Zhou Yu said she wouldn’t do any chores, and she meant it. For the entire afternoon, she stayed in Zhao Yunzheng’s room.
Before long, Wang Hongmei found it unbearable to watch.
The whole reason she had agreed to let Zhou Yu marry Zhao Yunzheng was so that she’d have another pair of hands around the house. Yet now Wang Hongmei was out in the yard washing clothes, feeding the chickens and geese, while her new daughter-in-law lounged comfortably indoors. What kind of arrangement was that?
So Wang Hongmei went to knock on the door and called Zhou Yu out to do some work and get some exercise.
Every time she knocked, Zhou Yu would say she was massaging Zhao Yunzheng’s legs and feet, exaggerating how important it was for his recovery.
That left Wang Hongmei with no excuse to call her out, so she could only swallow her frustration and do the work herself.
When evening came and it was time to prepare dinner, Wang Hongmei was still the one tending the stove.
Only then did Zhou Yu finally come out of the room. She deliberately stood at the entrance of the kitchen and called sweetly,
“Mom, don’t forget that Brother Zhao can only eat liquid food right now. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just make an egg soup with brown sugar, some flour paste, and tender vegetable leaves. I can feed him little by little.”
When she saw Wang Hongmei about to object, she quickly added,
“I heard this kind of food is especially good for people like Brother Zhao who haven’t woken up yet. Since you care so much about him, I’m sure you’ve been making this for him already, right?”
Wang Hongmei could only nod unwillingly.
When Zhao Changdong returned from the fields carrying his hoe, she immediately complained to him.
“Did you hear what the eldest son’s wife said? Eggs cost five cents each, and just a few ounces of brown sugar cost two whole yuan! It’s expensive! How can we waste food like that on someone who’s already useless?”
Zhao Changdong frowned when he heard that.
Still, since Zhou Yu had only just married into the family, appearances had to be maintained. He told Wang Hongmei to make it.
“It’s only for a couple of days. Later we’ll tell her that our family’s circumstances aren’t good. After all, we had to pay for both sisters’ marriages. Then she and the eldest can just eat whatever’s available as long as it fills their stomachs. She won’t have anything to complain about.”
Wang Hongmei hesitated.
“Husband, aren’t we going to tell the eldest daughter-in-law about the compensation money?”
With that compensation money, their family could afford meat every day if they wanted.
Zhao Changdong didn’t even think twice.
“Why tell her? The compensation money belongs to the Zhao family. She’s an outsider—what does it have to do with her? Besides, it’s already generous enough that we’re feeding both her and the eldest.”
Wang Hongmei immediately brightened.
When she started making the egg soup, she no longer felt reluctant.
Inside the room, Zhou Yu was pressed against the door, listening.
The kitchen was right next to Zhao Yunzheng’s room, so she could hear quite a bit if she listened carefully.
Once the couple stopped talking, Zhou Yu returned to sit by the bed and snorted.
“Did you hear that, Brother Zhao? Your parents are heartless. They think you’re a burden now that you’re disabled. If it weren’t for the compensation money from the military, they wouldn’t even bother pretending to care.”
Just then, Zhao Yunzheng happened to regain consciousness.
“What?!”
How could that be possible?
Although his parents had always favored his younger brothers growing up, they had still treated him reasonably well.
While he was serving in the military, they even sent him telegrams during holidays to ask how he was doing.
Zhao Yunzheng immediately concluded that Zhou Yu was deliberately trying to sow discord.
She really was an enemy agent!
“Your parents are even guarding against me. They don’t want me to know about the compensation money. They just want me to stay in the Zhao family and work like an ox.”
“And once I get hold of that compensation money, if they find out it’s in my hands, they’ll definitely make a huge scene. They’ll curse me—no, they’ll curse both of us for being ungrateful and stealing their money.”
Zhou Yu continued muttering.
Hearing this, Zhao Yunzheng almost laughed from anger.
This was even more absurd.
They were family. How could anyone turn against each other over money?
Meanwhile, this woman seemed to think about nothing except money!
He truly couldn’t understand how his family had ever chosen this woman to be his wife.
Feeling bored, Zhou Yu chatted freely to the man lying with his eyes closed, repeatedly cursing Zhao Changdong and Wang Hongmei for scheming to pocket the compensation money.
