Letting Chen Yaozu continue to run wild wasn’t a solution. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t come up with some other vicious idea to force her hand.
If only she could find that hooligan from the mountain.
Chen Yaozu knew a limited number of people. The hooligan must be from one of the surrounding villages, but figuring out which one would take some effort.
As long as she could find that hooligan and get him to identify Chen Yaozu for hiring him to frame her, she could not only divorce him and leave with her daughter but also send Chen Yaozu to prison.
[Awu… The hooligan’s house is just behind the mountain. It’s easy to find…]
[But the big baddie is plotting something bad again…]
Her daughter hiccuped, indignant.
[Bad grandma is going to pretend to catch fish for Mommy, get sick from the cold, and then make Mommy pay for the doctor.]
Perhaps because she had seen through the Chen family’s greedy nature, Su Nian wasn’t the least bit surprised that Chen Yaozu was scheming against her.
Chen Yaozu had long coveted the gold bars in her Space and would certainly not rest until he achieved his goal.
His plot to swindle money by making their daughter gravely ill had been foiled, so he was resorting to the same old trick, wanting his mother to fall ill because of her and use filial piety to pressure her into giving up her money.
If her mother-in-law got sick from the cold while catching fish to atone to her, she, as the daughter-in-law, would be seen as wicked in every sense if she refused to pay for her treatment. If the matter blew up and alerted the brigade party secretary, given his personality, he would not only criticize and heavily penalize her but also take it upon himself to make her pay for the emergency.
If she hadn’t heard her daughter’s thoughts, she might have fallen into the trap, forcing herself to swallow her disgust and pay up to protect herself.
But now, her daughter had exposed the mother and son’s scheme in advance.
She would now begin preparing her counterattack—to kill three birds with one stone!
Outside the house, Chen Yaozu squatted at the kitchen doorway, his gaze toward the west room fierce.
After giving birth to that bastard child, Su Nian had become harder and harder to control, even developing the idea of leaving him. Since it had come to this, he might as well ruin her completely and just force her to hand over the gold bars!
He entered the kitchen with a grim face. “Mom, we have to think of a way…”
He had just begun when his voice was drowned out by Chen Pozi’s shriek. “Son, did Su Nian hit your face?”
The palm print on his face stung hotly. Chen Yaozu nodded resentfully.
“I think she found out about us trying to freeze that little bastard.”
“So what if she found out? In the old days, I would’ve drowned that little bastard in the manure pit long ago!”
“And she dares to hit her own husband? She’s rebelling against heaven itself!”
The cleaver in Chen Pozi’s hand chopped into the wooden block. She then snatched the fire tongs from the floor and rushed toward the door.
“Damn it, a loose woman who got knocked up by some wild man, does she still think she’s a young lady from the old society? Today, I’m going to beat her until she’s on her knees begging for mercy and voluntarily spits out my Chen family’s gold!”
“Mom! Keep your voice down!”
Chen Yaozu grabbed Chen Pozi and said in a low voice, “What if you push Su Nian too far and she just hands the gold over?”
“She’d dare!” Chen Pozi craned her neck, unconvinced. “That’s my Chen family’s gold!”
Chen Yaozu shot Chen Pozi a sideways glance. “Do you think Su Nian would dare?”
Other members of the Five Black Categories who were sent down swallowed their anger and obediently did the dirty, tiring work, living in dilapidated cowsheds.
But Su Nian was different. She used the Red Book to her advantage, forcing the brigade leader to arrange for her to stay at the educated youth station, demanding the same treatment as an educated youth, and even securing a job for herself as a barefoot doctor. When bullied, she was fearless, fighting back with a life-or-death ferocity.
Before long, the entire Hongqi Commune knew that Shilianghe Village had a feisty female village doctor.
If Su Nian didn’t have such a fiery personality, would he have needed to take such a roundabout way to coax her into voluntarily handing over the gold bars?
At his rhetorical question, Chen Pozi’s fire was instantly extinguished. Cursing “loose woman,” she pulled the cleaver from the block and began viciously chopping a sweet potato, clearly venting her resentment on it as if it were Su Nian.
Staring at a mountain of gold every day without being able to touch it was more agonizing than being killed.
The moment Su Nian married into the Chen family, those gold bars should have belonged to the Chen family!
“Your eldest brother has already made arrangements with the director of the fertilizer plant. As soon as we get the money, we can move into the new staff dormitories.”
