Old Lady Yuan smiled warmly and said, “We’ve run out of soy sauce at home. I want to borrow some from you and will return it tomorrow after we make some.”

Borrow soy sauce?

Li Shuping looked at the kindly smiling old lady.

If it had been before, whenever someone asked to borrow soy sauce or salt from her, she would have immediately agreed and said, “What are you talking about returning it? It’s just a little soy sauce, take it and use it.”

But now…

“All right, I’ll go get it for you.” Li Shuping turned and went into the kitchen.

The smile on Old Lady Yuan’s face faltered for a moment, and she didn’t say, “It’s just a little soy sauce, no need to return it.”

Li Shuping took the soy sauce and handed it to Aunt Yuan.

It was freshly pressed soy sauce, a full bottle—she had used a bit for cooking, so it was still about 90% full.

“Thank you, Shuping. I’ll pour a little into the noodles and return it to you.” Old Lady Yuan took the bottle and hunched over as she left.

Chunbao’s mom clicked her tongue, watching Old Lady Yuan leave with the bottle, and muttered curses: “That old woman always takes advantage of people.”

Chunbao smiled, “Mom, she’s not really taking advantage of us. Why are you mad?”

Chunbao’s mom gripped the scallions in her hand tightly. “I just don’t like seeing shameless people get away with it.”

When their family first moved in, Old Lady Yuan was the first to greet them and had been the friendliest. They had thought she was a good person.

But it turned out she was a smiling tiger, and no one knew how much they had been taken advantage of by her.

Chunbao’s mom looked at Li Shuping going into the kitchen and thought she was like her former self—but probably even worse off.

Because she looked thin-skinned, and didn’t know how much more Old Lady Yuan would take from her, how long she would be bullied by the people in this big courtyard before becoming a shrew.

In this compound, being a kind and gentle person only means being bullied to death.

You have to become a shrew, so people know you’re not to be messed with, just to survive.

Chunbao’s mom had been through that herself.

She used to be so nice, but now she cursed three times a day, with no repeats, and even her looks had changed.

Old Lady Yuan carried the soy sauce bottle into her own kitchen. Her daughter-in-law, Huang Qionghua, was cooking noodles.

“Quick, hand me the soy sauce bottle.”

Huang Qionghua’s eyes lit up as she handed over the half-full soy sauce bottle. “So you really borrowed it.”

Old Lady Yuan pulled out the stopper of her own soy sauce bottle, took the borrowed soy sauce, and poured it into her own bottle.

“That Li Shuping looks like someone who can’t say no. I just asked and she lent it right away.” Although she didn’t say it wouldn’t be returned, even if she didn’t say so, if she didn’t return it, Li Shuping probably wouldn’t ask for it back.

Huang Qionghua looked at the nearly full soy sauce bottle. “Mom, isn’t it enough? If you pour too much, she’ll say something.”

“Fill it to the top, fill it to the top. Li Shuping looks thin-skinned. Even if I pour too much, she won’t have the nerve to complain. She’ll just suffer quietly.” People like that are the easiest to take advantage of and for a long time too.

When the soy sauce bottle was full, Huang Qionghua took it from her mother-in-law’s hands, grinning from ear to ear, “We won’t need to buy soy sauce this month. A few days later, you can ask her to borrow some cooking oil, and we’ll save on oil money for the month too.”

“All right.” Old Lady Yuan put the wooden stopper back in the bottle. “I’ll go return the soy sauce now.”

When the dishes were ready, Li Shuping carried the steamed rice out from the pot.

“Shuping, thank you for the soy sauce. I put it on the counter for you.” Old Lady Yuan stood at the kitchen door and casually placed the soy sauce bottle on the counter.

Li Shuping glanced at it and, carrying the rice, said, “Just leave it there.”

Lin Xiaoyu came to the kitchen to serve dishes and saw Old Lady Yuan again.

She greeted her, “Grandma Yuan.”

