Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Bai Xiuxiu dressed quickly, and as the two of them left, they saw Zhao Guifen being helped off the ox cart, limping.

Her complexion had returned to normal by then.

"Dad, we've brought Mom back. The doctor in town said that we arrived just in time. She received an antidote serum and will be fine. The big flower snake wasn't very venomous; she just needs to rest for about ten days."

Wang Qingfu, with Liu Xiaoe and Zhao Cuifen, entered the courtyard. Upon arrival, he promptly updated everyone on the situation.

Hearing this, Wang Shoucheng sighed in relief. "That's good! That's good!"

He then looked keenly at the team leader who was behind them. "Team Leader, thank you so much for accompanying us on this trip. How about... coming in for a drink of water?"

"Enough, what time is it? I still need to take the ox back to the team. It has to haul manure tomorrow. You must be more careful when going into the mountains from now on. First the wild boar, then the snake. Our mountain is getting too dangerous. I need to discuss this with the team."

The team leader declined Wang Shoucheng's offer dismissively.

He had realized that his wife’s suggestion for the eldest son's wife to work for the Women's Federation in the village was a serious matter!

During the journey to the hospital, he heard Zhao Guifen berate her eldest son and daughter-in-law quite a bit.

Everything seemed to involve the young couple.

Wang Laoer and his wife agreed with Zhao Guifen. Especially Wang Laoer, who, as a younger brother, spoke ill of Wang Qinghe and Bai Xiuxiu in front of him, the team leader.

If he acted like this in front of him, who knew how much worse it would be behind his back.

Having Bai Xiuxiu work at the Women's Federation would at least reduce the amount of abuse she suffered!

The team leader flicked his whip and drove the ox cart away.

"Third daughter-in-law, bring me some food quickly. I'm starving after all this time. Everyone else should go back and rest. I'll be lying down for over a dozen days, so starting tomorrow, I'll arrange who will take care of me!" Zhao Guifen raised her voice as soon as she entered the house.

Seeing this, Bai Xiuxiu led her husband inside.

Inside, the two children were awake, groggy and clearly woken up by the noise.

"How did you both wake up? Go back to sleep." Bai Xiuxiu tried to soothe the children.

Wang Qinghe was even more adept, holding one child in each arm and comforting them until they fell asleep again.

Watching him, Bai Xiuxiu felt a softening in her heart. This was right! When she floated behind him in the past, he didn’t even look at the children, which was really infuriating!

"The weather is getting colder. I’ll weave our hats and scarves these next few days. Your old ones are worn out," Bai Xiuxiu said as she climbed back under the covers.

Wang Qinghe put the children down and followed her. "Do you need help?"

In previous years, whenever Xiuxiu couldn’t keep up with weaving, he would help her!

As he spoke, he also grabbed Bai Xiuxiu’s hand, which turned cold as soon as the weather cooled down. "Let me warm you up..."

"Warm me up if you must, but don’t get handsy!" Bai Xiuxiu whispered a warning as he pressed closer. She had already been exhausted these past few days!

"By the way, judging by their attitude today, if you don’t bring home any more game, they’ll be demanding a division of the household within half a month. I’m not planning on giving them anything from the household, so you better not be soft-hearted!"

Bai Xiuxiu brought up the matter with Wang Qinghe.

In her previous life, before she died, Wang Qinghe had worked like a donkey for this family. Apart from blood ties, she couldn’t think of any other reason for him to do so!

Thinking of blood ties, Bai Xiuxiu couldn’t help recalling Old Lady Feng’s words earlier that day.

Just as she was about to mention it to Wang Qinghe,

he kissed her and murmured softly, "I won’t be soft-hearted. They mean nothing to me... as long as you, Xiuxiu, don’t like them, I won’t be soft-hearted towards anyone."

Bai Xiuxiu laughed at his coaxing. Why had this man become so smooth-talking recently?

They fooled around for a while longer. The next morning,

at the dining table.

Sitting at the table, Bai Xiuxiu was still a little sleepy. Seeing that the food had been served but not distributed yet, she guessed that Zhao Guifen was up to something.

"Mom, everyone is waiting to eat and go to work. If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t make us wait," Wang Zhengliang, who was hungry, urged impatiently.

"Hmph! If you aren’t hungry, how would you know how important I am as the one who serves the food?" With that, she began to distribute the food with a large ladle.

"My legs are immobile, so someone will have to take care of me for the next dozen or so days. Don’t pretend to be sick. If you can’t take care of me, give me money instead! Did you hear that, eldest daughter-in-law?" Zhao Guifen glanced at Bai Xiuxiu as she spoke.

Bai Xiuxiu smiled. "Mom, don’t worry. Even if I’m seriously ill, I’ll still fulfill my filial duties. By the way, why don’t I take care of you alone?"

At that moment, Zhao Guifen remembered the despair of falling twice!

She refused decisively. "I don’t need you!"

"If not me, that won’t do. Mom, you said that if someone can’t take care of you, they have to pay. I think I’m very good at taking care of people!" Bai Xiuxiu’s sincere expression made Zhao Guifen want to curse.

Was she shameless?

How could she say she was good at taking care of people?

Zhao Guifen’s face darkened. Thinking of what her husband had said last night—watch for another dozen days, and if the eldest son still doesn’t contribute, kick him out first—she decided to find a way to make Bai Xiuxiu divorce the eldest son or... die.

This way, without a wife and with two children, the eldest son would naturally beg to move back.

Now that they all live in the same courtyard, they hardly have a good opportunity to scheme against Bai Xiuxiu.

For now, just ignore her and let her be arrogant!

Thinking about it, Zhao Guifen felt much better. She glanced at Bai Xiuxiu and snorted coldly. "I don’t need you; if I were to have you serve me, everyone in the team would say that I, as a mother-in-law, am bullying my daughter-in-law again.

You can rest up.

Oh, right, we sold that venomous snake yesterday, but the money went towards my medical expenses. Whatever’s left will be used for nutritional supplements.

At my age, suffering like this, this money is not to be divided by anyone. Consider it your filial duty to me."

Zhao Guifen’s words immediately soured the faces of everyone except the second son and Old Fifth's family.

"Mom, how many nutritional supplements do you need?" Zhao Cuihua couldn’t help but retort. How big was that snake? How valuable was it?

"What? Did you find the snake? If I hadn’t been bitten, could you have seen it? Now that I’m like this, can’t I eat something nice? Do you even have a conscience?"

Zhao Guifen berated them.

She and Wang Shoucheng had planned this out early. Now, Wang Shoucheng feigned seriousness. "Alright, that’s settled then. You should show some concern for your mother."

Bai Xiuxiu watched the old couple’s performance and saw Zhao Cuihua look at her with pleading eyes.

She smiled at her and remained silent.

This money would eventually be hers.

After breakfast, everyone went about their business. Bai Xiuxiu also took the two children out, under the pretense of going to see a doctor!

"Mommy, where are we going? Grandpa Zhang’s house isn’t this way." Yueyue, holding Bai Xiuxiu’s hand, looked puzzled.

In response, Bai Xiuxiu gave her an orange candy. "Mommy is taking you somewhere else to play."

If she remembered correctly, Old Lady Feng would forage for wild vegetables near the foot of the mountain every day.

She was here to meet someone!