Chapter 108: “It’s Really Her Grandchild, Yet She’s Not Happy”

This New Year was actually not too bad for Xie Yunshu. Although quite a few frustrating things happened, at least she had some money in hand now and wasn’t worried. On the last day of selling boxed meals, she was busy in the morning, and sure enough, by noon a few other people showed up to sell meals too. Since she only prepared thirty boxes, she barely sold about twenty; the rest she took home for lunch.

On the way back, Xie Mingcheng looked a bit down: “Sister, we only made money for three days.”

Xie Yunshu smiled: “You still want to keep making money endlessly? Others aren’t fools, who wouldn’t be jealous of such a good opportunity?”

But the securities center would close tomorrow, and the more people selling meals, the lower the profit. It was basically just earning some hard-earned money, nothing to be too upset about.

New Year’s Eve quickly arrived. The quilt Li Fenlan made was finished. Wearing it with a light gray wool coat and a scarf, Xie Yunshu looked like a proper young lady from the city — except her hands were rough from long-term hard work, clearly not as delicate as a pampered lady’s.

“My girl looks really good.”

Li Fenlan was pleased, making her spin around, then looked at Xie Mingcheng: “My son looks good too!”

Xie Yunshu carefully took off the new clothes and neatly placed them on the bedside, then prepared to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some New Year goods. Though it was already good if they could eat some meat during the holiday, Xie Yunshu was not satisfied—she wanted a good year to chase away bad luck.

You can’t just spend money recklessly, but people must know how to enjoy life, or else what’s the point of earning money?

“I’m going to make eight-treasure duck, eight-treasure rice, braised pork, and egg dumplings!” Xie Yunshu muttered to herself, then thought again, “Oh right, let’s invite Grandma Zhang to celebrate the New Year with us—she’s always alone every year anyway.”

Since Grandma Zhang was hospitalized last time, she went out less and less. Xie Yunshu worried about her and made sure to check on her every day after work. Grandma Zhang was nearly seventy, living alone since her husband passed away. In recent years her health had worsened; living alone was really dangerous.

Li Fenlan didn’t object, only teasing: “Four people eating, you’re making so many dishes, won’t you waste food if it’s not finished?”

But the year wasn’t going well for the Lu family.

Lu Jianshe had been going home less these days. He gathered a few old friends to speak some good words for him so that things could be handled lightly, not affecting his job after the New Year. If he couldn’t become director, at least he had to firmly keep the deputy director post.

But those who thrive in officialdom are all clever—those old buddies would only give him vague answers, spending money on meals but never really doing anything. And Cheng Yuxiang was even more annoying. This time of year used to be when she secretly showed off playing mahjong at home. These days, she didn’t dare to go to a single mahjong parlor.

Lu Zhixing was naturally a man of few words. Ever since Zhou Xinyue was locked in the psychiatric ward, he spoke even less. He never went to the family compound, only stayed in the duty room, and never once visited Zhou Xinyue.

Perhaps the only carefree one in the family was Lu Xueting. She was still trying to coax Xiao Wei into admitting that Xie Yunshu was the one who hit him, but Xiao Wei wouldn’t say a word. When pressed, he just shook his head desperately, promising to behave.

“That’s your own mother! You’re really being raised by a wolf!”

Lu Xueting grabbed Xiao Wei’s arm, so angry she almost hit him. But she wasn’t that cruel in the end; she locked him in the innermost room on the second floor: “If you won’t talk, then don’t come out. Your own mother doesn’t care about you—she’s just a heartless wolf!”

Xinyue suffered so much for this child. Back then, it might have been better to just leave him in the mountains. Bringing him out was nothing but a burden. Everyone said Zhou Xinyue abused Xiao Wei, but she saw it as slander. The boy was just small and thin, how was that abuse?

Lu Xueting stomped downstairs in a huff. Seeing the dining table still empty, her mood worsened: “Mom, it’s almost six o’clock! Why isn’t the New Year’s Eve dinner ready yet? Brother hasn’t come home either. This time last year, the table was already full of dishes!”

Cheng Yuxiang was cooking alone in the kitchen. Hearing this, she snapped, “Why don’t you come help me instead of just watching TV?”

“Let Xie Yunshu do it…” Zhou Xinyue subconsciously started, then stopped mid-sentence.

Last year’s New Year’s Eve dinner was so lavish because there was a selfless person in the family. That person was Xie Yunshu, who was good at cooking. Every time she came to the old Lu family house, Cheng Yuxiang would order her to help in the kitchen.

It was called “helping,” but really, Xie Yunshu was running the kitchen while everyone else watched TV outside. Sometimes Lu Zhixing would step in to help her, but Cheng Yuxiang would stop him, saying Xie Yunshu had no special skills, so cooking couldn’t possibly tire her out.

At that time, Xie Yunshu and Lu Zhixing had just married. She was full of happiness and satisfaction. Cooking was easy for her and didn’t feel like a burden; she just wanted to integrate into the family wholeheartedly.

But if the in-laws never liked you from the start, they’ll never like you. Xie Yunshu’s compliance and compromise only made Cheng Yuxiang look down on her more.

This year, Cheng Yuxiang no longer needed to look down on anyone—because one former daughter-in-law was long gone, and the other current daughter-in-law was locked in the hospital psychiatric ward!

Outside, firecrackers were cracking loudly, and the TV was full of festive programs. Lu Jianshe put down his newspaper, feeling no festive spirit: “What’s wrong with Zhixing? He still hasn’t come home?”

Lu Xueting replied matter-of-factly, “He’s definitely gone to see Sister Xinyue. She’s so lonely alone in the ward! Mom doesn’t even let me go. The hospital isn’t a prison, why treat it like one?”

Someone was watching that matter closely. Lu Jianshe wouldn’t let Zhou Xinyue out, especially now when he hated her so much, wanting to wash away the stain she brought on the Lu family. There was no way he’d let Lu Xueting bring her home.

Mentioning Zhou Xinyue, Cheng Yuxiang’s eyes were full of disgust: “Call the hospital and ask when your brother’s coming back.”

Lu Xueting said “Oh,” about to pick up the phone, when Lu Jianshe asked again, “Where’s Xiao Wei?”

“Upstairs. He won’t die.”

Cheng Yuxiang snorted unhappily. Zhou Xinyue was useless; where could the child she gave birth to go? The little kid always had a gloomy face, never spoke a word—it was just annoying! If the child weren’t under the Lu family’s name, she’d want to give him away!

When Cheng Yuxiang said this, she completely forgot that she was the one who once said with a smile that Xiao Wei should be her grandson, saying the child was pitiful and needed care. Now that he really was her grandson, she wasn’t happy about it at all.