“That city girl your second brother is seeing has also softened her stance, but she specifically wants a bicycle, a watch, and a hundred yuan as the bride price.”
“And what about your university recommendation spot? How can that be secured without money to grease the wheels?”
“We need money everywhere we turn. Son, you’ve been smart since you were little. Hurry up and think of something.”
The more Chen Pozi thought, the angrier she got, and she sliced the sweet potato in half with one chop.
“Other people’s new daughters-in-law not only hand over their dowries to their mothers-in-law upon entering the family but also do the laundry, cook, and manage the household. But look at her, acting like an ancestor. She does nothing, and my Chen family even has to raise a bastard child for her!”
“With so much money in her hands, she only gives ten or twenty yuan each time, as if she’s shooing away a beggar!”
Chen Pozi was full of resentment, and Chen Yaozu’s mood was no better.
After a year of coaxing Su Nian, he had only managed to get two or three hundred yuan out of her in total.
If it weren’t for the definite news that Su Nian had a lot of gold bars, he would have suspected he’d been deceived.
“After a year, she probably doesn’t have much cash left. To get any more, she’ll have to touch the hidden gold bars,” Chen Yaozu clenched his fists.
“Mom, I have an idea. We’ll use filial piety to pressure her! The party secretary hates unfilial people the most. You pretend you were forced by Su Nian to go catch fish, got sick from the cold, and lie in the hospital to force her to pay the medical bills. I’ll hide and, while she’s getting the money, find where the gold bars are hidden and snatch them!”
“Why go through so much trouble?”
Chen Pozi chopped the sweet potato, her eyes darting around. “If you sleep with her and get her in line, won’t you have everything?”
“Go look around the village. Which wife doesn’t sleep with her own husband after getting married? Why can’t she serve her man just because she’s pregnant? I think she just looks down on you and doesn’t want to live a proper life with you. Listen to me, just force yourself on her a few times. If she doesn’t obey, beat her. She’ll learn after a good beating.”
“Training a wife is just like training livestock. Beat her a few more times, and she’ll learn her lesson.”
“Beat her… what if she reports me?” Chen Yaozu hesitated.
“That’s where you’re ignorant. There’s a trick to it.”
Chen Pozi rolled her eyes and pointed smugly at her chest and inner thighs.
“You strip her naked and just pinch and bite these places that can’t be shown to others. Women are thin-skinned. No matter how you torment her, she won’t dare pull down her pants to show anyone. Without evidence, how can she make a report? Who would believe her? If someone asks, you just say your ‘skills’ are too much for her to handle, so she blames you for bullying her. Then, when you get back, you discipline her twice as hard. After a few times, she won’t dare anymore.”
“Su Nian has just given birth and doesn’t have much strength. It’s the perfect time.”
Chen Yaozu’s eyes lit up. “Mom, that’s a great idea! I’ll do that tonight. If I can tame her in one go, I won’t have to go through all the trouble of going to town!”
“Alright, then tonight I’ll lock the door and pretend I’m asleep and can’t hear anything. Once Su Nian is pregnant with my Chen family’s child, I’ll definitely sell that bastard child…”
Meanwhile, Su Nian opened the hidden compartment of the redwood chest, preparing to set a trap for Chen Yaozu, when she heard her daughter say:
[Hic! The big baddie is plotting against Mommy again!]
[Bad grandma gave him an idea. They want to train Mommy like livestock. She taught the big baddie to bite Mommy’s legs and baby’s private parts. She wants the big baddie to bully Mommy at night, make a little brother, and throw baby away.]
Su Nian had thought the mother and son would wait until their scheme of faking an illness for money failed before causing more trouble.
She never expected them to change their minds on the spot and have Chen Yaozu rape and abuse her right after she had given birth!
Su Nian hugged her daughter tightly, her whole body trembling with rage.
Just then, Chen Yaozu pushed the door open, carrying a bowl of sweet potato and coarse grain porridge.
“Wifey, you must be hungry. I saw that other women like to drink porridge after giving birth, so I specially made a bowl for you. Quick, drink it while it’s hot.”
Staring at the fake smile on Chen Yaozu’s face and thinking about his and Chen Pozi’s scheme, Su Nian felt a wave of nausea, wishing she could just smash the bowl on his face.
But now was not the time to fall out with him. She had just given birth and was weak from the loss of qi and blood.
