Chapter 13: You’re Here to Steal, Aren’t You

“Mother, I heard that you and Father don’t need us to support you anymore, is that right? Then we’d better take advantage of the timing and quickly go find the brigade leader. Also call over several elders to witness the signing of an agreement stating that the eldest and second households are not responsible for your care in the future, so you don’t come crawling back to us again.”

Chen Rou, who had the air of a “shrew” about her, didn’t even step inside and said this directly to Mother Han at the door.

Eldest Sister-in-law Han was stunned. She hadn’t expected the second household to come over and make such a bold move.

But this wasn’t the time to be a bystander munching on sunflower seeds—this was about their own family interests.

She immediately backed her up: “Mother, hurry up! Call Father too. I already checked—today the brigade leader and everyone else are at home. We need to go sign that agreement right away!”

Mother Han was dumbfounded. “What are you saying? Sign an agreement? Are you saying you don’t want to support us when we get old?”

“Mother, you’ve got it wrong. It’s that you and Father don’t need us to support you anymore. If you want the third brother and his wife to take care of you in the future, fine—but just saying it doesn’t count. We need it in writing. That way, if the third brother and his wife dare to shirk their duty when you’re old, we can report it directly and get them both fired!” Chen Rou said.

Her words carried real weight, and Mother Han immediately blew up. “You little shrew, what did you say? I dare you to say that again!”

“But she’s not wrong,” Eldest Sister-in-law chimed in. “If the third brother and his future wife don’t treat you well, whether it’s his record-keeper position or her job as a sales assistant, they should both be fired. How can people with no morals or character serve the people?” She clearly had done her homework—especially with the second daughter-in-law giving her the perfect opening.

Mother Han was so furious she started swearing. “You two wretches! Are you trying to get divorced and sent back to your maiden families? How dare you say such things to me!”

The younger son and his future wife’s jobs—those were her lifeline! With the two daughters-in-law cursing them like this, how could she tolerate it?

“Fine! Divorce it is! I’m still young and pretty, and I’ve changed my ways. Why should I worry that no man would want me after a divorce? But your son? That’s another story. With a mother-in-law like you who forces your daughter-in-law to get divorced, so blatantly biased—it’s a wonder anyone would dare marry into the Han family again! Then again, I know you two old folks are so biased that even if your second son ends up a lifelong bachelor, you wouldn’t care!” Chen Rou snapped back.

Eldest Sister-in-law didn’t have Chen Rou’s guts. She already had two sons, and they were older. She didn’t dare speak of divorce, but she couldn’t let her mother-in-law suppress them like this either, so she shot back: “Go ahead! I dare you to go tell Han Guowu to divorce me. Let’s see if he dares! If he does, then don’t expect a drop of hot water in that house, and those two sons of his can go eat bark and weeds with him!”

“The old couple doesn’t even want their sons anymore—how could they possibly care about their grandsons? And forget those two older grandsons—there’s still the youngest son and his new wife to give them more grandkids. Those will be their precious little treasures. What are Iron Egg and Donkey Egg worth compared to that?” Chen Rou mocked.

Father Han had been in the house the whole time. He thought this kind of matter should be handled by his wife; as the father-in-law, it wasn’t appropriate for him to step in. But when the second daughter-in-law started turning the grandkids against him, that he couldn’t ignore.

He came out immediately, face dark, saying nothing—just staring at Chen Rou.

“Oh look, Father’s come out now. I must’ve hit a nerve, huh? Playing favorites beyond belief. The eldest and second sons moved out and had to build their own mud-brick houses. Now the youngest is getting married and you’re renovating a whole brick-tile house for him. Sure, fingers aren’t all the same length—we didn’t say anything. After all, we’re the older ones. But now you’ve even bought a big item like a bicycle. Since you’re here, Father, let me ask—are you saying you two don’t need the second household to take care of you in old age anymore?” Chen Rou asked.

“And the eldest household too—don’t need us either? That’s why you’re saving all the good stuff for the youngest brother? If that’s the case, then let’s sign an agreement early so you can’t dump the responsibility on us later!” added the eldest sister-in-law.

“We’re still capable of working!” Father Han said grimly.

“Sure, you’re capable now. What about ten or twenty years from now? You save all the good stuff for your youngest son while you’re still strong, and then when you’re old and weak, you expect us to support you again? Do you really think we’re all fools?” Eldest Sister-in-law sneered.

“The eldest and second sons are our flesh and blood. Isn’t it their duty to take care of us? If they refuse, people will point fingers and shame them to death!” Mother Han said smugly.

“Everyone, look! This is how the old Han couple operates. What a great example they’re setting! Where’s the youngest brother Han Guolin? Hiding? Or not home? If he’s hiding, that’s not right either. He needs to come out and see how much his parents love their youngest son! His second brother had to wait all these years just to get married until now when the youngest is getting married. What wonderful parents, huh? Han Guolin! Come out and see for yourself!” Chen Rou shouted.

You didn’t even need to mention how dark Father and Mother Han’s faces looked.

Someone watching the drama from the side, clearly enjoying it, helpfully added, “Han Guolin went out early this morning.”

“Oh, so he’s out, huh? I was wondering why he was so gutless. But he still needs to hear about today’s events. Sister-in-law, we need to find out where the future third sister-in-law’s family lives. We need to go pay them a visit and let all their neighbors know—she’s about to marry into a goldmine!” Chen Rou said.

