"There’s a bit of everything inside, so divide it up among yourselves. I only managed to buy two quilts, so you’ll have to share them. I have things to do, so I’ll be leaving first." After speaking, Bai Jiu walked right past Old Li, opened the door, and left.
As soon as she stepped outside, Bai Jiu shivered violently. It was far too cold.
What she didn’t know was that after she left, the four elderly people in the room couldn’t recover their wits for a long time. If the strong wind outside hadn’t blown the door wide open and nearly extinguished the fire in the room, they probably would have stayed dazed even longer.
"Is there something wrong with that girl’s head?" It had been several years since they arrived here, and this was the first time anyone had gotten so close to them. Although they didn’t know Bai Jiu very well, the past her would never have done something like this. To actually buy them clothes and quilts... this was...
"Old Li, you didn’t say something to her, did you?" Elder Wu asked, feeling a bit uneasy.
Old Li quickly shook his head. "How is that possible? What could I possibly say? Even if I did say something, she wouldn’t try to curry favor with me given my status, right?" Regardless, he couldn’t believe anyone would dare get so close to him now.
Zhou Lan looked at the three of them and finally sighed. "Forget it. No matter her intentions, we’ll be interacting for a long time, so we’ll find out eventually. Besides, we can’t really turn these things down."
The rest of the production brigade was hunkering down for the winter, but there was no such thing as a winter break for them. Surviving a whole winter without dying was pure luck. If they died, they couldn’t blame anyone. It just meant their fate was poor. Although these clothes were old, to them, old clothes were exactly what they needed.
Bai Jiu had no interest in guessing what they were thinking. After returning home, she cuddled her two darling children and slept soundly through the night.
The moment she woke up the next day, she started making breakfast. Today, she was going to need a lot of stamina.
That’s right. She had taken Zhengyang’s words from yesterday to heart. Wang Qiuyue, huh? No matter how good her relationship with the original owner of this body used to be, now that she had dared to covet her son, she had better be prepared to be taught a lesson.
Breakfast was simple. She boiled a pot of noodles, steamed three large meat buns, and stir-fried a homestyle pork dish. The pork was stir-fried with cabbage stalks, and it smelled absolutely incredibly fragrant. However, since the children were small, she didn’t add any chili peppers. Otherwise, eating this dish with white rice in the dead of winter, she could easily polish off two massive bowls.
But she could still enjoy it without the heat. Using it as a topping for the noodles was just as addictive. She also fried two eggs for the children, one for each. They quickly finished their simple breakfast.
"Be good at home and don’t run around. Mommy is going out into the village for a bit, but I’ll be right back. I’ll make you something delicious for lunch." The little ones were very easy to coax.
It was starting to snow outside, and she couldn’t bear to let them go out in the cold. Furthermore, who knew what those loudmouths in the village might say? What if the children saw her smacking someone? She was a loving mother, after all. Once she finished dealing with that bitch, she would come back and make dumplings. There was no need for the kids to tag along.
On her way to find Wang Qiuyue, she bumped into a few villagers.
"Oh, if it isn’t the wife of the Gao family’s third son. Are you on your way to give your mother-in-law her New Year’s gift?" an old woman wearing a tattered padded jacket and holding a chipped bowl stopped in her tracks and teased upon seeing Bai Jiu.
The reason Bai Jiu didn’t want to live in the village was precisely because she disliked these kinds of people. They were gossipy, loose-lipped, and loved to stir up trouble. Hmph, did she think she didn’t know what this old woman was scheming? If she wanted to laugh at Old Mrs. Song’s expense, Bai Jiu had no objections, but she wasn’t about to let herself get dragged into it.
"If it isn’t Aunt He. Are you off to mooch a meal at someone else’s house again?" Although the original owner of this body had been introverted, she knew everyone in the village she needed to know. The woman standing before her loved gossiping, was constantly at odds with Old Mrs. Song, and often mocked her in the past.
