Zhao walked to the front gate and took a look. It was indeed bustling with activity. She wondered what had happened in the village.
Looking at Li Manying's expression, her anger flared up. "You're so lazy! It's such a short distance, why don't you go and ask around? What would you possibly find out if you just stood there asking?"
Li Manying took a deep breath and snorted coldly, "I've worked all day and I'm exhausted. If Mother wants to ask, go ahead and do it yourself!"
Cheng Yue was always the one who suffered in the past; she had never been scolded like this by Zhao Shi before.
In the days since the family split up, she has been busy from morning till night with endless housework and has been scolded by Zhao Shi. Li Manying finally couldn't take it anymore, went into her room and slammed the door shut.
This mother-in-law is always bullying the weak and fearing the strong. I'm just not going. Let's see what she can do.
Zhao was furious that Li Manying would treat her like this. Her chest heaved violently with anger. "Li Manying, you lazy bum! You shameless hussy, how dare you give me attitude! You always put on such a good act, but now you're not? Just wait until the eldest son comes back, I'll let him teach you a lesson!"
Who hasn't gone through this when they were a daughter-in-law? She suffered so much at the hands of her mother-in-law, and now that she's finally a mother-in-law herself, she'd be letting herself down if she didn't teach her daughter-in-law a lesson.
Li Manying sat comfortably in the room, legs crossed, cracking melon seeds. She didn't take Zhao's threats seriously. Her two sons were scholars; how could Chen Ping divorce her?
Even a physical altercation with her would ruin my son's reputation.
Zhao cursed and swore in the courtyard for most of the day, but couldn't get Li Manying to move, so she had no choice but to leave in a huff.
She wanted to see what was going on in the village. If it was bad, she would sneak back; if it was good, she would get a share.
A crowd had gathered around the stone mill, helping out whoever was grinding flour. Everyone chatted and helped each other, creating a harmonious atmosphere.
Aunt Li was talking and laughing when she turned her head and saw Zhao walking over. She immediately shushed everyone and gave them a wink.
The crowd, which had been chatting noisily just moments before, suddenly fell silent, leaving Zhao in an awkward position.
Was she deliberately avoiding her? A group of dull-witted peasant women—she was already being kind by not looking down on them. Why would she even bother talking to them?
Aunt Li and her group quietly ground flour, ignoring Zhao Shi.
Zhao pursed her lips, thinking there was something strange going on. It's just grinding flour, why are they making such a fuss?
With his chin raised, he said sarcastically, "I thought there was something good going on? Grinding flour in secret. The wheat will be harvested soon. We can't even sell sweet potato flour normally, and now it's even worse. All this flour will just go sour. Don't you guys understand?"
They really are a bunch of idiots. They don't even know this basic common sense, and I have to ask them to.
But thinking about it, it makes sense. How could these people be like her? They probably don't even have enough coarse noodles to eat. No wonder they treat sweet potato noodles like a treasure.
Those who were planning to exchange all the wheat for silver after the harvest would probably only be able to eat sweet potato noodles.
Everyone chuckled upon hearing this. If Zhao didn't show off her superiority every day, would she grow maggots on her body or something?
Aunt Li suppressed a laugh and said loudly, "Yes, yes, Sister Zhao is right. But we were all grinding flour here peacefully, and we don't know who was sneaking around like that."
Could it be that Sister Zhao thinks there's something good going on and wants to take advantage of the situation?
Zhao frowned. She felt that the way these village women were looking at her was very unpleasant, as if she were a fool.
He sneered, "This millstone belongs to the whole village. If you can come, why can't I? You're trying to take advantage of us? You're dirt poor, what advantage do you have to take?"
The crowd ignored her and turned back to grinding flour. They figured they'd rather grind more flour than argue with Zhao, at least they could get the money sooner.
Feeling bored, Zhao turned and walked away, but she didn't go far; she sat down under the big locust tree by the door.
She always felt that this group of people was strange, and she was determined to find out what was going on today.
Zhao and the others yawned repeatedly, and finally saw someone carrying sweet potato flour up the mountain.
On the mountain? Isn't that our own mountain? Could it be that the villagers grinding sweet potato flour has something to do with the second son's family?
Full of curiosity, Zhao followed them up the mountain. She wanted to see what her second son's family was up to behind her back.
Cheng Yue was weighing the scales in the yard. Scales were precious items these days. Fortunately, there was an old scale she used when she was a child in her space, so Cheng Yue took it out and used it.
It's a few hundred kilograms of stuff, so weighing it is slow.
The first to be delivered was from the village head's family. Feng Shi brought her son and daughter-in-law. It weighed over 500 jin (250 kg), and they carried it up together to save themselves from having to make several trips.
"Aunt Feng, it's a total of 540 catties. Two coins for three catties, which is 360 coins. Can you check if it's correct?"
“Yes, yes, that’s right.” Madam Feng smiled and said. Cheng Yue weighed the scales and calculated as she watched. They were very confident in their judgment.
Besides, Cheng Yue's father is a scholar who has passed the imperial examinations, so he is definitely better at math than them.
Cheng Yue smiled, picked up the four strings of cash, counted out forty coins from one string, and handed it to Feng Shi. "Aunt Feng, each string of cash is one hundred coins, and this string is sixty coins. Please count it."
Mrs. Feng took the order and said nonchalantly, "No, no, I won't order anymore. You're a kind person, I trust you!"
Cheng Yue said, "Aunt Feng, you should still check it. If there are any mistakes, I'll correct them right away."
Feng thought about it and agreed. It was better to order in person rather than to find out the amount when they got home. Otherwise, it would be difficult to say what would happen and would cause a conflict.
As soon as Zhao arrived, she saw Feng and the others counting money, and then she looked at the flour sacks on the ground and immediately understood.
Especially since the whole family was wearing new clothes and shoes, and their faces were beaming, it goes without saying that the money from the family division was almost gone, and they were out of food. They had to use the money to buy sweet potato flour!
She didn't care what the second son's family ate; what she cared about was that the coins were flowing into the pockets of outsiders.
This second son is such an ungrateful wretch! Even when buying sweet potato flour, he should prioritize his own family's needs. How could he give the money to an outsider!
However, she couldn't just shout these words out loud. Zhao's eyes darted around, and she quickly went down the mountain to bring back the dried sweet potatoes from her home.
It doesn't matter whose money she accepts; in front of everyone, she doesn't believe the second son would abandon her.
When Aunt Li and Cui Miao went up the mountain, they saw Zhao Shi carrying a sack of things. The sack was bulging and looked like dried sweet potatoes.
It seems someone told Zhao about this, but what kind of trouble is she causing? Cheng Yue received sweet potato flour...
Zhao placed a sack of dried sweet potatoes in front of Cheng Yue, her eyelids drooping as she said with dissatisfaction:
"Second son, second son's wife, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but why are you so inconsiderate? We have so many dried sweet potatoes at home, why didn't you say anything when you wanted to buy some? You're just giving money to outsiders for nothing!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com