Chunyan, clutching a stack of quilts, ran frantically, shouting as she ran, "Auntie, save me!"
Liang Shuyan looked at Chunyan, stepped forward and pulled Chunyan behind her, her eyes fixed on Zhao Shi: "What are you doing? Didn't we agree that Chunyan would come to my house? Besides, it's close to the school, so it'll be convenient for her to go there!"
"Sister-in-law, why go to school? Chunyan will be married in two years. Why not stay home and learn some needlework or do some chores? That would be better than going to school!"
Liang Shuyan was displeased and retorted, "What? Are you trying to get me to spend money, or is Chunyan not your biological daughter? Children who go to school are just different from those who don't. What are you thinking?"
Chunyan held Liang Shuyan's lower back tightly with both hands and whispered, "Auntie, it's my mother who wants the money for my schooling. She said that it's a waste of money for my schooling, and it's not worth it. She wants me to give her the money for schooling. I didn't give it to her, so my mother chased me out and even tried to beat me."
Liang Shuyan never expected that Zhao would have such thoughts, wanting to swallow up the money meant for Chunyan's schooling. She gritted her teeth and said, "What are you thinking? I will give this money directly to the school. It has nothing to do with you. Not only are you preventing Chunyan from going to school, but you also want to swallow the money I gave for Chunyan's schooling. How can you love money so much?"
“Sister-in-law, don’t worry about it. I have to make the decision. Chunyan is our child. If I don’t want her to go to school, then she can’t go to school. Why should my child have to be decided by you? She’s a girl. If she doesn’t do any housework at home, who will do the housework if she leaves?”
So, after all that talk, Zhao was worried that there would be no one to do the housework after Chunyan left. That was the main reason.
Li Lanfang walked out of the courtyard, holding a stick in her hand. Pointing at Zhao Shi, she cursed, "You heartless wretch! Chunyan is your daughter and my granddaughter. What? Not only are you unwilling to pay for Chunyan's schooling, but now that your sister-in-law is willing to pay for Chunyan's schooling, you're trying to swindle the five coins for Chunyan's tuition! Are you even human? I'm going to keep Chunyan here today, what can you do about it, you stupid, heartless fool!"
Zhao was scolded by her mother-in-law and didn't know what to say. After hesitating for a long time, she finally stammered, "Mother, what are you saying? Our Chunyan is about to get married. Why should she go to school?"
"Get married? Don't think I don't know what you're plotting. You're so lazy, you leave all the housework to Chunyan. What, are you afraid that if Chunyan leaves, there will be no one to do the housework? Two meals a day, is there no one to cook and wash the dishes?"
The old lady's words hit the nail on the head regarding Zhao's thoughts, and everyone started to discuss it.
"Oh dear, that Zhao woman is really heartless. It's one thing for her to be unwilling to spend five coins to send Chunyan to school, but now that Aunt Dashan is willing to pay for Chunyan to attend school, she actually wants those five coins and tries to get Chunyan to give them to her. She's shameless!"
"That's right, how could there be such a heartless mother? If I were Chunyan, I would stay by Dashan's side and take good care of her. I would never acknowledge this Zhao woman again. She is truly despicable, even worse than a stepmother."
Aunt Liu coughed lightly twice: "Your family isn't doing badly, so why are you so stingy? You can't even come up with five coins. Are you saving like this for your family? I saw your sister-in-law buy a silk dress the other day. Look at you, you're such a sucker!"
Upon hearing Aunt Liu's words, Zhao pointed at her and said, "That's impossible! You're talking nonsense! Why are you deliberately trying to sow discord between us siblings?"
After saying this, Zhao stormed off in a huff.
Chunyan knelt before Liang Shuyan, kowtowing repeatedly: "Auntie, thank you. Chunyan is able to go to school, just like other children, all thanks to you, Auntie. I'm willing to work for you to pay off my debts, so please don't let me pay for my school fees!"
Liang Shuyan felt that this girl still had backbone, and hurriedly helped Chunyan up from the ground: "Alright, now you can live at your aunt's house and live with your sister Ruyan. You can go to school together. When you come home, you can help with any chores. If there are no chores, you can do some needlework."
"Thank you, Auntie!"
A chorus of praise for Liang Shuyan rose from the crowd.
"Oh, Auntie is so great! I hope Chunyan will be grateful and remember Auntie's kindness if she becomes successful in the future!"
Zhao Heng gave a thumbs up and jumped out from the crowd.
Niu Niu rolled her eyes at Zhao Heng: "Of course! My mom can not only cook delicious food, but she also buys clothes for my grandma and for all of us. Moreover, my mom can make money. She can earn several hundred coins from just one bucket of cold noodles!"
The plump auntie stared wide-eyed in surprise: "Really? Niu Niu, don't talk nonsense. How can a bucket of jelly make so much money? You can't even earn that much working on a construction site in a day!"
Aunt Liu shook her head: "You don't know, Da Shan's mother has already bought a lot of things for the family by selling cold noodles. She not only feeds the children well, but also buys them clothes. She also takes very good care of her mother-in-law. I heard that she's going to build a house next!"
The plump aunt looked at Liang Shuyan with great envy: "Auntie, your family's cold noodles are so profitable, could you find me a job too, so I can do some work? Look at my deadbeat husband, he's lazy and doesn't do anything. My two kids and I still need to eat, don't we?"
Aunt Pang was quite hardworking. Compared to Zhao Shi, aside from her loud voice and love of gossip, she had no bad intentions. In that respect, Aunt Pang was quite willing to help her. However, she already had enough people at home, and the cold noodle shop didn't need many people. So she said, "How about this, we have enough people for the cold noodle shop for now, so we don't need any help. How about this, when my workshop hires workers, I'll call you, and you can come and help. The pay is at least ten coins a day!"
Upon hearing this, the plump aunt was even more surprised: "What? Your family also has a workshop? What kind of workshop?"
Everyone looked at Liang Shuyan with curiosity, wondering what kind of workshop her family would have next.
"It's still in the planning stage, so it's hard to say. Once we've finalized everything, we'll start building the work sheds. We'll need a lot of manpower then, so we hope everyone will come. We'll pay you as usual!"
Sanwang tugged at Liang Shuyan's arm curiously: "Mom, what kind of workshop are we going to open? Is it like the noodle shop?"
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