Chapter 47: The Cao Family Compound

At this time of day in the Cao Family Compound, the whole family had returned, and the courtyard was noisy, with a group of children gathered together to play and make trouble.

The Fourth Family had moved out. Qi Wanfeng, who had always worked hard and selflessly doing all the housework, was gone. No one was willing to do the housework. Cao Xiangnan’s monthly contribution of three strings of cash was also gone. With three strings of cash less a month and more than a dozen mouths to feed, and also having to support a student, the family relied on more than ten acres of land and some handmade goods to sell for money to subsidize their income. Now, even a bit of meat was no longer appearing on the dinner table.

The people of the Cao Family Compound originally thought that if they drove the Fourth Family away, their days would get better and better, but now they were worse than before.

Dinner was cooked by the eldest wife, Chen Li. A large pot of vegetables was cooked with little salt and oil, and a pot of rice porridge was boiled with nothing else. With so many people in the family, it was all snatched up in an instant, because being slow meant going hungry.

“…Eat so fast, eat so much every day, but you don’t know how to be diligent when it comes to working. Hurry up and clean up the dishes and wash them, are you waiting for me, your A-mu, to clean them up?” As soon as Chen Zhu saw one or two people sitting there unwilling to move, he opened his mouth and began to scold his daughter-in-law for being lazy and gluttonous.

He was now sitting in the courtyard morning and night, scolding people, and his words were all accusations that his daughter-in-law was not diligent and filial to him, his A-mu. Chen Zhu was a biased person. His own son was his son no matter how bad he was, but he would scold his daughter-in-law as soon as she did something wrong.

Now most of the housework was being done by Chen Li. The second wife, Wang Yan, didn’t do anything. After he finished cooking, he still had to clean up, so naturally he was unwilling. Being scolded by his A-mu like this, Chen Li felt aggrieved, tears fell, and he turned around and ran into the house.

The eldest son, Cao Fugui, was sitting next to his A-die. Seeing his wife crying and going in, he followed his wife back.

“I, I’ll clean up, okay?” The second wife, Wang Yan, put down the baby she was holding in her arms. She was originally a lazy person. Now that Qi Wanfeng was gone, she had to share the housework with the eldest wife, Chen Li, which she was unwilling to do. She would push it off if she could, in short, she just didn’t want to do it.

The second son, Cao Fuqiang, was a scoundrel. Now that he saw that no one was doing the housework, and his wife had to do this kind of work, he was unhappy, and said, “A-mu, let’s move the Fourth Brother back. These things used to be done by Qi Wanfeng, so let him come back and do them.”

“Okay, say less,” Cao A-die said, tapping his tobacco pipe, glancing at his wife, and then faintly glancing at the second son.

Chen Zhu also stopped speaking sheepishly, glaring at Wang Yan, who was slowly and unwillingly cleaning up the dishes. Now, the more he looked at the Second Family, the more unpleasant they became.

Cao Fuqiang was seen by his A-die and quickly shut his mouth, not daring to speak. He didn’t have any money in his hands recently, and didn’t even dare to go near the gambling stalls. He was very bored at home now. He sat there with his legs crossed, thinking about where to get some money to spend.

As soon as he returned to the house at night, Wang Yan began to complain to her husband, saying that she had to do this and that at home now. But as soon as her husband mentioned letting Qi Wanfeng’s family come back, she disagreed, “Let the Fourth Uncle’s family come back? You say, where will they live if they come back? Do you want our little ones to move back and give that house back to them? Don’t even think about it.”

It was difficult enough for her to snatch that house from Chen Li’s hands, and now he wanted her to give that house back to her Fourth Uncle’s family. She wouldn’t even think about it.

“Then what do you say we should do?” Cao Fuqiang said, spreading out his hands.

“What to do, what to do, how do I know what to do!” Wang Yan’s temper flared up, and she turned her back to her husband. Now she had to do everything at home, and A-mu was scolding her every day, she had a belly full of fire. “You’re useless, if you were capable, would I have to put up with this every day in this house?”

When Qi Wanfeng was around, his A-mu would scold Qi Wanfeng, but now that Qi Wanfeng was gone, he was scolding him every day. Wang Yan had a belly full of grievances, and tears fell as he thought about it.

“Hey, don’t be angry, we’ll find a way,” Cao Fuqiang said, seeing that his wife was really angry, and noticing that she was crying, he quickly coaxed her in a low voice.