Chapter 27: Taking Advantage

“Well, Auntie, we’ll go to the canteen first. You should go ahead and deliver the food.”

Liu Ren saw that the old lady was frowning again, knowing what she was thinking, and quickly said.

“Okay, you go ahead.” The old lady waved her hand readily, letting them go.

When they were far away, Liu Ren introduced Zhao Sihai.

“This is Secretary Wang’s mother. She’s a good person, but she likes to urge people to get married. But you don’t have to worry about that.”

Zhao Sihai nodded with a smile, also a little surprised, “The secretary is still unmarried?”

Liu Ren coughed, covering his mouth with his fist, and said with a wry smile, “Our secretary has dedicated himself to the party. We must learn from his spirit of dedication.”

Zhao Sihai raised his eyebrows, sensing that there was something else going on, but he didn’t ask.

The three of them chatted and laughed as they went to the canteen.

While eating, Lao Liu, the agricultural technician, suddenly asked, “Comrade Sihai, I saw how skilled you were repairing the tractor this morning. Can you repair other machines?”

Zhao Sihai looked up at him, “What kind of machine?”

“The cotton combing machine at the textile factory. Can you fix it?”

Zhao Sihai thought for a moment and didn’t give a definite answer, “I haven’t seen it, so I can’t say.”

Lao Liu’s eyes lit up, “No problem. When you have time, I’ll take you to see it. It’s in Qingyang County.”

Zhao Sihai didn’t refuse. He nodded in agreement.

—

Nanyang Village.

Bai Ruojiao saw Zhao Pozi, who was furious and finally came to her door to demand an explanation, and smiled.

“Mom, why are you here?”

Zhao Pozi saw Bai Ruojiao’s face and wanted to tear it off.

But since the incident with the medicine, she was a little afraid of Bai Ruojiao.

At least she wouldn’t use her hands, to avoid any physical contact and being poisoned again.

She said with a gloomy face, “What? I can’t come to my son’s place? Are you hoping I’ll never come?”

Bai Ruojiao didn’t get angry. She looked helpless, like a little bun.

“Mom, how could we think that? We’re just here. I was just thinking about going back to the main house.”

Before, Bai Ruojiao spoke softly, and she thought she could just manipulate her.

Now, hearing Bai Ruojiao’s soft voice, her blood immediately went on high alert.

“What are you going to the main house for? Are you going to cause more trouble?”

Bai Ruojiao was even more helpless. She sighed, “Mom, what trouble could I cause? We’re all family. I was just helpless before. I won’t do it again. We invited people to dinner yesterday and received some gifts. We also bought some things when we renovated our new house. We wanted to send some to the main house.”

Zhao Pozi was furious when she heard about the dinner party, but when she heard that they were going to bring things to the main house, she immediately narrowed her eyes and calmed down.

“What things? Don’t just bring some trash to the main house to show your filial piety.” Her words were full of sarcasm.

Bai Ruojiao didn’t mind at all. She smiled with her usual good temper.

“Mom, wait a minute. I’ll get it.”

Zhao Pozi waited for her to turn and leave the gate, then went to the kitchen. She also quickly entered the courtyard.

Seeing the small courtyard, which was only one-third the size of the main house courtyard, and the mud house, which was still a little dilapidated even after being renovated, Zhao Pozi curled her lips. She felt a little better.

Bai Ruojiao had already come out with a basket, “Mom, here’s a bottle of Moutai. It was a gift from Sihai’s friend. Dad and San can have a little drink when they’re free. There’s also a pound of meat for everyone to try. The malted milk was also a gift from Sihai’s friend. It’s for you to nourish your body.”

Zhao Pozi had been frowning, but when she saw the things in the basket, her eyes lit up.

These are all good things.

But she quickly frowned.

Could this woman easily take out so many things, meaning she had even better things stored at home?

She sneered, “I heard you’ve been eating and drinking for two days. It seems you have a lot of good things. You’re only giving me a little bit. Are you trying to get rid of a beggar?”

Bai Ruojiao explained, “Mom, everyone is just talking nonsense. Everyone brought things when they came for dinner. We just put them together. Don’t you believe me? These are the good things. Sihai specifically told me to send them to the main house as a token of respect.”

Zhao Pozi didn’t believe her lies. She immediately snatched the basket and swaggered into the kitchen.

The things in the kitchen were in plain sight. There was no place to hide anything.

There were two bags of grain, one bag of white flour and one bag of about five or six kilograms of cornmeal.

There were also two radishes, half a head of cabbage, and two eggs in the basket on the shelf. On the stove were oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, but nothing else.

It was indeed very poor.

Zhao Pozi narrowed her eyes and directly put the eggs and white flour into the basket.

“These aren’t good things. You’re so picky. Since you look down on me, I’ll take them all.”

Bai Ruojiao seemed to want to say something, but she didn’t.

Seeing her looking like a little bun again, Zhao Pozi gradually relaxed her guard.

Zhao Pozi went into the main room and took a look around. She took the half-can of canned food and a bag of candy that An’an had left over from breakfast.

Finally, seeing that she couldn’t find anything else good, she sneered a few more times and left.

After she left, Bai Ruojiao stood at the door for a while before locking it and going to Fang’s house.

As she passed by a neighbor, an auntie asked with concern, “Bai Zhiqing, I saw your mother-in-law carrying a lot of things from your house. Did she bully you again?”

Bai Ruojiao forced a smile, “No, we just bought some things for the new house, and Sihai’s friend sent some gifts. I was going to send them to the main house.”

The auntie saw her forced smile and knew there was something else going on.

She immediately felt sympathy. What bad luck to have such a mother-in-law.

Yesterday, everyone was envious of Zhao Sihai having a good job, thinking that Bai Ruojiao would be able to enjoy life.

Now it seemed they were happy too soon.

With Zhao Pozi, that scoundrel, and the whole Zhao family of bloodsuckers, it was hard to say whether Zhao Sihai’s job was good or bad.

It seemed there would be more trouble in the future.

Bai Ruojiao saw the auntie’s sympathy and her expression became even more strained, “Auntie, I’ll go now.”

“Okay, you’re going to Old Fang’s house to pick up An’an, right? Go ahead. If you don’t have time to bring him, you can leave An’an at my house.”

Bai Ruojiao smiled, “An’an likes to stick to Jingguo.” She waved her hand and left.

After Bai Ruojiao left, the auntie went to her old friend and gossiped about Zhao Pozi’s actions.

Soon, almost the whole village knew.

Fang Hanwu also heard about it and frowned.

But they knew how difficult Zhao Pozi was to deal with. They couldn’t do anything about her for now.

After all, although Zhao Sihai had split the family, they were still related. It wasn’t illegal for a mother to take things from her son’s house.

“Why don’t you ask Caihua to go over more often and take care of things? Sihai is not home during the day, so it’s easy for them to be bullied.”

Zhang Caijuan also looked helpless, “We’re not related, and we don’t have anything to do. What excuse should Caihua use to go over? People will think we’re trying to curry favor with Sihai because of his job.”

Fang Hanwu thought his wife was right.

He could only sigh and thought he would remind Sihai when he came back tonight.