In the past, although Zhao Yiming was lazy and loved to eat, he always listened to Niu Jinhua and Niu Jinhua made all the decisions about the household.

Sometimes his mother would try to make things difficult for Niu Jinhua, and he would help Niu Jinhua fight against her mother, which made Niu Jinhua mistakenly believe that Zhao Yiming was a good husband.

However, Zhao Yiming was lazy and loved to eat, which meant that while the family looked good on the surface, she, as a woman, still had to work hard to support the family.

Unfortunately, Niu Jinhua was selfish and confused. Not only could she not distinguish between good and bad, but she would also try to take anything useful from the Niu family and give it to the Zhao family. She even thought that this made her a daughter-in-law who was wholeheartedly thinking about her husband's family.

Little did she know that in the hearts of her parents-in-law and husband, she was family when they needed her, and an outsider when they didn't.

Perhaps finding some truth in Zhao Yiming's words, or perhaps feeling pressured by his threat, she thought for a moment and said:

"I'll bring my two children with me."

She thought that although she had a bad past, she was still Niu Da's younger sister. So, she figured it should be possible to send two of her children to school in Niushan Village.

Her two children weren't without a place to study; they just had to pay tuition to attend school elsewhere. In recent years, she had gone blind, and the spinning machine she had taken from her parents' home was no longer in use. With less income, the family's life became increasingly difficult.

The next day, when Niu Xiaomei and Xue Huaimin returned to their parents' home, they ran into Niu Jinhua, whom she hadn't seen for many years.

When she gave birth to Qiao'er, Niu Jinhua brought her seven-year-old eldest son and four-year-old youngest son to her home.

Ostensibly, they congratulated her on giving birth, but in reality, they did a lot of sowing discord by pulling in her former mother-in-law, Huang Zhao, and openly and secretly mocked her for having two daughters, saying that the Huang family line would end.

Although there are many sons-in-law in the Great Zhou Dynasty, many people still believe that sons are the proper descendants, and her former parents-in-law clearly thought so.

After her older sister passed away, her former mother-in-law, Huang Zhaoshi, really gave her a hard time.

Although the family that the eldest sister, Niu Jinhua, married into was not a wealthy family, their living conditions were quite good at the time.

Who knew that the Huang family that Niu Xiaomei married was even better off than Zhao Yiming's family. They owned fifty acres of land, raised several pigs, and were an only child. In the entire Niushan County, they could be considered half a small landlord.

This made Niu Jinhua quite jealous at the time.

Niu Xiaomei wasn't very close to this older sister.

“Little sister, I heard you got married?” Niu Jinhua asked.

“Yes, big sister! These must be Zhao Lei and Zhao Yun, right? They’ve both grown so much! How old are they this year?” Niu Xiaomei asked.

When Shen Yu saw Niu Jinhua and Zhao Yiming arrive, she was displeased. Although she was displeased, today was the day Niu Xiaomei returned to her parents' home, and she couldn't very well ask Niu Jinhua's family not to eat a single cup of tea or pastries.

Besides, the pampered guest at the door won't stay long.

Chen Yu and Niu Da were busy in the kitchen for a while. Niu Jinhua couldn't help but feel a little envious. In the past, she always felt that she had given birth to two sons and would have sons to take care of her in the future, so her life was better than Chen Yu's. In addition, she married into a good family and didn't have to wear patched clothes all year round. Therefore, she was somewhat ungrateful and looked down on her brother and sister-in-law who were of the same blood.

Looking back now, Shen Yu's life was better than hers; at least her elder brother treated her extremely well.

"Brother, sister-in-law, I've come here this time to send my two good-for-nothing sons to school in Niushan Village!" Niu Jinhua said, touching the chopsticks on the table as she prepared to eat.

Seeing that she could no longer see, Niu Xiaomei felt a pang of sympathy and picked up her chopsticks, saying, "Big sister, let me help you with that!"

“Yes, elder brother and sister-in-law, we want to have these two children stay in Niushan Village to study!” Zhao Yiming said.

Shen Yu was feeding Xiao Fubao soup and rice when she heard them say this. She frowned almost imperceptibly. Was the public school in their Zhao Family Village no longer going to be run?

The public school in Zhao Village was established by four villages: Haijia Village, Qinglong Village, Niushan Village, and Zhao Village. Because the village chief, Zhao, was from Zhao Village, the public school was built in Zhao Village.

Public schools require tuition fees.

However, the children in Niushan Village do not have to pay tuition fees because the clan school was established with donations from clan members.

Furthermore, the number of children a family could exempt from tuition fees was determined by the amount of donations. If the donation was less than one string of cash, only one child could be sponsored to study, and the tuition fees would be halved.

One donation could only exempt one child from tuition. The top ten donors could exempt all their children from tuition. Children from other ethnic groups who wanted to attend school still had to pay tuition to cover the normal expenses of the school and the two teachers.

"One should not speak while eating or sleeping," Niu Da said.

The atmosphere immediately quieted down. Even the usually mischievous Xiao Fubao ate quietly. The Niu family didn't actually have a rule of not talking while eating or sleeping. It was just that Niu Da didn't want to argue about these things with Niu Jinhua and Zhao Yiming during meals.

Zhao Yiming knew in his heart that this matter was probably not going to work out. He looked at the table full of delicious food and started eating without caring about the feelings of others.

The perfectly good homecoming banquet was ruined by Zhao Yiming's eating habits, who and his two sons ate half the dishes on the table.

After the meal, Niu Jinhua brought up the matter again, and Niu Da said decisively:

"You may enroll in the ethnic school, but whatever fees other ethnic children pay, you will pay as well!"

Zhao Yiming, clutching a vegetable tooth in one hand, plopped down on the doorstep and said, "Brother-in-law, I heard you made a lot of money in business, even losing two hundred taels of silver on your little sister's dowry. Even if there's tuition to pay, your family can just pay it, right?" "Logically speaking, if you gave your little sister two hundred taels as dowry, you should give our family two hundred taels too!"

Niu Jinhua also said in a shrill voice, "Brother, they are both your sisters, you can't favor one over the other! You don't have a son, who else should this family business go to if not your sister?"

Zhao Yiming acted as if he wouldn't leave unless the adults agreed, and even his two children were spoiled. Taking advantage of the adults' inattention, Zhao Lei secretly tore off the longevity lock given to Xiao Fubao by Granny Zhong from the gold necklace around his neck.

"Little sister, you're a girl, so wearing this longevity lock won't do you any good. It doesn't matter whether you live a long life or not anyway, so why don't you let your older cousin wear it!"

Xiao Heng immediately grabbed Zhao Lei's hand and said, "Put those things down!"

Little Fu Bao smiled innocently and said, "Big brother, let's give the hundred-year lock to my older cousin!"

Xiao Heng slowly lowered his hand. Zhao Lei was somewhat incredulous, afraid he had misheard, "You really gave it to me?"

Little Fu Bao tilted her head and said, "Does that mean if I say no, my older cousin won't take it?"

Of course not.

Zhao Lei excitedly showed Zhao Yiming what he had snatched, and Zhao Yiming grinned from ear to ear, saying:

"My son is amazing!"