She had to replenish the qi and blood she lost during childbirth in the quickest way possible to have the strength to deal with the Chen mother and son’s repeated schemes.
“I want to eat eggs with brown sugar.”
There was donkey-hide gelatin powder in her Space. Mixed with brown sugar and eggs, it was the fastest way to replenish her qi and blood right now.
Seeing Chen Yaozu hesitate, Su Nian narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t you say you were going to be good to me? What, you can’t even spare a bowl of eggs with brown sugar?”
“Of course not. Even if you wanted dragon meat from the heavens, I’d find a way to get it for you,” Chen Yaozu said agreeably. “But we’re out of brown sugar at home. Make do for now, and I’ll go to the supply and marketing cooperative first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Then poach a bowl of eggs with lard for me first.”
Chen Yaozu’s petty calculations couldn’t be more obvious, and Su Nian was unwilling to compromise. “The eggs the chickens laid are in the cabinet in the east room. Go on.”
Chen Yaozu’s hand holding the bowl trembled, and he could no longer maintain his smile.
Damn loose woman, with her arrogant, capitalist young lady airs!
Just endure it. It would be dark in a few hours. Then, he would make Su Nian cry and beg him!
Chen Yaozu left with a dark face.
While he was gone, Su Nian checked the copper lock and bolt on her door.
The more she looked, the tighter her brow furrowed. If Chen Yaozu really wanted to get in, the door wouldn’t be able to stop him.
Furthermore, if he failed once, he would definitely try a second time. She had to find a way to crush his intentions once and for all!
Su Nian sat cross-legged on the kang, biting her nails in thought.
“I’ll kill you, you plague-ridden chicken! How dare you steal my rice!”
A woman’s sharp scolding came from through the thin wall. Su Nian’s eyes lit up; she instantly had an idea.
A quarter of an hour later, Chen Yaozu entered the room with the lard-poached eggs, saying with a sycophantic smile, “Wifey, you just gave birth and you’re not feeling your best. Let me stay in the room tonight and help take care of our daughter.”
Su Nian glanced at him. “We’ll see how you perform.”
“I want to drink brown sugar water right now. You and Mom go ask around the village and see who has some. Borrow a little for me to satisfy my craving.”
Chen Yaozu frowned, but thinking of his plan for the night, he suppressed his dissatisfaction and coaxed Chen Pozi to go out with him to borrow brown sugar from someone they knew.
Su Nian leaned against the window. After the two had left, she carried Fubao and knocked on the neighbor’s courtyard door.
“Who is it? Knock, knock, knock, are you knocking for a soul?!”
“Aunt Niu, it’s me, Su Nian.”
The door didn’t open, but the feisty voice had already rung out. Su Nian curled her lips in satisfaction and took a Great Unity banknote from her pocket. “I just gave birth and I’m not feeling well. I’d like to ask Aunt Niu to sleep over with me for a month to help me with the baby at night. This ten yuan is for your trouble. I wonder if it’s convenient for Aunt Niu?”
“Convenient! Of course, it’s convenient!”
Aunt Niu’s eyes were fixed on the Great Unity, and her face bloomed into a smile.
“Taking care of children is what your auntie does best! Educated Youth Su, don’t you worry. With Aunt Niu here, I absolutely won’t let you lift a finger!”
Su Nian’s eyes flickered, and she said with feigned difficulty, “My mother-in-law and you don’t get along. If she finds out I paid you to help me with the baby, she’ll definitely cause a scene and not let me, and she’ll demand the money back. Aunt Niu, could you sneak in through the back door after dark?”
With the Great Unity in hand, Aunt Niu was exceptionally agreeable. She patted her chest and guaranteed, “Don’t worry. We’ve all been daughters-in-law. Auntie understands. I’ll come in the dark and leave at the crack of dawn. I absolutely won’t let Chen Pozi find out.”
“Tonight, I’ll meow like a cat, and Aunt Niu can come into the room with me right away.”
“Done!”
Aunt Niu’s feistiness was on par with Chen Pozi’s; she was a notoriously fierce woman in the village. If Chen Yaozu groped the wrong person in the dark, Aunt Niu would surely beat him until he was spitting teeth, right?
Thinking of the scene of Chen Yaozu being thrashed by Aunt Niu, Su Nian buried her head in the swaddling clothes, unable to hold back a muffled laugh.
Now, it wasn’t just Chen Yaozu and his mother who were looking forward to nightfall.
She, too, was looking forward to it a little