As Zhao Yunzheng listened, his face darkened.
He only hated that he couldn’t wake up and argue back.
Not long afterward, Wang Hongmei knocked and brought over the liquid meal Zhou Yu had requested.
Zhou Yu glanced at it.
“Mom, is that all?”
“No, there’s more in the kitchen. I saved it for Ziming—”
Before she could finish, Zhou Yu interrupted.
“Oh my goodness, Mom! How can this little bit be enough for Brother Zhao? He was a soldier—he has a big appetite. He needs at least three bowls! The more nutritious food he eats, the faster he’ll recover.”
Then she asked innocently,
“Mom, don’t tell me you didn’t know that. Surely you’ve been feeding Brother Zhao properly all this time?”
“Of course I have!”
Wang Hongmei’s heart skipped a beat.
With no choice, she went back to the kitchen and brought over everything that remained.
Seeing this, Zhao Changdong followed over suspiciously.
But Zhou Yu repeated the same reasoning, and he couldn’t really argue with it.
Watching Zhou Yu patiently feed Zhao Yunzheng at the bedside, the elderly couple eventually left.
What they didn’t know was that the moment the door closed, Zhou Yu started eating the food herself.
If she ate with Zhao Changdong and Wang Hongmei, she knew exactly what she’d get—thin flour gruel, corn buns, and pickled vegetables.
She wasn’t touching that stuff.
Lying in bed, Zhao Yunzheng had initially been deeply moved when he learned his parents had prepared brown-sugar egg porridge for him.
He knew it—his parents still cared about him. That woman had been lying.
As for whether he’d been eating such food before, he honestly didn’t know. He had only recently regained some awareness, and his body had remained weak. He hadn’t even felt hungry when he woke up today and had no idea how he’d been cared for previously.
Who would’ve thought that after only two bites, the woman beside him would snatch the bowl away and start eating it herself?
Zhao Yunzheng endured his hunger.
By the time Zhou Yu finally fed him, he was nearly drifting back into unconsciousness.
Nor did he stay awake for long afterward. Soon, he fell asleep again.
After feeding him, Zhou Yu heard Zhao Ziming return home.
Outside, Zhao Changdong and Wang Hongmei seemed displeased, questioning why Zhao Ziming had once again taken Zhou Rulan to the county town to buy things.
Zhou Yu couldn’t be bothered to listen.
Once the noise died down, she took the dishes back to the kitchen, fetched water to wash up, and went straight to bed.
Lying beside Zhao Yunzheng, she found it difficult to sleep. The man’s presence was simply too noticeable.
She tossed and turned, repeatedly reminding herself that he wasn’t even awake.
Eventually, she drifted off to sleep.
Thus passed Zhou Yu’s first day in the Zhao household.
The next day, she unapologetically slept until she woke naturally.
When Wang Hongmei came to call her out to work in the fields, Zhou Yu brushed her off with the excuse that she needed to care for Zhao Yunzheng.
At that time, Niuniu Village still operated under a collective labor system. The amount of grain distributed at the end of the year depended entirely on work points.
The Zhao family, however, had Zhao Yunzheng the soldier and Zhao Ziming the teacher, which meant they usually accumulated plenty of work points.
Whether Zhou Yu went to the fields to earn points or not hardly mattered.
Following Zhao Changdong’s instructions, Wang Hongmei endured it and refrained from pressuring Zhou Yu to work.
By the time Zhou Yu got up, Zhao Ziming had already left for the day.
Not having to look at that unpleasant man and only needing to take care of Zhao Yunzheng put her in a much better mood.
Three or four days passed like this.
Finally, the day arrived when Zhou Yu and Zhao Yunzheng could obtain their official marriage certificate.
As soon as the production brigade delivered the notification to the Zhao family, Zhou Yu eagerly rushed to the county town to register the marriage.
Wang Hongmei was equally eager. She was tired of not being able to openly order Zhou Yu around as a daughter-in-law and hurriedly accompanied her to complete the paperwork.
After all the procedures were finished, close to noon, Zhou Yu finally received the thin sheet of paper that was their marriage certificate.
Her household registration was also officially transferred to the Zhao family.
And there, right beside Zhao Yunzheng’s name, was hers.