Chapter 213 Dong Xiaodi's Scheme

Completely unaware that he had already caught the eye of his future mother-in-law, Dong Xiaodi deliberately took a detour back to the Ren family home after delivering the vegetables to Bai Xiaohui.

That way, they wouldn't have to enter the courtyard one after the other, attracting attention.

When he returned, it was dinnertime at the Ren family's house, and the whole family was sitting at the table except for him.

Dong Xiangxiang had just finished her postpartum confinement period. When she saw her younger brother return, she quickly invited him to sit down and eat. "Why are you only coming back now? Were you very busy today?"

Dong Xiaodi responded and sat down, mumbling, "There were quite a few guests today, so I was a little busy."

His relationship with Bai Xiaohui is still far from settled, and he doesn't plan to tell his older sister yet.

"Young people should get more exercise and not be afraid of hardship," Ren Wenhua lectured, adopting the airs of an elder.

Brother Dong readily agreed.

"Yes, yes, this is nothing. Our lives farming in the countryside were much harder than this."

Ren Wenhua was very satisfied with his vanity being satisfied.

That's one good thing about Dong Xiaodi: he's humble, listens to advice, and isn't annoying even though he comes from the countryside.

As they were talking, Guan Ailian came out of the kitchen carrying the last dish of pickled vegetables.

Seeing that Brother Dong had returned, his eyes lit up, and he smiled and said:

"Hey, Xiao Dong, you're back!"

His eyes swept across the table, then looked around at Dong Xiaodi, but his hands were empty; he saw nothing.

Immediately, Guan Ailian's smile faltered.

"Xiao Dong, what happened to the leftovers from the restaurant kitchen today?"

The others at the table also looked at Dong Xiaodi expectantly.

Putting everything else aside, ever since Dong Xiaodi started working at the state-run restaurant, he's been bringing home leftovers from time to time, and his family has been enjoying them too.

Dong Xiaodi's eyes flashed, "There are a lot of people today, so our chef made a small portion and there are no leftovers."

Everyone looked away in disappointment.

Looks like I won't be able to have any meat today.

Although the Ren family lived in a large compound and had good living conditions, who wouldn't be happy to have free meat dishes every now and then?

These days, the Ren family's palates have become quite discerning. Suddenly, they find boiled cabbage and pickled vegetable shreds, which lack oil and flavor, tasteless.

Guan Ailian was naturally unhappy; how could there be no leftovers?

You can just pick out two pieces from a meat dish, right?

She figured this country boy just didn't want to bring the food back and ate it himself!

He slammed the dish down on the table, deliberately speaking in a sarcastic tone, "Oh, really? Hopefully, someone from your restaurant ate it."

Dong Xiaodi paused in his action of picking up the bowl, then quickly waved his hand and laughed, "Oh, you're joking, these are all public property. We wouldn't dare steal them. If we got caught, it would be considered undermining socialism, and we'd be sent to the countryside. Our restaurant doesn't have that kind of parasite."

As for the leftovers brought back every day, since they are all called "leftovers," they are naturally not considered undermining socialism. On the contrary, they are helping to consume the leftover food from restaurants, which is a fine example of practicing the virtue of saving food.

Guan Ailian didn't believe it. "Tch~ What are you pretending for..."

She rolled her eyes and was about to say something when Ren Wenhua quickly scolded her, "Shut up!"

"What do you know, you old woman? Your endless nagging is so annoying!"

"Hurry up and bring the food!"

That stupid old woman, she can't even understand what I'm saying!

Didn't you see that Brother Dong has escalated this to the point of undermining socialism? If this continues, what will his whole family become?

Bad elements who force people to undermine socialism?

Do they even want to live their lives anymore?

The old man rarely spoke so harshly to her in front of the children. Even though Guan Ailian wanted to say something more, she could only keep quiet, though she still felt a surge of anger inside.

During the meal, she deliberately gave Dong Xiaodi a very small portion, with only a small amount of rice in his bowl, less than what Ren Yongchao, a boy who was only half a year old, had.

They even said in a high-sounding manner, "Little Dong, you must have plenty of food at the state-run restaurant, so I didn't give you extra portions to avoid wasting food. You won't mind, will you?"

What else could Dong Xiaodi say? He could only force a smile and say, "Don't be offended, don't be offended. I'll just eat until I'm half full. I know you're not that kind of person, ma'am."

As for mentioning eating at a restaurant, he didn't respond at all.

I just said that there are no employees stealing food in their state-run restaurants. If you say that you have eaten in a state-run restaurant, wouldn't you be undermining socialism?

He wouldn't expose such an obvious weakness to the Ren family.

Furthermore, he certainly didn't steal any food.

"snort!"

Seeing that he was sensible, Guan Ailian didn't say anything more and sat down to eat.