"Watch your mouth! Do I look like I need to eat at someone else’s house?" Having her true intentions exposed, Mrs. He was extremely displeased. "It’s just that your mother-in-law is too soft-hearted. If you were in my family and dared to bring up splitting the household, I would definitely break your legs." After saying this, she curled her lip and continued walking forward.
For some reason, Granny He felt a little uneasy. Over the past two days, she had heard Old Mrs. Song complain endlessly about this third daughter-in-law. It was as if she were possessed by a ghost. She had changed drastically, even resorting to physically hitting Old Mrs. Song. If Granny He hadn’t been afraid of getting beaten herself, she definitely wouldn’t have let Bai Jiu off so easily just now.
Bai Jiu was left speechless.
"That requires you to actually have a daughter-in-law to beat in the first place." Her eerie voice drifted over from behind Granny He.
This Granny He was truly shameless. She had three sons of her own, yet the eldest was almost thirty and still hadn’t managed to find a wife. That alone showed how utterly detestable their family was. She actually wanted to beat a daughter-in-law? Keep dreaming. The whole family was lazy and gluttonous, spending all day trying to take advantage of others. Bai Jiu had never seen anyone more shameless than them.
"You..." Granny He turned back to glare at Bai Jiu after being told off, but she was given a massive fright by the look in Bai Jiu’s eyes. As if she had seen a vicious ghost, she immediately turned and ran away.
Bai Jiu couldn’t be bothered with her; she had more important things to do.
News of Bai Jiu walking through the village was quickly spread by Granny He. Even though she didn’t know what Bai Jiu was up to, that wasn’t going to stop her from running her mouth.
Outside Gao Erzhu’s house, Bai Jiu heard the sound of arguing coming from inside the moment she arrived.
"You useless piece of trash who can’t even lay an egg, you still want to eat meat? Why don’t you just go die!"
"Exactly! You should take a good look at yourself and see if you even deserve it, Qiuyue. Mother made this for me, so nobody else is touching it."
Gao Erzhu’s home was located near the village chief’s house. They were also related to the village chief, but it was just within five generations. They were related by blood, but they weren’t particularly close.
"Boo-hoo... I can’t live like this anymore!" Wang Qiuyue felt like dying. Was it that she didn’t want to have children? If she couldn’t get pregnant, what else could she do? Why was God treating her so unfairly? Why?!
"Stop wailing like you’re at a funeral! If you want to wail, get the hell back to your maiden home and do it there. Don’t stay in my house, you useless thing!" Gao Erzhu’s mother was growing increasingly dissatisfied with this daughter-in-law. "I didn’t spend all that grain to marry you into this family just so you could sit around and eat for free. Let me tell you, if you don’t get pregnant this winter, you can get the hell out of the Gao family!"
Gao Erzhu’s mother was not someone to be trifled with. She was notoriously difficult and sharp-tongued throughout the village.
"Brother Erzhu." Seeing her mother-in-law say such things, Wang Qiuyue grew terrified and immediately turned to her husband for help.
Gao Erzhu was a man who listened to his mother. "Listen to Mother. She’s doing this for our own good." If his wife couldn’t have children, he naturally wouldn’t stay married to her forever.
Bai Jiu understood the situation clearly now. No wonder Wang Qiuyue had started getting ideas. However, she clearly hadn’t thought it through. No matter how much Old Mrs. Song disliked Zhengyang, he was still a grandson of the Gao family. How could they possibly give their grandson away to someone else?
Then again, Bai Jiu figured that given Old Mrs. Song’s personality, she might actually agree to it—it would just be a matter of how much money was offered.
"Wang Qiuyue, you shameless bitch, get the hell out here!" Bai Jiu wasn’t about to feel sorry for her. Her life might be difficult, but had the original owner ever treated her poorly? It really was a case of feeding a thankless wretch.
The arguing inside the house came to an abrupt halt the moment they heard Bai Jiu shouting from outside.
"Who is it? Who’s out there?" Wang Qiuyue was very meek at home, but on the outside, she had a temper that could spar with anyone.
"It’s me, your daddy." Bai Jiu shoved open the courtyard gate to Wang Qiuyue’s house and marched right in.