Chapter 42

Chapter 42

At her son's question, Zhao Guifen's heart swelled with anguish, and she lashed out, kicking Zhou Jiaojiao. "How dare you ask? If it weren't for you, my ill-fated daughter-in-law, would I have ended up in the mire of Shanghe Village's production team?"

Kicked to the ground, Zhou Jiaojiao felt wronged. "Mom, how is this my fault? Didn't I see... didn't I see a piece of clothing by the manure pit, blown there from somewhere? It looked new.

It's so hard to save cloth coupons these days?

I just wanted to pick it up and make something for you to wear."

"Pah! You did this on purpose!" Zhao Guifen spat as she retched.

The stench of manure had made her suffer!

"What happened here?" Wang Shoucheng asked sternly, his face darkening at the sight of his wife and daughter-in-law in such disarray.

Zhao Guifen cursed and cried as she spoke. "Isn't it all because of this ill-fated daughter-in-law? She insisted that we go together to pick up that new piece of clothing. When we got there, the clothes were floating above the manure pit.

She said she'd hold me steady while I picked them up."

I thought, with my injured leg, it would be difficult, but I agreed.

Who knew this wretched thing couldn't hold me properly.

She suddenly let go, causing me to fall into their manure pit!"

Zhou Jiaojiao felt an indescribable bitterness in her heart. When she was supporting her mother-in-law, she noticed someone following her, which startled her and caused her to let go.

But could she say that?

She had originally planned to pretend to talk to her mother-in-law and blame Bai Xiuxiu for the incident.

Before she could do so, her mother-in-law fell into the manure pit!

Everything happened too suddenly!

She hadn't even managed to grab the piece of clothing!

This was the first time she had encountered such misfortune.

"Enough, Sister Zhao, don't blame your daughter-in-law. You're both the same! If you hadn't been greedy and tried to take what wasn't yours, would you have fallen into the manure pit? You were lucky to run into me leading the people of Shanghe Village spreading manure on the fields.

Otherwise, who knows what might have happened!

The village chief of Shanghe Village said you need to pay ten yuan to compensate for the loss of the manure."

The squad leader interrupted Zhao Guifen's lamentations, his head throbbing.

Why were the Wangs causing trouble now when they usually kept to themselves?

"What? Pay money? Why should I?" Zhao Guifen protested even more vehemently at the mention of paying!

Money was her lifeblood.

"Who told you to mess with their manure pit? As the squad leader of three villages, I can't favor you. Take out the money quickly so I can give them an explanation. Otherwise, if word gets out about trying to take other people's discarded clothes, it won't look good.

You can't expect them to bring manure to your home, can you?"

The squad leader asked irritably.

Zhao Guifen fell silent.

"What are you waiting for? This disgraceful thing! Give the squad leader the money!" Wang Shoucheng felt ashamed. Why hadn't the foolish woman said they were going to turn it in?

And Old Fifth's wife, why did she have to speak up in front of the squad leader?

Embarrassed, Zhao Guifen fished out the money, which was stained with manure.

The squad leader's face darkened as he pinched one corner of the note. "Alright, I have things to do. Don't cause any more trouble!"

Once he left, Zhao Guifen couldn't help but curse. "Old Fifth! What are you waiting for? Your dim-witted wife needs a beating!"

Wang Qingqi was terrified. How... how could he hit his wife?

His wife was far more important than his mother!

Zhou Jiaojiao couldn't believe it. Was this wicked woman actually going to hit her?

"If you won't do it, I will!" Zhao Guifen declared, grabbing their work shovel to strike, only to slip and fall flat on her back.

"What are you waiting for? Help your mother up! Elder Brother's wife, start boiling water," Wang Shoucheng barked angrily.

The others rushed to help her up, and upon hearing this, Bai Xiuxiu leaned against the wall, her expression blank as she lied, "Dad, my illness has flared up again. I need to rest."

Wang Shoucheng...

Wang Shoucheng's eyes nearly bulged out in anger!

But he couldn't do anything about Bai Xiuxiu, who was like tough meat that wouldn't yield!

He called out to Zhou Jiaojiao irritably, "Old Fifth's wife! Go boil some water."

Zhou Jiaojiao, who had just been kicked by her mother-in-law, wished she could cook Zhao Guifen instead. Hearing that she needed to boil water, she wanted to feign illness.

But her husband still needed the family's support, so she had to endure.

She went to the kitchen with a dark face.

Bai Xiuxiu couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth at the sight of their commotion.

Sure enough, misfortune can be avoided—as long as it's deflected onto Zhou Jiaojiao, the bad luck would vanish automatically. And Zhou Jiaojiao might also lose her good fortune temporarily.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain how Zhao Guifen fell into the manure pit and implicated Zhou Jiaojiao.

By the time the family finished cleaning up the yard and both Zhao Guifen and Zhou Jiaojiao had cleaned themselves up, it was already half-dark outside.

The group that went up the mountain had also returned. Wang Qinghe was still walking at the back.

Zhao Cuihua and Chen Fang supported Liu Xiaoe, who insisted on going to the mountains, back into the courtyard.

As soon as they entered, the three of them were overwhelmed by the strong smell of cow dung in the yard.

"How could the smell of manure be so strong?" Zhao Cuihua, who came in first, asked with a frown.

Zhao Guifen's face darkened when she heard this. "What's with the fuss? Could the smell kill you? Why did you return from the mountains so early today? How much did you get?"

She asked one question after another, her movements not quite steady—she had twisted her ankle when she slipped earlier.

When she saw what was in their baskets, Zhao Guifen erupted. "What? Just these things?"

"What else could it be? What do people usually get when they go to the mountains?" Zhao Cuihua retorted with the words her eldest sister-in-law had used, speaking with confidence.

Most importantly, her eldest sister-in-law had been lying then, but what she said now was true!

For some inexplicable reason, something strange happened.

Today, when they went to the mountains, no one fell, and they didn't have any bad luck.

But they couldn't find anything valuable, not even mushrooms everywhere they looked.

Zhao Guifen looked at her three daughters-in-law and seriously suspected that they had hidden some items for themselves!

Zhou Jiaojiao watched them and inwardly scoffed, feeling it was time for her to step forward. She stood up and said softly, "Mom, we're all family. I have something to say."

Zhao Guifen couldn't stand looking at Zhou Jiaojiao, the newlywed. "What do you want to say?"

Zhou Jiaojiao wore a proud expression, but she spoke in a voice audible only to herself and Zhao Guifen. "Mom, I've always been very lucky. Whoever goes out with me will have good fortune. Look at the harvests from the trips to the mountains; wasn't it because I was there? Today, without me, the results were different, weren't they?"

Zhao Guifen: ...

She paused for a moment, but she felt that Zhou Jiaojiao had a point.

The fifth daughter-in-law did seem to have some luck on her side!

Zhou Jiaojiao believed that she needed to tell everyone about her luck privately, not in public.

This way, everyone would try to curry favor with her in private.

With this thought, her gaze fell on her second sister-in-law, Liu Xiaoe, who was the most in need of good luck. She would definitely seek her out!

Seeing the mother-in-law and the fifth daughter-in-law whispering to each other, the trio at the door assumed they were saying something bad about them!

"Eldest son, how was your harvest today?" Wang Shoucheng, seeing his daughters-in-law had little to show for their efforts, was somewhat displeased. He turned to his eldest son who had just entered and quickly questioned him.