Transmigration: On the Gossip Front-Chapter 1979 - 1980: Old Mrs. Zhang Reborn in the ’70s Reshapes Her Ungrateful Children 11
The brothers Wei Jiang and Wei He walked home, originally thinking maybe the old lady was just all talk and soft-hearted, but once they stepped into the house, the first thing they saw was the table covered with unwashed bowls and chopsticks.
Then they looked toward the doors of their rooms and saw the clothes that needed to be washed still lying in the basins, with no sign anyone had touched them.
At that moment they realized Zhang Yu really hadn’t been bluffing them; the old lady really had stopped doing anything.
What now? The moment Wei He thought about having to wash all that, and seeing there wasn’t much in the kitchen either, his mood immediately turned into a mess.
When Li Juan got home and found the kids crying and fussing inside, she couldn’t help feeling very unhappy; if she’d been looking forward to splitting the household before, now she was starting to feel a bit dissatisfied with it.
From now on, after work she’d have to rush straight home to cook dinner, otherwise no one would cook, and the laundry would all be on her too.
Thinking of this, Li Juan felt a headache coming on. She’d just gone back to her parents’ place and told them about the separation.
Once her parents heard, their first reaction was to tell her to bow her head to the old lady, keep paying the living expenses, and keep eating together from one kitchen.
Li Juan had thought that living separately would mean a lot more housework, and just thinking about it gave her a headache. Since getting married, she’d still been like a little girl, basically not doing any housework.
But from her parents’ mouths, not only would she have to do the housework herself, more importantly, the monthly ten yuan simply wouldn’t cover the expenses for their family of four.
For example, just the cost of coal briquettes, rice, flour, and vegetables every month would exceed ten yuan, and that’s even without going to the black market—just buying at regular price.
Once you went to the black market to buy something better, the spending would shoot up. This made Li Juan, who had thought after splitting the household she could just buy whatever she wanted, realize that a lot of things weren’t going to be as comfortable as she’d imagined.
Li Juan was already feeling all kinds of irritated, and now, hearing the two kids crying, her anger flared up and she totally couldn’t control it.
"What’s going on?" Honestly, what, now that the household’s split, the old lady isn’t the kids’ real grandma anymore and can’t take care of them a bit?
But once she went in, she realized Zhang Yu actually wasn’t there; only her own man was there coaxing the two kids. That really got Li Juan fuming, especially when she saw the mess on the dining table—her voice immediately rose.
"I’m not even home yet and you’ve already eaten everything." Li Juan admitted she was a bit late coming back today, but they couldn’t at least leave her some food?
"Mom, Mom." Li Juan was furious.
"Mom’s not at home." Wei He spoke up to stop his wife from embarrassing herself any further.
What? Not at home? Li Juan didn’t get it. "How could she not be home? Then these dishes?"
"From last night," Wei He said helplessly. "Why are you back so late? I don’t even know if the state restaurant still has anything left to eat."
Seeing there was nothing much in the kitchen and that they’d just gotten their share of the money, Wei Jiang took the two kids out to eat. Wei He also wanted to go out for a good meal, but his wife hadn’t come back.
Ah, the dishes from last night—Li Juan immediately remembered what happened yesterday evening. "Mom really didn’t wash the dishes?"
"Not only did she not wash the dishes, even the clothes we took off haven’t been washed." Wei He pointed to the basin at their door.
Huh? Li Juan looked over at the doorway in surprise and saw that the dirty clothes she’d put outside that morning really hadn’t been touched by anyone.
"The old lady, how, how..." Li Juan was furious. "She doesn’t even go to work, just eats for free at home all day. What’s so hard about doing a bit of work?"
"Honestly, I mean, your... mom, what is she like." Li Juan was so angry that the more she talked, the more out of line her words became.
Zhang Yu and Wei Dazhi were at a restaurant eating lamb dumplings with a side of stir-fried cabbage. They’d spent some money, but Zhang Yu was eating very happily.
She even made an agreement with Wei Dazhi that from now on, every month they’d go out to have something good to eat. Of course, Wei Dazhi had no objection. "Right, we should eat well too."
Thinking of the two sons’ reactions, Wei Dazhi’s face went dark. "Leave things for them and they don’t appreciate it at all."
"From now on, we’ll eat well, drink well, and live well." Wei Dazhi had lost his parents when he was young. To support himself he’d done all sorts of jobs and seen every kind of face. He’d seen plenty of fathers and sons turning against each other for money.
He’d actually seen more of human nature than the original owner had. If they hadn’t gone through everything together, supporting each other all the way, Zhang Yu believed that even he would have kept his guard up against the original owner.
"I’m thinking of going fishing and then trading the fish for ration tickets." Zhang Yu quietly shared her idea. "I’d thought about doing this before."
"With Uncle Ge’s skill level, he can go fishing and even if the catch isn’t huge, at least it adds some dishes to the table."
"Those hard years, I was always going out to fish. It’s just right for me to pick it up again now." She was about to have more free time, so it was a good chance to go fishing.
As for his wife wanting to go fishing, there was absolutely no way Wei Dazhi would object. He was just worried that she’d heard what people were saying and was upset, so she wanted to go out and fish.
"Don’t take to heart what those little bastards say." Wei Dazhi paused. "Worst comes to worst, we’ll just kick them out. We’ll rent their houses out, and the monthly rent will be more than enough."
"We raised them, and when it came to the big events in their lives, it was all our money that solved it. And they still treat us like this? Then there’s no need to leave those houses to them."
"They’re all a bunch of ingrates." Thinking of Wei Jiang and the others’ behavior, Wei Dazhi was very displeased.
If someone else heard Wei Dazhi talk like this, they’d think the old man was just venting. But Zhang Yu knew he really meant it. "Fine, if they don’t behave, we’ll throw them out right then and there."
"We’ll rent the houses out so they don’t think we’re obligated to give them anything." Zhang Yu kept nodding.
When the two of them reached their door, they could hear Li Juan’s endless complaining, and Zhang Yu’s face instantly changed. Good grief, Wei He really was Zhang Yu’s good eldest son—just letting his wife go on and on badmouthing her mother-in-law in front of him.
Zhang Yu took a deep breath, knowing she absolutely couldn’t let herself get worked up now, or it would be bad for her health.
After calming herself, Zhang Yu clapped her hands. "All right, all right, Li Juan, Li Juan, you really are a good daughter-in-law. I’ve worn myself out doing every last thing in this house, and in your eyes that’s just how it should be. Now that I’m not cooking or doing the laundry, I become the wicked mother-in-law in your eyes."
Zhang Yu loudly repeated everything Li Juan had just said. Li Juan was stunned. Don’t be fooled by how she strutted around in front of Wei He and the kids, talking about how terrible Zhang Yu was—she only dared grumble behind Zhang Yu’s back, never to her face.
The neighbors around had heard Li Juan complaining, but they hadn’t been paying attention. They thought she was grumbling about the kids or something, since Wei Lan had been crying loudly before.
After hearing Zhang Yu repeat her words, everyone was stunned. They hadn’t expected Li Juan to talk about Zhang Yu like that behind her back.
Everybody could see what kind of mother-in-law Zhang Yu was. Maybe she wasn’t the absolute best, but at the very least she really was a mother-in-law who worked hard without complaining.
Whose daughter-in-law had her underwear and panties washed by the mother-in-law? Even during her period, when the underwear was stained with blood, it was still Zhang Yu who washed it. There really weren’t many mothers-in-law who would do that; yet Li Juan still talked about her like this. Everyone began to form a negative opinion of Li Juan.
