"What's wrong with your third sister-in-law? She suddenly yelled, it startled me." Granny Liu put her granddaughter, whom she had just coaxed to sleep, back down.

Xu Mingwan smiled awkwardly, "It's nothing, the toilet was just full, which scared my third sister-in-law."

Upon hearing this, Granny Liu slapped her forehead. "It's my fault. I forgot to tell your dad to empty the toilet. It's probably infested with maggots. They crawled all over his butt as soon as he sat down."

"Mom, please stop talking, I feel like throwing up." Xu Mingwan felt nauseous and her stomach was churning.

Granny Liu rolled her eyes at her, "Didn't you see enough when you were a child?"

"That's from when I was a kid. I haven't seen anything like that in ages. You guys are something else, you even washed it clean before we got back!"

The toilet in the inner room had always been used by Granny Liu and her husband, but they never thought to empty it, and that's how maggots got in.

"Mom, I'll go boil some water for my third sister-in-law first. I guess she'll want to take a bath later." Xu Mingwan knew that her third sister-in-law was very clean and definitely wanted to take a bath right now.

As soon as Zhang Xuemei came out of the inner room, she wanted to go to the kitchen to boil some water; she couldn't stand it for even a second longer.

"Third Sister-in-law, wait a little longer, the water just boiled, it'll be ready to use in a bit," Xu Mingwan said quickly when she saw her third sister-in-law walk in looking embarrassed.

"Thank you, Xiao Wan, but please don't tell anyone about this, I..."

"Don't worry, Third Sister-in-law, what can I say about this? But Mom was there too, so..."

"Mom, it's alright. I'll go wash the bathtub first. You keep it heated up, and call me when it's ready." The bathtub was just a slightly larger, shallow wooden tub, barely big enough to wash one's body.

She was washing up when Xu Minghan returned with Panpan. Zhang Xuemei quickly called out to him, "Minghan, you're back just in time. Hurry up and take the chamber pot out of the inner room to empty it."

"What? It's full?"

"You're right, you never even check it when you go online. It's infested with maggots, it's disgusting."

Upon hearing this, Xu Minghan felt disgusted and shuddered. Without saying a word, he immediately went inside to work.

Zhang Xuemei quickly wiped herself down with hot water, not daring to move too much, since the floor in the room was still muddy and it would be quite dirty if it got wet.

Zhang Xuemei already knew from her sister-in-law that Xu Tiantian might go out to work after the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, so as soon as it got dark, she prepared to go to Xu Tiantian's house to check on her.

Zhang Xuemei, with a flashlight in hand, followed the route her sister-in-law had given her and arrived at Xu Tiantian's house without any problems.

"Is Aunt Dongju home?" Zhang Xuemei came to the eaves, knocked lightly on the door, and asked softly.

"Who is it!" Chen Dongju was putting on curtain clips when she heard the knocking and had to get up to open the door.

"Oh, Xuemei! Come in quickly." Chen Dongju saw Zhang Xuemei as soon as she opened the door, and wondered to herself why she was at her house today, since she didn't usually have much contact with her.

Zhang Xuemei followed her inside, smiled, and said, "Auntie, I came here suddenly because I really have something to ask you."

"What is it? Just tell me, and I'll definitely help if I can," Chen Dongju said readily, fiddling with the curtain clips in her hands.

"It's nothing, I just heard from Xiaowan that your Tiantian is going to work in Shenzhen..."

"Oh, this? Xiao Wan wants to go too? It's okay, I'll talk to Zhou Chenchen and we can go together! They get along well, it'll be good to have company."

Zhang Xuemei was interrupted by Chen Dongju before she could finish speaking. Chen Dongju thought Xu Mingwan wanted to go along too!

Zhang Xuemei quickly explained, "No, Aunt Dongju, Xiaowan isn't going. I came to tell you that Zhou Chenchen might not be doing a proper job, and it's best if Tiantian doesn't go either."

Upon hearing this, Chen Dongju stopped what she was doing and quickly asked, "Xuemei, you have to tell your aunt the truth. Do you know something?"

Chen Dongju knew that Zhang Xuemei wouldn't say such things for no reason; she must know something.

Zhang Xuemei pursed her lips and whispered, "Auntie, you know that Minghan and I run a stall in Tianshui City. There's an alley over there that specializes in this kind of thing. Zhou Chenchen, who lives ten miles away, dresses and moves exactly like those girls."

Although I said I had no evidence, I didn't want Tian Tian to be led astray by her, so it's better to be careful.

Although Zhang Xuemei didn't say anything explicitly, Chen Dongju understood the meaning behind her words.

Actually, she was a little hesitant about whether to let Tian Tian go with her, since it was really far.

In addition, when she visited her parents' home for the New Year, she heard rumors in the village that Zhou Chenchen spoke like a former prostitute.

Of course, many people thought that the old women in the village were just jealous that the young girl was making money, but she took those words to heart. Coupled with what Zhang Xuemei said that night, she couldn't help but think more about it.

Thinking of this, Chen Dongju composed herself and said firmly, "Xuemei, I want to thank you for this. I've made up my mind. Tiantian won't go. I'll call my older brother tomorrow and tell my niece not to go either. It's really inappropriate for a young girl to go so far."

"It's alright, Auntie. I just happened to find out. I wouldn't feel good if I didn't say anything." Zhang Xuemei didn't think she had done anything special. She just had a clear conscience. In the end, it was their decision.

She also told her mother what she had said, asking her to find an opportunity to talk to the aunties in the village with whom she got along, as a reminder. That was all she could do.

"Then I'll head back now, Auntie. My two kids are waiting for me to go to sleep!" After saying that, Zhang Xuemei wanted to go home as soon as possible. In the dead of winter, nothing was more comfortable than being in bed.

"Okay, wait a minute, take this bag of candy back for Panpan." Zhou Hehua quickly took a bag of milk candy from the cupboard and handed it over. There wasn't much else of value in the house, so this little bit of candy was the only thing the child could have.

"No, Auntie, keep it for the kids at home! Panpan has some! Eating too much will cause internal heat," Zhang Xuemei quickly declined.

"Take it if I tell you to, there are still kids at home!" Zhou Hehua insisted on giving it to her.

Having no other option, Zhang Xuemei could only slip the milk candy onto the table when the woman wasn't looking and then run away.

"Hey, look at you, oh dear..." Zhou Hehua saw that the person had run far away, so she didn't chase after them. She didn't want to make the person fall down so late at night.

Anyway, we're all in the same village, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

Zhang Xuemei ran a short distance and, seeing that she wasn't chasing after her, slowed down, stopped using her lamp, and walked home slowly by the moonlight.

When I got to the bridge near my house, I thought I heard a sound, so I stood still and listened carefully. I finally realized that the sound was coming from the cattle pen.