"Ridiculous! After all, the Sun Family is your eldest sister’s in-laws. If you break the legs of someone from the Sun Family, what do you expect your sister to do? Moreover, they are already poor. When they say they have no money for treatment and ask our family for money, won’t you have to give it?" Wang Laozhu slammed the table, frustrated at the lack of foresight.
Wang Yonggui hadn’t thought of that.
Suddenly, everyone was at an impasse.
The women dared not speak, and the children were silent. Eventually, all eyes turned to Wang Yongzhu.
After all, she was the one managing the household affairs nowadays.
Wang Yongzhu, of course, was not feeling comfortable inside, but one doesn’t get everything one wishes for in life. When setbacks occur, you just have to get through them.
It was simply a matter of spending more time! The Sun Family was just a pain, easily brushed off with a bit of money for now, but the fear was that if their expectations grew, it would be troublesome to shake them off later.
However, issues had to be prioritized. Building the house was the most urgent matter, and all other issues could be postponed.
After pondering for a moment, Wang Yongzhu spoke up, "Right now, there’s a lot going on at home, and building the house comes first. As for these trivial matters, let us endure for now. Once the house is up, we’ll have the time to deal with them properly. For now, let’s follow father’s approach. But I have one condition!" said Wang Yongzhu.
Wang Laozhu, pleasantly surprised that Wang Yongzhu was so agreeable and willing to take his advice that day, eagerly nodded, "What condition? As long as your father can do it, I’ll agree."
Wang Yongzhu gave a slight smile, "In the end, it was father who indulged them, so naturally, he should clean up this mess. The household expenses are not small, and with the house not yet built, there’s no telling how much more money we’ll need to spend. Any additional expenses should be avoided if possible. Therefore, the silver coin for the Sun Family should come from your personal savings. I don’t think anyone would object, right?"
Who would object and be a fool?
Everyone present was seething with anger. A joyous event had turned sour, and now they had to endure the sight of the Sun Family’s obnoxious presence every day.
So, upon hearing Wang Yongzhu’s condition, they all expressed their agreement.
Wang Laozhu’s face darkened, but he had already given his word and couldn’t go back on it in front of the entire family.
Especially since not a single one of those little brats was willing to stand up for him.
Looking at Eldest Brother, Eldest Brother was staring up at the sky; looking at Laosan, Laosan was gazing down at the ground; looking at the son-in-law, the son-in-law was expressionless...
In frustration, Wang Laozhu slapped the edge of the heated brick bed: "A bunch of unfilial children, all of you get out!" They were all ungrateful, was it such a big deal that he had saved some money on the side—did that warrant every single glare?
Everyone obediently rolled out, looking at each other, winking and making faces as they went back to their rooms to rest.
In his heart, Wang Laozhu felt an immense pain. It was like all the hard work he had put in over half a year had been for nothing.
Old Granny Zhang was feeling the most gratified; she didn’t glance at Wang Laozhu’s sour face and went to bed on her own.
Outside, Wang Yongzhu’s expression was slightly cold. Old Granny Zhang had always been resentful about Wang Laozhu keeping private savings; in the past, she knew that when he made money, it would be handed over to her for safekeeping. Now that he had grown old, he was beginning to guard against her, which was truly disheartening.
Wang Yongzhu did not know what purpose Wang Laozhu had for keeping private savings, nor did she have any interest in finding out.
But today, she took advantage of the situation to legitimately demand the release of Wang Laozhu’s private savings, willingly or not.
And this money was going to his most cherished eldest daughter’s hand, to the Sun Family. She wondered what Wang Laozhu must have been feeling.
Song Chongjin was well aware of what Wang Yongzhu was up to, but he also felt that his future father-in-law was really unreliable in his actions. Why keep personal savings? Shouldn’t it all be entrusted to his mother-in-law?
Moreover, the future father-in-law dotes on his eldest daughter so much, yet he always finds fault with Wang Yongzhu, who contributes the most to the Wang Family. It’s far too biased!
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but take a careful look at Yongzhu’s face and softened his voice, "Yongzhu, don’t be sad, having your aunt and me to love you is enough."
This was out of fear that Wang Yongzhu would be heartbroken.
Wang Yongzhu wouldn’t feel heartbroken because of Wang Laozhu, but she was indeed very comforted by Song Chongjin’s concern.
She pursed her lips, nodded, and pulled him under the eaves, "Are you tired from today’s work?"
Song Chongjin shook his head, holding Wang Yongzhu’s hand. As he gazed at the hazy moonlight and her lips shining in the light, he couldn’t help but feel his mouth go dry. He reluctantly turned away and found a topic to distract himself, "How do you plan to deal with the Sun Family?"
Yongzhu was not one to be easily extorted, and the Sun Family’s actions were likely crossing her red lines.
Wang Yongzhu smiled, "Let the Sun Family be proud for a few days." The more proud they are now, the worse they will feel later!
Indeed, the Wang Family had guessed right. The next day, the Sun Family acted as if nothing happened and all came over.
Except for Sun Shitou’s Wife, who didn’t come. She had traveled back and forth between the Sun Wang Families, covering dozens of miles of mountain roads. Waking up in the morning with an upset stomach, and given that she was the eldest grandson’s wife of the Sun Family and had a child in her belly, Old Lady Sun decided to let her rest at home.
Once Old Lady Sun arrived at the Wang Family, she had reluctantly put on a pretense yesterday, but today she didn’t even bother with appearances and found a stool to sit on in the courtyard herself.
She basked in the sun while giving orders.
"Cut the meat thicker, so it’s more satisfying to bite into."
"Why didn’t you buy a bigger fish? This one is too small and has too many bones."
Early in the morning, Old Granny Zhang had forewarned the women who came to help that the Sun Family women were likely to come again and whatever they said should just be regarded as hot air! Don’t bother with them or make conversation, just pretend they don’t exist.
The helping women naturally agreed eagerly, not only because they were being paid by the Wang Family but mainly because Old Lady Sun and Sun Shitou’s Wife were really unpleasant people to be around.
So, whatever Old Lady Sun said, no one responded, as if nothing had been heard.
Wang Yongzhen, however, entered the courtyard and got straight to work without a word.
Seeing that no one was washing the vegetables, she washed them. After washing, seeing that there was not enough firewood, she went to get more.
She lent a hand with any work that was visible.
To begin with, the women helping out didn’t really want to interact with her; they somewhat looked down on her for appearing to show off by bringing problems from her husband’s family to her own.
But seeing that she was at least more helpful than Old Lady Sun, and knowing how to work, plus being a daughter of the Wang Family, they softened their attitude towards her.
Wang Yongzhu had gone to town early in the morning. The temperature had dropped a little in the past few days. At the mud brick production, the first layer of mud bricks had been cleared, and now they were working the mud mixture. Everyone stood soaked in the mud, with their legs exposed, and the autumn wind made them feel cold.
Just yesterday, Wang Yongzhu had taken a jar of wine to warm everybody up a bit.
But to his surprise, he heard from Wang Yongping last night, that those three men from the Sun Family followed them and gulped down half a jar of wine by themselves.