"You—!" Chen Xiaofang never expected that Lu Yunchuan could be so heartless, eating alone outside and completely disregarding his wife at home.
It was already late, and smoke was rising from every household's chimney. In particular, the aroma of food wafted from the Lu family's courtyard, emanating from the other three households, which immediately made Chen Xiaofang's stomach rumble.
She tentatively approached Qi Ran's room and asked, "Sister-in-law, we seem to know each other quite well, could you...?"
She pointed to the dishes on the table halfway through her sentence.
Qi Ran understood what she meant, and in her heart she cursed Chen Xiaofang for dreaming. Today's dishes were all good, and she still wanted to get some from them? She was dreaming!
She pretended to be embarrassed and shook her head at Chen Xiaofang: "Xiaofang, I'm really sorry. These dishes are specially made for children. She's at the age where she's growing, and we've been saving up little by little to buy them for her."
After Qi Ran finished speaking, Lu Pandi, sitting at the corner of the table, looked at Lu Yuncheng and Qi Ran with expectant eyes. She hadn't touched any meat dishes on the table before; was she really going to get to eat meat this time?
Lu Pandi, filled with joy and excitement, picked up her chopsticks, ready to grab some meat. Before the chopsticks even touched the meat, Qi Ran slapped her hard on the back of her hand, and tears instantly filled her eyes.
Qi Ran met Chen Xiaofang's questioning gaze and explained, "What I mean is, how can the child start eating before the parents have even touched their chopsticks?"
"I see." Seeing that there was nothing to eat here, Chen Xiaofang didn't dwell on it and turned to find the second wife.
The second wife went even further, closing the door and ignoring Chen Xiaofang's knocking.
This was the first time in all her years that Chen Xiaofang had been treated like this by her family. She returned to her room hungry, only to find that Lu Yunchuan was already fast asleep in bed.
In a fit of anger, Chen Xiaofang ran back to her parents' home.
The first thing she did upon entering the house was to yell at her parents, "I don't care, I'm going to divorce Lu Yunchuan!"
"Divorce? What divorce!" the village chief immediately rebuked, but then, remembering that Xiaofang was the daughter he had raised with such care, his tone softened: "What I mean is, you're just going to give up on a rich, good-tempered man you finally found?"
"Could it be that you're still planning to go find that old rascal?" The village chief's tone suddenly became serious.
Chen Xiaofang had already suffered mistreatment at the Lu family's house, and now, upon returning home and hearing the village chief speak of her like this, her heart was instantly filled with resentment, and tears welled up in her eyes: "You have no idea what happened to me at the Lu family's house today!"
Chen Xiaofang then recounted her experiences at the Lu family's house to them in detail, and the village chief's face immediately turned ashen with anger.
"I knew the whole Lu family was no good! How dare they treat my daughter like this! No, I have to go find the Lu family and get to the bottom of this!" Village Chief Chen said, setting off to leave.
Chen's mother grabbed him and urged him to calm down: "Both of you, don't rush into this. Do you still remember why we went to such lengths to marry into the Lu family?"
"It's all for the money!"
Chen's mother's words instantly brought Chen Xiaofang and the village chief to their senses: their goal was to fleece the Lu family after squandering all their money!
“That’s right.” Chen’s mother took Chen Xiaofang’s hand and said, “I know you’ve been wronged, but you have to be patient for now for the sake of the Lu family’s money. Lu Yunchuan and Shen Qianqian’s family have an excellent relationship, and they will definitely give you some money in the future.”
“But Lu Yunchuan is now giving away the store he’s already got his hands on. Even if they give us money later, Lu Yunchuan will probably return it all!” Chen Xiaofang said indignantly, as if the store was originally hers and had just been unreasonably taken away by Shen Qianqian.
"Foolish!" Chen's mother continued to offer advice to Chen Xiaofang, saying, "If Lu Yunchuan doesn't want it, why don't you go ask her for it back yourself? After all, you're Lu Yunchuan's wife now, and you have a share in this small shop!"
"What if she still doesn't give it to me?" Chen Xiaofang asked again.
A ruthless glint flashed in Chen's mother's eyes: "If she doesn't give it to you, then make a big scene about what I said before. Maybe then Shen Qianqian will have to hand over the money and beg us for help!"
After her mother offered her some advice, Chen Xiaofang returned home that evening and asked Qi Ran for the location of Shen Qianqian's house.
Qi Ran assumed Chen Xiaofang was going to cause trouble for Shen Qianqian, and was very happy to tell Chen Xiaofang, "Her home is located east of the intersection."
"Thank you, sister-in-law," Chen Xiaofang said to Qi Ran first. Seeing that Qi Ran's face was also full of excitement, she guessed that Qi Ran was probably very curious about why she had suddenly gone to see Chen Qianqian. And since she didn't have anyone to share this with right now...
"Sister-in-law, you are the person I trust most in the Lu family, no, in the entire village."
"Okay. You have to keep what I'm about to tell you a secret for now." Chen Xiaofang said to Qi Ran.
explain.
"Okay," Qi Ran readily agreed.
Then, Chen Xiaofang told her the general outline of what had happened.
After hearing this, Qi Ran slapped her thigh in anger: "I knew it! Her little shop was so profitable despite its low prices. I really thought she'd found some kind of secret, but I never imagined there was something fishy going on!"
The more she thought about it, the more excited she became, and she couldn't wait to see Shen Qianqian's discomfiture. She enthusiastically pulled Chen Xiaofang's hand and said, "When you go tomorrow, take me with you. After all, more people mean more help!"
This was the first touching moment Chen Xiaofang had experienced since marrying into the Lu family. She took Qi Ran's hand in hers and said, "With you here, sister-in-law, we'll definitely be fine tomorrow!"
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
