Lin Xiaoyu noticed her mother looking at her feet and shyly pulled back her toes.

This small gesture made Old Madam Li’s heart ache.

“Your shoes don’t fit, and they’re already worn through—why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

Lin Xiaoyu whispered, “I told you already.”

She had mentioned a month ago that her shoes were worn out.

Her mother said she knew and bought new shoes a few days later from the store.

Xiaoyu thought the shoes were for her and eagerly wanted to open the box, but her mother frowned and said, “Don’t touch those, they’re for your second older brother.”

They were leather shoes bought for her second brother’s wedding.

Xiaoyu was upset inside, feeling that her mother only cared about the two older brothers, not her.

She had told her mother about her broken shoes, but her mother only remembered to buy shoes for her second brother and forgot about her.

Out of spite, she didn’t bring up the shoe issue again and waited to see when her mother would realize and buy her some.

Old Madam Li was speechless.

The bus arrived, and Old Madam Li took Lin Xiaoyu’s hand and boarded, buying two tickets to the State-owned Store stop.

Seeing that her mother wasn’t heading home but to the State-owned Store, Xiaoyu wondered if she might be taking her to buy shoes.

She tentatively asked, “Mom, aren’t we going home?”

Old Madam Li said, “Not yet. First, we’re going to the State-owned Store to buy you a pair of shoes.”

…

When Lin Xiaoyu walked into the courtyard holding the shoes, her smile hadn’t faded.

Seeing her daughter so happy, Old Madam Li felt both happy and heartbroken.

“Shuping you’re back? Is your health okay?” Aunt Wang came over when she saw the mother and daughter return, asking with concern.

Old Lady Li shook her head. “Nothing serious. Just got so angry my blood pressure rose. The doctor had get IV fluids and kept me overnight for observation.”

“You didn’t know yesterday when you we’re taken to the hospital—your old Lin gave sister Liu Qin’s siblings plenty of red envelopes and even apologized to win them over. He coaxed Liu Qin into the family,” Aunt Wang said.

Old Lady Li sneered, “I could imagine.”

“Your eldest daughter-in-law left with the child to her parents’ house because your second daughter-in-law’s bride price and the ‘getting off the vehicle’ red envelopes were more than hers. Your eldest son followed her,” Aunt Zhao said as she wiped her hands at the laundry basin and came over.

“From the look of it, if you and your husband don’t make up the bride price and red envelopes, she won’t come back.”

Old Madam Li snorted coldly, “If she doesn’t come back, she doesn’t. I’m not going to beg her.”

Aunt Zhao was surprised, “You’re so tough now. Before, whenever your eldest daughter-in-law got mad and took the child home, Guodong wouldn’t go to bring her back, so you’d have to take things over yourself to ask her.”

In their courtyard, Old Madam Li was the only mother-in-law who acted so weak.

Others all had their daughters-in-law under control.

Old Madam Li sighed, “I used to think that family harmony brings prosperity. As long as this family was peaceful and the children were well, I could bear some grievances and hardship. But after all I’ve done, besides Xiaoyu, who really cared about me?”

The two nodded.

Indeed, yesterday after the trouble, the family hadn’t even gone to the hospital to check on her.

Old Madam Li said, “I finally understand. The more you do for others, the more they think it’s your duty, like you’re cheap. I won’t be so cheap anymore.”

Aunt Wang nodded, “That’s how it should be.”

“Oh, Guodong’s mom is back,” said the old woman Lai, whom Old Madam Li disliked most.

Seeing her, Old Lady Lai shouted sharply.

“Guodong’s mom, I’m not saying this to criticize you, but yesterday’s big wedding day, you really shouldn’t have caused such a scene.

They just wanted a little joyful chaos with the matchmaker, and even if you were unhappy, you should have tolerated it.

You offended the new daughter-in-law, made your son resentful, and hurt your relationship with old Lin. In the end, you still gave so many red envelopes to bring her into the family. It really wasn’t worth it.”

