At noon, Ge Qiuqin brought out the stewed chicken pieces and fried a few dough cakes. Zhang Xin had returned to the army, leaving only Erbannu and Zhang Lei at home for lunch.
"Mom, little sister, try these chicken nuggets, they taste great!"
The woman on the second board pursed her lips, leaned forward and smelled it; it smelled good.
She picked up a piece and put it in her mouth; it really tasted good.
"Qiuqin, did you make these chicken nuggets?"
"I made it. Xia came over and helped me adjust the flavor. Her cooking skills are better than mine."
As Ge Qiuqin spoke, she was about to sit down and eat together.
The woman on the second board said unhappily:
"Qiuqin, you and your maid go to the kitchen to eat. Leave the boys here. They don't know the rules of the city and still want to eat at the same table as their mother!"
Ge Qiuqin sat up helplessly. In the village, she had always eaten around the stove and had never been allowed to sit at the table. She had thought things would be better after moving to the city, but it turned out she was back to square one.
The eldest son, Zhang Zhicheng, saw his mother being scolded by his grandmother and retorted.
"Why can't my mom and sister eat at the table? My aunt is a woman too, so why can she?"
The woman on the second board picked up her chopsticks and hit Zhang Zhicheng on the head twice.
"I'll talk back to you! I'll talk back to you! You rude brat, how dare you criticize me? Is this how your mother raised you?"
Zhang Zhixin covered his head and cried, then said:
“My mom works so hard cooking, why can’t she eat at the table? My aunt does nothing but eat here, it’s not fair.”
Zhang Lei got angry and spat in Zhang Zhicheng's face, spraying rice grains all over his face.
“Ge Qiuqin, is this how you raise your child? You’re such an ill-mannered brat, talking to me like that. Just like your mother, all you do is yell and shout.”
She grabbed Zhang Zhicheng's ear and pulled hard, making him cry out in pain.
Ge Qiuqin pushed Zhang Lei away; she couldn't bear to see her son being bullied like this.
"Little sister, you went too far. This is your nephew, you can't do this to him."
"Pah! Ge Qiuqin has plenty of women who can have children for my brother. Do I care about the kids you've given birth to? Don't give me that nonsense. So what if Mom and I are staying at your house? Do we have to be subservient to you? You think you're so great just because you've moved to the city?"
Zhang Lei stood with her hands on her hips, cursing loudly.
Ge Qiuqin was really afraid of disturbing the neighbors in the courtyard and making a fool of herself. Her sister-in-law's words were really rude, so she decided to just bear with it and wait for them to go back.
She led her daughter and eldest son into the kitchen, and her two remaining sons, seeing this, stopped eating and followed her in.
At the dinner table, Erbannu and her daughter Zhang Lei exchanged a smile, then stuffed large mouthfuls of chicken into their mouths, their mouths greasy with oil.
"Mom, why did Grandma act like that? I don't like them. When are they leaving?"
When her daughter asked Ge Qiuqin a question, Ge Qiuqin covered her mouth, signaling her to be quiet so that no one outside could hear.
"Kids, your grandma and aunt will be back in a while. Just don't say anything to them these next few days, and don't upset them, or your dad will be unhappy again."
Hearing their mother say this, the children were still shaken. The scene of their father hitting their mother last time was truly terrifying. If their father got angry again, their mother would suffer again.
"Mom, I understand."
"Okay, Mom."
The four children were talking in hushed tones.
Ge Qiuqin ladled a spoonful of chicken soup from the pot on the stove into each child's bowl. Since all the chicken pieces were on the table outside, they could only eat fried dough sticks soaked in chicken soup.
"Qiuqin, come out and get me some water. I'm feeling really thirsty."
The woman on the second board shouted loudly.
Ge Qiuqin obediently took the thermos and went out to pour a cup of hot water for her mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
"Sister-in-law, come out and heat up these chicken pieces. The food is getting cold and I can't eat it properly."
Zhang Lei then shouted.
The second-in-command had already planned it out. If she forced Ge Qiuqin to divorce Zhang Xin, she was afraid that her boss would have a bad impression of her son. So she could only torment Ge Qiuqin at home until she couldn't take it anymore and would finally give up and take the initiative to propose a divorce.
Saying this out loud won't affect our son. It's not that we don't want him; it's that our daughter-in-law insists on a divorce. We might even smear her reputation by saying she's having an affair and is making a fuss about getting a divorce.
Ge Qiuqin was exhausted from running in and out of the kitchen all afternoon, and her mother-in-law's arrival made her even more tired. Let alone doing business with Xia Enruo, she was already too busy to handle the work of serving others.
Xia Enru went to Tian Xiuli's house to borrow a cart. To her surprise, Tian Xiuli readily agreed, telling her that she could use her own cart whenever she wanted, since she rarely used it and it was just sitting in the yard.
Since their last trip to the military base together, Tian Xiuli's opinion of Xia Enruo has completely changed. Now, the more she looks at Xia Enruo, the more pleasing she becomes. In the past, Qiao Huizhen always spoke ill of her, but now it seems that Qiao Huizhen is the most despicable person.
With the handcart settled, it seems like selling boxed lunches should be put on the agenda. I'll wait until I have some free time to go out and get everything ready before adding this new business.
In the afternoon, she took the board and went to the medical university to collect the clothes again, twice a day, for two hours each time. Xia Enruo plans to do this for now.
She stood there shouting.
Jiang Ting saw that Xia Enruo's sign said "laundry shop," and guessed that Mao Xiangling had brought her clothes here to be washed.
She walked up to Xia Enruo and said:
"Hey, laundry worker. Wasn't there a girl wearing white leather shoes who brought over two white shirts this morning?"
Xia Enruo found this tone incredibly rude. Even though the other students weren't doing laundry, they at least addressed her as "sister." This girl, however, just started with "Hey, hey, hey."
"Is a pretty young lady here to deliver some clothes? Is there something you need?"
"Let me tell you, that girl has a contagious disease, be careful she doesn't infect you. I think you should throw those clothes away as soon as possible, or you might lose your life before you even make any money."
Xia Enruo immediately recognized him as another troublemaker, whose manner of speaking bore a striking resemblance to Qiao Huizhen.
How do you know she has an infectious disease?
"She's my classmate and roommate, of course I know!"
Xia Enru rolled her eyes at Jiang Ting.
"That's strange. You go to class with her every day and live together. Does that mean you've already been infected by her?"
Jiang Ting was a little angry after hearing Xia Enruo's words.
"How can you talk like that? How did I get infected?"
Xia Enruo replied unhurriedly.
"Isn't this what you said? She has an infectious disease, and I can get infected just by washing clothes? Then you would have been infected long ago. Is there anything wrong with what I said?"
"What do you know? You dare to challenge us medical students? Do you even understand what you're doing?"
“I may not know as much about medicine as you do, but I know that classmates should love and help each other, not gossip and stab each other in the back. You’re in college now, you’re an intellectual, do you need me to teach you about shame, etiquette and morality?”
Jiang Ting was speechless after being scolded. She had only made up the story to scare Mao Xiangling so that she would never dare to accept Mao Xiangling's clothes again. She never expected to be taught a lesson by herself.
"Hmph. There's no point in talking to an illiterate like you."
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