Chapter 16: Get Out Together, Ye Qiu Pays

Lu Hailiang wore a cold expression and used a bit of force to push Zhuang Meifeng away. “I’m not discussing this with you. Zhuang Tiedan must go back.”

“How can you be so cruel as an adult? Lu Hailiang, I really misjudged you. You can’t even tolerate my nephew from my mother’s side. Are you even a man?”

Being scolded in front of the whole family, having his own wife point at his nose and say he wasn’t a man—even someone as even-tempered as Lu Hailiang couldn’t tolerate that. He took a deep breath and reminded himself not to stoop to her level when she was angry.

Lu Hailiang held onto his patience, wishing he could break his words into little pieces and stuff them into Zhuang Meifeng’s brain as he analyzed the consequences for her.

“If others find out Zhuang Tiedan is at our house, and the Zhuang family refuses to compensate, people won’t accept that either, right?”

“They’ve got whole families with no place to live. If they find out we’re hiding Zhuang Tiedan, won’t they rush into the Lu household with their families? What are we going to do then? Will you serve them food or drinks?”

When she heard the word “compensate.” Zhuang Meifeng became even more agitated and launched into a tirade at Lu Hailiang.

“Compensate what? Why should we compensate? It was an accident when Tiedan started the fire, and they should blame themselves. Why did they leave firewood stacked at the door?”

“If it had been a brick house, you think it would’ve caught fire? They brought this on themselves. Why blame a child?”

Lu Hailiang couldn’t believe these were words coming out of Zhuang Meifeng’s mouth. It was clearly Zhuang Tiedan’s fault—why was she blaming others?

“Zhuang Meifeng, you are completely unreasonable.” Lu Hailiang frowned. “Are you insane?”

“If you keep blocking this, you and Zhuang Tiedan can get out together.”

Zhuang Meifeng froze for two seconds, then slapped her thigh, ready to throw a tantrum. She had clearly taught Zhuang Tiedan all his bad habits. No wonder the saying goes: like family, like house.

She wailed without saying anything else. Seeing that her husband had made up his mind, she turned to look for support. Wu Laidi was watching the drama unfold nearby. Forget helping Zhuang Meifeng—Wu Laidi was kind enough not to add fuel to the fire.

Zhao Menglan also turned her head away, remaining silent. She was utterly disappointed in her eldest daughter-in-law and even doubted whether she had made the right decision by letting her eldest son marry such a woman.

A good wife brought peace to a household; a shrew brought chaos. Zhao Menglan thought that without Zhuang Meifeng, there’d be far fewer problems in the family.

“This is your issue—deal with it yourselves. Just don’t drag the Lu family into it, and don’t bring trouble to the two of us old folks. Do whatever you want.” After saying this, Zhao Menglan pulled Lu Tianjie and left.

Seeing this, Lu Huaiguo also wanted to quickly take Wu Laidi and leave, giving space to Eldest Brother. Wu Laidi wasn’t done watching and hummed her disapproval, unwilling to go.

“Why are you pulling me? I’m not even saying anything.”

“Doesn’t matter, you can’t stay. Let’s go home, and I’ll make you malted milk.” Lu Huaiguo coaxed his wife away with great effort. His mouth was dry from talking, and he quickly took her and left.

No one knew exactly what happened in the main room. After a lot of commotion, Zhuang Meifeng’s crying and screaming startled all the dogs in the village, who began barking non-stop. As for Zhuang Tiedan, Lu Hailiang sent him away that very night.

For the next several days, Zhuang Meifeng kept a face like a dead person at home, ignoring everyone. Wu Laidi, annoyed, complained bitterly about her to Zhao Menglan.

During that time, Zhuang Meifeng even returned to her maiden home once. She went empty-handed and came back with bruises all over her face. Apparently, some families whose homes had been burned caught her and beat her, demanding compensation from the Zhuang family.

The Zhuang family kept their door shut tight. Even as their own daughter was beaten at the door, they didn’t make a sound—like cowardly bastards—drawing mockery from many.

Everyone knew Zhuang Meifeng was already married off. No one from her family came out, so after beating her for a while, they let her go. Zhuang Meifeng returned to the Lu household, both scared and aggrieved, cried her eyes out, and fell ill for several days, refusing to see anyone.

Even Ye Qiu, who had stayed indoors all this time, heard about Zhuang Meifeng’s situation. She thought she should visit the Lu family today to see if they needed help. After all, they were the grandparents of her two children and part of Lu Huaichuan’s family.

For the sake of the monthly allowance, Ye Qiu also felt she should look in on the two elderly folks.

Anyway, she didn’t need to serve them herself. She just needed to hand over this month’s allowance to her parents-in-law. As for who the money would go to later, Ye Qiu didn’t care. She had already done everything she could.

Taking this month’s five yuan, Ye Qiu brought the two kids to the Lu household. In just a few short weeks, Lu Zhinan and Lu Zhibei had become noticeably smarter. Anyone who didn’t know better would think they were city kids.

When Zhao Menglan saw her two grandsons coming, her face lit up like a blooming flower. She reached out and hugged them both.

“Da Wa, Xiao Wa, you’re here. Let grandma see—you’ve grown taller and chubbier.”

“Mom, this is the money Huaichuan sent back for this month. It’s for you.”

Zhao Menglan was taken aback. Ever since the children were born, Ye Qiu had never given them any money. Now she suddenly gave them some—it made Zhao Menglan uneasy.

“Third’s Wife, you’d better keep it. Your dad and I can still work. We can farm and support ourselves. Save the money for the two kids—they’ll need it when they grow up.”

Even if they didn’t want it, Ye Qiu insisted. They had agreed that five yuan would be given each month. Even if the original person hadn’t given it, Ye Qiu had to. Otherwise, if that cheap husband of hers came back and found out, he’d be angry.

“Take the money and buy something good to nourish yourselves. If you won’t take it, I’ll buy a few pounds of meat and bring it over.”

When she heard that, Zhao Menglan immediately accepted the money and stuffed it into her pocket, reminding the spendthrift Third’s Wife in front of her: “Earning money isn’t easy. Don’t buy meat until we can afford it. We’ll slaughter a pig during the New Year—there’ll be plenty of good food then.”

Ye Qiu had heard this so many times her ears were calloused. All year long, they’d only eat a bit of meat during the New Year. If you had money but didn’t eat meat, weren’t you just torturing yourself? Ye Qiu simply couldn’t understand.

You couldn’t take money with you when you were born or when you died. You might as well spend more while you were young, eat what you wanted, play where you wanted. Otherwise, once you were old and your legs didn’t work, where could you even go?

Still, Ye Qiu understood. Zhao Menglan’s generation had suffered from childhood, lived through locust plagues and multiple famine years. It was understandable that she was frugal.

Ye Qiu then pulled out two pounds of pork from her basket, along with two cans of luncheon meat.

“I bought the pork at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. The cans were sent by Huaichuan. He told me to bring them for you to try.”

“You and the kids keep them. We’re old and our teeth aren’t good anymore—we can’t eat much.” Zhao Menglan firmly refused. Her youngest son was out risking his life. Any good food should naturally go to his wife and children.

“Huaichuan said you’ve suffered too much. If I don’t give it to you, he’ll be mad when he comes back.” Ye Qiu said, pretending to be wronged.

Zhao Menglan immediately perked up. “He wouldn’t dare. He’s away all year round. You’re raising two kids alone—that’s not easy. If he dares treat you badly, you tell me. I’ll deal with him.”