Chapter 6: She could only treat others as they had treated her

Soon, Shen Xuezhu followed the man to the counter downstairs.

The man said a few words to the shopkeeper and then left.

Shen Xuezhu received forty taels of silver, and she was surprisingly happy. This was the first bucket of gold she had earned since arriving in this world.

But once the silver was in her hands, she knew it would soon be spent. There were so many things she needed to buy…

She wanted to see if Zhao Laoer was at the town entrance, so she could take his ox cart to buy the larger items.

It’s likely that the cart would be full once she finished buying everything.

Shen Xuezhu said goodbye to Aunt Yang and left the Xuan Yun Tavern.

She walked toward the town entrance.

After turning a few corners, Shen Xuezhu saw Zhao Laoer sitting on his ox cart.

She hadn’t expected to be so lucky. She wanted to use Zhao Laoer’s cart, and here he was, waiting at the town entrance.

Shen Xuezhu knew that Zhao Laoer was waiting for customers.

She approached and said, “Zhao Erge, I’ll rent your ox cart this time. Don’t take any more passengers. I’m going to buy a lot of things in town and will fill your cart to take them back.”

Zhao Laoer turned to look at Shen Xuezhu. “Sure. Didn’t you just separate from your family? How do you have money to buy so many things?”

Shen Xuezhu saw that Zhao Laoer was an honest man, so she told him the truth. “I just sold a few recipes to the tavern in town and earned a bit of money.”

“However, I hope you can keep it a secret. If the Lu family finds out, especially my mother-in-law, she’ll come asking for money and things.”

“I have two daughters to raise, and there will be many expenses in the future. The money I earned today won’t last long.”

Zhao Laoer understood that Shen Xuezhu had it tough. “Xiaoshan’s daughter-in-law, don’t worry. I’m very tight-lipped and won’t tell anyone. I won’t even mention it to my wife.”

She had indeed picked the right person. Zhao Laoer was reliable.

She continued, “I was planning to pay you for the ride to town right now, but I don’t have any small change. I’ll give it to you all at once later.”

Zhao Laoer waved his hand. “It’s fine. We’re from the same village.”

With that, Shen Xuezhu hopped on Zhao Laoer’s ox cart to buy things.

She first went to the butcher shop.

Considering that pig intestines should be much cheaper than pork and are nutritious, she decided to save where she could, even though she had some money now.

She asked the butcher, “Big Brother, do you still have pig intestines?”

The butcher replied, “Yes, I have two pig intestines and one pig small intestine. How much would you like?”

“I’ll take all of them.” Shen Xuezhu thought that since there would be more than enough for one meal, she could clean and chop the intestines, blanch them in boiling water, and eat them the next day.

“Anything else you want?” The butcher habitually asked.

For making preserved meat, pork belly was the best. Shen Xuezhu said, “I’ll take three pounds of pork belly and ten pounds of fatty pork.”

“Okay!” The butcher immediately started cutting the meat.

…

After leaving the butcher shop, Shen Xuezhu was about to load the meat and other items onto the ox cart when she saw a familiar face.

“Hey! Buying so much, little sister, you’re so rich!”

It was her sister Shen Qingye, standing next to her youngest son, Tiesheng.

From the memories of the original person, Shen Xuezhu knew that her sister had bullied her when they were younger, often calling her a fool.

Ever since Lu Xiaoshan had gone missing, Shen Qingye had cut ties with Shen Xuezhu.

When they were children, Shen Qingye would always steal any food Shen Xuezhu had and would compete with her over everything.

Shen Xuezhu called out to her, “Sister,” not wanting to engage in any conversation, and planned to leave. She explained, “Sister, that’s the older brother who drives the ox cart in our village. I don’t want to keep him waiting, so I’ll go first.”

Shen Xuezhui stared at the pork she was holding in her hand, “Sister, you know our family is an ordinary one. I have three children, and we rarely eat meat throughout the year.”

“Now that you’ve bought so much, you’ll probably not be able to eat it all in a day. Take some and give it to me, I’ll bring some back to give to them to eat.”

She whispered to her son, “Call your aunt, there’s meat to eat.”

Iron saw that there was meat to eat and immediately shouted, “Auntie!”

Although Shen Xuezhui spoke softly, her ears were sharp and she heard everything clearly.

If she wanted meat, she had to call her son to call her aunt. Why didn’t she say so when they first met? Shen Xuezhui didn’t want to talk to Iron, a child, so she nodded her head in agreement.

She looked at the pork in her hand and said, “Sister, this pork is not for me to eat. I can’t give you some.”

Shen Xuezhui didn’t want to tell Shen Xiangyue that the pork was meant for making cured meat to sell for money. If she did, her brother would probably come asking for the cured meat or the money. Her brother wasn’t a good father, he favored Shen Xiangyue over Shen Xuezhui. Shen Xiangyue would bully Shen Xuezhui in front of him, and he would do nothing.

Before Shen Xuezhui got married, she did all the household chores and was always scolded by her brother for her mistakes. She never dared to refuse him when he asked for something.

Now that Shen Xuezhui was no longer getting bullied by her brother, when she refused to give him meat, he got angry. “You’re my sister-in-law! You’re so stingy with your nieces and nephews! You won’t give them a bit of meat!”

Shen Xiangyue’s tone was unkind, and Shen Xuezhui felt annoyed. “I’m your sister-in-law? What kind of sister-in-law am I? How many times have you bullied me since childhood? How many times have you taken things from me?”

“Now that you’ve got some things, you come asking for mine! Do you think my life is better now? Have you ever come to visit me since my husband went missing? Have you ever thought about my well-being? I don’t think you care about my life at all.”

“You only take things from me and never give me anything back. If I give you some meat this time, you’ll just ask me for something else next time.”

Shen Xuezhui’s words made Shen Xiangyue even angrier. “You stupid fool! You’re just talking nonsense because I asked for a bit of meat! You’re so righteous and self-righteous!”

“You’re my sister, my husband is gone, and you’ll have to rely on me in the future.”

“If you were me, you’d be fawning over your sister-in-law all the time, but you won’t even say a good word to me! You really can’t do anything right, Shen Xuezhui!”

The original owner was a mother of two children, and Shen Xiangyue still called her a fool. Shen Xuezhui hated people like that and could only use the same tactics against her.

“A fool? Fool who?”

Shen Xiangyue didn’t react at first. “Fool who called me a fool!”

“Ah, I see you admit you’re a fool now!” Shen Xuezhui finally had her revenge and smiled wickedly at Shen Xiangyue.

Shen Xiangyue finally reacted, and her anger burned even hotter. She slapped Shen Xuezhui’s face with a loud slap. “I’ll kill this stupid fool!”

Shen Xuezhui reacted quickly and grabbed Shen Xiangyue’s wrist, pinching her hard. “Let go of me, you fool!”

Iron thought Shen Xuezhui was bullying his mother and kicked her with his foot. “Fool, let go of my mom! If you don’t, I’ll make Dad beat you!”

This was the kind of son that Shen Xiangyue had taught him: bullying his aunt in front of him and disrespecting her. Shen Xuezhui glared at Iron with anger. “I’m your aunt! How dare you call me names and kick me? Apologize!”

Iron was intimidated by Shen Xuezhui’s glare and only whispered an apology. “I’ll let go of my mom if you stop calling me names.”