Chapter 9: Either You Leave Now, or You Hit Me with a Stick

“Big sister-in-law, open the door, Mother is looking for you!”

Shen Xuezhú immediately recognized the voice—it was Tian Zhixiang.

She quickly hid her money pouch in the bedroom and went to open the door.

She couldn’t ignore it. It wasn’t that she was afraid of them, but if they caused a commotion at the courtyard door, the villagers outside would start gossiping.

Shen Xuezhú opened the courtyard door with a blank expression.

Song Guimiao and Tian Zhixiang hurriedly rushed inside.

“I heard you made a lot of money selling recipes and bought a lot of things. Mother came to have a look,” Song Guimiao said, stretching her neck as she peeked inside.

Shen Xuezhú knew that these two big personalities weren’t going to leave anytime soon.

If it was just a casual visit, she would let them look around.

But if it wasn’t, she would have to kick them out.

Shen Xuezhú followed them into the house. Song Guimiao, realizing that Shen Xuezhú was trailing behind, turned around and said, “Oldest daughter-in-law, you go about your business. You don’t have to accompany us. We’ll just take a quick look and leave.”

Since she said that, Shen Xuezhú decided not to argue. What could they possibly see?

Shen Xuezhú sat by the door of the main room, urging Shen Xiaoyue and Shen Xiaoli to finish their meat pies quickly.

Shen Xiaoyue knew exactly what was going on. “Mom, do you think Grandma and Second Aunt are here to ask for things?”

Shen Xuezhú smiled lightly. “That depends on whether they can take anything with them.”

If this were the old Shen Xuezhú, Shen Xiaoyue would never have believed such words. But now, with her changed attitude, Shen Xiaoyue trusted that Shen Xuezhú could follow through.

She simply let Song Guimiao and Tian Zhixiang go into the kitchen to have a look.

It wasn’t long before Song Guimiao and Tian Zhixiang came out of the kitchen.

“Oldest daughter-in-law, you’ve bought so much meat! You know you won’t finish it all anytime soon, so why not give me two pieces to take home?”

“I’ll tell the villagers that it was your filial gesture, and you gave it to me.”

Just the day before, these two were threatening to beat her, and now they were acting as if they had changed into different people, speaking sweetly.

But Shen Xuezhú knew the truth. In the past, the original Shen Xuezhú had suffered greatly at the hands of Song Guimiao. She had been pushed around and mistreated by her. This time, no matter how sweet they spoke, she wouldn’t give them a single piece of meat.

Shen Xuezhú directly replied, “No, I’m not giving you any.”

Song Guimiao had spoken kindly to her, and as her mother-in-law, she had asked for two pieces of pork, but Shen Xuezhú refused so bluntly.

Song Guimiao, now impatient, got straight to the point. “Shen, have I ever asked you for money? Now the family is selling land so that the third son can get married, and I haven’t even borrowed money from you.”

“I raised you for three years, and now I can’t even get two pieces of pork from you. I see you’re just an ungrateful wolf.”

“I might as well be feeding a dog, at least it would wag its tail when it sees me.”

Shen Xuezhú casually picked up a stick and held it in her hand. Without flinching, she responded, “Do you really want to speak like this? Calling me a dog? Can humans and dogs be compared?”

“Also, when you asked me for pork, you called me ‘Oldest Daughter-in-Law.’ Now that I’m refusing, you call me ‘Shen.’ Tell me, who’s the real ungrateful one?”

“You dared to call your own mother-in-law an ungrateful wolf, that’s disrespectful! You’ll be struck by lightning!”

“And what’s wrong with calling me Shen? Isn’t that my last name? Other people’s mothers-in-law are called ‘Daughter-in-Law,’ why can’t you do the same?”

Tian Zhixiang pretended to chime in with some words, mainly because she was worried about what Song Guimiao might say when she went home. If things got serious, she might not be treated kindly.