The Liang family's house was newly built after Liang Fugui divided the family property, and the Wan family's house was also newly built by Wan's father and mother twenty years ago after they fled famine and came to Qingshui Village.
Both houses are newly built, located at the end of the village, only twenty or thirty meters apart.
The towering trees couldn't block the fragrant aroma of meat, and soon the smell wafted to every household.
The Wan family has a total of thirteen members.
Mr. and Mrs. Wan are both elderly.
The eldest son, Wanfu, and his wife, Zhou, had three sons together.
The second son, Wan'an, and his wife, Liu, had three daughters together.
The last one is Wan Feng, who has a limp.
The Wan family was also preparing dinner at that moment.
However, unlike the Liang family's fragrant chicken and thick porridge with rice, the Liang family's porridge did not contain soft, sweet white rice, nor meat; it only contained bitter wild vegetables and coarse buckwheat.
The porridge was so thin it was almost unbearable; it looked like a big pot, but two-thirds of it was water.
The Wan family has been eating this kind of food for two months now, and the children are starving and craving meat like crazy.
Several children playing in the yard, upon smelling the aroma of meat wafting through the air, immediately lost their mood for playing. They all tilted their heads back, constantly sniffing the precious meaty scent in the air, looking both adorable and pitiful.
Upon seeing this, the second daughter-in-law, Liu, immediately became unhappy.
"Honestly, no matter what, my little sister is still a daughter of the Wan family. She caught such a big chicken, and she didn't even think to bring some back to show her respect to our parents!"
The eldest daughter-in-law, Zhou, was an honest woman. She said frankly, "When my younger sister got married, it was made clear that as long as we accepted the betrothal gifts, she would be a member of the Liang family and would have nothing to do with our Wan family anymore. There's no reason for her to be filial to our parents."
Liu was well aware of this principle; she just felt sorry for her three daughters who could only smell the aroma of meat but could never eat it.
Liu's full name is Liu Zhaodi.
Her mother gave birth to five daughters before finally having a son.
Her mother favored boys over girls and didn't care much about her daughters to begin with. After her younger brother was born, she treated them even worse.
To please their mother, the five sisters got up earlier than the chickens and went to bed later than the dogs every day. They took on all the dirty and tiring chores at home and never let their younger brother work a single hard job.
Even so, their mother still didn't like them. As soon as they reached marriageable age, she couldn't wait to marry them off and use the dowry money to support her younger brother.
Liu Zhaodi knew from that time on that there was no future in being a daughter.
However, after she gave birth to three daughters in a row, she did not dislike them at all; on the contrary, she was very happy with them.
Seeing them was like seeing herself as a child.
Why are sons treated like precious jewels from birth, while daughters are discarded like trash?
Everyone else dotes on their sons, but Liu Zhaodi insists on doting on her daughter!
Ignoring the advice of the village women, she not only named her three daughters Baobao, Baozhu, Yubao, and Baoyin, but also fought for them in everything she did.
She was determined to get her daughter anything that the eldest son had.
If it were the three sons of the eldest son's family eating meat today, she would have to snatch it from them, even if it meant fighting for it, to get a portion for each of her daughters!
But the one who ate the meat was the sister-in-law who had long been sold off by her mother-in-law.
My sister-in-law is a dim-witted idiot, but she's right. They've all been sold off, so there's no reason for Wan Shu to have to take care of Wan's parents.
She pouted, reluctantly about to give up, when suddenly the voice of Zhou's youngest son, Liang Xiaobao, came from the courtyard.
"Uncle, Uncle, I just saw you carrying a bag to Aunt's place. What nice thing did you bring her this time?"
Upon hearing this, Liu immediately exploded.
"Great! I knew the food in the bag was disappearing so quickly!"
She threw down the wooden ladle she was using to stir the porridge, stormed up to Wanfeng, and began to berate him.
"So it was you, you traitor, who stole it! I pitied you because of your lame leg. Even though you couldn't work in the fields and couldn't help with the farm work, I never said a harsh word to you! I never expected you to be so ungrateful! Not only are you ungrateful, but you repay kindness with enmity! You actually stole grain from our house and gave it away!"
Wan Feng's face turned bright red. He quickly put down the bamboo basket he was weaving and stood up to explain.
"Second sister-in-law, you've misunderstood. I didn't steal any grain from the house. The grain I gave to fourth sister was bought with my own savings."
Wan's father was a bamboo craftsman. After Wan Feng became lame, he followed his father to learn the craft. Although he could not produce bamboo woven products in large quantities because of his leg, he still managed to save some money over the years.
"Ha, your money? The family hasn't separated yet, and you can't work in the fields! Logically speaking, since you've gotten such a big advantage, every penny of yours should go to your mother. This should be your mother's money!"
After hearing his explanation, Liu was not only not appeased, but became even angrier.
"After Mother dies, her money will belong to everyone! That means there's a share of precious jewels and silver in all of it! Isn't this stealing from the family?"
Baoyu and Baoyin were still very young, seven or ten years old, and did not understand anything. They joined in shouting, "Uncle is a thief! Uncle is a thief! He stole our money!"
Baozhu was already thirteen and quite sensible. She blushed with embarrassment at Liu's words.
She stepped forward and tugged at Liu's sleeve: "Mother, don't say anymore, that was originally my uncle's own money..."
"What do you mean 'your own money'? It'll all be your money in the future!"
Liu ignored him and even started to throw a tantrum. Hearing the commotion, Wan's mother came out from the inner room.
"Second son's wife, you're really something. I'm not even dead yet, and you're already eyeing my money after I'm gone?"
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
