Chapter 44: Go all out?

The three brothers of the Zhai family, their father passed away early, although Zhai Ximo still wanted to help his eldest brother's family.

But his eldest sister-in-law Liu Xiangqin was a really hard woman to like. In the short few days that he was home, Liu Xiangqin not only failed to respect her younger brother-in-law, but her attitude towards Wang Ziru was also extremely bad.

Besides, the third brother’s family is not well off, and his wife and children are waiting to eat.

In the first two years, Zhai Ximo entered the military academy and the army paid him 28.5 yuan a month.

After deducting his own food expenses, he dared not spend a penny of the remaining money. Whenever he saved up 100 yuan, he would send it back home. As a result, his wife and children did not use a single penny.

The mother was also a cruel woman. She actually used the money he sent home to coax the eldest and second sisters-in-law, without even noticing that Bao Er had become skinny and bony...

"After breakfast tomorrow, I will take Baoer to Qinglong Village to attend the wedding banquet. You should quickly pull the garlic sprouts back from behind the house..." After thinking about it, Zhai Ximo decided to inform his wife in advance to prevent Liu Xiangqin from running to the back of the house to pull their garlic sprouts on her own tomorrow, which would cause another quarrel between the two sisters-in-law.

Only then did he lower his voice and tell his wife what his second sister-in-law had just said.

Finally, he glanced at the surprised expression on his wife's face and added, "My eldest brother will start building a house tomorrow and has called for a few workers. When the time comes, they will go to our fields to pick some garlic sprouts and fry them for dinner. If my eldest brother came forward to tell me about this, could I still refuse?"

"You're a good housekeeper, man." Wang Ziru didn't care about a few garlic sprouts.

She would never do such a ruthless thing.

What she wanted was to make the eldest and second sisters-in-law ask her for something and be humble in front of her.

She was very satisfied with the man's attitude of notifying her in advance.

He is not like other men who always like to do things first and then play later, affecting the feelings between husband and wife.

The next morning, the eldest brother Zhai Qingsong called two masons to help.

Liu Xiangqin got up early to cook.

In the side room at the back of the house, Wang Ziru was awakened by the noise coming in and out outside. She rubbed her eyes and tilted her head to look at the man's profile.

"Bao'er's father, my sister-in-law wants to use the stove. I'm afraid we won't be able to use the stove until very late. Why don't you take Bao'er to a restaurant in town and eat buns?"

Zhai Ximo was just getting ready, but when he heard what his wife said, he felt a little unhappy.

"What about you?"

"I'll wait until my sister-in-law finishes using the stove, then I'll go get something to eat."

Wang Ziru stretched her arms out from under the warm quilt, "Or I can cook a bowl of egg noodles in the hanging pot."

"My eldest brother's family hired workers to build a house, and they must have used the hanging pot to cook porridge."

"That's fine! Just take Bao'er to town for breakfast." After a pause, Wang Ziru turned sideways and looked at the man staring at her in a daze. "Bao'er is growing up and wants to eat meat. You can take him to eat some meat buns."

The man finally let go and closed his eyes and said, "Yeah."

After Zhai Ximo got up and washed up, he woke Baoer up, dressed the child, and washed his face.

As Bao'er still looked sleepy, Zhai Ximo carried Bao'er on his back to the town.

That day was another day for people to gather in the town.

Many villagers in the village planned to rush to the town to gather.

Seeing Zhai Ximo carrying his son on his back and heading to the town to meet the local people, many villagers greeted them and asked Wang Ziru why she didn't go with them.

"Bao Er and I are going to Qinglong Village to attend the wedding of an old comrade. The old comrade's partner is looking for a household registration today..."

"Oh my! Whose girl is so lucky? She actually found a soldier as her partner!"

The villagers could not help but feel jealous when they heard this.

In this era, there is no other hope for every family living in the mountains and the sea. For those families with daughters, the parents are eager to send their daughters to marry soldiers.

Soldiers receive salaries in the army, and when they return home to visit their families, their families are proud of them.

This is also the reason why many families with daughters in Hongmei Village envy Wang Ziru.

If the third son of the Zhai family had not married before joining the army, when he returned home to visit his relatives this time, the matchmaker might have broken down his doorstep.

…

After the man and the children went out to the town, Wang Ziru was not in a hurry to get up early to cook.

Wait until the workers called from the boss Zhai Qingsong's house have had breakfast.

She slowly got up, washed, then took some noodles and two eggs into the thatched hut kitchen and cooked a large bowl of egg noodles.

