Chapter 17: The Troublemaker

The old house had its courtyard gate wide open, and the smell of meat stew wafted far and wide.

Nearby families, despite their hunger, didn’t dare to come knocking.

But the clever ones sent their kids with bowls to see if they could snag some meat scraps.

So there were a few children both inside and outside the courtyard, their chatter making the place livelier.

Zhao Dani walked over, her mouth watering constantly from the smell of meat.

She cursed Zhao Sihai for being so thoughtless while speeding up her steps.

Her lame leg didn’t slow her down at all—she was so fast that even Lin Qianqian couldn’t keep up.

At the gate, she saw two kids squatting on a stone block, giggling as they ate.

Seeing the large chunks of stew meat in their bowls, her eyes widened.

Hearing the noisy chatter inside, her own stomach growled louder.

Anger immediately flared in her chest, and she rushed over, bent down, and snatched one child’s bowl, stuffing the meat and rice into her mouth.

The child didn’t even react in time.

When they finally realized, the empty bowl was shoved back into their hands.

Wiping her mouth, Zhao Dani turned to grab the other child’s bowl.

“You little bastard, you think you can eat my food? You’re so starving, even ghosts don’t eat as much as you. No mother raises you, huh?”

The other child was quicker, clutching their bowl and running off.

Inside the yard, the people eating suddenly heard a curse.

Then came a loud crying and shouting.

Several were startled and rushed out to see what happened.

Zhao Sihai told them to keep eating, saying he’d check it out himself.

Walking to the gate, he saw Zhao Dani chasing a child, scolding and hitting.

For a moment, he didn’t recognize her and even thought she was the child’s mother.

He frowned and asked, “What’s going on?”

Hearing Zhao Sihai’s voice, Zhao Dani stopped chasing the child.

She turned with a new expression.

“Fourth brother, you’re here! I rushed over as soon as I heard the news. It’s really good to see you.”

Zhao Dani was the kind of person who couldn’t stand up to anyone at home, only daring to be mean behind their backs or bullying children.

When Zhao Sihai was little, she bullied him fiercely as a way to vent her frustration.

But as he grew strong and powerful, she no longer dared to, and even became somewhat afraid of him.

Now Zhao Sihai recognized her and furrowed his brows even more.

“Eldest sister? Why are you here?”

Zhao Dani had married off to the neighboring village when he was sixteen.

Back then, he had just joined the army and only came home once or twice a year, so they rarely saw each other.

He had heard from Red Army comrades that Zhao Dani had her leg broken because she kept stealing food from her in-laws to Zhao’s home.

His gaze dropped to her right leg.

But Zhao Dani looked full of complaint.

“What are you saying? I’m your eldest sister. It’s not easy for you to come home, how could I not come and visit?”

She glanced into the yard, curiously licking her lips.

“What are you all doing? Mom said you’ve settled down here. This is the new house, it smells good, you’re eating?”

Zhao Sihai clearly saw through her intentions but said nothing, just gave a lukewarm “hmm.”

He didn’t have much feeling for Zhao Dani, or rather, he felt the same about that whole family.

“Oh, I see, I just happened to—”

“What’s going on here?” Bai Ruoqiao came out, hearing the commotion.

She saw Zhao Sihai talking to someone but couldn’t see who because he was blocking the view.

A little boy hiding by the door immediately tattled.

“Auntie, that woman just snatched Shuanzi’s meal and even tried to snatch Qiangzi’s food and hit him.”

Bai Ruoqiao frowned, thinking, what kind of shameless woman would steal food from children?

Zhao Sihai frowned too, looking at Zhao Dani in disbelief, “You snatched food from children?”

Seeing Bai Ruoqiao, Zhao Dani thought about the beating she just got at home and instantly got angry again.

She didn’t even care about eating anymore and immediately started accusing Bai Ruoqiao aggressively.

“Old Four, do you know what your wife did today?”

Hearing this, Zhao Sihai’s expression darkened.

“Eldest sister, Qiao Qiao is your sister-in-law, mind your tone—what are you talking about?”

Zhao Dani immediately shrank back under his imposing presence and even hiccupped nervously.

Her brief courage disappeared, and she put on a pitiful, weak expression again.

Bai Ruoqiao stepped forward as well, surprised to see Zhao Dani so disheveled and messy, yet it seemed somewhat expected.

Having offended those two women earlier, Bai Ruoqiao anticipated Zhao Dani might be sent back to stir trouble—and she came quicker than expected.

She lightly curled the corners of her mouth in a half-smile, “Eldest sister, why are you here at noon? What’s going on?”

Zhao Dani wanted to rip Bai Ruoqiao’s face off.

It was like a pattern—her personality wasn’t inherited from Zhao Pozi, but her bad character was 100% from her.

Jealous of Bai Ruoqiao’s beauty, jealous that Bai Ruoqiao was loved by her husband, jealous of her son, jealous of her good reputation.

She was like a lunatic, just couldn’t stand her.

Plus, today Bai Ruoqiao was beaten badly by her mother-in-law, which made her hate her even more.

“Bai Ruoqiao, what you did today—tell me, why did you pick a fight in front of my mother-in-law, causing me to get beaten? You just can’t stand to see us well-off, can you? You troublemaker, always messing up the family! Now you’re even encouraging my brother to separate from us. We should never have let a curse like you into the family.”

Zhao Sihai immediately frowned and his gaze grew cold.

Bai Ruoqiao suddenly sneered and stepped forward.

“Eldest sister, I guess your mother-in-law didn’t explain it clearly. Today, she and your little sister-in-law tried to force me into illicit profiteering, but the people exposed them, so they slunk away ashamed.

Since you say that, I can’t just stand by and let people smear me. Why don’t we go to your mother-in-law’s place together, or better yet, take this to the police station?”

Zhao Dani’s eyes widened in shock, “W-what profiteering? Don’t talk nonsense.”

Just hearing “police” made her instinctively fearful and nervous, stumbling over her words.

“Whether I’m lying or not, the police will find out. There are dozens of witnesses today, and I believe they’re willing to testify.”

Seeing Bai Ruoqiao speak so confidently, Zhao Dani grew scared.

She blamed her mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Why did they get involved in profiteering? If they really got caught, wouldn’t her precious son be implicated too?

Thinking this way, she no longer dared to keep arguing with Bai Ruoqiao.

She was afraid Bai Ruoqiao would really drag her to the police.

“I—I don’t know anything. I don’t know. Bao’er is still at home. I have to go back.”

Fearful and guilty, she tried to run away.

At this moment, Lin Qianqian, who had been hiding nearby watching the drama, stepped out.

“Eldest sister Zhao, don’t listen to her nonsense. She’s trying to scare you.

Knowing her jealousy, if she really had evidence on your mother-in-law, she would have taken it to the police already. Why wait until now? She’s lying to you.”

Zhao Dani froze, then turned to look at Bai Ruoqiao again, eyes wide.

She seemed to want to find some trace of a lie on Bai Ruoqiao’s face.