"It's nothing serious, it's just... you and your mother... she wants that thing between you to just be left unmentioned and forgotten?"

"That matter, yeah, it's in the past, what else could we do?"

Su Yun'er smiled faintly, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.

Stumped by Su Yun'er's question, He Liu didn't know how to answer.

"In the end, she's still my mother-in-law. What can I do with her? It's not that she's bad to me or doesn't care about my hard work; she's just easily swayed and got confused by lies. I've reasoned with her, and she apologized. So, I can't hit her, I can't yell at her, and I can't separate from her and live separately. What else can I do?"

"That's true, you don't have any other choice."

“Auntie, you know, sometimes you can argue and debate right and wrong with outsiders about certain things, but when it comes to your own family, you can’t argue or debate anymore. Many times, family is about feelings, not reason.”

Su Yun'er's words were devoid of emotion, spoken in a detached tone.

"The way you said it makes me feel so...so..." He Liu couldn't think of a good word for a moment.

"Helpless," Su Yun'er added for her.

"Yes, it's just helplessness."

“My mother-in-law is relatively good; she is quite clear-headed and reasonable. If it were an unreasonable mother-in-law, she would probably conspire with that gossipy old woman to devise a terrible plan to deal with me, determined to squeeze every last drop of blood and every last bite of flesh from me.”

Many story fragments flashed through Su Yun'er's mind, all from novels and TV dramas she had read in her previous life, all featuring a tragic daughter-in-law and a wicked mother-in-law.

"You're absolutely right! I noticed how polite she was to you this morning. She agreed to everything you said and was very easy to talk to." A hint of envy appeared in He Liu's eyes.

When she first married into the family, her mother-in-law was paralyzed in bed and had a terrible temper, scolding her from morning till night. He Liu endured several years of misfortune as a daughter-in-law.

"So, in that case, I've turned misfortune into blessing? I've completely won over my mother-in-law and become the head of the household?" Su Yun'er couldn't help but chuckle.

The two women arrived at their usual stall location. The sun was high in the sky. He Liu put one hand on her hip and used the other to shield her eyes as she looked towards the dock.

Under the sunlight, laborers, bent over and carrying heavy loads, lined up and busied themselves.

Among them was Guan Tianhe, the man who was associated with He Liu.

"Today is Lao Guan's first day of work. I don't know if he'll be able to adapt," He Liu said with some concern.

"Don't worry, Brother Wan will take care of him. It's just that the work at the dock must be tiring, so Uncle Guan needs to eat more good food to nourish him," Su Yun'er reassured her.

"It's tiring, but how can we make money if we're not tired? Yun'er, I brought some pickled vegetables and pancakes that I made. Do you think we can sell them together with tofu pudding?"

The pickled vegetables were homemade by He Liu, and the flatbread was just coarse grain flatbread—simple and rough, but it was a token of He Liu's goodwill.

"Okay, Auntie, the pickled vegetables are free, and the pancakes are two coins each. Use the money you earn to make something nice for your family when you get home." Su Yun'er said while tidying up the stall. "Oh, right, Auntie, I was too tired last night and forgot to tell you about the daily wages."

"Forget about wages, why are we even discussing that?"

“It’s precisely because it’s the two of us that we should discuss this. How could I possibly take advantage of you for nothing? I’ll give you 20% of the daily profits. As for these pancakes, whether they’re from gods or demons, as long as there are any, all the profits are yours,” Su Yun’er said.

This was clearly to take care of He Liu, and He Liu naturally knew it, so she quickly worked even harder.

The tent is rectangular, with one side open, facing the cart stall. After the laborers line up to get their tofu pudding, they can go directly into the tent to find a place to sit down and eat.

After work at noon, workers started coming in one after another to eat tofu pudding.

"Miss Su, you've set up this curtain well. It's much warmer in here than outside."

"I see that the canal administration has put up tents over the dining sheds they've set up. It should be much warmer over there now," Su Yun'er said, glancing towards the dock.

The canal administration is responsible for matters related to the inland river wharves.

"Hmph, it's just for show. They can't even afford to light a fire inside the tent, what's the point of just blocking it out? Besides, those are called tents, they're just two layers of tattered cloth, not even as warm as the old rags my wife made for me." Someone snorted.

It made everyone laugh.

Guan Tianhe and Wan Youfu arrived together. As usual, Wan Youfu arrived later, and there were far fewer customers. Judging from Guan Tianhe's gait, he was probably exhausted.

He Liu felt extremely distressed, but she was too busy to leave, so she could only ask a few questions during the brief time she was collecting money and getting food.

While He Liu was working, his eyes kept looking in Guan Tianhe's direction.

Guan Tianhe's hands were trembling uncontrollably, and the bowl and chopsticks were shaking as well. It was clear that he was trying to restrain himself, but to little avail.

Seeing this, He Liu quickly found a spoon, washed it twice, and handed it to Guan Tianhe.

"Hey, let's use a spoon."

Guan Tianhe looked down at the hand holding the spoon and saw his wife looking at him with worry in her eyes.

He smiled, but you could see the fatigue on his face: "It's okay, I'm fine."

Wan Youfu knew that He Liu was Guan Tianhe's wife. Seeing the couple caring for each other, he chuckled and said, "Your wife is just worried about you. You two chat, I'll go get some more rice."

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