Lai was sixty-six, one of the oldest women in the yard, petty and greedy, always bossing people around with her seniority.

Old Madam Li rolled her eyes and ignored her.

None of Old Lady Lai’s business.

“I’m going home now,” Old Madam Li said to Aunt Wang and left.

Old Lai was angry to be ignored and pointed at Old Madam Li’s back, telling Aunt Wang and Aunt Zhao, “See? I was just trying to help her, give her some advice, but she wouldn’t even listen.”

Aunt Wang and Aunt Zhao exchanged looks, rolled their eyes, and turned to leave.

Old Lai was left speechless.

Old Madam Li entered the house and saw Old Man Lin sitting on a bench reading the newspaper.

“Dad,” Lin Xiaoyu called out.

Lin Yongnian snorted coldly without responding.

Xiaoyu stuck out her tongue and, hugging the new shoes, walked to the corner bed by the wall and put the shoes at the foot of the bed.

The Lin family house was two bedrooms and a living room.

Originally, Lin Yongnian and his wife shared one room, Lin Guodong and his brother shared the other, and Lin Xiaoyu slept in the living room.

Later, Lin Guodong married, and Lin Jianshe was sent to the countryside, so Lin Guodong and his wife had a room, and Xiaoyu still slept in the living room.

When Lin Jianshe returned, the small bed in the living room was replaced with a bunk bed.

Xiaoyu slept on the lower bunk with a curtain, and Jianshe slept on the upper bunk.

When Jianshe was about to marry, the old couple gave up their bedroom and built a partition in the living room; Xiaoyu still slept in the living room.

Old Madam Li didn’t look at Lin Yongnian but went straight into the small bedroom partitioned off from the main room.

She bent down and fished out a box from under the bed.

Opening the box, where there used to be a thousand yuan, there was only about eight hundred left.

She took all the money out, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and stuffed it into the pocket of the wool pants she only wore in winter.

So that that old bastard Lin Yongnian wouldn’t give it to the eldest daughter-in-law.

Lin Yongnian had already heard Aunt Zhao and others calling for Shuping, so he purposely picked up an old newspaper, waiting for Old Madam Li to come in and talk to him.

If she behaved well, he wouldn’t hold yesterday against her.

But she just came in like that.

Lin Yongnian was furious and put down the paper.

She made such a scene yesterday, bringing shame to the family and making a laughingstock of them, and even scratched his face—yet she refused to speak to him.

Lin Xiaoyu saw her dad was angry and didn’t dare say anything, silently tidying up the house.

Old Madam Li changed clothes and came out, seeing her daughter quietly cleaning.

In this family, only she and Xiaoyu took initiative to tidy up.

Even though there were so many people in the house, they just lazed around, leaving the work to her and Xiaoyu.

Old Madam Li suddenly felt she had taught her daughter to be too sensible.

Such a sensible Xiaoyu would be the next her.

Calling Xiaoyu the next her was no exaggeration, because in her past life, after marrying the wrong man, Xiaoyu also suffered and worked hard for family and children.

She didn’t leave that useless husband and wore herself out by thirty.

Thinking of Xiaoyu’s past life made Old Lady Li heartbroken.

“What are you cleaning for? Is there no one else in this house? Why should a child be doing this? You’re going into your second year of high school soon. Don’t you know you should focus on studying? Go read your books,” Old Madam Li pushed Lin Xiaoyu.

She remembered that Xiaoyu’s grades in sophomore and junior years had been pretty good.

She didn’t understand why her grades dropped in senior year.

In the second semester of senior year, Xiaoyu even skipped school, hung out with Zhang Tiejun against their wishes, and stubbornly married him, starting her unhappy married life.

This time, she was determined to focus on Xiaoyu’s studies and keep her away from that jerk Zhang Tiejun.

College graduates in the ’80s were still highly sought after.

Most graduates landed steady government jobs.

If Xiaoyu could get into college, her life would be much easier.