Chapter 3, Section 3 Work
Sister-in-law Xue was getting impatient. Not only did she not make breakfast, but she also slept in late. She couldn't help but complain, "Look at the daughter-in-law that Aunt Wei married. She's so considerate! She got up early this morning to make steamed buns, and last night she chatted with the neighbors until midnight. That's a good daughter-in-law."
Hearing this, Zhou Ma became even more unhappy. What Sister-in-law Xue was trying to say was that she had made a mistake in choosing a husband and had married a lazy one. Lin Yuanshu was recommended to her by her childhood playmate; he was known for being considerate, capable, and easy to talk to in the surrounding area, and manipulating her was as easy as manipulating a soft persimmon.
She retorted without hesitation, "You don't know anything. Lin Yuanshu is very filial. She's been staying in her room so that I can have a grandson soon."
Upon hearing this, Sister-in-law Xue knew that Aunt Zhou had believed Lin Yuanshu's nonsense; even the oxen in the production team wouldn't dare to work so hard!
"Mom, you've met more people than I've eaten salt, how can you believe her nonsense!"
Zhou's mother touched her nose, feeling a little guilty. "Well, I can't just go and eavesdrop!"
Just as the two were considering whether to eavesdrop, Lin Yuanshu came out of the room. The tenement building was similar to the hotel in their previous life, except that the hotel room had a toilet, while the tenement building only had a public toilet.
Stepping out of the room, you can see room after room. It's hard to imagine that 20 families live on just one floor.
Next door is Zhou's parents' room, which is also divided in two, with one side serving as the living room and the other as the sleeping area for the elderly couple.
Zhou's father was somewhat lucky. Although his work ability was average, he unexpectedly saved the old factory director's life. To express his gratitude, the old factory director specially assigned him a room in a courtyard house.
They lived in the courtyard house for more than ten years. Then a leader wanted to exchange two rooms in a tenement building for the courtyard house. After he agreed, the family moved to the tenement building.
Lin Yuanshu had a good night's sleep and felt full of energy. The first step was to find himself a good job. Once he was financially independent, what couldn't he be independent of?
There's a saying that goes, "Money isn't everything, but you can't do without it. With money, you can solve most of life's troubles."
Seeing Lin Yuanshu's comfortable expression, Zhou Ma was very dissatisfied. She had been waiting for her outside, but Lin Yuanshu was sleeping soundly inside. Was this what a daughter-in-law should do?
"You're finally willing to get out of bed?" Aunt Zhou said sarcastically.
Lin Yuanshu waved his hand, "There's no other way, the mission is too difficult. Everything is for Mom to hold her grandson as soon as possible, so this sacrifice is only right."
Zhou Ma gritted her teeth and said, "You haven't been completing the task at all."
Lin Yuanshu disagreed, saying, "Mom, how can you think of me like that? You weren't in the room, how could you know what happened there? You can't let your sister-in-law sow discord; she's just jealous that I can have children."
"Have you no shame! How can you say such things? You keep talking about having children," the sister-in-law said angrily.
Lin Yuanshu glanced at Sister-in-law Xue and said softly, "Since you can't have children, of course we won't bring up this topic."
Neither Aunt Zhou nor Sister-in-law Xue could argue with Lin Yuanshu, so they sat silently on their stools, sulking, watching Lin Yuanshu sit at the table, drinking plain porridge with pickled vegetables.
A short while later, Zhou Xiangyang came out of the room. He thought his mother and wife would quarrel, but he didn't expect them to get along so well. He was completely unaware of this as he drank his porridge.
Seeing that Lin Yuanshu had put down his bowl and chopsticks, Aunt Zhou quickly said, "Little Second Wife, now that you've finished eating, go wash the dishes and then wash all the family's clothes. After you've done all that, call Aunt Wei's daughter-in-law next door to help clean the corridor. If it weren't for your wedding banquet, the corridor wouldn't be dirty, so cleaning it is your task."
Because Zhou Xiangyang's nickname is Xiao Er, Lin Yuanshu is Xiao Er's wife.
The second step to being a good daughter-in-law is to do housework without expecting anything in return.
