Lin Baozhu was so furious that she yanked the red wedding quilt they had been sleeping under straight off the bed.
Gu Shicheng, who had been pretending to sleep, finally could not keep up the act any longer.
He sat up, rubbed his face hard with both hands, then said, “Baozhu, since you can’t sleep anyway, why don’t you put up with it this morning and make breakfast for everyone? That’s how my three sisters-in-law all started out.”
Thinking about how, in the novel, she had been the pampered lucky koi wife who never lifted a finger around the house, Lin Baozhu grew even angrier at his response.
“Acheng, wake up already. Your family has already split up, and Mother is still here too. Why should your eldest sister-in-law get to order me around just because she’s the eldest daughter-in-law?”
Gu Shicheng looked utterly fed up. He abruptly rolled out of bed and said, “Fine, I’ll go talk to my eldest sister-in-law right now.”
Lin Baozhu was fairly satisfied with his reaction.
What she did not know was that the entire courtyard was waiting to watch her make a fool of herself.
That included Father Gu and Mother Gu.
Mother Gu had also deliberately wanted to use her eldest daughter-in-law’s hand to put Lin Baozhu in her place.
Meanwhile, Li Wenxiu and Gu Shiye were lying under the covers waiting to watch the drama unfold.
Gu Shiye suddenly whispered something ridiculous into Li Wenxiu’s ear, making her burst into laughter.
Hearing the laughter coming from next door, Lin Baozhu felt hatred boiling inside her.
Why were these three sisters-in-law in real life completely different from the ones in the novel? Why could they not obediently stay like the cannon fodder characters written in the story, women who only knew how to work, earn money, and accumulate work points?
After Gu Shicheng walked out, Wang Lihua’s shouting finally stopped.
But very quickly, the conversation between the brother and sister-in-law outside made Lin Baozhu feel even more devastated.
Wang Lihua said bluntly, “Fourth Brother, stop putting on airs in front of me. It’s true the family has split up, but our eldest branch was assigned to stay with our parents. Since you two are also still living with them, then you’re under my authority as the eldest sister-in-law too. Yesterday, when you and your wife got married, I spent the whole day running around helping. We’re supposed to take turns cooking, so what’s wrong with asking your wife to make breakfast first today? Also, the bride price money you and your wife borrowed from our eldest branch needs to be paid back as soon as possible.”
The moment Lin Baozhu heard that, her heart turned ice cold. That six hundred yuan bride price had actually been borrowed in her and Gu Shicheng’s names.
What a joke.
This was the first time she had ever heard of newlyweds having to repay the bride price together after marriage. She, a city girl with an urban household registration, had married into this rural family only to suffer this kind of humiliation.
Lin Baozhu was so angry she nearly rushed out to start a fight, but just as she reached the doorway, she suddenly stopped herself.
She reminded herself not to act impulsively. She still had not obtained the jade token from her mother-in-law, the one that could activate the space.
After patting her chest and taking several deep breaths, she forced a bright smile onto her face before walking out.
“I’m really sorry, eldest sister-in-law. You’ve worked hard. I’ll go make breakfast for everyone right now.”
Gu Shicheng had already rolled up his sleeves and was about to head to the kitchen himself, but the moment he saw his wife compromise, he immediately lowered his sleeves and turned away.
Mother Gu, lying in the inner room, also let out a sigh of relief. This fourth daughter-in-law was still fairly sensible after all, so perhaps the six hundred yuan bride price had not been wasted.
Li Wenxiu lay against Gu Shiye’s chest and said, “This female lead actually has quite a good temper.”
If it had been her getting harassed by Wang Lihua first thing in the morning, she would already have gone out and started fighting.
But while holding her, Gu Shiye said quietly, “Wife, did you forget that in the short drama, she only gets the jade token from her mother-in-law after breakfast?”
Li Wenxiu jumped in shock. “No way… are you suspecting something?” In truth, she had thought of it too.
Gu Shiye said, “She clearly doesn’t look like the type of traditional daughter-in-law who silently endures abuse. If something feels off, there’s usually a reason. Since we could transmigrate here, why couldn’t the plot have arranged for her to awaken too?”
Li Wenxiu asked nervously, “If she’s awakened, can we still quietly lie low and slowly build ourselves up like we are now?”
Gu Shiye wrapped one large hand around his wife’s head and comforted her. “Don’t worry, If someone without morals gains an extraordinary opportunity, it may not necessarily be a good thing for them. But if she can still tell right from wrong, then she should understand that the jade token originally belonged to your ancestors. If she doesn’t choose to court disaster, disaster won’t come for her.”
Hearing that, Li Wenxiu relaxed considerably. Thankfully, the two of them had watched the drama together, so she did not need to explain much before Gu Shiye could adapt to the situation himself.
Lin Baozhu simply cooked a huge pot of sweet potato porridge, cut up a large bowl of pickled vegetables, and boiled three eggs. According to the novel’s plot, only the men in the Gu family were allowed to eat eggs, so she cleverly boiled only three and even thoughtfully peeled them before placing them separately into three bowls.
Today, Pan’er was not feeling very well, so the second branch of the Gu family had not hurried to cook breakfast.
Only after Lin Baozhu finished cooking did Gu Shiye take ingredients and head toward the kitchen.
The two of them happened to run into each other at the doorway.
Gu Shiye immediately noticed the peeled eggs divided neatly into bowls, and his heart sank. This woman had only married into the family yesterday, yet she already understood the old rules of the Gu family so clearly. It seemed she truly had awakened.
At the same time, Lin Baozhu was quietly sizing Gu Shiye up as well.
She remembered clearly that, in the novel, the third son of the Gu family had never voluntarily entered the kitchen because the Gu family’s rules did not allow men to cook.
So why was this Third Brother acting so abnormally?
She carefully recalled everything and realized that, in the entire Gu family, only Gu Shiye and Li Wenxiu were both behaving strangely at the same time.
And the jade token that could activate her space just so happened to come from their third branch.
The thought made panic surge through her chest, and even her heartbeat quickened.
She told herself not to panic yet. As long as she could successfully get the jade token from her mother-in-law after dinner, she would stop arguing with the Gu family.
Because once she obtained that jade token, her status within the Gu family would completely turn around.
Still, while the family was eating, she could not resist bringing up the matter of Gu Shiye personally cooking.
Unexpectedly, Mother Gu flew into a rage the moment she heard it.
“Third Brother is just a wife-spoiling wastrel. None of you are allowed to learn from him!”
Wang Lihua immediately snorted unhappily and rolled her eyes.
Lin Baozhu was also displeased with her mother-in-law’s old-fashioned thinking, but remembering that she still needed to obtain the most important item of her life from Mother Gu after the meal, she did not dare say a single word or even show the slightest expression of dissatisfaction.
Gu Shiyu was the first to finish eating. She stood up obediently and said, “I’m done eating. I’m going to school now.”
Wang Lihua slammed her chopsticks onto the table with a loud smack.
“Little sister-in-law, are you treating our words like they’re nothing? This isn’t the time anymore when your three brothers could keep being suckers for you. If you run off to school instead of earning work points, who’s supposed to feed you?”