Seeing that Xu Qiuju remained silent, Old Mrs. Xu emphasized again, "Xiaoheng is a junior in the family. Since he lives here, we are his elders, and we must protect him."
Wang Juan continued, "My dear in-law, he's a former educated youth sent to the countryside. To put it nicely, he's a city person, but his grain ration is registered in Xujia Village. So he'll be a peasant from now on. To be honest, it's his good fortune that I've taken a liking to him. My mother said that if we get married, she'll let him work at the cannery so he won't have to toil in the fields for a living."
Grandma Xu chuckled. "I had no idea your mother was so capable. She got you into the cannery just like that. Is the cannery your family's property? If she was so capable, why didn't she get you in there? Your brother and his family of four, both working, were doing quite well. But now the three of you are living at home. Not to mention the expenses. It's only natural to support your parents, but you're a 25-year-old sister-in-law. Aren't you ashamed to be supported by your brother and sister-in-law all this time? Besides, if you were more hardworking, there would be plenty of temporary jobs at the state-run restaurant. It's just a bit tough, but have you ever thought about supporting yourself? You're someone who's being supported by others, yet you have the audacity to claim you can control other people's lives. I don't know where you get the nerve."
Grandma Xu was furious, so she said things that showed no mercy whatsoever.
Xu Qiuju wanted to stop the old lady, but she seemed to think that the old lady was not wrong.
Xu Qiuju is like that; she lacks a backbone and is like a weather vane, sometimes thinking what she says is right, sometimes thinking what he says is right. In any case, what others say seems to make sense, so the scales in her heart are always like a roly-poly toy.
Wang Juan didn't know how to refute it. There were indeed temporary jobs available at the state-run restaurants. For example, if they were frying broad beans, someone had to peel them. Regular employees wouldn't do this kind of work, so it was usually taken by unemployed family members. Another example was at the supply and marketing cooperative's pesticide station. Pesticides in those days came in large packages, so someone had to repackage them before selling them. This work was somewhat dangerous, requiring masks and gloves to be worn. These jobs were also done by hired laborers. People were hardworking back then, and families usually had many children, so unemployed family members were eager to get these jobs. Also, when the supply and marketing cooperative harvested cotton, laborers were needed to pack it before it could be shipped out; oranges also needed to be packed into baskets…
Anyway, there are still plenty of small jobs available if you're willing and able.
These kinds of odd jobs are different from temporary jobs. Temporary workers are fixed in a department and do the same work as regular employees, only they don't have a formal position. Odd jobs, on the other hand, are like rootless duckweed, going wherever there is work.
Wang Juan felt quite embarrassed after being told that by Old Mrs. Xu, especially in front of the person she liked.
She couldn't vent her anger on Old Mrs. Xu, so she called out to Xu Qiuju, "Sister-in-law, how can you talk like that, in-law? Didn't you promise Amuada that you would make this happen?"
Xu Qiuju looked at Old Madam Xu with a troubled expression, then at Wang Juan, and said to Mu Jingheng, "Hey Xiaoheng! Why don't you date my Juan? My Juan is quite nice. If you two get together, and if you don't like working at the cannery, I'll have my brother find you a job in the county town?"
Upon hearing Xu Qiuju's words, Old Mrs. Xu stood up without a word, rushed to the broom in the corner, grabbed it, and swung it at Xu Qiuju, cursing, "You wretched thing! I've always known you're not smart. To ensure you have a good life in your later years, our family spent a fortune to buy you your current job, but after getting married, you're completely controlled by your husband's family. To prevent you from being wronged, your father and I have been subsidizing you every few days. We thought you could support your family after becoming a mother, but it seems I was wrong. You haven't come back once since the New Year, and now you're bringing people to humiliate us. Since you're so capable, don't come back again!"
Startled by the commotion at the Xu family's house, Old Mrs. Chen climbed over the wall to see what was going on. She saw Old Mrs. Xu chasing Xu Qiuju around the yard with a large broom, and asked in a loud voice, "Sister-in-law, what's going on?"
Grandma Xu was too busy beating her unfilial daughter to pay any attention to Grandma Chen.
Undeterred, Grandma Chen turned and saw Xu Xinning and Mu Jingheng sitting at the entrance of the main room watching the commotion. She then asked, "Nannan, what's wrong with your grandma?"
Xu Xinning, resting her chin on her hand, replied lazily, "My aunt wants to sell Mu Jingheng to her sister-in-law."
Grandma Chen exclaimed in surprise, "What? You're going to sell Mu Zhiqing? Has your aunt eaten the heart of a bear and the gall bladder of a leopard? Isn't she afraid that the commander will come with a gun and arrest her and put her in jail?"
After her initial surprise, Old Mrs. Chen said awkwardly, "What does her aunt look like? It's not unreasonable to introduce her to someone."
Xu Xinning thought that Old Mrs. Chen was quite amusing. No matter what happened, it would always become interesting because of her. Not wanting to miss out on making things worse, she pointed to Wang Juan, who was hiding to the side.
Grandma Chen exclaimed in surprise again, "This is Qiu's sister-in-law? Why does she look so old? She looks almost thirty, and she's not good-looking at all. She's dark-skinned, strong, and short. Our Mu Zhiqing is not even twenty yet, and she's beautiful and comes from a good family. She must be blind to have fallen for such a thing."
Old Mrs. Chen thought she couldn't be too disrespectful to Xu Qiuju, so she patted her mouth sheepishly and said, "They're such a mismatch! If you really want to introduce someone, the conditions have to match!"
Xu Qiuju hadn't expected that the old lady Xu would have so much energy, chasing and hitting her for so long without letting up, so she pleaded with a tearful face: "Grandma, Grandma, please stop hitting me."
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