Xu Ping was also helping the old family move bricks and jump through sticky mud that day. After breakfast, she helped Liu Xiangqin clear the table. She walked into the kitchen with the dishes and chopsticks, and happened to see Wang Ziru cooking a large bowl of egg noodles.

"The third son's wife is lucky. She gets to eat egg noodles early in the morning."

Wang Ziru held a bowl of egg noodles in her hand and sat at the stove, slurping the noodles while snorting.

Before Xu Ping's envious expression disappeared, Liu Xiangqin walked in with the remaining dishes and chopsticks.

She placed a pile of dishes on the earthen stove and prepared to boil half a pot of hot water to wash the dishes.

Seeing the third son's wife holding a bowl of egg noodles, his face immediately became a little aggrieved, and he said loudly: "Third son's wife, we have work at noon and need to fry meat. You still have garlic sprouts in the field. Can you..."

"No." Wang Ziru refused very bluntly, saying, "You two dug up all the radishes in the back mountain and brought them back to eat. You never thought of leaving one for me. Sister-in-law, do you have the nerve to ask me for vegetables?"

"We grew the radishes! Why can't we just dig them up and eat them?"

"But since the fields on the back hill were allocated to me, there is no reason for you to dig up the radishes from my fields."

"I just want to eat a few radishes. If I don't dig the ones from Zhai's field, do you want me to dig the radishes and cabbages grown in other people's fields?"

"You're right!"

“Bang.”

Liu Xiangqin angrily threw the dishes and chopsticks into the big iron pot, turned around and walked out of the kitchen.

"Although we have divided up the family, who can see the rice fields that were allocated to us? In winter, the rice fields are barren and nothing is planted. All the vegetables we eat are grown on the dry land on the mountain. Do you still want to take all the vegetables grown by the whole family for yourself?"

In the kitchen, Liu Xiangqin felt that she could not find any fault with it.

I thought to myself: Just wait, my family will live a better life now, and I will ignore you even if you want to curry favor with me.

Mrs. Liu heard the quarrel in the kitchen and came in with a handful of noodles and two eggs. "What are you quarreling about so early in the morning?"

In a blink of an eye, she glanced at her third daughter-in-law who was sitting by the stove and eating hot noodles, and her eyes were vicious.

This woman married into the Zhai family just to enjoy a good life.

"Liu Xiangqin! Wash the dishes quickly and make room for me to cook noodles."

Liu Xiangqin, who was standing at the kitchen door, came back to wash the dishes.

Wang Ziru was still sitting at the door of the stove, warming herself by the fire and slowly eating the poached eggs in the bowl.

Beside the earthen stove, Liu Xiangqin was washing dishes, her face flushed with grievance.

Suddenly, she turned around and looked at her mother-in-law, "Mom! You saw it too. We hired several workers to build the house, but we didn't have much to eat. There were garlic sprouts in the field behind the house, but the third daughter-in-law didn't allow me to pick them. What do you think?"

When Mrs. Liu heard her eldest daughter-in-law speaking so aggrieved and angry, she guessed that Liu Xiangqin wanted to go to the back of the house to pick some garlic sprouts and stir-fry them for dinner.

A pair of cloudy old eyes looked at the third son's wife, "Logically speaking, the third son's family lives a better life than both of you. Although the field behind the house is allocated to the third son, if you want to pick some garlic sprouts and green onions, you can go and pick them."

"Right? I'll go pick some later. I haven't eaten soup made with scallions and shredded potatoes for a few days..."

Wang Ziru felt a chill in her heart. This old woman seemed to not take her seriously.

Coincidentally, Liu Xiangqin was also testing the bottom line of the third brother's wife.

With the support of my mother-in-law, I feel much more confident.

Wang Ziru ate egg noodles and said slowly, "Sister-in-law, I told you that the land behind the house has been allocated to me. If I don't agree and you still dare to take it, don't blame me for shoveling the foundation of your house!"

"How dare you! You filthy woman..."

Without waiting for Liu Xiangqin to finish cursing.

Wang Ziru stood up directly from the stove door, with half a bowl of noodles left, and poured it directly on Liu Xiangqin's face.

Suddenly, the bowl and noodles fell into the big iron pot.

The hot water in the pot splashed everywhere.

Mrs. Liu's pupils shrank and she pointed at Wang Ziru, "You, you, you..."

"Sister-in-law! Watch your mouth. I am sitting here eating noodles. I have neither eaten your noodles nor your eggs, nor have I pulled up the rice seedlings in your fields. Yet you call me a scumbag. Do you think I, Wang Ziru, am easy to bully?!"

Wang Ziru dropped the chopsticks in her hand, rolled up her sleeves and was about to deal with Liu Xiangqin.