Having lived for so many years, how could she not even be able to handle a daughter-in-law? She doesn't need a daughter-in-law with her own opinions; she only wants an obedient daughter-in-law who won't allow her authority to be challenged.
Upon hearing this, Lin Yuanshu looked at Zhou Xiangyang beside him and said in a serious tone, "Did you hear what Mom said? Remember to do the laundry and clean the corridor after you finish eating."
Zhou Xiangyang nodded obediently.
Aunt Zhou quickly stopped her, saying, "I told you to go, why are you calling for Xiao Er!"
Lin Yuanshu looked at Zhou Ma with a serious expression and said earnestly, "Mom, I have to go out to look for a job today, so I really don't have time to do this kind of housework. As my husband, Comrade Zhou Xiangyang should share the burden with me, so it's normal for him to help me with some housework. Besides, the wedding banquet isn't just my wedding banquet; your son will also be doing half of it. Don't worry about who does the work; someone can do it, so you don't need to worry about it."
She's not stupid. Although she never got married in her previous life, she's read a lot of novels about power struggles within wealthy families. The focus isn't on housework, but on how Zhou Ma is testing her limits and trying to control her.
If she agrees to do housework today, then housework will be her job tomorrow.
Zhou Xiangyang nodded thoughtfully, silently replying in his mind, "I'll do it."
"You? Looking for a job? Are you kidding me! How could you possibly find a job!" Zhou's mother mocked without any politeness.
“If we don’t look for it, we’ll never find it. Whether we can find it or not, we have to look for it first to have any hope!” Lin Yuanshu ignored Zhou Ma’s sarcastic tone and explained seriously.
She wasn't explaining this to Zhou's mother, but to Zhou Xiangyang. As long as Zhou Xiangyang didn't side with his mother, she could be fearless.
At this moment, Zhou Xiangyang was not listening to the argument between the two. He was calculating how much time it would take to wash the dishes, do the laundry, and clean the corridor, since today was the day he was going to return books to the library.
“You think jobs are so easy to find? Give up! Don’t bother looking for work, you won’t find one anyway. The thing you should be doing right now is letting me hold my grandson as soon as possible,” Zhou’s mother said smugly.
The second son's wife has been saying she wants to have a baby, so let her have one!
Lin Yuanshu pretended to be embarrassed and said, "Mom, you can't do this kind of thing during the day!"
Zhou Ma: "..." It seems she's being forced to use her last resort.
“If you dare to go out and look for a job today, then you can forget about eating at my house,” Zhou Ma said smugly.
Lin Yuanshu blinked and asked excitedly, "Since you won't let me eat your food, does that mean I don't have to fulfill my duty of carrying on the family line? Anyway, I haven't eaten any of your rice."
Zhou Ma was stunned for a moment. Looking at Lin Yuanshu's excited expression, she couldn't bring herself to say "yes" because she was afraid that Lin Yuanshu would actually do it.
Just as Sister-in-law Xue was about to speak up for Aunt Zhou, Lin Yuanshu gave her a look, and she immediately shut up. Her sister-in-law's words were quite harsh; there wasn't a single vulgar word, but they were like knives, stabbing people's hearts with pain.
After everyone shut up, Lin Yuanshu took the bowl to the tap next to the toilet to wash it. After all, this was the only place to wash things. Fortunately, the morning rush hour for using the tap was over, so there was no need to queue now.
When Aunt Wen, Lin Yuanshu’s neighbor, saw him washing a bowl all by himself, she asked curiously, “Why are you washing a bowl by yourself?”
Lin Yuanshu replied in a serious tone, "Then I can't wash only half a bowl!"
She knew what her neighbor was trying to say, so she decided not to follow that approach.
Aunt Wen was at a loss for words! She didn't know if Lin Yuanshu was saying that on purpose or if he hadn't understood her question.
Just as Lin Yuanshu was about to leave with the bowl in his hand, he saw Sun Yiyi washing dishes in a wooden bucket in the corner. She exclaimed in surprise, "Aren't you my savior? I never thought you'd marry into this family!"
