Chapter 41 The Brothers Competing for Favor

"I heard from my dad and uncle that he was trafficked here, and he'll probably leave in a few days." Qiao Xu said indifferently, not caring about the young boy who suddenly appeared.

While his brothers were still sizing him up, he quickly picked up his sister, who had already washed her face.

He let her sit on his arm and bounce her up a little: "Come on, brother will take you to eat."

In the kitchen, Grandma Qiao was still making pancakes, while Fang Zhengnan was boiling soup.

Today's soup was made with the bones that Qiao Changdong brought back yesterday, along with some kelp. It was pressure cooked before dawn.

Now, as soon as the lid is lifted, the aroma fills the entire kitchen.

The few boys who followed in couldn't help but swallow hard.

Especially for the boys who study in town, they spend five days a week at school eating bland food, and they look forward to going home on Saturdays and Sundays to improve their meals.

But normally, we wouldn't be this extravagant at home, feeding them meat patties and bone broth first thing in the morning.

This is the kind of food we only have during holidays and festivals.

Fang Zhengnan first gave Qiao Qiao a small porcelain bowl, filled it with two spoonfuls of meat that had been removed from the bone, then scooped in a spoonful of seaweed, and finally added soup.

Looking up, he saw a few boys crowding over and said with a laugh, "Do you all have dog noses? You can even smell this and come over here."

Meng Zihuan chuckled, turned around and brought over a bowl, holding it out to Fang Zhengnan.

"Third Aunt, I want lots of meat just like my little sister."

"Okay, here's plenty of meat for you. Do you want the bones?" Fang Zhengnan asked with a smile.

"Yes, yes, yes! I want them all!" Meng Zihuan nodded repeatedly.

Grandma Qiao and Fang Zhengnan are both excellent cooks.

The bones are pressure cooked, and the meat clinging to them will easily fall off the bones with the slightest movement. When paired with kelp, the soup becomes refreshing and not greasy.

The meat pies were made by Fang Zhengnan himself before dawn, with the meat filling containing some chopped chives, and each one was generously filled.

Fried until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, every bite is a delight.

The boys ate to their hearts' content.

Qiao Qiao always remembered the matter of taking advantage of others, and while her brothers were eating and not busy taking her meat pie, she took her meat pie and went to Fu Yu to curry favor with him.

"Brother Yu, you eat." She handed him a plate containing two meat pies.

Qiao Changdong followed over with a bowl of bone and seaweed soup in his hand. Seeing that his daughter wasn't eating it herself, he eagerly gave it to someone else first.

My heart ached a little again.

"Thank you." Fu Yu took the plate from Qiao Qiao's hand.

He glanced at the little girl's fingers, which were slightly red from being burned by the meat pie as she held the bottom of the plate, and frowned, saying, "Don't do that next time. I'll get there by myself."

He wanted to integrate into the family so that he could take care of her, not so that she would take care of him.

And he realized that something seemed off about him.

He couldn't see any signs of injury on her.

Even the slightest red mark from being burned through a bowl or plate is unacceptable.

Qiao Qiao simply smiled and nodded her little head, then skipped and hopped back to the main room with Qiao Changdong.

The commotion they made was also seen by the other members of the Qiao family sitting in the main room.

Mo Wenpei asked Fang Zhengnan curiously, "What are his uncle's plans? I heard from Ayun this morning that he hasn't been to the hospital even once."

Fang Zhengnan thought about the look of disgust Qiao Changdong had on his face when she asked about this matter a few days ago, and shook her head at Mo Wenpei.

She lowered her voice and replied, "I don't know. His uncle doesn't like to talk about this. He got a little upset when I asked him about it last time, so I didn't ask again."

Everyone in the Qiao family knew that Qiao Changdong disliked Chen Yulian.

Qiao Changdong's marriage to Chen Yulian was also due to pressure from his grandfather.

Therefore, Qiao Changdong disliked Chen Yulian, and Chen Yulian hurt Qiao Qiao. No matter how Qiao Changdong treated Chen Yulian, the Qiao family did not find it strange.

But what puzzled her was Grandma Qiao's attitude towards Chen Yulian.

Except for the first day when Grandma Qiao went to take care of Chen Yulian, she didn't go to the hospital even once in the following days, and didn't even mention it again.

You should know that when they gave birth, they all actually spent a full month in postpartum confinement.

She didn't believe that Grandma Qiao was the kind of person who favored sons over daughters and would abandon Chen Yulian just because she gave birth to a granddaughter.

But even when Chen's mother came to intercede, Grandma Qiao dismissed her.

This struck Fang Zhengnan as odd, as it didn't seem like her mother-in-law's usual way of doing things.

To others in the village, her mother-in-law was fierce and extremely protective and biased.

She is extremely protective of her youngest son and favors him, which is why many people find her difficult to get along with as a mother-in-law.

But only they, as daughters-in-law, know that it is truly rare in this world for a mother-in-law to be as devoted as her.

It's true that she favored her youngest son, but she didn't neglect her other sons.

Of the four branches of the Qiao family, the eldest branch, Qiao Changqing, was the most successful.

She didn't know how much her brother-in-law's monthly allowance was, but it seemed that he sent back more than three hundred yuan a year to Grandma Qiao as a living allowance.

Grandma Qiao saved some of the money, and used almost all of the rest to subsidize their families.

Her family was the poorest among the several households, but both of her sons were able to attend school, all thanks to her mother-in-law's financial support.

Moreover, in typical large families, mothers-in-law often rely on their age and authority to interfere in the affairs of young couples.

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