When Third Aunt Zhou heard the man’s words, her heart inexplicably sank. Where had the money gone? She gave her parents sixty yuan a month, and each visit back home cost her around ten yuan.
Most of the man’s salary was going to her parents.
Third Uncle Zhou looked at his wife with a sharp gaze.
At that moment, Third Aunt Zhou was too nervous to speak.
"Mom, are you in the room?" Zhou Ru shouted as she knocked on the door, initially thinking the Xu Family must be very wealthy after seeing the luxurious decorations outside the hotel.
But entering the room gave her a huge shock.
There was not even a lamp inside; it was pitch-dark, and she dared not stay.
"Mom, please open the door. I don’t want to stay in this terrible place," Zhou Ru complained.
Hearing her daughter’s voice, Third Aunt Zhou, as if grasping a lifeline, quickly opened the door.
"What’s the matter? Just endure for a few nights. We’ll go back after the New Year," Third Aunt Zhou tried to soothe her daughter.
Zhou Ru, seeing that her mother’s room had a lamp, was immediately surprised. "Mom, you even have a lamp in your room? Why is my room completely dark?
I can’t stay there. Besides, it’s on the mountain. What if there are wolves or something?"
Hearing this, Third Aunt Zhou became fearful as well.
She turned to the man and began to complain, "I don’t know how it is with my parents. Look at the outside of this house; the decoration is pretty good.
But what’s inside these rooms? It seems the Xu family only cares about appearances."
Third Uncle Zhou didn’t respond and turned to head towards his parents’ place.
If there were no lamps there either, he could perhaps switch rooms with them.
His parents were old; what if they tripped or bumped into something due to the lack of light?
Third Uncle Zhou went straight to Grandpa Zhou and Grandma Zhou, but upon entering their room, he was stunned.
Their room was worlds apart from his; his room seemed half-finished and abandoned.
However, his parents’ room was luxuriously decorated, with large floor-to-ceiling windows and a soft, padded bed, every corner of the room perfectly designed.
"Grandpa, Grandma, why is your room so nice and mine doesn’t even have a lamp?" Zhou Ru exclaimed upon seeing her grandparents’ room, anger flushing her face.
Uncle Zhou, overhearing her, opened his door. Zhou Ru quickly ran to him, and her expression darkened even more after seeing his room: "Dad, look, Uncle’s room is also nice.
Why is our room so bad? There are no lamps. The tiles are not even properly laid, and the beds are just hard boards."
Zhe Yuan was shocked to hear this. Zhou Ru stormed into her brother’s room, and seeing the setup there, her face filled with rage: "Mom, look, everyone’s room is nice.
Only you, me, and Dad have rooms that aren’t well done. I think Aunt Xu did it on purpose. Xu Ying must have bad-mouthed us to her."
Zhou Ru, filled with anger and nowhere to vent it, truly hated her sister-in-law Xu Ying. All the relatives were supposed to look after each other.
Yet Xu Ying sided with her classmate to bully her own family.
Now even the lodging was biased, utterly outrageous.
Grandma Zhou watched her granddaughter, her neck flushing red with anger, and said indifferently, "If it weren’t for your mother causing trouble and being greedy for that bit of property, would others treat us so differently?
People’s hearts are all made of flesh; if you were good to them, they would naturally be good to you too.
"Unlike your mother, who only knows how to scheme every day, we’re all family here; when someone needs help, she still makes demands.
This was her own niece-in-law giving birth – if it had been her own nephew’s wife, I bet she would still be making demands."
Although Zhou Ru didn’t like Xu Ying, she found her mother’s bias toward her own family even more detestable. She glared at her mother resentfully: "Mom, if you secretly take our things for your family again.
Once I get married, I won’t care about you anymore. You’re so good to your family; I never see them repay you a bit."
It would be better to be nicer to her grandparents. When the time comes, and her grandparents pass away, they could leave more of their estate behind.
Grandma Zhou didn’t know what her granddaughter was thinking, but hearing her granddaughter’s dissatisfaction with Third Son’s wife, she felt extremely satisfied.
Looking at the children and grandchildren, she stood up and said to the old man, "Let’s go, let’s go downstairs for dinner; we shouldn’t keep the relatives waiting."
Grandpa Zhou nodded, picked up his cane, and groaned with the pain in his legs from too much walking that afternoon.
As he got up, he and Grandma Zhou helped each other down the stairs, only to run into Third Brother Xu just downstairs. He waved cheerfully at everyone and drove up in a stretched car.
"Grandpa Zhou, Grandma Zhou, my mom said you were walking around all afternoon, you must be exhausted.
Let me drive you down for dinner."
Grandpa Zhou and Grandma Zhou were taken aback when they heard this; "Can this car even make it down the mountain? It’s quite a high and difficult descent!"
Third Brother Xu chuckled and said, "Of course it can make it down, otherwise how would I have driven it up here.
Come on, I’ll take you down. This afternoon, my sister-in-law made something delicious — a roasted suckling pig. Tonight’s dinner will definitely taste great."
The Zhou family curiously got into the car, and Third Brother Xu, seeing everyone was settled, reminded them, "The road down the mountain is quite steep; make sure you all buckle up."
Hearing this, the Zhou family promptly fastened their seat belts.
This time, Zhou Ru also obediently listened, except for Third Aunt Zhou, who insisted on doing the opposite of what the Xu family suggested.
They wanted her to buckle up, and she thought, ’No way, I won’t.’
Third Brother Xu saw Third Aunt Zhou’s actions in the rearview mirror and scoffed, accelerating the car.
"Ah!" A sharp turn came, and the more timid people in the car screamed in alarm.
Then came another sharp turn: "Ah!"
"Ah!" Screams echoed inside the car; the mountain road was so steep, and every sharp turn was treacherously abrupt,
Especially Third Aunt Zhou, who hadn’t buckled up, swayed from side to side in the car, screaming continuously.
If it weren’t for considering that Grandpa Zhou and Grandma Zhou were old, Third Brother Xu would have wanted to speed up even more.
Finally, after a difficult descent, Third Aunt Zhou’s face was pale, and her stomach churned violently — she didn’t even feel like eating, her body trembling with fright.
Looking angrily at Third Brother Xu, she said, "Did you deliberately drive so fast?
You knew I wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and you still drove so fast. I think you Xu family folks are targeting me on purpose."
Hearing Third Aunt Zhou’s words, Third Brother Xu looked utterly innocent: "Auntie, you didn’t buckle your seat belt; I already mentioned in the car that you needed to.
The mountain road is steep downhill with all those sharp turns, so it naturally seems like the car was going faster.
You are too sensitive; we definitely didn’t mean to target you on purpose."