Xiaoxiao lying on the kang was indeed thinking about Yang Ming. She was pondering how to initiate her strategy to make him like and love her.
But she was too ugly, making Yang Ming like her probably wouldn’t be easy.
"Ah, what to do, what to do." Xiaoxiao held the quilt and kept sighing.
However, it didn’t take long before Xiaoxiao stopped sighing. Her mood brightened up, and she flashed a triumphant smile. How could she forget? Her biggest trump card was that Yang Ming was her husband, her husband, her husband—who else would he like if not her?
She decided to defend her status, eliminate all the women around her cheap husband, ensuring he’d only have her by his side—and with this thought, she contentedly went to sleep.
Early the next morning, Xiaoxiao went to find her sister-in-law. "Sister-in-law, do you know where I can buy milk?"
"Milk?" What was this younger sister-in-law up to now?
"Yes, the milk from cows!" explained Xiaoxiao. Surely it couldn’t be, they didn’t even know what milk was?
"We don’t have cows in our village."
"..." Huh, were cows so undervalued that no one kept them? That was really strange.
"Think about it—if a cow is pregnant, who’s going to work?"
"..." That made sense, she was left speechless. Yang Family’s village was so poor. There weren’t many cows to begin with, and they relied on them for all the work. She then asked, "What about honey?"
"You can buy honey in the city, but it’s quite expensive."
Hearing that honey was available in the city made Xiaoxiao so happy she couldn’t close her mouth. She was really worried that her sister-in-law would say she had to get it from a beehive herself—then she would’ve broken down completely.
"Younger sister-in-law, that milk, did you want to drink it?"
"Oh, no need, no need, honey will do," Xiaoxiao hurriedly waved her hand, indicating she did not want to drink it but to apply it on her face, and honey alone would suffice.
"If you want to drink, let your elder brother buy some from another village."
"No, really not necessary."
"Should your elder brother buy the honey then?" The sister-in-law thought, perhaps this younger sister-in-law needed a good tonic? Indeed, she needed nourishment.
"No need, I’ll just buy some when I go to the city next time, I’m not in a hurry to use it." Xiaoxiao thought to herself that the sister-in-law was really too kind to her. No question about it—when she got it, everyone could apply it and whiten their skin.
After eating, Xiaoxiao and her sisters-in-law went to the rented courtyard they had agreed to use today to invite the Embroiderer and have everyone bring their embroidery for selection.
The women who had previously worked on pickling cabbages also came.
"Boss, I really didn’t expect there to be work so soon, we’ve all been practicing at home. Look at this embroidery," one said.
"Yeah, boss, look at mine," said another.
The women workers were all eagerly talking to Xiaoxiao, thinking their prior work experience gave them a closer relationship with her, making the others hesitant to come forward.
Seeing this, Xiaoxiao thought it was a perfect opportunity to set an example to prevent such occurrences during hiring in the future.
"I’m sorry, I can’t hire you this time. I’ll speak plainly—the reason is that last time you betrayed my sister-in-law, leaving her behind. I need people who are united," she said.
"..." No one expected that, "Boss, can you give us another chance? We really didn’t mean to do it last time. We were just too scared."
"Really no, you can go back."
Seeing this, the others inwardly shuddered with fear. In the future, they would have to be careful while working—they absolutely couldn’t betray the Embroiderer’s wife nor offend her.