The middle-aged woman walked over with a sullen face. Cao Guihua pointed to the rice drying in the threshing ground and said, "They've dried so much rice, but none of the siblings will even rake it. Your mother-in-law had to do it. Isn't that lazy? Isn't your mother-in-law biased?"
Yang Wanwan recognized the middle-aged woman as her aunt, Cao Xinchun.
Cao Xinchun's eyes darted around, her thin lips were tightly pursed, and her deep nasolabial folds revealed her anger and gloom.
She glared at Yang Wanwan: "Everyone else is working, and you were sleeping at home this morning. How could you sleep?!"
Erye explained, "Auntie, my sister isn't better yet. Also, Grandma hasn't helped us harrow the rice."
Cao Guihua curled her lip: "Oh, oh, oh! Your grandma didn't harrow the grain, so she must have been clearing away miscellaneous things, right? Wasn't that helping you with the work? You're still lying! You're such a liar! Besides, Yang Wanwan wasn't just pretending not to want to work. Otherwise, why is it that everyone else is healthy, but she's the only one with a fever?"
Shang Tao shouted, "Aunt Guihua, my older sister wasn't faking it!"
Cao Guihua curled her lip again, "Look, look, children without parents have no manners! I'm your aunt, an elder, what kind of manners are you to yell at me like that?"
Shang Tao grinned and said, "Aunt Guihua, do you mean that because you're an elder, it's proper to yell like that? Hmm, hmm, hmm?"
Shang Tao's words drew a sharp rebuke from Cao Xinchun.
Shang Tao was somewhat afraid of Cao Xinchun and kept his mouth shut.
Er Ye stared angrily at Cao Guihua, her face much calmer, but a gloomy look lingered in her eyes.
Yang Wanwan glanced at her younger siblings, then at Cao Xinchun's ashen face, and suddenly smiled, saying, "Aunt Guihua, why didn't your Xiaotong help you today?"
Cao Guihua snorted and said smugly, "Our Xiaotong cooks and does laundry at home, unlike you lazy girls. Our Xiaotong will definitely be better off than you in the future!"
Yang Wanwan narrowed her eyes and said calmly, "I heard them say that Xiaotong looks like that guy over there...that guy..."
She pointed westward, trying to appear deep in thought, her expression suggesting she was thinking of something but was just a little short of being able to say it.
Cao Guihua's face changed drastically. She glanced guiltily at Cao Xinchun and forcefully slapped Yang Wanwan's finger, "What nonsense are you talking about?!"
Yang Wanwan was still trying to remember: "That person, who... was their surname Yang again..."
Cao Guihua hurriedly got up and muttered, "Lazy, just lazy! Sister-in-law Xinchun, I don't think we can count on your niece."
Cao Xinchun didn't seem to pay much attention to Cao Guihua's expression. She turned her gaze away from Yang Wanwan's small villa with a gloomy expression, and then looked over Yang Wanwan and her two siblings with a gloomy face.
Cao Xinchun's gaze was sharp and gloomy, filled with intense disgust and disdain. Neither Er Ye nor Shang Tao wanted to look into her eyes.
Yang Wanwan raised her head and looked at Cao Xinchun calmly.
She clearly saw the greed in Cao Xinchun's eyes—greed for Yang Wanwan's little villa.
The exterior walls are tiled, the interior walls are painted white, the floors are beautiful and clean, the interior is fully equipped, and the decorations are neat...
Oh, the little villa! It's an impeccably beautiful little villa!
Suppressing his greed and resentment, Cao Xinchun snorted coldly and lectured, "Yang Wanwan, you're almost 16. You can't be so lazy. Your grandparents are old, you should be more considerate and be filial children. Otherwise, people will gossip behind your backs, saying that your parents are inherently bad for having lazybones like you. Look at all the people in the village, who is as lazy as you? I'm only teaching you because you're from the Yang family, so you'd better know what's good for you!"
Although Er Ye and Shang Tao were unconvinced, they didn't utter a sound, clearly because they were often scolded.
Shang Tao clearly disliked Cao Xinchun's attitude. He dropped his smiling expression, rolled his eyes, and shrank back into the house.
Although Cao Xinchun was dissatisfied with Shang Tao, Shang Tao was still just a child, and as long as Yang Wanwan and Er Ye were there to listen to her putting on airs, it was fine. So she rambled on and on, putting on airs like an elder before leaving.
Yang Wanwan remained silent.
She's still quite weak and has little strength; she only managed to say two sentences before feeling exhausted.
There will be plenty of time to deal with them later; taking care of my health is the most important thing right now.
When their parents were alive, their uncle Yang Dali and aunt Cao Xinchun still showed some consideration for their siblings.
After their parents passed away, Cao Xinchun couldn't stand the sight of the siblings and would often put on airs and find opportunities to teach them a lesson.
That's because Cao Xinchun had long coveted Yang Wanwan's little villa and wanted to take it for herself.
Grandpa Yang and Grandma Yang often come to Yang Wanwan's house to give Yang Wanwan and her siblings some pointers on chores, which Cao Xinchun feels is unfair.
Actually, Grandpa and Grandma Yang are almost seventy years old, and due to years of hard work, their health isn't very good. At most, they can only guide their siblings on when to sow seeds, when to transplant rice seedlings, when to harvest, and so on.
Yang Wanwan's parents have both passed away, leaving only her two siblings. If her grandparents don't take care of them, how will they survive?
Cao Xinchun was furious about this and flew into a rage.
In his previous life, Cao Xinchun relentlessly mocked, ridiculed, and took advantage of others' misfortunes, showing no kinship whatsoever and doing many heartless things.
She frequently scolded her siblings, often berating them with a stern face, and what's more, she also...
Recalling the past, Yang Wanwan ate her meal slowly, her eyes turning cold as she watched Cao Guihua mutter to herself while harrowing the grain, gradually regaining her strength.
Er Ye asked in a low voice, "Big sister, why did Aunt Guihua act like she'd seen a ghost just now?"
Yang Wanwan smiled, met Er Ye's bright eyes and Shang Tao's confused expression, and whispered, "If she keeps nagging in the future, you should do what I just said and say, 'Xiaotong looks like that guy over there, whose surname is Yang...'"
Er Ye suddenly chuckled, and Yang Wanwan knew that Er Ye understood her meaning.
Children in rural areas mature early, and even though no one can explain things to them, Er Ye can still figure out the reasons behind them.
Cao Guihua's daughter, Yang Xiaotong, is not her husband's child, but someone else's. This matter hasn't come to light yet, but it caused quite a stir a few years later.
Only Shang Tao blinked his big eyes, completely baffled, and asked, "Who is it?"
Yang Wanwan and Er Ye looked at Shang Tao, smiling without saying a word.
Er Ye was scooping pig feed in the kitchen to prepare to feed the pigs, while Shang Tao was drying snakeskin bags in the corridor.
Yang Wanwan sat at the doorway, looking around at everything that was familiar, her mind a little confused.
After finishing their work, Er Ye and Shang Tao were exhausted and lay down on the cool bed in the main room, falling fast asleep. Around four o'clock in the afternoon, they would go to the paddy fields to continue working.
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