Chapter 65 : Stepmother

Jiang Hongmei had become more obedient recently. When eating, she would just sit in a corner, not saying a word, and simply eat with her head down. She was so hungry that she felt dizzy and could barely walk.

She thought to herself, even if it’s just pickled vegetables and black flour buns, it’s better than nothing. At least her sore throat would go away and her stomach would stop hurting.

She was planning to go to the city tomorrow to buy some snacks, hide them in her room, and eat them every day. She would also try to win over the two children. Once the children acknowledged her as their biological mother, she believed Zhuang Guoliang would fall under her control.

Jiang Hongmei had planned everything out. After finishing all the housework, she slipped into her room. As soon as she entered, a small shadow rushed out, bumping into her and causing her stomach to hurt.

She twisted the shadow’s arm and found it was Zhuang Xiaoyu. “Hey, you stupid girl, don’t you have eyes? What are you doing?”

Zhuang Xiaoyu hid one hand behind her back and said, “Nothing, I just wanted to see if my dad had come back.”

“Don’t come into my room if you don’t have anything to do. Go somewhere cooler.”

Jiang Hongmei didn’t think much about it and shooed Zhuang Xiaoyu out. As soon as she entered the room, she realized something was off with the dowry box she had brought. It was originally well-closed, but now it seemed like it had been tampered with.

Jiang Hongmei’s heart sank. She hurriedly went to where she had hidden her money. When she opened the handkerchief, she found it empty.

She screamed, “My money!”

Thinking about Zhuang Xiaoyu’s strange behavior earlier, Jiang Hongmei gritted her teeth and said, “It was her. She must have stolen it.”

Jiang Hongmei felt like the sky had fallen. She only had a few dollars left.

She rushed out of the room and grabbed Zhuang Xiaoyu, who was playing with stones at the door. “Did you steal my money, you three-handed bastard? Give it to me!”

She didn’t lower her voice at all, and when people started to gather, she raised it even more. She fumbled through Zhuang Xiaoyu’s pockets with one hand. “Take it out! Or I’ll beat you to death!”

“Hey, what’s going on? Did the kid steal money?” someone asked.

Zhuang Xiaoyu twisted her body desperately. “Let me go, I didn’t steal anything, you’re wrongly accusing me. Stepmother, you stepmother!”

Jiang Hongmei became so angry hearing Zhuang Xiaoyu call her “stepmother” that she lost control and slapped her across the face.

Zhuang Xiaoyu was knocked to the ground, her forehead hit a stone, and blood flowed down her face.

Zhuang Xiaoyu burst into tears and cried out for her mother.

“As expected, a child without a mother is like a weed. The stepmother is so cruel. Whether the money was stolen or not is unclear, but the child is still young, how could she be so cruel?” someone commented.

Jiang Hongmei realized how angry she had been. She should have calmed down and questioned Zhuang Xiaoyu first.

She softened her tone, stepped forward, and took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood from Zhuang Xiaoyu’s forehead, but Zhuang Xiaoyu pushed her away, crying, “I don’t want you, you bad woman, I want my mom. Mom!”

Zhao Xiangyu had just laid down when she was awakened by the noise outside. “What’s going on?”

Outside, Wu Meili gloated. “Mom, go take a look, my fourth brother’s wife says Xiaoyu stole money and beat her to death!”

Zhao Xiangyu immediately got up and said, “This troublemaker is always making trouble for me!”

From afar, she saw a crowd gathered at the door. As she got closer, Zhuang Guoliang saw his daughter crying so hard that she looked like she was about to die, her face all red.

“Xiaoyu, what’s wrong with you?”

Zhuang Xiaoyu cried and threw herself into Zhuang Guoliang’s arms. “Dad, she hit me!”

“I—I asked her about my dowry money that’s gone missing. It wasn’t me who hit her.”

Zhuang Guoliang was furious. He slapped Jiang Hongmei across the face, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her home. “Go inside. Aren’t you ashamed enough?”

The door slammed shut, but the crowd of onlookers didn’t disperse. They peeked through the crack in the door to keep watching.

Jiang Hongmei’s hair was a mess after being dragged. “Zhuang Guoliang, you dare to hit me?”

“This damn girl came into my house today, and now my money is gone. It would have been fine if you hadn’t asked her, but why did you come out and hit me?”

“We’ve brought shame to the whole village. I don’t know how many times a day we make trouble, and the whole brigade is laughing at our family.”

“How did Xiaoyu know where you put your money? You just searched her, but did you find it?” Zhuang Guoliang said darkly, pointing at Jiang Hongmei’s nose.

Jiang Hongmei was speechless. She really didn’t find it, so she became even more anxious and angry.

“She must be hiding it! If it’s not on her, it’s somewhere else.”

“Dad, I didn’t steal the money. I don’t know where my stepmother keeps the money,” Zhuang Xiaoyu sobbed, hugging Zhuang Guoliang’s neck.

Zhao Xiangyu’s face was long, and she stared fiercely at Jiang Hongmei. “Didn’t you say you didn’t have any money? Where did you get this money?”

Jiang Hongmei was stunned. “This is the money my mother gave me as my dowry!”

She was unwilling to give it up, it was a full ten dollars.

“Sister-in-law, mother is in charge of all the money in the family. You live and eat here, so of course you have to give your dowry to mother.”

Wu Meili was very indignant. Not long after she got married, her mother-in-law took away the few treasures she brought with her. Why should Jiang Hongmei keep her own property now?

Jiang Hongmei was really shocked by Zhao Xiangyu’s shamelessness at this moment. In this day and age, are there still mothers-in-law who take the dowry money of their daughter-in-law?

Zhao Xiangyu said matter-of-factly, “Since we lost ten yuan, we have to make up for it. The fourth family will go to the fields to work starting tomorrow and do more than the others.”

Jiang Hongmei was so angry that she started cursing. “My money was stolen, and I have to work more? That damn girl stole my money, and you guys are actually on her side!”

Zhuang Guoliang ignored Jiang Hongmei, carried Zhuang Xiaoyu into the house to comfort her, and used incense ash to stop the bleeding on her forehead.

Zhao Xiangyu also carried Zhuang Xiaobao back to the house, leaving Wu Meili with a triumphant smile. She said in a voice that wasn’t too loud or too soft, “Fourth sister, even if you’re not the biological mother of these two children, you don’t have to be so cruel. Look how you beat the kids. Tsk tsk tsk…”

Jiang Hongmei was completely desperate. She stood in the yard, but no one paid attention to her. Only whispers could be heard from outside the door, and occasionally a word or two from her stepmother could be heard.

She couldn’t live like this, and she would never let Zhuang Guoliang and Zhao Xiangyu have an easy life.

Wasn’t Zhuang Guoliang reselling pork? It would be foolish for her not to use such a big handle.

That night, as usual, Zhuang Guoliang went out in the middle of the night. Jiang Hongmei dozed off, and when Zhuang Guoliang got up, she followed him carefully.

Zhuang Guoliang got a tattered bicycle from somewhere and rode it very fast. Jiang Hongmei tried her best to catch up, but she lost him after a while.

She gritted her teeth, looked around, found a big tree, and made a mark with a stone.

Then she walked back slowly. On the way back, she saw a dark shadow jumping into the next yard.

Jiang Hongmei rubbed her eyes, suspecting she had seen it wrong, and then thought with some relief, “It would be best if a thief came and raped and killed Jiang Li, and burned down the Qi family.”