Chapter 9 Lend Her Some Money

Mr. Zhang knew very well that if he took the initiative to lend money to Wang Ziru in front of the Zhai family, he would definitely offend the Zhai family.

Especially Mrs. Liu.

But he also thought that if this matter was done behind Mrs. Liu's back, Wang Ziru was a widow whose husband was not at home, and he was an old widower, who knows how much trouble would arise.

So, it is better to just put this matter out in the open so that everyone knows about it and also give Wang Ziru a way out.

Then I heard Village Chief Li chuckle and say, "Uncle Zhang, you are lucky to have a pension, so you live a comfortable life."

"It's not easy for them, mother and son. The village should also take care of them. After all, the third son is going to build the country." Grandpa Zhang smiled and waved his hand. He also has three sons, although he did not explicitly tell his youngest son about dividing the family property.

But since he retired and returned to the village, he built a two-story brick and tile house by himself and lived alone. He did seem to live a better life than other elderly people in the village.

Village Chief Li nodded and showed even more respect for Mr. Zhang: "It is you who have to step forward to settle these issues in the village."

As expected, Granny Liu was about to go out to see Village Chief Li and Grandpa Zhang off with a smile on her face. When she heard Grandpa Zhang say that he wanted to lend money to Wang Ziru, her expression suddenly changed. "Brother Zhang, you don't know this. The third daughter-in-law is just a fool. She has so much food now, and five chickens. Why would she need money?"

At this time, Wang Ziru, the main person, stood up from the chair and said, "Thank you, Master Zhang. Even if you didn't ask today, I would have the nerve to ask you for money."

"Third son's wife, you are such a spendthrift! Where do you need money now?" Mrs. Liu just didn't want to see Master Zhang being nice to her daughter-in-law. If her third son returned to the village from the army in the future, he would have to thank Master Zhang.

Mrs. Liu fully understands this truth.

Mr. Zhang ignored Mrs. Liu and just smiled and waved, "Come to my house tomorrow at noon to get the money. You can pay me back when your third child sends money back."

"Zi Ru would like to thank Mr. Zhang for his kindness on behalf of the Third Brother. Also, Village Chief Li, thank you both for your hard work tonight. I will see you off..."

After seeing Mrs. Liu sitting at the square table again in a huff, Wang Ziru stood up naturally to see off Village Chief Li and Master Zhang, and carried a kerosene lamp to escort them out of the Zhai family yard.

"It's okay, you can go back, we have flashlights." Village Chief Li smiled.

He looked meaningfully at the people in the main hall of the Zhai family. It was the eldest son of the Zhai family who invited them to do the work, but it was the third daughter-in-law who suffered the loss who sent them out. This family is really interesting.

Wang Ziru returned to the main room carrying a kerosene lamp. The eldest and second oldest brothers seemed to be discussing their future life.

The first to speak was the second son, Zhai Jiahao.

"Brother! As you can see, we live in the east half, and we need our own entrance and exit in the future, so I was thinking, how about you help me for two days?"

Zhai Qingsong asked, "Do you want to open a small door in the front?"

"Yes," Zhai Qingsong nodded, "I plan to convert the easternmost room into a kitchen, so I'll open a small door outside."

Xu Ping frowned and said, "But if you open a door there, you'll be facing the toilet when you come out. It's so smelly."

"There's nothing we can do. Let's do this for now." Zhai Jiahao is a carpenter and can do carpentry work. If they can hire their eldest brother, a mason, the two brothers can help each other and don't need to spend extra money to hire other craftsmen, thus saving a lot of labor.

Of course, Zhai Qingsong also planned to build a side room next to his own house to use as a kitchen, and also to build a pigpen to raise pigs inside the fence and to have two squat toilets outside.

The two brothers agreed on the spot and planned to start work the next day. "Okay! Then tomorrow morning, big brother, you have to get up early. I have to get the stove ready first. Otherwise, how are we going to cook for four families?"

Xu Ping was chatting animatedly with Liu Xiangqin, and it was obvious that the two sisters-in-law were particularly happy to start their new life.