From the start, she hadn’t actually expected the agreement to go through. Not supporting one’s parents was never justifiable—no junior would be in the right for that. It was just a pretext to stir up trouble.

But now that her mother-in-law was being so shameless and even saying things like that, why should she hold back?

Eldest Sister-in-law, who had previously been silenced, suddenly lit up at her words. “Right! The third sister-in-law is marrying into a goldmine! We need to go over to her family and make a real fuss. We can’t have them thinking she’s doing us some huge favor by marrying into this village. It’s the farming off-season now—we should go there every day to make noise. The Han family’s so-called goldmine needs to be broadcast loud and clear to all her neighbors!”

Every single day? Now that’s ruthless.

Chen Rou sneered as she looked over at Han Father and Han Mother, whose expressions had drastically changed.

Han Father roared angrily, “What about the eldest and second? Hiding behind your wives and letting them make a scene—are you just going to allow this?”

“My man is kind and doesn’t like to argue, but just because he doesn’t say anything doesn’t mean I’ll let it go!” said the eldest sister-in-law (Han Da Sao) firmly.

“When I came over, Guobin even scolded me, saying I was being petty. I thought to myself, what kind of idiot son is this? His own parents don’t even treat him like a son, and he still wants to be dutiful to them? I told him straight up—if he dares interfere in this matter, then he can forget about living peacefully with me ever again!” Chen Rou was even more ruthless, sneering coldly.

“Fine, don’t live together then! Do you think you’re some kind of gold-plated jade-wearing noblewoman? Who do you think still wants you?” Han Mother yelled.

“Alright then, no need to go on pretending. Since we’re not living together anymore, Big Sis, let’s go. Let’s head over to our future third sister-in-law’s house for dinner. She should know that the steamed buns she’s eating are soaked in our blood!” Chen Rou said coldly.

“You all—” Han Mother was so enraged that she nearly passed out. She couldn’t argue back, so she went straight for a stick to hit them.

Chen Rou jutted out her belly and said, “Come on, hit me right here. Hit my belly. Since we’re done living together, might as well beat the baby inside me to death—save me the trip to the hospital for an abortion. Go on, hit me hard!”

Even Han Da Sao was stunned by her sister-in-law’s boldness.

Forget her—the surrounding onlookers were truly witnessing a spectacle. This Chen Rou, wife of Han Guobin, used to be a reasonable woman, eager to help at home and earn work points. But now she was acting fiercer than ever.

She no longer cried or made a fuss by banging her head against the wall. She just stood there, and with her words alone, she could rival a thousand soldiers.

Han Mother was no match for her. Holding the stick, she didn’t dare swing it even once.

Not just her—even Han Father was the same. But he knew very well that if this matter wasn’t resolved today, the two families would definitely go make a scene at their eldest son’s fiancée’s house. That couldn’t be allowed, or they might ruin the engagement.

“Say it. What do you want?” Han Father stared at them and asked.

“Husband!” Han Mother cried out in panic.

Han Father didn’t respond. He just kept staring at Chen Rou and Han Da Sao.

Han Da Sao couldn’t help but glance at Chen Rou. Chen Rou gave her a look, then directly turned to Han Father and said, “That bicycle, no matter how you look at it, costs at least three hundred yuan. That’s the amount we want. Not a penny less. Otherwise, we’re going to the third sister-in-law’s family and make a scene!”

“Are you robbing us? That bike only cost your third son a hundred and fifty yuan. Where did you get three hundred from?” Han Mother shouted angrily.

“Then we’ll go with a hundred and fifty! If the third brother’s family gets it, then our two families should get the same!” Han Da Sao quickly added.

She thought the second family’s demand was way too outrageous. She had already looked into it—the bike indeed cost just over a hundred, not three hundred.

Chen Rou had no idea about the actual market price of the bicycle; she just threw out a random number.

But there was no way Han Father and Han Mother would give each family 150 yuan. That was out of the question.

After another round of back-and-forth, Han Father and Han Mother finally relented. “Each of your families will get a ten-yuan subsidy. If that’s not enough, then don’t even think about getting anything!”

“Ten yuan? Oh, Father, Mother, you really think highly of yourselves. Since you don’t want to give it, we don’t want it either. Big Sis, come on! If we go to the third sister-in-law’s family now, we’ll still make it in time for dinner. We’re spending the night at their place. I’m pregnant—they wouldn’t dare lay a finger on me. Otherwise, I’ll spend the rest of my life clinging to their family!” Chen Rou pushed her fierce-woman act to the extreme and sneered.

With that, she turned and dragged Han Da Sao away with her.

Zhou Zhen hurried over and tried to persuade her. “Chen Rou, maybe just let it go? Ten yuan is still something—better than nothing, right?”

In her opinion, ten yuan was already a decent amount. Not just her—Han Da Sao thought so too.

But Chen Rou didn’t start a fight just to settle for scraps. Since she had already gone this far, why back down now? The old couple already hated them anyway—what else was there to be afraid of?

“Second sister-in-law…” Han Da Sao hesitated.

“If you want to go back, I won’t make a scene anymore. I won’t even take that ten yuan. Do whatever you want.” Chen Rou let out a laugh and said.