Chapter 4: Shameless Woman
"Sister-in-law, your baby is too timid. He will be a real worry to me when he grows up."
As Liu Xiangqin said this, she glanced at the corn grits paste that had already boiled in the hanging pot, stood up, and said to Zhai Zhaodi, "This is for Baoer."
"If you're hungry, Auntie will cook it later and you can have a bowl too."
Hearing that the cornmeal porridge in the hanging pot was cooked for Baoer, Zhai Zhaodi walked into the side room and her face was immediately filled with anger. She pointed at Baoer and angrily said, "Why give it to him? He is just a wild child without a father."
"Sister-in-law! What does Zhaodi mean? Baoer's father went to the army to build the motherland. What do you mean he has no father?" Wang Ziru's face turned cold in an instant.
"What a joke, kid. If you care so much, why don't you call your man back?" Liu Xiangqin instantly put on a sarcastic face.
Just now she heard the third son's wife say she wanted a divorce in the yard, and she was very excited. She had been married to the Zhai family for nine years, and such a large family was squeezed under one roof. Their daughter Zhaodi was already seven years old, and they couldn't continue to sleep together.
If Wang Ziru and Zhai Ximo divorced and took her son away from the Zhai family, then the room where they lived now could be vacated for her daughter Zhaodi.
Wang Ziru sneered, "Sister-in-law, you are making fun of me when you say that."
After a pause, Wang Ziru looked fiercely at Zhaodi, who was standing next to her eldest sister-in-law and had the same ferocious look as Mrs. Liu, and said coldly, "This pot of corn porridge is for Baoer! Are you hungry? Let your mother cook it yourself."
Zhai Zhaodi couldn't help but shudder. What's wrong with this idiot today?
Why did I feel like I was being eaten alive by her eyes?
Liu Xiangqin was immediately enraged. She turned around and looked at Wang Ziru, sneering, "You are all kids! This fire was just lit by my man. You want to let your son eat all the food in this house? I will shovel this fire now!"
"Hmph, Liu Xiangqin, you can try. You've bullied us mother and son enough over the years!" Wang Ziru put Baoer on the chair beside her and picked up the grass-chopping knife that was still at her feet again with a cruel look on her face.
Liu Xiangqin was also frightened by the sudden ruthlessness that Wang Ziru exuded, and she shuddered violently.
She pointed at Wang Ziru and cursed, "You shameless vixen, if you hadn't slept with his uncle, how could the Zhai family have a woman like you who ruined the family today?"
"Shameless woman! Shameless, shameless..."
Zhai Zhaodi imitated her mother's scolding tone and also pointed at Wang Ziru and cursed her.
The next moment, he was pulled out by Liu Xiangqin.
As she walked out, she kept cursing and pretended to find her own man to support her.
In the palm-sized side room, Wang Ziru dropped her scythe knife and quickly picked up Bao'er. "Don't be afraid, Bao'er! From now on, no one will dare to bully you. Mom will beat up those bad guys."
Baoer was already shaking with fear, and was even more frightened by her mother's sudden outburst of ferocity, making her unable to utter a word.
There was a noise coming from the courtyard outside.
Wang Ziru heard that the second brother and his family had also returned from working in the fields.
The second son of the Zhai family is smart and has learned carpentry, so usually, when there are conflicts at home, they tend to smooth things over.
Wang Ziru received all the memories from the original owner bit by bit, but just a bowl of corn grits porridge was not enough to fill the mother and son.
She filled a bowl of porridge for Baoer and asked him to sit by the fire and eat it first.
Then, he got up and went to the thatched hut kitchen opposite, but couldn't find any edible ingredients anywhere.
There are clearly a few hens in the chicken pen at the back, so why can't I find a single egg?
Yes, usually when the chickens at home laid eggs, Mrs. Liu would quickly pick up the eggs and hide them in her own room.
Then, when the strong ones at home were out working, she would cook eggs at home by herself.
The original owner had witnessed this many times.
Zhai Ximo didn't use the money he sent home for the mother and son, and he wasn't even willing to give Bao'er an egg!
The Zhai family must be divided tonight.
Wang Ziru was also very hungry. She drank half a bowl of corn grits porridge that Baoer had not finished, barely filling her stomach. Then she carried Baoer back to her room and lay down.
The small room where they lived was located behind the main house. The yellow mud walls had long been covered with a layer of mottled marks from black smoke. There was a small wooden window on the south wall, which was covered with thick tape to block out the cold air outside.
This room never sees the sun all year round, and the shabby bed is covered with a quilt that has long turned black.
Next to the bed was a shabby wardrobe with patches of red paint missing here and there. No one knew how many years it had been used.
If it weren't for the bright tile on the roof, it would be almost night in this room.
Lying on the bed, Wang Ziru was thinking about the future life of her family.
I could clearly hear my eldest and second sister-in-law discussing what happened at home today in the front yard.
…
The farce in which Mrs. Liu rushed into the house with a wooden stick to beat Wang Ziru, but was countered by Wang Ziru with a pig grass knife, spread quickly throughout the Zhai family like a gust of wind.
Even the neighbors who lived next to the Zhai family's yard heard the rumor that the third daughter-in-law of the Zhai family was going to beat her mother-in-law.
In the thatched hut, the two daughters-in-law of the Zhai family were cooking dinner for the family.
The two women usually team up to deal with Wang Ziru. Today, the eldest daughter-in-law had a falling out with Wang Ziru. At this moment, she even spoke without taking Wang Ziru seriously.
The eldest sister-in-law Liu Xiangqin was cutting vegetables while frowning and said, "This third daughter-in-law is too outrageous. She dared to go against her mother-in-law. What's going to happen to her in the future?"
Second sister-in-law Xu Ping echoed, "That's right. We have always been well-behaved in this family, but she made such a big fuss."
"Go tell her to come out and work! If you want to eat for free, get out of this house." Liu Xiangqin said angrily.
Xu Ping looked back outside the kitchen door and saw her mother-in-law. "Mom! Why doesn't my sister-in-law come out to cook? Usually we work in the fields and she cooks! What happened tonight? Did she and Bao'er have a good meal at home this afternoon?"
"This delicious but lazy bad thing should not have been cooked in the hanging pot in the afternoon." Mrs. Liu cursed fiercely and turned to the room where Wang Ziru lived.
In fact, it’s just the distance of turning around.
Mrs. Liu walked out and kicked the half-closed door open. "You are so lazy, why don't you get out and work?"
"If you kick me again, Baoer and I will move to your room to sleep tonight! Get away!" Wang Ziru roared with a cold light flashing in her eyes.
This made Mrs. Liu so angry that she took two steps back and turned away cursing.
Wang Ziru's anger was still growing, and she refused to go to the kitchen to cook.
This move further aggravated the conflict between her and her two sisters-in-law and mother-in-law.
The eldest and second sisters-in-law were busy in the kitchen, complaining as they worked.
Liu Xiangqin said angrily: "We work so hard, but she is lying in bed like a landlady before it gets dark! We are reluctant to use the dry firewood in the yard, but she doesn't feel sorry at all."
Xu Ping was also full of indignation: "Humph, who does she think she is? We can't keep accommodating her like this."
"She said this afternoon that she wanted to divide the family. Xu Ping, ask her second uncle what he means. It's not a good idea for the third wife to continue making trouble like this. It's better for us to divide the family."