Chapter 73: Ideas Open Up, This Is a Free Daughter-in-Law

Hearing her son’s words, her mind suddenly shifted.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” She slapped her thigh in realization.

Zhang Li laughed so hard he showed his teeth, “Mom, if you can help me with this, we can save money on getting a daughter-in-law, right?”

Aunt Liu gave him a sidelong glance, “You little rascal, why didn’t you say this earlier? If you had told me sooner, I could have helped you set it up. Now look, in a few days, she’s leaving, and I’ve already arranged for her to take your sister to earn money. It took a lot of effort to persuade her to stop focusing on her son and Zhang Tingyuan. What are we going to do now?”

“Let them go; they can earn money and come back to get married just in time for the New Year.”

“You think it’s that easy? A young and beautiful girl who’s capable, having seen the world, do you think she’d still be interested in you? There’s still plenty of time before the New Year; how can you be so sure she won’t find someone else while she’s away?”

This was indeed a concern, making Zhang Li feel conflicted again.

“What should we do then?”

Aunt Liu thought for a moment and said, “We can’t let her go out.”

“Ah? Not let her go?”

“Yes, we need to come up with a way to settle your matters first. It’s best if she can get pregnant; once the child is born, I’ll take care of it, and then she can take you and your sister to earn big money.”

The two of them were calculating, and their plans sounded perfect.

After mother and son set their goals, they whispered and discussed for half a day, coming up with a flawless plan.

That night, Zhang Li first talked to his wife about borrowing money from her family.

His wife was unwilling, and he slapped her twice, scolding her.

Aunt Liu had been listening outside the door. Hearing the commotion, she pushed the door open and was immediately met with insults.

“You won’t borrow? How will you deal with your illness if you don’t? Our family’s savings have all been drained because of you. We haven’t saved a single penny in these years to treat you. Your sister has to go out to work for you. She’s only fifteen, so young, and she has to go out of town for you. Don’t you have any conscience? We’re all going to be dragged down by you.”

As she spoke, Aunt Liu cried and scolded.

She went on about how the daughter-in-law was a useless hen that couldn’t lay eggs and how she was dragging the whole family down.

Her daughter-in-law was crying from the scolding.

Zhang Li comforted Aunt Liu, “Mom, don’t be angry; she agrees to borrow money from her family.”

Then he turned to his wife, “Did you hear that? Hurry up and apologize to Mom.”

His wife cried, “Three hundred isn’t a small amount; I really can’t borrow that much.”

“Isn’t your older brother making money from his construction work? Why can’t you borrow it?”

“That money belongs to my brother; my sister-in-law manages all his finances.”

“I don’t want to argue with you. If you can’t borrow it, we’ll get a divorce. I can’t be stuck with you.”

Divorce was the bottom line, and his wife finally compromised.

“Then I’ll give it a try.”

She felt guilty; after all these years, she didn’t know how many herbal medicines she had taken, yet she still couldn’t get pregnant.

Seeing her agree, Aunt Liu and Zhang Li exchanged glances.

It was settled.

The next morning, his wife went back to her family.

Aunt Liu pulled Zhang Li over to discuss the next step of the plan.

She slipped him some money and said, “You go buy the strongest liquor. You must get Shufen drunk; once the rice is cooked, she won’t be able to run away.”

“Got it.”

The reason was well-founded, so Xiaoqin and Zhou Shufen had no doubts.

Zhou Shufen even said she was fortunate and pressed five yuan into Aunt Liu’s hand.

Aunt Liu was overjoyed, thinking that her daughter-in-law, Wang, had been married for many years, and she had never received even fifty cents from her.

This daughter-in-law gave her money before even entering the house and could still have children; just based on that, she was much better than Wang.

After saying some flattering words, she encouraged Zhou Shufen to drink.

Zhou Shufen had learned to drink while accompanying her boss, but she didn’t expect that today’s liquor would be so strong. After drinking, she had a terrible headache and went to sleep in the afternoon.

Seeing her in trouble, Aunt Liu made an excuse to buy new clothes for Xiaoqin, coaxing her to go out and earn big money in her new outfit.

That left Zhang Li and Zhou Shufen at home.

Zhang Li closed all the doors and directly slept with Zhou Shufen.

Afterward, Zhou Shufen had a splitting headache, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

What made her feel worse was seeing Zhang Li lying on her, still wanting more?

Zhou Shufen was stunned, but she wasn’t the type to be overly dramatic about such things; she felt more anger than anything else.

“Zhang Li, what are you doing?”

Seeing that she was awake, Zhang Li stopped pretending, “Shufen, I like you. Don’t leave; just stay and marry me.”

“What? How can this be? What about my sister-in-law?”

“She’s a hen that can’t lay eggs; what use is she? I’ll definitely divorce her.”

Aunt Liu had already told Zhou Shufen about their plans to divorce, but she didn’t expect that they would actually target her.

However, looking at her current situation, she realized she had only two options.

One was to continue going back to do that job, making some money while she was still young.

The second was to find someone to marry.

But she looked down on Zhang Li and Aunt Liu, who was harsh on her daughter-in-law.

Zhou Shufen angrily pushed Zhang Li away, saying, “Considering your family took me in these past few days, I won’t report this to the police. Just pretend nothing happened and leave quickly.”

“What?” Zhang Li was unwilling. Zhou Shufen was much younger and prettier than his busy wife, and her body was delicate and fragrant.

Before he got what he wanted, he might have been able to persuade her.

But now that he had succeeded, he would definitely not let her go.

“This can’t be! You’re mine now; I’ll be responsible for you.”

“No need for that. I’m not some young girl; my son is already three years old. Just pretend this never happened; I don’t want you to be responsible.”

“No, I must be responsible for you. My mom doesn’t know about this yet. She’s been so good to you; if she finds out we did this, and I don’t take responsibility, she’ll kill me.”

Zhou Shufen sneered inwardly, thinking, do you think I’m easy to fool?

If his mom didn’t know, she would just write her name backward.

As Zhou Shufen got dressed, she said, “With your family’s attitude towards daughters-in-law, I could never marry you.”

Zhang Li was taken aback and hurriedly explained, “What’s wrong with how we treat our wives? Wang can’t have children, but I’ve been good to her for six years, and I’ve spent a lot on her medicine over the years.”

Zhou Shufen didn’t expose him. The reason they didn’t change wives was that Wang was honest and hardworking, and also because they didn’t have the money to afford a new one.

She simply said, “Sorry, whether it was when I was with Zhang Tingyi or later when I went to the big city to earn money, I’ve never done farm work. I can’t manage all the work your family has.”