The idea seemed good, but cleaning and washing toilets is indeed a disgusting job, especially in public toilets like those in the tubular building. The stench was overwhelming. Using a hose to wash three big toilets every day was quite strenuous for her, given her limp.

However, after exercising for a while, Liang Weixiang was actually able to get rid of her crutch. Though she walked unevenly, she managed to walk. Unexpectedly, coming out to earn some money and do some work had also helped her legs improve a bit, and she was able to be with that man. That man was better than Da Guo, at least he was willing to spend money on her. On normal occasions, he’d bring her all sorts of treats. Clothes, cosmetics, and such. He pampered her.

While Liang Weixiang was having some good moments, the family back home was in chaos. Without Liang Weixiang around, there was no one to look after the kids at home. Usually, when they were working in the fields or didn’t want to cook, they would come to the old house for meals. Now, it was not possible. They had to actively pamper Li Daguo, all hoping to get some money from him.

Getting Li Daguo to eat at their place meant that at least occasionally the money for the kids’ snacks wouldn’t come out of their pockets. Because of the matter of asking Li Daguo whose house he would eat at, every day at mealtime, the three brothers would each rush to invite him. Sometimes when they bumped into each other, the two families would start pulling at Li Daguo’s arms, with no regard for how hard they pulled, eventually dislocating his arm.

With such a fuss, Li Daguo got angry and stopped going to either house, cooked his own meals, and if he didn’t want to cook, he’d go to the town to eat.

The kids had angered this benefactor, so now they were being extra cautious, not wanting to provoke more unhappiness at this point. Hence, the third daughter-in-law, who never had much regard for Liang Weixiang, had now taken an interest in her. Liang Weixiang had been working in the city for a long time, surely familiar with people at the factory, and they wanted her help to introduce them there.

They approached Liang Weixiang several times, coaxing her until she was happy and began to feel sorry for her youngest son again. She didn’t mind how he had treated her before, thinking that the third daughter-in-law could be the one to smooth things over. Once the third couple has stable jobs here, she could stay with them, help take care of the children, cook, and live in the city without returning home to farm.

Liang Weixiang wholeheartedly agreed with the third couple, promising that whenever there’s a hiring situation, she’d help inquire.

The satisfied couple returned home, but of course, the second daughter-in-law was the shrewdest, keeping an eye on movements between both houses every day. There was no doubt that the couple went to the city to see her mother-in-law, and seeing them returning happy surely meant they had gained some benefit from her.

When the second son returned at night, the second daughter-in-law pulled him aside to discuss things. The next day, the two of them also went to the city. They had already thought things through last night and decided to say that their eldest son was starting middle school and needed to board, meaning a monthly living expense of five to six bucks. With only a bit of farming, money was tight. The implication was clear: they wanted to borrow some money from Liang Weixiang.

Talking about borrowing money was merely lip service. Liang Weixiang didn’t need to think to know that the money lent would definitely not be returned.

Despite this, Liang Weixiang still gave them money, originally thinking she wouldn’t deduct anything from their monthly allowance, and even if they didn’t pay her for a few months, she wouldn’t mind, treating those as her grandson’s school living expense. But Liang Weixiang got smarter, fearing that if she simply said this, the second son and daughter-in-law would constantly find excuses not to give her money, so she took three months of her grandson’s living expenses out of her own pocket, ensuring they wouldn’t short her on the money they were supposed to give her.

The second daughter-in-law wasn’t too pleased with this, but at least they didn’t come for nothing this time, gaining at least a dozen bucks.

Among the Li family’s daughters-in-law, the eldest was relatively straightforward, not usually mixing with the other two families, but wouldn’t let things slip away from her either because, after all, there were three brothers in the family. However, she was unaware of this incident because she was busy taking care of Li Daguo.

Li Daguo couldn’t do carpentry work anymore. The remaining tasks fell to the eldest.

The eldest daughter-in-law could sometimes be quite clever. Now the eldest had learned carpentry skills, so when Li Daguo can’t work anymore, the eldest in their family could take over. Occasionally, the second son also comes to help, but the second daughter-in-law looks down upon such labor and is busy urging the second son to learn cooking from the elders in the village. Whenever there are celebrations or funerals where they need someone to cook, the job has great potential for profit, and making a single trip can earn quite a lot of money, which is easier compared to carpentry work.