If Sun Yiyi hadn't saved the original owner, the original owner would have died long ago. The original owner's parents also gave Sun Yiyi a large sum of money as a reward, half of the original owner's dowry was spent on this.
Sun Yiyi looked at Lin Yuanshu with a complicated expression. This was her second life. In her previous life, she married Zhou Xiangyang, thinking she would live a good life. However, her mother-in-law made things difficult for her, her sister-in-law targeted her, and her husband not only didn't speak up for her but also wouldn't let her touch him. She lived in a state of misery.
At this time, only her neighbor Wei Yong cared about her, so she naturally fell in love with him. After his wife died in childbirth, Wei Yong never remarried. After she became pregnant with Wei Yong's child, she prepared to divorce Zhou Xiangyang. Unexpectedly, before she could get a divorce, she was beaten to death on her way to buy groceries.
The first thing she did after being reborn was to save Lin Yuanshu. In her previous life, she heard from Aunt Zhou that Lin Yuanshu was originally her choice for daughter-in-law, but Lin Yuanshu unfortunately drowned before she moved in, so she chose her as her second choice.
This time, she didn't want to be a second choice; she just wanted everything to get back on track so that Zhou Ma could "marry" the daughter-in-law she wanted, and she could marry the person she loved. To ensure everything went smoothly, she even spent money to bribe Zhou Ma's friend to speak well of Lin Yuanshu, which facilitated the marriage.
Although she caused Lin Yuanshu to marry into the Zhou family, she also saved Lin Yuanshu's life, so she didn't owe Lin Yuanshu anything, and the two were even.
"I am the new bride of the Wei family. I just married into the family yesterday."
Lin Yuanshu suddenly realized and said, "I didn't expect you to be the person who held the wedding banquet with me yesterday. It's a pity I wasn't feeling well at the time and didn't pay much attention to you. If you encounter any trouble in the future, come to me. Not to mention, I'm super good at arguing."
Although the original owner and Sun Yiyi were in the same village, they were not very familiar with each other. The original owner was busy going to school, while Sun Yiyi was busy doing chores. The children in the village were jealous that the original owner could go to school, so the original owner did not have many friends. On weekdays, she went to school, and when she didn't go to school, she stayed at home doing housework. She rarely played with other children of the same age in the village.
Sun Yiyi gave a faint smile. "Okay."
Her mother-in-law from her past life must have been very happy to have "married" the daughter-in-law she had always dreamed of. Judging from Lin Yuanshu's behavior, he didn't seem like someone who was easy to talk to. This could be considered getting what she wanted.
Lin Yuanshu put the bowls and chopsticks into the cupboard in the living room and then prepared to go back to his room.
Zhou Ma still didn't give up and tried to stop Lin Yuanshu from going out. Sister-in-law Xue shook her head at Zhou Ma. After thinking for a while, Zhou Ma finally didn't stop Lin Yuanshu and angrily said to Zhou Xiangyang, "It's one thing to be unable to speak properly, but you can't even manage your wife. What use are you!"
If you say the second son's wife is lazy, at least she knows to wash her own dishes. If you say she's diligent, she doesn't want to do any housework except for washing her own dishes.
Zhou Xiangyang felt wronged. It wasn't his idea to get married, and he didn't choose this wife either, so how could he be blamed?
He followed Lin Yuanshu back into the room.
Lin Yuanshu frowned and asked Zhou Xiangyang, "What do you want to say? If it's something unpleasant, you don't have to say it. If it's something for my own good, you don't have to say it either."
Zhou Xiangyang paused for a moment, then took out his key, opened the wooden box under the bed, pulled out a wallet, and handed a ten-yuan note to Lin Yuanshu. Although he didn't know what Lin Yuanshu wanted to do, he knew that Lin Yuanshu must be short of money.
Lin Yuanshu joked, "I didn't expect that you would hand over your salary every month and still have some savings on your own."
Her husband is decent; at least he's not stingy. He knows she needs money and is willing to give her some. There's a saying that goes, "A man who gives you money doesn't necessarily love you, but a man who doesn't give you money definitely doesn't love you."
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