When Li Xiulian returned home, she looked at Zhou's mother's calm face on the kang (a heated brick bed) and eased her frozen facial muscles: "Mom, I'm done washing now. If there's nothing else, I'll go back to my room to weave my net."

"Don't go back to your room. We don't have a man in the house now, so firewood will be hard to come by, and we'll have to use it sparingly. We don't need two beds either. Bring your bedding over and sleep with me."

Mother Zhou lifted her eyelids and gave the instructions.

Li Xiulian was naturally unwilling: "Mom, this isn't very convenient."

She only gets a moment of peace when she finishes her work and goes back to her room. If she moves in, wouldn't she be under Zhou's mother's watchful eye all the time and be at her beck and call?

"What's inconvenient about it? We're both women. What, does my word not carry any weight?" Seeing that Li Xiulian was going to resist her, Zhou's mother's tone immediately became sharp. "You jinx! You sent him and his son to jail, and you didn't even leave a child for Yanshan. A daughter-in-law like you would have been drowned a long time ago. You're still waiting for me, an old woman, to talk back to you?"

"Mom, stop talking, I'll go get it, okay?"

Li Xiulian, her face pale, called for a halt. As she walked into her room, she couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat, and tears streamed down her face.

Zhou Yanshan and his father tried to harm someone, but failed and got arrested after someone reported them. What does that have to do with her? She's just being a nag because nobody blames her. They want to find this unlucky girl to take the blame and relieve their own frustration.

Li Xiulian couldn't help but feel jealous when she thought about how Bai Shiqing was being helped by Bai Jiaojiao today, with a smug expression on his face.

Why does Bai Shiqing always get all the good things? She has been married to Zhou Yanshan for so many years, but because Zhou Yanshan is always at sea with Zhou Fukun, the two of them are rarely together and she has never been able to conceive. Yet Bai Shiqing got pregnant just a few months after they got married. Li Xiulian was indignant.

She made an excuse to go out, and sure enough, she saw Shen Hui's figure by the haystack at the village entrance.

"Xiao Hui, come here, I'll give you something good to eat."

Li Xiulian beckoned to Shen Hui, who saw that she was holding half a peach shortbread. He dropped his playmate and ran over there.

"What are you doing? Give it to me."

Shen Hui stared at the peach shortbread in Li Xiulian's hand, and without even calling out to anyone, he reached out and asked her for it.

Li Xiulian pulled the peach shortbread closer to her: "I need you to do something for me. If you're willing to help, I'll give you some. Once it's done, I'll give you the other half too."

Without even asking Li Xiulian what she needed to do, Shen Hui immediately agreed, "Okay, get it to me right away!"

As he spoke, he snatched the peach shortbread from Li Xiulian's hand and quickly stuffed it into his mouth.

Li Xiulian looked at Shen Hui, whose hands were covered in mud from playing in the snow, and a hint of disgust flashed across her face. She swallowed and continued, "Your brother is now using all his money to support your sister-in-law's family. Can you stand it?"

"What's the big deal? My mom said my brother has plenty of money."

Shen Hui wasn't very bright; he kept repeating what his mother said, clearly not understanding Li Xiulian's provocations.

"Are you crazy? Your brother gives all his money to his family, so you and your mother have nothing to spend. You're brothers with the same father, has he ever cared for you even once in all these years? Look at what he eats and wears now, just this peach shortbread. Your sister-in-law eats it to her heart's content every day. Shouldn't this be your life?"

Li Xiulian explained the situation to Shen Hui in detail. Shen Hui thought about it and realized that his mother also scolded Bai Jiaojiao in the same way at home.

Therefore, Shen Hui also agrees that Shen Heng is now heartless and doesn't care about them.

"My sister-in-law is completely ignoring me now. What can I do even if I can't stand it?"

Shen Hui visited twice, but was turned away both times.

Seeing that Shen Hui was thinking along with her words, Li Xiulian pressed on: "If it were me, I wouldn't let her family off the hook. If it were before, your brother would have just lived his own life, but now that he's being filial to his elders, of course he has to take care of both sides. Look at him now, it's all because of Bai Jiaojiao's pillow talk. Your brother has been bewitched by that vixen."

Shen Hui said, "Yes, my mom also said that Bai Jiaojiao is a slutty vixen!"

"Do you want to teach her family a lesson?"

"I want to!" Shen Hui was now eager to try, encouraged by Li Xiulian. "But I'm afraid of my brother. I can't beat him, and my mom won't let me visit him at home."

"I told you you were crazy! I didn't ask you to get revenge on your brother. Go find Bai Jiaojiao's family!"

Li Xiulian's words provided Shen Hui, who was very straightforward, with a new perspective. She guided him, saying, "These past few days, your sister-in-law has been bringing different things to the village chief's house every day for her sister to eat. Do you know that these good things should have ended up in your stomach?"

"She's a piece of trash; she emptied my brother's savings."

Widow Zhou talked about Bai Jiaojiao all the time at home, and Shen Hui easily repeated it.

"That's right, why should Bai Shiqing eat your food?"

Shen Hui bit into the soft flesh in his mouth, revealing a fierce expression.

Li Xiulian was very satisfied with Shen Hui's reaction: "It's okay. If your brother doesn't give you good food, you can come to me. But you have to teach Bai Shiqing a lesson first."

"Is that even a big deal?" Shen Hui said dismissively.

Li Xiulian suppressed a laugh: "But it's a deal, you have to be loyal. You can't tell anyone about what's between us, or I won't give you any good food. I still have a bag of peach shortbread."

"I'll definitely be loyal!"

Shen Hui, that fool, was completely fooled by Li Xiulian and insisted that Li Xiulian was a brother who stood on the same side as him.

After all, this person gave him peach shortbread; what kind of bad person could he be?

Thinking about the possible fate of Bai Shiqing, Li Xiulian felt much better. She wanted to see if Bai Shiqing's child could be born smoothly with Shen Hui interfering.

Li Xiulian spared no expense to make Bai Shiqing suffer.

Bai Jiaojiao looked gloomy as soon as she returned from Bai Shiqing's house.

Shen Heng raised his chin: "Look at you, anyone who didn't know better would think your sister's child is yours."

“You’re jealous of everything. My sister looks so pitiful now.”

After resting for more than half a month, Shen Heng's body had fully recovered. He had been bullied and oppressed by Bai Jiaojiao for so long, and now it was finally his turn to lay a hand on Bai Jiaojiao.

Bai Jiaojiao bit his neck: "I still have to make meat floss cakes."

"I've already stir-fried the pork floss for you. I'll bring the noodles in later so you can wrap them."

As the snow piled up one after another, the weather grew colder and colder, and the kitchen was freezing even when there was no fire.

Now that Shen Heng is able to work, he can't bear to see Bai Jiaojiao suffer like that. If it weren't for the fact that the meat floss cakes Bai Jiaojiao makes are small and delicate, and his two clumsy hands can't handle them, Shen Heng wouldn't want Bai Jiaojiao to do anything.

"Lie down with me for a while first."

Shen Heng had never experienced such a peaceful winter before; he felt like he was just lying around doing nothing.