Dong Xiangxiang saw everything. She knew that her mother-in-law was unhappy that her younger brother hadn't brought back any "leftovers" and was deliberately trying to embarrass him, so she couldn't help but feel a little resentful.

I already said there are no leftovers. The food in state-run restaurants belongs to the public. If there are no leftovers, do you expect the underlings to steal them?

My mother-in-law is so unreasonable!

I glanced at the shallow layer of rice in my younger brother's bowl. He definitely wouldn't be full with such a small amount of food; he still needs to grow.

Dong Xiangxiang felt sorry for him and divided most of her food into his bowl, saying, "Little brother, you work hard every day, eat more."

Anyway, her mother-in-law still makes her chicken soup to help with lactation, so she won't go hungry if she eats less at one meal.

Dong Xiaodi was aware of this situation, so he did not refuse.

Even though he works in the kitchen, he really can't sneak any food. If he doesn't get enough to eat at home, he'll go hungry all afternoon.

Guan Ailian, who was on the other side, saw this and her expression immediately turned sour.

She put down her chopsticks and said, "Jinbao's mom."

Dong Xiangxiang froze.

The eldest grandson of the Ren family is nicknamed Jinbao. Ever since Dong Xiangxiang gave birth, she has been called Jinbao's mom by her in-laws.

Guan Ailian's lips curled down, her tone reproachful.

"If you don't eat enough, you won't have enough breast milk, and if you don't have enough breast milk, my grandson will go hungry. Do you really want my grandson to go hungry?"

"We don't support freeloaders in our family."

Suddenly, everyone at the table turned their attention to Dong Xiaodi.

It goes without saying who this phrase "freeloader" refers to.

"mom!"

Dong Xiangxiang cried out in disbelief; she hadn't expected her mother-in-law to speak so harshly.

How come her younger brother is freeloading?

The words "freeloading" stung Dong Xiaodi's heart; he pursed his lips and clenched his fists.

He desperately resisted the urge to slap the old hag.

We can't fight! We can't fight!

If I hit my older sister, things will be difficult for me, and I'll have nowhere to live.

I spent a lot of time and effort to suppress my violent temper.

At the same time, her desire to leave the Ren family became even stronger.

Dong Xiangxiang felt aggrieved; how could her younger brother be eating for free?

Putting aside the "leftovers" that she often brings home, she also has to pay her mother-in-law 5 yuan a month for food expenses. Every day after get off work, she often helps the elderly couple with housework.

Although her younger brother lived in the Ren family's house, he did not take advantage of the Ren family at all.

Shameless old man!

If it weren't for her younger brother needing to stay, she would have loved to smash that bowl of rice in the old woman's face.

But her younger brother has only been working for a short time and hasn't been able to apply for a single dormitory, so she can only swallow her anger.

But in the end, I couldn't help myself and retorted.

"Mom, what do you mean by freeloading? My little brother has paid his living expenses, so why can't he even eat?"

Guan Ailian pursed her lips, thinking that it wasn't enough; this amount of money didn't even include the rent.

Do they really think staying at her house is free?!

If it weren't for the five yuan she received each month and the leftovers, she wouldn't have let this peasant live in her house!

Seeing that it was about time, Ren Wenhua quickly tugged at her sleeve and stepped in to smooth things over. He first pretended to complain to Guan Ailian, "Alright, alright, why are you saying such nonsense while we're eating?"

She then told Dong Xiaodi not to be shy, "Xiao Dong, your aunt is old and her words may not be pleasant, please don't take offense. Come on, eat, eat, there's a whole table of food here, take whatever you like, don't be shy. As for the idea of ​​eating for free, she's not thinking clearly, don't take it to heart!"

After saying that, he gave Guan Ailian a sharp look, signaling her to stop.

"snort!"

Guan Ailian then picked up her chopsticks again and started eating, her face pale.

Dong Xiaodi's face looked extremely ugly.

You've already done all the good work. If you really disagreed with Guan Ailian, why did you stay silent until everyone had finished speaking before trying to smooth things over?

Old Man Ren is indeed a hypocrite!

But I can't move out yet; when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

Dong Xiaodi suppressed his anger, pretending not to have expected it, and forced a smile as he replied, "How could that be, Uncle Ren? I know how good you and Auntie have been to me. How could I hold a grudge over such a small matter? What would that make me?"

"I am so grateful to you and the lady for giving me a place to stay during this time. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to work so comfortably as a temporary worker."

One offered a feigned compliment, the other feigned agreement.

They managed to keep the atmosphere lively and bustling.

Before long, the atmosphere in the room returned to harmony, as if the previous discord had never existed.

But Dong Xiaodi secretly decided to speed things up and catch up with Bai Xiaohui as soon as possible.

Once I marry her, I'll have a place to live.