Immediately, Xu Ping urged, "Jiahao, I think we have nothing to do at night, why don't we go to the second team and bring back a cart of bricks? Tomorrow morning, you and your brother can get up and start making stoves, and I'll do the handyman work for you."

The two brothers were also good at working hard. That night, they took flashlights, borrowed a cart from their neighbor, and went to the second team to buy fire bricks overnight.

Mrs. Liu was not interested in the affairs of her two sons and went back to her room to sleep.

But she just couldn't fall asleep, especially when she thought about Mr. Zhang going to lend money to Wang Ziru. She was really afraid that this would be known by those gossipy women in the village, and they would definitely gossip about it in front of Wang Ziru.

People will only add fuel to the fire and make things difficult for her mother-in-law when she gets home.

"Hey! When will you come home, Third Brother? God bless you, please don't come back recently. Please send me some money this year..."

Behind the house, there is a cramped side room.

When Wang Ziru returned to her room, the kerosene lamp had already been extinguished.

She added more kerosene, lit the lamp, and looked at the dry firewood and a bag of corn kernels piled in the room, feeling mixed emotions.

After being married to Zhai Ximo for five years, this is all I got.

But it is much better than before the marriage. At least she can make her own decisions about these things. She doesn't have to burn two pieces of dry firewood and be chased around the house with a stick by her mother-in-law like during the day.

Looking at his son who was already fast asleep in bed, he knew that he was severely malnourished and needed to be given nutritional supplements immediately.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll kill a chicken and stew it. I'll let my son and I drink the soup to nourish our bodies."

Wang Ziru yawned, blew out the kerosene lamp, and crawled into the boy's warm bed. She covered her son with the quilt and couldn't help kissing him twice. After being woken up by the kiss, she thought the son would make a fuss, but unexpectedly, the boy reached out and touched his mother's soft cheek...

It was very early in the morning, before Wang Ziru even closed her eyes, she heard the sound of cooking in the thatched shed opposite, and the aroma of food wafted in.

Sisters-in-law Liu Xiangqin and Xu Ping had already started cooking in the kitchen.

"Sister-in-law! It's much easier for our two families to eat together these two days." Xu Ping sat in front of the earthen stove and lit a fire. As she threw dry firewood into the stove, a rare smile appeared on her face.

Liu Xiangqin was standing by the earthen stove, cooking. She said with a smile, "We should have separated a long time ago! Look at that lazy woman, she hasn't even woken up yet."

"Hmph, just let her sleep. From now on, she will live her own life. Who cares about her?" Xu Ping snorted coldly.

When Mrs. Liu woke up in the morning and saw her two daughters-in-law cooking in the kitchen, she knew that the two families were going to have dinner together.

Although she was unhappy, she had nothing to say since they were separated and living alone. She returned to her room, opened the cupboard, counted the eggs in it, and said, "After they finish their meal, I will cook a bowl of egg noodles."

Wang Ziru heard the hustle and bustle outside, opened the door, stretched, and walked into the kitchen when she remembered that she had to brush her teeth.

But when she returned to the room, she realized that she had not used a toothbrush at all. She was so disgusted that she immediately found a piece of hand towel and washed her face and teeth.

When Baoer woke up, he wrinkled his little face and shouted that he was hungry, "Mom, they are already eating and they didn't call us."

"From today on, we will live alone. They eat their food, and we eat ours. Wait, mom will cook corn porridge for you."

The little guy blinked his black eyes, seeming to understand something.

Wang Ziru took the child's hand and took him to the thatched shed. After washing his face, she let him sit on a small stool in front of the stove to warm himself by the fire.

Last night, I was given two bowls of corn grits and three pounds of potatoes.

This is all we have at home now. We can only cook a pot of corn grits porridge as the staple food for breakfast.

"Fry some shredded potatoes and some corn paste."

The little guy sat in front of the stove very obediently, occasionally throwing a few sticks into the stove. Suddenly, the little guy asked, "Mom, when will Dad come home?"

"…Does Baoer miss his father?"

"Yesterday, I dreamed that my father came home. After breakfast, we went to the village entrance to wait for him." The boy's childish face made it sound like it was true.