Liu Mingxin quickly packed her things and came out. The two saw that she was carrying a military green satchel, which probably contained money and banknotes, and a small bundle in her hand containing clothes and the like. After leaving the room, Liu Mingxin directly stuffed a ten-yuan note into her mother-in-law's hand, and then pulled Zhao Xiuxiang to walk quickly towards the tractor outside. She told her mother-in-law that the ten yuan was for taking care of the two children and her husband. Of course, it was okay if she didn't give her money, but Liu Mingxin was afraid that her sister-in-law would say something sarcastic, so she took out some money to keep things quiet.

Wang Jinhua felt a slap on her hand. Looking down, she saw a ten-yuan note. When she looked up to return the money to her second daughter-in-law, she saw Liu Mingmei pulling her fifth aunt up to the tractor. Feng Mingran was helping from below. Wang Jinhua hurriedly came out of the yard, about to say something, when she saw Liu Mingxin's two grandsons, Da Bao and Xiao Bao, also trying to climb onto the tractor. She quickly went over and pulled Da Bao and Xiao Bao to her side.

With Feng Mingran's help, Liu Mingxin and Zhao Xiuxiang got on the tractor and sat down. Seeing their mother-in-law holding both children close, they told Liu Mancang to drive. But after the tractor started moving, Liu Mingxin suddenly remembered something she hadn't said and immediately went to the tractor and called out to her mother-in-law standing at the door.

"Mom, could you cover my shift at the state-run restaurant for a few days? I'll call the manager as soon as I get to the county town; the restaurant should still be open by then."

Before Wang Jinhua could even nod, the tractor sputtered away. Seeing that her daughter-in-law had already gone far away, Wang Jinhua took her two children back into the house. Five-year-old Da Bao and three-year-old Xiao Bao saw that their mother had left without them. Da Bao was a little better, but his eyes were filled with tears. Xiao Bao burst into tears. Wang Jinhua hurriedly comforted her two grandsons.

"Oh dear, my darlings, don't cry. Your second aunt is in the hospital, and your mother has to go take care of her. She'll be back in a few days."

When the two children heard that their favorite aunt was in the hospital, they stopped crying, though they still sniffled and wiped away tears. Wang Jinhua took the two children to the room she shared with her husband, sat them on the kang (a heated brick bed), unlocked the cabinet, took out two hard candies, and gave them to her two grandsons. After calming them down, she told them to play on the kang for a while before going out to wash the clothes Liu Mingxin hadn't finished washing.

Wang Jinhua was washing two sets of clothes for Da Bao and Xiao Bao in the yard. Actually, the clothes that Liu Mingxin's family of four changed into last night had been washed this morning. The two sets of clothes were too dirty when Da Bao and Xiao Bao played outside in the morning, so Liu Mingxin changed them off before taking a nap at noon and left them here because he didn't have time to wash them. While Wang Jinhua was washing the clothes, her eldest daughter-in-law, Chen Zhaodi, came out of the room.

Chen Zhaodi felt wronged watching her mother-in-law's back as she helped her second son's wife wash clothes. She then called out resentfully from behind her mother-in-law.

"mom"

Wang Jinhua was startled by the shout and almost fell headfirst into the laundry tub. Turning around, she saw her troublesome eldest daughter-in-law looking at her with tears in her eyes. She felt particularly uncomfortable. Every time Wang Jinhua saw Chen Zhaodi like this, she wanted to drag her eldest son, Zhang Guorong, over and beat him up again. She really felt that her eldest son was bewitched back then. How could he have fallen for such a thing?

Ever since Chen Zhaodi entered the family, Wang Jinhua had no idea how much she had suffered. Every time Chen Zhaodi took things from her husband's family to her own, and was caught, Wang Jinhua would act as if she had suffered a terrible injustice, making the neighbors think Wang Jinhua was a wicked mother-in-law. Later, Wang Jinhua couldn't take it anymore and immediately separated her two sons from her new family after her daughter-in-law entered the family. When Chen Zhaodi looked at her with that pitiful expression, Wang Jinhua just rolled her eyes and went back to washing her clothes, but she still muttered something unpleasantly.

"What are you doing, trying to call my soul back? I'm not dead yet. So what? Who would dare to wrong you?"

Chen Zhaodi didn't say anything and just looked at Wang Jinhua with that aggrieved expression. Wang Jinhua ignored her and didn't even look at her. She felt it was bad luck to look at her. After quickly washing and measuring a few pieces of clothing, Wang Jinhua first took Da Bao and Xiao Bao out of her room and locked the door. Then she went directly into her second daughter-in-law's room, took the key, and locked the door.

As Wang Jinhua locked the door, she gave a sarcastic smile. Chen Zhaodi always said that she favored Liu Mingxin, but she never considered that their room was always locked tightly when they came out, as if she was afraid that this old woman would take their things. She never considered that any good things from her factory were taken to her parents' home by Chen Zhaodi, while Liu Mingxin would always bring a small portion of the good food that the state-run restaurant bought back to her and her husband. Occasionally, when her parents' home sent something over, they would also give some to the old couple.

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhaodi retorted that Liu Mingxin had a job while she didn't, and therefore had no money to buy anything to support the elderly couple. This was truly laughable. It was her own fault for being so foolish as to give up her job to her younger brother after marriage, having been misled by her mother. Now that they were short of money, it seemed like she was blaming them. Wang Jinhua couldn't care less about that now. After all, ever since her eldest son, under Chen Zhaodi's constant crying, had come to believe that the couple was biased, Wang Jinhua knew that her eldest son was unreliable. She knew that the couple would definitely have to rely on their younger brother and his wife for their old age. Therefore, the couple was indeed showing some favoritism towards their younger brother and his wife.

After locking the door, Wang Jinhua held one of Bao'er's hands in each hand and walked towards the door. The two Bao'er had stopped crying and were now holding Wang Jinhua's hands, skipping and jumping as they walked outside, asking questions as they went.

"Grandma, where are we going now?"

"What are you doing? Go ask your mom for leave, and while we're at it, let's go eat at a state-run restaurant. Anyway, your mom paid for it."

"Oh, oh, you went to the state-run restaurant for a good meal. But Grandma, do you have a ration coupon? It seems my mom only gave you money, not a coupon."

"It's given, it's given!"

Wang Jinhua took her two grandsons to a state-run restaurant for a meal. She then told the restaurant's manager, Manager Niu, about Liu Mingxin's leave of absence and her filling in for him. Meanwhile, Liu Mingxin and Zhao Xiuxiang rode a tractor and sped towards the county hospital.