His original plan was to be diligent and enthusiastic in the courtyard, hoping that some of the older women might introduce him to potential partners, so that he would have a place to live after his marriage.

However, he didn't expect that because he was from the countryside, the women introduced him to girls from the countryside, and they were all unemployed.

Brother Dong wouldn't even look at him.

He wants to find someone with a city household registration, preferably someone who owns their own house.

Since no one was going to introduce him, he decided to find it himself.

He had thoroughly investigated all the single women in the courtyard and surrounding area.

Bai Xiaohui was not originally within his scope of consideration.

But isn't this just a coincidence? Qi Baifan of hers had that kind of incident, and it's highly likely that his marriage won't last long, so she can consider it.

Bai Xiaohui was the one he felt was most suitable for him after some analysis.

Firstly, her family is small, she is an only child, and her parents can help her.

Secondly, given that Bai Xiaohui's man has just gone through that kind of thing, there's a high probability that he'll steal her away.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Bai family owns a house, so after I marry Bai Xiaohui, I can move in and won't have to depend on others anymore.

Dong Xiaodi began to think about how to win over Bai Xiaohui as soon as possible, and also about Qi Baifan.

He had seen Qi Baifan limping around for the past few days, and combined with the rumors,

According to Dong Xiaodi's estimation, he must have gone to sell hooks with Zheng Haiyang. He needs to find a time to let Bai Xiaohui know about this, otherwise how can she suffer a blow and how can he take advantage of the situation?

-----------------

On one side, Dong Xiaodi was wielding his hoe, ready to pry open the wall, while on the other side, Cheng Jiajia and Yu Junsheng were waiting to see Zhu Ziqiang and Sun Ling's big move. Even Yu Junsheng had figured out the courtyard where Qi Baifan and Director Wang were having an affair. However, after waiting for more than half a month, Sun Ling's side remained calm.

Both of them were getting impatient.

In the courtyard outside, Sun Ling was washing clothes by the tap. She looked distracted, practically wearing out a garment without changing it; it was clear she was lost in thought.

Cheng Jiajia winked at Yu Junsheng, "Shall we go do the laundry too?"

Having been married for so long, the two understand each other quite well, and Yu Junsheng immediately understood.

The wife was getting impatient and was about to give him a push.

He raised an eyebrow and pretended to recall, "Oh, I remember now, we still have some clothes that we changed out of yesterday that we haven't washed."

Cheng Jiajia's eyes lit up.

What a great idea!

No wonder he's the man she chose!

She ran to the bathroom, where there were indeed a few pieces of clothing that had been changed out of. Cheng Jiajia quickly gathered them into the laundry tub.

Then she picked up the basin and ran outside, her voice cheerful, "Come on, let's hurry up and wash these clothes, otherwise we won't have anything to change into tomorrow."

He didn't look like he was going to do laundry; he looked more like he couldn't wait to see the excitement.

Yu Junsheng smiled and followed.

"Honey, wait for me! I'll wash it!"

My wife is pregnant now, so it's naturally my job to do the laundry!

In the courtyard.

Cheng Jiajia stood to the side watching Yu Junsheng do the laundry, occasionally reminding him where the clothes weren't clean enough.

Sun Ling was absent-mindedly washing clothes on the side, not changing a single part of the garment in her hands for a long time. In her heart, she was still thinking that her brother Bai Fan had betrayed her, or that Zhu Ziqiang was definitely lying to her.

Zhu Ziqiang must have been lying to her!

Otherwise, she would have gone to that area several times without seeing Bai Fan or Zheng Haiyang.

Thinking this way, Sun Ling's mood, which had been depressed for a long time, finally brightened up a bit.

Suddenly, I heard the young couple next to me whispering to each other.

"Let me tell you, you'd better stay away from Zheng Haiyang. He's not a decent guy. Be careful he doesn't trick you into going out and selling you."

Yu Junsheng said smugly, "Wife, don't you know who your man is? Do you think I'm someone who's so easily fooled?"

“I’m not Qi Baifan. I don’t even bother with Zheng Haiyang.”

“Honey, let me tell you, that Qi Baifan has definitely been led astray by Zheng Haiyang. He’s been messing around outside. Last time I saw the two of them go into a courtyard together and didn’t come out until night.”

"Who knows what kind of shady business they're up to in there!"

Cheng Jiajia was shocked, "Really?!"

"Where have they been gallivanting off to?"

"Turn left onto xxx street, and it's the third house on the right, I think it's number xxx?"

"Oh my god, does Bai Xiaoyan know about this?"

"Absolutely not. If she knew, she would have made a huge scene. What woman can tolerate her man being a jerk?"

Did you hear that?

No woman could tolerate this!

Did you hear that?

On [name of street]!

Did you hear that?

At number xxx!

Please, please don't go to the wrong one!