Li Mai and Zhou Quan were unaware of Zhou Xing's little scheme. After delivering their gifts and chatting with their eldest sister for a while, Li Mai and Zhou Quan played with their two nephews for a bit. They then told their eldest sister to wait for them to return on the second day of the Lunar New Year before leaving the Xu family.

This time, they did not visit the Xu family elders. Zhou Quan asked Zhou Xing if she needed to go to the old man and woman's place, but Zhou Xing shook her head and said that it was not necessary, as the two elders had not been in a good mood these past few days.

As for why the two elders were in a bad mood, Zhou Quan and Li Mai didn't ask. It's their family matter, and they shouldn't interfere.

The two men simply told the older woman to be careful and then left.

Today, when they went to town, apart from the two elders of the Zhou family who didn't leave, Zhou Lei, Zhou Tao, and Zhuzhu all came out with them.

After leaving her elder sister's house, Zhou Tao leaned close to Li Mai and whispered, "Sister-in-law, every time I see my elder sister's two sisters-in-law, I feel uncomfortable all over. I always feel like when they look at me, they are valuing me like they are valuing pork, estimating its price and weight."

Li Mai burst out laughing at Zhou Tao's analogy.

“Xiao Tao, you’re right. Trust your intuition more in the future. You don’t need to understand those two sisters-in-law. Just look at the way they look at us, and you can guess what they’re thinking,” Li Mai said with a light laugh to Zhou Tao.

“They admire the eldest sister, but they are also jealous of her and want to take advantage of her. I even think that the things we gave her today might exacerbate the internal conflicts within the Xu family and lead to the worst possible outcome,” Li Mai said softly.

"Sister-in-law, what's the worst that could happen to the Xu family? Is it the destruction of the family and the death of everyone?" Zhou Lei felt that if that were the case, his eldest sister would be too pitiful. Should they try to get her and her husband to divorce first? Anyway, if his eldest sister and the children came back to the Zhou family, they wouldn't go hungry.

Li Mai shook her head, glanced at Zhou Lei, and chuckled, "Xiao Lei, you're only ten years old. There's no need to be so pessimistic. The Xu family is well-off, well-mannered, and the brothers get along well. Even the worst outcome isn't the destruction of the family, but rather the division of the household!"

"Ah, splitting up the family? That should be a good thing for my eldest sister and brother-in-law!" Zhou Tao said softly.

Li Mai nodded, "Yes, the Xu family splitting up is a good thing for my eldest sister and brother-in-law. I believe the Xu family elders can see that too. However, the other two daughters-in-law can't see that. Those two sisters-in-law only see the immediate benefits. They think that the Xu family's current success is due to their husbands' efforts. In everything they do, they want the elders to favor their family. Even if they aren't biased, they want the elders to be fair."

“However, anyone with eyes can see that my brother-in-law has contributed the most and worked the hardest to make the Xu family what it is today. I believe the two elders can see that too. So, the reason why my sister didn’t mention that the elders are in a bad mood recently is probably because the wives of those two families have proposed to divide the family property,” Li Mai said softly.

"While the elders are alive, the family should not be divided. This is the most basic principle of filial piety that has been upheld by filial sons for many years. I believe that a family like the Xu family, which is wealthy and has a solid foundation, must also follow this principle. In fact, what they fear most is the division of the family. Whether the elders are alive or not, dividing the family means separation."

"With the old man gone, things will be even worse. The Xu family may fall apart, and the three sons will become enemies, each not wanting the other to inherit the family's skills. In that case, the Xu family's skills will be completely lost."

"If the family were to split up while the elders are still alive, the losses for them might be less. At least under the elders' insistence, one of the three sons might eventually be able to take over the Xu family line and pass on the Xu family's skills and heritage."

"I think the two elders probably had the same idea in mind and foresaw this step in the future of the Xu family, so they will eventually agree to separate the family."

"Moreover, I guess the Xu family elders will choose my eldest sister and brother-in-law." Li Mai sighed as she said this.

My older sister will have a lot of trouble to deal with in the future.

"How did you know, sister-in-law?" Zhou Lei asked curiously.

Li Mai said with a smile, "It's obvious that if the two elders hadn't been so obvious, those two sisters-in-law wouldn't have been so jealous and envious of the eldest sister."

Zhou Lei thought about it and realized that it made sense.

Little Zhuzhu suddenly said, "Mom is so amazing, she knows everything."

Li Mai smiled and patted Zhu Zhu's head, saying, "Zhu Zhu, you must always remember that when it comes to things you don't know, you should always observe more and speak less, so that you can discover things that others can't."

"If you can't remember what your mother said, count your eyes and your mouth. Eyes are for seeing, there are two of them, which means we should use both eyes to see, that's seeing more. Speaking is about using your mouth, but we only have one mouth, so we should speak less, that's seeing more and speaking less." Li Mai taught Zhu Zhu with a smile.

Zhuzhu made an "oh" sound and asked in return, "I remember, Mom. So, if we have two ears, does that mean we can hear more?"

Li Mai gave Zhu Zhu a thumbs up, "That's right, we should listen more with both ears. When dealing with people and making decisions, we should listen more, distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and bad based on what we hear, and then make our own decisions."

Listen more, observe more, and speak less!

Zhou Tao and Zhou Lei touched their ears thoughtfully, then subconsciously touched their eyes and mouths, and finally looked at Li Mai with even greater admiration.

They were born with this number of eyes, ears, and mouths, but they never thought about why. They always thought that the number of human facial features was just how it should be. However, after hearing Li Mai's words, they suddenly seemed to have a new way of thinking.

They also have two legs and two arms, which means that people should walk more and do more things.

That seems to be true; people need to move around more to stay healthy.

They need to do a lot of work to earn money to support themselves and their families and to survive.

The siblings both thought the same thing, and afterwards, they looked at their sister-in-law with even greater admiration for her.

Zhou Quan, who was driving the carriage outside, heard their conversation. The corners of his lips were always turned up. Xiaomai was more like a teacher than he was. She could always use the most ordinary tone to speak the most simple and unadorned truths, and she could make people listen and then put them into practice.

Zhou Quan felt that the words spoken by the other three members of the carriage today, including Zhu Zhu and Li Mai, would definitely influence their future and help them become better versions of themselves.

When the family arrived in town, it was already noon. At this time, the streets of Qing Shi Town were quite lively, with people coming and going.

With the Lunar New Year approaching, many people are out doing small business, setting up stalls on the street to sell homemade goods and earn some money for the holiday. These stalls can be found on every street. There are also well-off families out shopping for New Year's goods, browsing and selecting items at their leisure.

In any case, the prices at the stalls outside are cheaper than those in the shops.

Besides, some people make really good products in order to sell them.

Lu Qian, the young master of the Lu family, was one of the people who came out with others to try their luck at finding good things; he was not short of money.

But he never expected that he would meet Miss Li and her paralyzed husband again!

What he couldn't believe was that her paralyzed husband had actually recovered! ???