After dinner, it was already dark, and He Chunsheng held a lantern to send He Ruixue home.

He Xiaojie suddenly stood up and said, "Aunt, I'll stay at your house tonight."

Wang Taozhi nodded and agreed for her. "Well, I just thought that the tomatoes planted by your aunt's family need to be pruned. You should get up early tomorrow and finish the work before going to work."

"Mom, how can you order your daughter around like that? I'm just staying here for one night and you've given me so much to do."

"If you're someone who only cares about the easy stuff and can't even bear the slightest bit of fatigue, how can you ever amount to anything? If I really want to make things difficult for you, I should just learn from Zhou Erya and ignore you and leave you to starve."

Sun Laiyi's food supply had always been controlled by Zhou Erya. She said she wanted to break off the engagement, but in fact, she would take her food home early every time she went to buy food, and she and Sun Jinbao would eat their fill. She didn't care whether her daughter would starve to death because of lack of food.

People from the street office came to talk to her several times, but she always agreed verbally but never did what she said. They couldn't force her to take the rice out and give it to Sun Laiyi, so they had to give up.

However, Sun Laiyi was really abnormal. He didn't make a complete fuss. He just went out more and more frequently, and sometimes he didn't come back for two days.

He Ruixue realized that she had hooked up with a small boss in the black market. She took advantage of the information gap to engage in speculation and profiteering, made a little money from it, and also made some so-called friends.

Now she rents a small house outside and lives with her neighbors. Although she is still not satisfied with the food, at least she doesn't have to worry about the next meal.

However, this matter was not to be made public. Others did not know what Sun Laiyi was doing. Seeing her hiding it and often wearing new clothes, the unpleasant words spread more and more widely.

When Sun Laiyi found out, the rumor had already spread to almost everyone. She was immediately furious and tried to explain herself, but others thought she was guilty. She could only try to reduce the frequency of going out.

But Zhou Erya would not let her have an easy time at home. She said very unpleasant things and always instigated Sun Jinbao to steal her things.

She didn't want to cause more trouble, so she would not fall out with her family and could only endure it silently.

It will be soon. When Huo Tingxun comes to take her out of her suffering, what will the gossip of these people in the yard matter?

By then, they will have no way to get involved with her and can only watch her enjoy herself.

He Xiaojie wasn't threatened by her. Instead, she shook her head and said, "Mom, I just don't understand. Sun Laiyi is so young and has all the necessary skills, why doesn't she do something real? She doesn't like the work assigned by the neighborhood office. Aren't there factories around here hiring temporary workers? She could at least learn a skill. Is she planning to stay like this forever?"

"You control her. I think she's very generous. I'm afraid she looks down on us workers."

"You must be kidding me. She doesn't even have a job, so how can she look down on others?"

Wang Taozhi curled her lips. "Huh? Your mother has lived for decades. What kind of people have I not seen? When she met me, her head was almost grown out of the top of her head. I wanted to slap her in the face, but I was afraid of being blackmailed by her."

Sun Laiyi was arrogant. Although he would greet her every time he passed by her, the contempt and sympathy in his eyes made people instinctively dislike him.

In the past, He Ruixue was just openly arrogant. She had no skills at all, and no one knew where she got the confidence to show off every day.

…

Before going to bed, He Xiaojie tossed and turned thinking about how to find out about the Niu family.

He Ruixue was so disturbed that she turned over and slapped her on the back, "Where do you get so much energy? Work isn't enough for you, why are you suddenly meddling in other people's affairs?"

"Aunt, you don't know, before I graduated, I was anxious to find a job. When I really had no other choice, I thought about getting married early.

It just so happened that Niu Liye was about the same age as me and he was not bad looking, so I planned to live with him. But when my mother heard about my idea, she immediately scolded me and said that even if I married Li Duoliang, I should never marry into the Niu family.

My dad's expression was very serious at the time, which scared me. I was worried that he would come over and beat me up, but luckily he didn't."

He Ruixue glanced at her and said, "Your parents don't want you to know for your own good. There's no need to know everything."

Fang Wanggui did tell her a piece of news about the Niu family.

He also heard from the old people in the yard that Zhong Guilan's eldest son and second daughter both looked like Niu Baoguo, but her youngest daughter did not look like him, but looked a bit like his eldest son Niu Anjia.

In just one sentence, a lot of information is contained.

Normally, Niu An's family would praise his younger sister to the sky, buying her whatever she wants, and he worked tirelessly to support the mother and her children. This also gives us some clues.

When it comes to family matters, everyone is very secretive and usually keeps their distance from the Niu family.

Ordinary people know what gossip can be told and what cannot be told.

If anything about the Niu family were to be leaked out, the reputation of their entire family would be ruined.

He Ruixue reminded her, "Niu Anjia is a jerk. He'll hit people when he gets impulsive. Otherwise, no one would want to marry him even though he's in his thirties. Don't mess with him. If you really provoke him, he might set your house on fire."

Thinking of the fire at the Sun family's house before, He Xiaojie was still frightened and shook her head quickly, "I know, aunt, I will definitely not let them find out."

I haven't given up yet.

"Alright, if you want to investigate, go ask the elders in the courtyard, especially the two from the Zhao family. But first, let me tell you, no matter what you find out, you must remain calm and don't rush to tell others."

"Okay, aunt, I'll be careful. I'm a working person after all, so don't treat me like a child."

The next day, He Xiaojie got up early, steamed two corn cobs for breakfast, fed the chickens, and then got busy pruning tomatoes, thinning cucumbers and loofahs, and removing the branches and leaves on the tops of pepper seedlings... Like a hardworking little bee, she was busy in the vegetable garden.

When He Ruixue got up, she saw a piece of chicken fluff on her head. She opened her palm like offering a treasure and said, "Auntie, look what I found this morning."

She looked closely and found that it was an egg.

The first egg laid by a hen is usually smaller, only half the size of a normal egg, and is prone to having a soft or broken shell.

But perhaps it was because He Xiaoyou was too diligent in catching fish and shrimps and feeding them, her chickens were not lacking in calcium, and the eggs in front of her were fine except that they were a little small.

"My mom said first-cut eggs are very nutritious. Should I cook them for you?"

He Ruixue nodded, "You just picked this one?"

"Yeah, I guess one of the chickens was impatient and laid the eggs first."

After the corn and eggs were cooked, He Ruixue peeled the shells and broke off half of them for her. "Here, you've been busy all morning, you should replenish yourself."

"Thank you, aunt."

He Xiaojie took it, bit off most of it, and smiled foolishly, "This egg is so delicious."

Domestic chickens rarely eat feed, so their egg yolks are orange-red and have a naturally rich flavor.