Chapter 50 050 Joins the Gossip Squad
Ma Dahua is good at sewing, so she was tasked with making clothes for the whole family. Qin Xiaoxiao wanted to do it, but Grandma Qin and Ma Dahua didn't want her to, dismissing her with a simple "go play somewhere else."
Thinking about how clothes these days are practically like sacks, and how people all over the country wear clothes that look like school uniforms, Qin Xiaoxiao stayed up half the night drawing a few more pictures for Ma Dahua to copy.
Upon seeing the blueprints Qin Xiaoxiao provided, Ma Dahua's eyes lit up. She was overjoyed, as if she had received some treasure. She even forgot about her adorable little niece, slamming the door shut and leaving her outside.
Ma Dahua decided not to go to work for the next two days; she wanted to stay home and finish making all the clothes.
Seeing her impatient look, Old Mrs. Qin opened her mouth, then turned and left.
It's rare for a daughter-in-law to have something she likes to do, so let her be. Anyway, the family isn't short of money, and we don't need her work points.
In the afternoon, Qin Xiaoxiao went to work in the fields.
The plot of land that Qin Xiaoxiao had worked on before was already finished, so Qin Feng gave her another plot of land. This plot of land was closer to the sixth team, and the people working in the sixth team were all women in their forties and fifties, who were the most talkative at that time.
"The Li family got into another fight last night."
Qin Feng had just led Qin Xiaoxiao to the edge of the field when some middle-aged woman, noticing Qin Feng's retreating figure, started a tea party for the day.
The aunties and sisters-in-law around them lit up and, without being called, all moved closer to the center.
As Liu Mingyu's mother moved towards the center, she waved to the bewildered Qin Xiaoxiao, signaling her to come over.
Qin Xiaoxiao's lips twitched.
My surname is Qin, aren't you afraid I'll tell my uncle on me?
Qin Xiaoxiao carried the small folding stool and slowly moved to the middle. After placing the stool, she took off her gloves and took out a handful of sunflower seeds from her pocket.
"Aunties, eat up. I just cooked this yesterday."
With the melon seeds, the aunties' impression of Qin Xiaoxiao improved even more, and they each took a small handful and divided the melon seeds among themselves.
Qin Xiaoxiao pulled out another handful from her pocket. "This isn't enough. These aunties should share it too. I still have some."
After saying that, he pulled out a large handful from his bag with his other hand.
He divided the sunflower seeds in his left hand, and also gave away a small portion of the sunflower seeds in his right hand. He also took out a dozen or so fruit candies from his pocket and shared them as well.
The women were shocked.
We're lucky to have sunflower seeds to eat, let alone candy today?
Good heavens! I've made a fortune today!
She inwardly sighed at Qin Xiaoxiao's excessive generosity and lack of thrift, but her hands were quick, and she soon distributed more than a dozen candies, one for each person.
Qin Xiaoxiao wasn't being generous out of the blue. She got these fruit candies from the wholesale market after the apocalypse. They were sold at the supermarket checkout counter for one cent each as change. The wholesale price was only three or four cents. They were sold by weight, and after weighing them, the owner would grab a handful to bribe customers.
Qin Xiaoxiao had three or four sacks of this candy in her space, more than she could eat. She could use it to give as a favor, no, to win people's hearts.
Qin Xiaoxiao had candy in her mouth, was cracking sunflower seeds, and was listening intently to the gossip.
Aunt Song said, "Last night, Li Laoda and his wife had a fight and even hit each other. Li Laoda beat his wife. I heard it clearly from our yard."
At first, his wife called out a couple of times, but then she became quiet. I thought something had happened. Luckily, I saw her carrying a basket up the mountain this morning, otherwise I would have had to report it to the brigade leader.
"Why?"
Aunt Song looked around furtively like a thief, then leaned in and whispered, "I heard Old Li cursing his wife for being a slut, saying she's shameless and cuckolded, and you can tell from the sound of it that she's a..."
Aunt Song gave everyone a look, and they all nodded in unison, indicating that they understood.
Then Aunt Zhao added, "You all know about what happened the other day, when Granny Niu fell into the cesspool, right?"
Everyone nodded, even Qin Xiaoxiao nodded in agreement.
Aunt Zhao pursed her lips, "Do you know why?"
Everyone shook their heads in unison again.
Aunt Zhao immediately perked up, raised her head, and said, "I know."
"Why?"
Everyone quickly cooperated, hoping to hear some different gossip.
“Old woman Niu was pushed into the cesspool. Yesterday, after dinner, I passed by Old Niu’s house and heard Old woman Niu cursing her daughter-in-law, saying that she was heartless and wanted to kill her.”
Aunt Zhao fell silent again at this point, and everyone silently recalled the relationship between Granny Niu and her daughter-in-law.
Qin Xiaoxiao had also heard about the Lao Niu family's affairs.
Old Lady Niu lost her husband in middle age and had only one son. She doted on him and spoiled him rotten.
After growing up, Niu Dabao got married under his mother's arrangement. However, after the marriage, Niu's mother saw that her son's heart was completely devoted to his wife and that he had forgotten about his old mother. This was unacceptable.
The more a son cherishes his daughter-in-law before marriage, the more he hates her after marriage. It took a whole year for Granny Niu to slowly win back her son's heart, and then she started to speak ill of her daughter-in-law in front of him.
If you don't clean the house today, you won't cook for her tomorrow, you'll call her an old hag the day after tomorrow, and the day after that you'll say your heart hurts. You always have an excuse to make trouble for your daughter-in-law.
After a while, Niu Dabao's heart turned back to his mother, and after being instigated by his mother, he hit his wife for the first time.
Once it happened the first time, it happened again. After a few times, the old Niu family's daughter-in-law couldn't stand it anymore and insisted on divorcing Niu Dabao.
Niu Dabao's wife even called her brother to come and get a divorce. They beat Niu Dabao half to death, which broke Niu's mother's heart.
Niu Dabao's first marriage ended just like that. Niu's aunt was unwilling to accept it, so she found Niu Dabao another wife in less than a month.
But after only two days of peace, Niu Dabao, instigated by his mother, beat someone up again.
This daughter-in-law is different from the first one. This second daughter-in-law is cunning. After being beaten for the first time, she realized that the old hag in the family was a scoundrel who wouldn't let go of her son and even let her husband beat her.
So this daughter-in-law started down the path of being a "pure and innocent" woman, always putting on a weak and helpless expression for Niu Dabao. In addition, she was fair-skinned and quite pretty, and over time she really fooled Niu Dabao.
No matter how good a mother is, she can't withstand her daughter-in-law's pillow talk at night. The war between the old woman and the new daughter-in-law went from open to covert. The new daughter-in-law gradually won Niu Dabao over to her side. As expected, Niu Dabao began to help his wife deal with his mother.
Seeing this, Granny Niu started a new round of trouble-making. She stopped going to work and spent all her time lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) pretending to be sick, and even made her daughter-in-law take care of her.
Niu Dabao was indeed on his wife's side, but he was also filial, so he tacitly approved of his mother's behavior and let his wife take care of her.
Niu Dabao was always at work and never home, so his new daughter-in-law was constantly being bossed around by Niu's mother. When her son came home, she would start crying and complaining that her daughter-in-law was mistreating her.
After a while, Niu Dabao believed his mother's words again and began to be dissatisfied with his wife.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com