looking at Chen Jie, she suddenly felt that this brother-in-law didn't seem as bad as before.

Su Yunjin hadn't moved her chopsticks, looking at Chen Jie with a strange expression.

Chen Jie said, "What are you looking at? Do you think your husband has become more handsome? Hurry up and eat."

"Yeah, sister, hurry up and eat, it's so fragrant..."

Su Yunjin hesitated for a long time before finally picking up her chopsticks to eat the rabbit meat. However, she ate very cautiously, as if she couldn't quite adapt to Chen Jie’s sudden change.

The little bean didn't care about any of that; she quickly finished the meat in her bowl. Seeing this, Su Yunjin scraped the meat from her own bowl into the little bean’s.

Soon, there was no meat left in her own bowl. Seeing this, Chen Jie added a few pieces from his own bowl to Su Yunjin’s. Su Yunjin wanted to give them to the little bean, but Chen Jie stopped her: "Eating too much meat at once isn't good."

Hearing this, Su Yunjin stopped and obediently ate the meat in her bowl.

One bowl of meat and three wild vegetable buns later, Chen Jie was full. Although it wasn't exactly gourmet, it wasn't bad. Rubbing his stomach, Chen Jie looked at the satisfied little bean and asked, "Was it good?"

"It was good."

"That's good. In the future, brother-in-law will get you more meat to eat, okay?"

"Okay."

The little bean seemed to have forgotten how 'terrifying' Chen Jie was.

On the other side, Su Yunjin finished the meat in her bowl, looked up, and said with a hint of worry, "What about Lu San?"

Chen Jie replied, "I already told you, it's fine. He's just a hoodlum."

After saying this, Chen Jie looked at Su Yunjin and asked, "By the way, Yunjin, do you remember that yellowed old book I had, the one with the words 'Yangchun Jue' on it?"

Hearing this, Su Yunjin nodded. "I do."

"Great, bring it to me to look at."

Chen Jie said excitedly. Su Yunjin hesitated for a moment, then got up and found a bundle from the cupboard. Inside was a pile of old books.

When their family was driven out of the big house, Su Yunjin hadn't brought anything else, only these old books.

Su Yunjin came from a scholarly family; compared to money, she valued this kind of literary heritage much more.

Chen Jie walked over and saw that most of them were medical books and various case studies—the life's work of his grandfather.

It was a pity that the spendthrift hadn't cared at all about these intangible treasures. He especially noticed the Yangchun Jue, its cover torn and even stained with vegetable soup.

It turned out that when they first moved into this room, the table leg was uneven, and Chen Jie had used the Yangchun Jue to prop it up. In the end, Su Yunjin had seen it and, heartbroken, snatched it back.

Chen Jie was truly impressed by the stupidity of his predecessor. His behavior was equivalent to selling antiques as junk. No wonder people said wealth doesn't last three generations; there was a reason for it.

Chen Jie took the Yangchun Jue and decided to keep all the medical books as well. Under Su Yunjin’s surprised gaze, he began to study them seriously.

As for his uncharacteristic behavior, he explained to Su Yunjin: "I'm learning some family skills so I can have a trade to make a living in the future. Otherwise, how am I supposed to support you two sisters?"

Su Yunjin didn't quite believe in this sudden turn-over-a-new-leaf behavior; she was still watching him.

After the meal, Chen Jie sat down to read the Yangchun Jue seriously. Su Yunjin went to wash the dishes and tidy up the stove, while the little bean, rubbing her stomach, took a small stool to the front door, where there was an anthill.

The little bean loved watching the ants move house; these little ants were her best playmates and her little snacks.

That’s right—when the little bean was extremely hungry, she would secretly eat a few straggling ants. They tasted sour and were quite delicious.

However, the little bean was very disciplined when she ate them; she never ate more than three a day, never more...