After hanging the clothes out to dry in the yard, Xu Shanshan carried a basin into the house. Upon seeing her two cousins, she shrank back in fear.
"Xu Zhiqing, could you wash our clothes too?" Xue Min said with a smile.
Xu Shanshan gripped the basin tightly, "I'm a little tired..."
Xue Min retorted sarcastically, "Someone like you, who's neither good-looking nor capable, what good are you besides doing more work?"
Xu Shanshan lowered her head in self-consciousness.
"Hurry up and wash it for us, or I'll tell my cousin and make you work in the pigsty too," Xue Min threatened.
Xu Shanshan bit her lip and could only obediently pick up their dirty clothes and put them in the basin.
"By the way, Xu Zhiqing, I'm out of food. I lent you some at noon. You don't mind, do you?" Tian Lingling asked with a smile, fanning herself with a palm leaf fan.
Xu Shanshan turned around in surprise, "I don't have much food left either."
“It’s okay if you eat less, your family doesn’t care about you anyway, but I can’t afford to go hungry, my parents will be worried.” Tian Lingling deliberately stabbed her in the heart.
Xu Shanshan was disliked by her family because she was a girl. At home, she was treated like a little maid, eating little and doing a lot, and was often beaten and scolded.
She developed a submissive nature from a young age, and even felt that she was a useless person with no one to rely on.
She went to check her food sack, and found it empty. Her eyes were red, but she didn't dare say anything. She carried the dirty clothes, her back hunched, out of the store.
Tian Lingling and Xue Min exchanged a glance and smiled.
Other people are hard to handle, but luckily there's Xu Shanshan, the easy target.
"Dahai, when is that girl coming back?" Wang Taohua asked as she put the food on the table.
Xu Dahai got angry. "That brat won't do it, what can I do?"
"We have to find a way. She works for Dr. Li now, and Dr. Li is the richest man around here. Even a little bit of money slipping through his fingers would amount to a fortune." Wang Taohua said greedily. "If Erniu were in our family, wouldn't all those benefits be ours?"
Why should those two old geezers get away with this?
Xu Dahai certainly knew how many benefits there would be in bringing his daughter back, but he tried every possible method. "That brat is just like her short-lived mother, cold and hard-hearted, and very annoying."
"Why bring up that unlucky person? He can't even have a son, what a cursed thing," Wang Taohua said disdainfully.
Xu Dahai nodded and stroked his son beside him, "Peach Blossom, you are so lucky to have given me a big, healthy son."
Erniu clenched her little fists tightly at the door. It was one thing for her father and stepmother to scold her, but her mother had been dead for so many years, and they still scolded her. Were they even human?
"You brat, you brat!" Five-year-old Duoduo shouted, pointing at the door.
The couple looked over and, sure enough, it was Erniu; their expressions immediately changed.
"Erniu, you've finally arrived! Come in quickly." Wang Taohua smiled and pulled Erniu inside.
Erniu shook off her and walked up to Xu Dahai. "Dad, I'm willing to come back."
"Alright, you've finally agreed. That's my good daughter." Xu Dahai looked at his daughter as if she were a stack of walking bills, and his attitude made a complete 180-degree turn. "Sit down and have dinner together."
Erniu didn't stand on ceremony and sat down directly. Regardless of whose it was, she picked up a bowl of rice from the table and started frantically picking up food with her chopsticks.
Xu Dahai and his family of three stared blankly as Erniu quickly put the food into her bowl and started eating. After finishing one bowl, she picked up another and continued eating. In no time, most of the food was gone.
"That's mine, you brat, you can't eat it." Xu Duoduo jumped off the stool and went to snatch it.
Erniu dodged away, ate all the oily food in her bowl, threw the bowl down, and demanded, "I want lunch! Where's my room?"
Xu Dahai pointed in a direction, seemingly lost in thought.
Erniu went in, took a look, and came out, saying, "I don't want to sleep in the storeroom, otherwise I would have gone back to my grandparents' house."
“Then you can sleep in your brother’s room first,” Xu Dahai said.
Erniu turned around and went into many rooms, slamming the door shut.
"You're not allowed to sleep in my room!" Duoduo ran over and banged on the door, but couldn't get it open, so he sat down on the floor and started crying.
Wang Taohua snapped out of her daze, picked up her son, and angrily asked, "Dahai, are you just going to let this brat get away with this?"
"She just got back, so let's go along with her for now. Think about what you can get out of her," Xu Dahai said in a low voice.
Wang Taohua: "..." Why does it feel like I'm just making empty promises?
The area outside the house quieted down. Erniu smiled, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
