Ye Shuying entered the room and made her sarcastic remark. As she left, she saw her own son causing chaos in her brother-in-law’s grocery store, wanting to eat everything he saw, and now picking up fun things to play with.
There happened to be customers in the store, and the child’s grandfather from his aunt’s side had failed to notice the little boy at first. By the time he did, the child had already eaten some items and torn open the packaging of some toys.
This aggravated the owners of the grocery store no end. They couldn’t scold the child, who was family, yet they had to persuade him to stop his mischief.
They were distressed over the toys whose packaging had been removed, worrying whether they would now be harder to sell.
Granny Ye Shuzhi heard the commotion and ran over from the kitchen, becoming furious when she saw the scene and tried to grab hold of the child.
The little boy found everything in the grocery store fascinating and figured that since he was at his relatives’ place, he should be allowed to eat and play with anything.
As both a man and a woman attempted to chase him, he thought it was a fun game and laughed loudly while dashing around.
What met Ye Shuying’s eyes as she walked out of the room was this very sight: her son causing disarray in the grocery store, pursued by the owners, who were also his relatives by marriage.
Fearing that the couple might catch her son and beat him, she rushed over anxiously, "Oh dear, in-laws, why are you chasing after my child? He’s just a kid and doesn’t know any better; how can you take it so seriously with him!"
The store owners, already frustrated, showed even more anger when faced with Ye Shuying’s rebuke.
The shop owner’s wife replied, "In-law, look at the mess your child made in the store! Even if he’s eaten some stuff, we’ll just have to swallow the loss. But if other customers see a child grabbing food recklessly, they might think my merchandise is dirty, and then nothing will sell."
"Indeed, in-law," the husband added, "your child took advantage when I wasn’t looking and unpacked these toys. How are we supposed to sell them now?"
While the couple vented their frustration, they couldn’t berate Ye Shuying outright for fear of causing a family rift, which might be worse than a small financial loss due to their daughter-in-law’s kinship.
"I’m so sorry, in-laws, I couldn’t take the child into the delivery room and wanted to check on Shuying, so I had to leave him in the living room," Ye Shuying excused herself.
The shopkeeper couple were at a loss for words, looking at Ye Shuying and her son. Having such a mischievous child in the family was truly a headache.
Seeing the couple’s reaction, Ye Shuying, unfazed, tried to take advantage:
"The child didn’t know any better and ran out; you don’t mind that he ate a little, do you? As for the toys, if they really can’t be sold, you could just give them to my child to play with!"
Her statement infuriated the couple even more. The goods they sold weren’t brought by the wind; they had been purchased with money. Clearly, Ye Shuying had no intention of compensating them and was trying to take the goods as well.
Left speechless and upset by the incident, the couple stopped responding to Ye Shuying and started tidying up the store.
With everything in the store in disarray, the couple was busy. The kitchen work, preparations for dinner, and the special meal to nourish the new mother had to be put off.
Seeing that the couple was ignoring her, Ye Shuying felt bored and led her son toward the living room where it was warmer and less cold.
Her son, still thinking about the toys and specifically a rattle drum, was reluctant to leave them behind and kept saying:
"Mom, I want to play with the toys!"
Ye Shuying noticed that the couple, busy tidying up, paused when they heard this. Although she was thick-skinned, she felt embarrassed to take things from her sister-in-law’s family without paying.
They had made it quite clear by ignoring her that they wouldn’t give the toys to her son without payment.
Ye Shuying, reluctant to spend the money she had in her pocket on such useless toys for her son.
She covered her son’s mouth and whispered, "Son, wait a bit, later, you ask your Aunt to buy the rattle drum she promised."
"Mom, let’s go find Aunt then!"
"Your Aunt is in your second aunt’s room; we’ll ask her when she comes out."
"Mom, can’t I go into second aunt’s room? I want to see my little cousin."
"Waaah, I don’t want to, I don’t want to, I want to see Aunt!"
"Crying, always crying, you’re such a worry."
Annoyed, Ye Shuying gave her son a couple of spanks on his bottom, which only made the child cry louder.