Chapter 777 - 400: Furious Meizi (2)

Chapter 777: Chapter 400: Furious Meizi (2)

She glanced at Pu Pao and Aunt Liu, who was busy under the eaves. Her expression turned glum as she said, "Your family is doing better and better, but mine is just getting by—enough to not starve, that’s all. Even my parents’ family is doing better than mine. At my parents’ place, it’s just my dad and my mom working, right? Gou Dan is still little, and my grandma is old. My mom always says that if a family doesn’t work together and plan carefully, there’s no way they can have a prosperous life. Changming and I saved up for years, and we just managed to scrape together enough money this spring to buy twenty *mu* of wasteland. But then Liu’er’s mother claims it’s because my in-laws helped us out, that we wouldn’t have had the money otherwise. Isn’t that infuriating? If my parents-in-law were that capable, how could the family have been so poor back then with two sons, four able-bodied workers in total? Even Changming isn’t very good at managing money. If I wasn’t the one planning and budgeting, how could we have saved any of this?"

Juhua couldn’t help but give a bitter smile as Meizi’s complaints circled back to Liu’er’s mother. She sympathized with her immensely. ’Li Laoda and Granny Hua, with their attitudes? Help their son earn money? What a joke! If it weren’t for them, Meizi and Li Changming would probably have saved even more.’

It was a classic case of people being two-faced—they could twist things however they wanted. If you took the elders in, any money you earned was because of their "help." If you didn’t, you were unfilial and only cared about your own comfortable life as a couple.

But she didn’t know how to comfort her. After a long moment, she sighed and said, "You’ve only been at it a few years and you’ve already added twenty *mu* of wasteland. That’s already wonderful. Once you and Changming clear the land and get your pigs, chickens, ducks, and wood ears set up, you’ll save more and more in the future. You’ve always been straightforward. Don’t take what others say to heart. Just keep doing what you need to do."

Meizi nodded. "But I’ve been so angry lately, my head’s all muddled. Ugh, I really don’t know how things got like this."

Juhua found it a bit strange, too. ’Hasn’t Meizi always been the type to not care what others think and say whatever’s on her mind?’ So she asked, "Just keep acting and speaking to your mother-in-law the way you always have."

Juhua’s words only made Meizi angrier. "But that’s exactly what I’m doing! I’m acting the same as always. But when Liu’er’s mother is there, she says I shouldn’t be ordering my mother-in-law to do chores. I told her, if you don’t work, what do you eat? We’re not some rich family. Then she just spouts a bunch of nonsense about filial piety. I shot back that I haven’t mistreated my mother-in-law, and that my own grandmother still works at her age. But look, Juhua, while I’m arguing back and forth with her, not only does my mother-in-law not do any work, but I get held up from my own chores, and I’m left fuming!"

People said she had Granny Hua under her thumb, but in reality, her personality was just the perfect counter to Granny Hua’s. However, the same approach was completely ineffective against Liu’er’s mother. Besides, Liu’er’s mother wasn’t family and simply ignored her arguments, leaving Meizi at a complete loss.

Juhua grew furious listening to this. At the same time, she wondered, ’How does Liu’er’s mother have so much free time?’ Looking at Meizi, she decided it was better not to ask and to change the subject instead.

"I’ve made some fermented rice cakes. I’ll steam them in a bit, and you can take some back for Li Jingwen to eat."

Meizi’s face finally lit up with a happy smile. "Oh! I love those. Did you add sugar? I love sweet things the most. My mom made some last time and gave me a whole bunch. My mother-in-law likes them too, so after everyone took their share, I didn’t get to eat my fill."

Seeing her friend’s adorable, straightforward nature return, Juhua held back a laugh and said, "I added sugar. I made a lot, since I was planning to send some to my parents’ home. Since you sound so greedy for them, I’ll give you a few extra pieces."

Meizi nodded vigorously. "Yes! When I make something good, I won’t forget you either."

So they left the children off to one side for Pu Pao to watch, and the two of them went to do their needlework, chatting about things like planting vegetables and farming the land.

