Meanwhile, at the Zhou family home.
When Zhou Rulan returned, Zhou Dajun and Li Juying were already home and chatting. The moment they saw her, they called her over.
“Rulan, have you heard about what happened to the Zhao family?”
Both of them looked worried.
“The Zhao family lost a remittance slip. It must have been sent by the military unit where Zhao family’s eldest son serves—there’s really no other possibility. But now it’s gone! Can Zhao Ziming still afford the bride price and wedding banquet he promised?”
The bride price and wedding banquet promised by the Zhao family had brought them tremendous prestige recently.
Zhou Dajun especially enjoyed it. His relatives had always mocked him for not having a son and only a daughter, saying his family line would end with him. But once they learned that Rulan would receive such a generous bride price—even though this was her second marriage—they were practically green with envy.
If everything suddenly fell through after all the boasting they had done, it would be incredibly embarrassing.
After listening to them, Zhou Rulan proudly replied,
“I know about it. I even went to ask Ziming just now. He said the missing remittance slip won’t affect our marriage registration at all!”
“Really?” Li Juying’s eyes lit up. “So the Zhao family is even wealthier than we thought?”
Zhou Rulan did not actually know the Zhao family’s finances.
Although she had been married into the Zhao family before, Wang Hongmei guarded the household finances tightly and never revealed how much money they had.
But judging from Zhao Ziming’s attitude, they must be doing quite well.
So she nodded.
Li Juying was overjoyed.
“That’s wonderful! Once you marry into the Zhao family, you’ll only have a life of comfort ahead of you. If your father and I ever fall on hard times, you can support us too.”
“Don’t worry, Mom and Dad. Ziming cares about me very much. As long as I’m around, I’ll make sure you both live well too.”
Her words delighted both of them.
Suddenly, Zhou Dajun said,
“If the Zhao family really has money, then it must also be true that they gave Zhou Yu ten yuan and sent her to the county yesterday morning to buy a whole pile of good things!”
“What? Wang Hongmei was actually willing to give Zhou Yu ten yuan?”
Zhou Rulan’s expression immediately darkened.
Zhao Changdong and Wang Hongmei always appeared generous on the surface but were actually incredibly stingy. They had never even been willing to give her two yuan.
Li Juying scoffed.
“So what if they did? She can’t use all those nice things herself. And Zhao family’s eldest son is a useless cripple who can’t even wake up. Those things will obviously end up going to her natal family.”
Zhou Dajun thought the same.
Greed flashed in his eyes as he made the decision immediately.
“Tomorrow we’ll go get those things from Zhou Yu!”
He had heard there were red dates, peanuts, white sugar, and malted milk powder. If they could bring those home, they would have enough treats to last a long time.
Zhou Rulan immediately agreed.
The thought of those good things sitting with Zhou Yu was enough to keep her awake at night.
So the next morning, Zhou Rulan and Li Juying headed to the Zhao family home.
Zhou Dajun did not go. He needed to work and earn work points, and he also felt it would be beneath him. Sending the women was enough.
When Li Juying and Zhou Rulan arrived, only Zhou Yu and Zhao Yunzheng were home.
Zhao Changdong had skipped work for an entire day yesterday and did not dare do so again, so he had gone to work.
Although Wang Hongmei was not working, she had gone out to search for the remittance slip, hoping she might somehow find it.
As for Zhao Ziming, Zhou Yu had vaguely overheard during breakfast that he was going to the county instead of school, though she had no idea why.
Nor did she care.
As usual, she was at home massaging Zhao Yunzheng’s legs while planning her next move.
Now that she had obtained the compensation money, the next thing she wanted was to split from the family and move out with Zhao Yunzheng.
Otherwise, she could not freely spend the compensation money and enjoy a better life without worrying about the Zhao family discovering her savings.
Just then, a familiar loud voice rang out from outside.
“Zhou Yu! Come open the door!”
Li Juying?
What was she doing here?
Confused, Zhou Yu got up to take a look.
To her surprise, Zhou Rulan was with her.
The moment she opened the gate, the two women pushed past her and swaggered into the courtyard, looking around.
Even though she had visited several times before, Li Juying still felt jealous of the Zhao family’s nice house.
But then she remembered that her daughter would soon be living here, and the jealousy faded.
“I’m exhausted from the walk. Hurry up and make me a bowl of sugar water.”
Li Juying casually ordered Zhou Yu around out of habit.
Zhou Rulan immediately added arrogantly,
“I want some too. Make mine with brown sugar, and add extra sugar.”
Zhou Yu laughed.
“You want sugar water? Drink a fart.”
“What did you say?!”
The two women immediately stopped and glared at her.
Zhou Yu repeated,
“I said drink a fart! If you really want sugar water, fine. I’ll go get my mother-in-law and tell her you’ve come over so she can properly entertain you. After all, I still have to listen to my mother-in-law. How would I dare use sugar on my own?”
Neither woman wanted Wang Hongmei to return.
To put it bluntly, they had come to freeload and take advantage.
No matter how polite Wang Hongmei appeared on the surface, if she found out they were trying to take things from Zhou Yu as her natal family, she would definitely turn hostile.
It was much easier while Wang Hongmei was away.
They could simply claim that Zhou Yu had insisted on giving the items to her natal family. Wang Hongmei would have no face to demand them back afterward.
“Why would we need to bother your mother-in-law over something so small?” Li Juying snapped. “Don’t think I don’t know. You got plenty of good things these past two days. Surely you can spare a little sugar.”
Zhou Rulan was impatient and could not hold back any longer.
“Where are all those things you received? Bring them out and let me see!”
At that moment, Zhou Yu understood.
“Oh, so you deliberately waited until my mother-in-law and the others weren’t home so you could come freeload and carry things away. In that case, I definitely need to go get my mother-in-law.”
As she spoke, she started walking toward the courtyard gate.
Li Juying and Zhou Rulan immediately panicked and rushed to block her path.
Li Juying angrily shouted,
“What freeloading? I’m your mother! The mother who raised you for eighteen years! Just for that alone, shouldn’t you show me some filial respect with a few gifts?”
“Exactly!”
Holding Li Juying’s arm, Zhou Rulan chimed in,
“Mom, look at her. She won’t even part with a few things. It’s obvious she doesn’t respect you at all!”
Li Juying became even angrier.
“Hurry up and bring out the things you received. Otherwise, I’ll make sure the entire village knows what an ungrateful, heartless daughter you are!”
Zhou Yu merely sneered.
She was not afraid of such threats.
“Tell the whole village? Go ahead!”
“People in the village might not know how you treated me, but they’ve all seen me working myself to exhaustion year after year.”
“As for being called ungrateful—what a joke. Do you really think I care? It’s not like I’m deeply attached to either of you.”
“You… you…”
Li Juying was so furious that the finger pointing at Zhou Yu trembled.
Seeing that Zhou Yu would not yield to either soft or hard tactics, Zhou Rulan became increasingly anxious.
She had come today determined to take those good things.
Why should Zhou Yu be the one enjoying good food and nice supplies?
Her eyes suddenly lit up with an idea.
“Mom, I know which room that useless cripple Zhao Yunzheng is in. Let’s just go in and take the things ourselves! If she tries to stop us, we’ll say she already gave them to us and then changed her mind. Let’s see how much face she has left in front of the villagers then!”