Li Juying’s eyes lit up the moment she heard the suggestion.
What a great idea!
No matter what, they had come today determined to take those good things home with them.
Mother and daughter exchanged a glance and instantly reached an agreement. Zhou Rulan turned around and headed toward Zhao Yunzheng’s room, leading the way.
The moment Zhou Yu saw this, her face darkened.
She immediately rushed forward, shoved them aside, and blocked the doorway.
“As long as I’m standing here today, you’re not getting in!”
If those two got inside, they would definitely rummage through the package Zhao Yunzheng’s comrade had sent.
And she had hidden the bankbook in there only yesterday. Under no circumstances could she let them find it!
Inside the room, Zhao Yunzheng had just regained a bit of consciousness.
He was still groggy, but the sudden shouting outside immediately forced him to focus.
Were they bullying Zhou Yu again?!
Anxiety surged through him. He tried to force himself awake and open his eyes, but no matter how hard he struggled, he could only twitch a hand slightly. His eyelids felt unbearably heavy.
At that moment, the argument outside drifted into the room.
“We raised you all these years for nothing! You’re not even half as sensible as Rulan. All you know is how to oppose me, your own mother!”
Your own mother?
The person outside was Zhou Yu’s mother?
Zhao Yunzheng was surprised.
Because he had rarely come home over the years, he had barely known Zhou Yu before their marriage. He knew even less about her family circumstances.
But from the sound of it, Zhou Yu did not seem to have a good relationship with her family.
“Your daughter? Have you ever treated me like one?!”
Outside, Zhou Yu was so angry she laughed.
“Even when you thought I was your biological daughter, you never treated me well. After finding Zhou Rulan, your real daughter, you stopped pretending altogether. I was nothing but a laborer in the Zhou family!”
Not only had she worked herself to the bone for eighteen years in the Zhou family—
There were also the ten years in her previous life when they had deceived and humiliated her.
Hatred flashed in Zhou Yu’s eyes, making her expression even colder.
For a moment, both Li Juying and Zhou Rulan felt intimidated.
“Ever since you decided to marry me into the Zhao family so I could keep serving Zhou Rulan and making her life easier there, we’ve had no relationship at all!”
“Let me make this clear today. Those nutritional supplements in that room were prepared for Brother Zhao. I won’t give either of you a single thing!”
Inside the room, Zhao Yunzheng’s entire body trembled.
He had suspected that she married him for some hidden motive.
He never imagined she had married him because of this.
Her family treated her badly, and after marrying him, she had suffered plenty of grievances in his family as well.
No wonder she had previously said she wouldn’t let them off.
Hearing how she was still protecting him even while her family was causing trouble at the door filled him with guilt and heartache.
He tried once more to wake up.
This time, he felt as though both of his hands could move.
But he still couldn’t open his eyes.
Outside, Li Juying was furious, while Zhou Rulan fanned the flames from the side, urging her mother to roll up her sleeves and force her way inside.
Zhou Yu was trying to block the doorway while keeping an eye on both of them.
She could barely manage both at once.
In desperation, she blurted out,
“I know why you’ve come here demanding my things today! It’s because the Zhao family’s remittance slip is gone and Zhao Ziming can’t afford the bride price to marry Zhou Rulan. You’re trying to salvage some dignity by taking my belongings instead!”
It was like stepping on Zhou Rulan’s tail.
“What nonsense are you talking about?! Ziming promised me that he wouldn’t short me a single cent on the bride price or the wedding banquet!”
Taking the opportunity, Zhou Yu shoved both women back down the steps and said confidently,
“Zhao Ziming is lying to you! I heard him talking with my father-in-law and mother-in-law. The Zhao family’s current savings aren’t enough to marry you. He was counting on that remittance slip to pay for your bride price and banquet.”
“Now that the remittance slip is gone, they’re panicking. They’ve already decided to stall for time while they search for it. But that remittance slip is never going to be found! Who knows whether you’ll still be able to marry into the Zhao family in grand style by the end of the month?”
The color drained from Li Juying’s and Zhou Rulan’s faces.
“Rulan, is that little wretch telling the truth?” Li Juying asked anxiously.
Zhou Rulan instinctively denied it.
“Impossible…”
“If you don’t believe me, go ask my in-laws whether they’ve found a way to recover the remittance slip!”
“And Zhao Ziming is in the county town right now. When he comes back, ask him whether he can produce the bride price. If he really can, he’ll agree immediately. If he doesn’t, he’s just stalling.”
Zhou Yu looked at Zhou Rulan mockingly.
“And here you were bragging about how Zhao Ziming spends money on you and how you’d marry into the Zhao family in style. Looks like that’s just a daydream.”
Those words infuriated Zhou Rulan.
The thing she hated most was losing face in front of Zhou Yu.
“Just wait and see! Ziming will never go back on his word. I will absolutely marry into the Zhao family in grand style!”
she declared.
Zhou Yu rolled her eyes.
“Who believes that? If it’s really true, why are you still coveting my little pile of supplies? You’re just trying to keep up appearances because Zhao Ziming won’t buy them for you.”
“You! Who wants your worthless junk anyway?!”
Provoked beyond endurance, Zhou Rulan cursed and turned to leave.
Li Juying, however, had not completely lost her reason and did not want to leave empty-handed.
But before she could speak, Zhou Yu seized the opportunity.
She ran to one side, grabbed a broom, and immediately started swinging it at Li Juying.
Caught completely off guard, Li Juying was struck several times and screamed in pain.
“Zhou Yu, you ungrateful wretch! You dare hit your own mother? Have you gone mad? You—”
Zhou Yu didn’t listen.
She kept swinging the broom regardless.
When Zhou Rulan turned back after hearing the commotion and tried to join in, Zhou Yu swung at her too.
Before long, she had driven both women out of the courtyard.
The disturbance was so loud that neighbors who were still home came outside to watch.
Deliberately raising her voice, Zhou Yu shouted,
“Mom, Sister, it’s not that I don’t want to let you freeload. You know the situation Brother Zhao and I are in. We only have a few good things for now, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. We have to budget carefully!”
“Otherwise, Brother Zhao and I will end up starving!”
“Please, considering how difficult my life is, how I have to plan every penny and take care of Brother Zhao, stop trying to rob me of my things!”
Li Juying and Zhou Rulan were so angry they nearly jumped out of their skins.
Just as they were about to argue, the neighbors stepped in.
“Everyone in the village knows Zhou Yu married Zhao family’s eldest son and is basically destined to be a widow in all but name. Her future is bleak enough already!”
“As her natal family, you don’t help her, and instead you come here trying to take advantage of her?”
“I’ve never seen anything like you people. It’s not as though your family is suffering that badly!”
“Exactly! Didn’t you just spend the last few days bragging about how much bride price you’d be receiving? Don’t tell me it was all lies and there isn’t even any bride price?”
“I think so too. Zhou Rulan is already divorced once and is remarrying her former brother-in-law. What right does she have to demand a bride price?”
Li Juying and Zhou Rulan flushed scarlet with embarrassment.
Unable to argue back, they turned and fled in disgrace.
The moment they left, Zhou Yu quickly shut the courtyard gate and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness. At least they didn’t get inside and take anything.”
Listening from inside the room, Zhao Yunzheng felt miserable.
If only he were awake, he could at least stand up for her.
Then she wouldn’t have to worry about having no income and no way to survive.
As he sat there feeling miserable, Zhao Yunzheng suddenly sensed that one of his legs could move slightly.
His eyelids also seemed to loosen.
It felt as though he might finally be able to open his eyes.