Just then, He walked into the courtyard gate with a hoe on her shoulder and a basket looped over her arm. From a distance, she smiled at her granddaughter in the cart. "Cong, Grandma’s home! I found a lot of mushrooms. Oh! Meizi’s here?"

Meizi smiled in acknowledgment and greeted her, "Auntie."

Juhua quickly stood up to greet her, peering at the fresh mushrooms in the basket as she asked with a smile, "Ma, did you find these by the mountain? How did you get so lucky? I was up on the mountain this morning and barely found any."

He chided her good-naturedly, "That plot of yours has been all cleared out, it’s nothing but dirt clods. Where would you find mushrooms? I found these up on the mountain. Your father said the weeds in the wheat field are mostly hoed, so he didn’t need my help. He told me to go pick mushrooms and said we should stir-fry them with cured meat for dinner tonight."

Juhua poured the mushrooms onto the ground to sort them and said to He with a smile, "Tomorrow is Dad’s birthday. Let’s use these mushrooms as filling for dumplings."

He nodded. "I’d forgotten if you hadn’t mentioned it. Ugh, what’s there to celebrate about a birthday? Just another year older. It’s depressing to think about. Let’s roll out some dough tomorrow morning and make him a bowl of longevity noodles. He’d probably be happier to hear that."

Juhua said, a little sheepishly, "You’re right, we should have noodles. Longevity noodles—it sounds so festive and auspicious. Huai Zi and I will get up early tomorrow to make them, as a show of our filial piety."

He was very pleased to hear this. "Aren’t you two filial every day!"

After saying this, she played with her grandson for a little while before heading to the backyard to get busy. Aunt Liu began to steam the fermented rice cakes.

Seeing everyone busy, Meizi felt a bit awkward just sitting around. Besides, she was worried about things at home. So, once the first batch of rice cakes was steamed, Juhua had Aunt Liu put a large plateful aside for her. Meizi then got up to leave, saying she had to go home to prepare dinner.

Juhua knew she was busy at home and wouldn’t have come over just to chat if she weren’t trying to avoid Liu’er’s mother, so she didn’t try to make her stay.

Meizi, holding her son, had just stepped out of the Zhang’s courtyard when she ran right into Liu’er’s mother, who was coming out of Meizi’s own house. She forced a smile and greeted her, "Auntie."

When Liu’er’s mother saw her coming from the Zhang family’s home, she couldn’t suppress her irritation. With a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she asked, "Meizi, where have you been having fun? Your mother-in-law was spinning around with work at home, so I felt bad keeping her and just came back."

Meizi had been driven out of her own house by this woman’s anger in the first place. Hearing this, she exploded. "Spinning with work? You mean busy gossiping with you until spit was flying everywhere, right? If I hadn’t left, you wouldn’t have been able to gossip freely. My leaving was exactly what you wanted, wasn’t it—so you could say whatever you pleased."

Her face hardened as she finished speaking, then she turned and walked away.

Liu’er’s mother’s expression changed with anger. Watching Meizi’s retreating back, she thought, ’Why is she so confrontational? She wasn’t like this before, was she?’

She glanced back at the Zhang’s courtyard gate and cursed inwardly, ’It must be Juhua’s doing again.’

And so, in the days that followed, she went around telling everyone how Juhua loved to stir up trouble, claiming that Meizi had been perfectly nice to her before, but after just one trip to Juhua’s house, she had turned around and cursed her out.

Juhua was dumbfounded when she heard about this. ’Could anyone be more innocent in this than me?’

Meizi couldn’t stand it anymore. Juhua had barely said two words that day; it was she who had done all the talking. How could the blame be pinned on Juhua? How could she ever face Juhua again after this?

Because of this, she said to Li Changming, "Changming, can you think of a way to stop Liu’er’s mother from coming over? I can’t take it anymore. If this continues, I don’t care who she is, I’m going to start a fight with her. Or else, I’ll get my mother to come deal with her."