“Mom, is there scallion-fried eggs?” Seeing the golden fried eggs, Lin Xiaoyu’s eyes brightened.

Li Shuping said, “Aren’t scallion-fried eggs your favorite? Mom specially made it for you. We bought groceries late today, so no meat. I’ll make sweet and sour pork for you tomorrow.”

She remembered sweet and sour pork was also her daughter’s favorite, but no one else in the family liked sour and sweet dishes, so she rarely made it.

Lin Xiaoyu said, “Thank you, Mom.”

Thinking about how she had once felt her mom was unfair, Lin Xiaoyu now felt guilty—her mom wasn’t biased at all.

Mom remembered exactly what she liked.

The mother and daughter’s dinner was stir-fried cabbage and scallion-fried eggs, eaten with perfectly steamed rice that smelled delicious.

…

Meanwhile, the Lin family in Courtyard 18 was still holding a family meeting.

Lin Yongnian said, “Now that your mother is upset and not at home, we still need to solve our meal problem. I propose that starting today, the eldest and second daughters-in-law each take turns cooking every other day.”

Since marrying into the Lin family, Zhang Jiao had never cooked.

She was unhappy hearing she and Liu Qin would take turns cooking.

But unhappy or not, their family of three had to eat, and they couldn’t eat out every day.

It was all because her mother-in-law caused trouble, making her come home tired from work and still have to cook.

“Cooking is not a problem, but who will buy the groceries?” Liu Qin asked.

“Second daughter-in-law, since you work at the supply and marketing cooperative, it’s convenient for you to buy groceries. From now on, after work every day, you bring the groceries home.” Lin Yongnian said matter-of-factly.

Liu Qin curled her lips, wondering why just because she worked at the supply cooperative, she had to buy groceries every day.

“How about the money for groceries?” Lin Jianshe raised the question. Since his wife would buy groceries, the money should be accounted for.

Lin Yongnian gave Lin Jianshe a look.

Always fussing about grocery money.

He and Liu Qin both had salaries; what’s the big deal if they paid for groceries?

“I’ll pay for the groceries in the future, but I have no money on me right now. So this month, you two brothers split the grocery money evenly. Starting next month, I’ll cover it.”

Zhang Jiao said, “Dad, what about your money?”

Liu Qin said, “The eldest brother has one more child.”

They spoke almost at the same time.

Zhang Jiao looked at her sister-in-law speechless. “Junjun is only three years old. How much can he eat? You’re counting a child?”

She’d never seen anyone so stingy.

Liu Qin rolled her eyes. “Since we said split evenly, it has to be fair. Your family has one more person, and I also have to help with groceries every day.”

By reason, she should get some money for the trouble of buying groceries.

Lin Yongnian frowned. “What’s ‘your family’ or ‘my family’? We are all one family!”

He didn’t expect such a small issue about splitting grocery money to cause conflict.

Liu Qin turned away, feeling scolded.

“Dad, what about your money?” Lin Guodong frowned and asked.

After all, with his parents divorced, the money should be split evenly. His dad shouldn’t be penniless.

Lin Yongnian vaguely said, “Didn’t your mom ask the second daughter-in-law for the job transfer money? I already gave it to your mom.”

Lin Guodong and Zhang Jiao’s faces darkened immediately.

Not only did they give the second daughter-in-law a large bride price and moving-off money, but they also helped her pay for the job transfer!

Zhang Jiao couldn’t take it anymore. “Dad, when I married Guodong, you gave me 400 in bride price, 20 for moving-off money. Guodong got his job through an interview at the machinery factory on his own. Neither you nor mom helped. You gave Liu Qin 888 in bride price, 200 moving-off money, and also paid for her job transfer…”

Lin Jianshe felt uncomfortable listening and cut her off sharply, retorting, “It’s my dad’s money, he can do what he wants. It’s his money, not yours. Don’t be so possessive about other people’s money.”