Second Sister-in-law Su, Qian Yuemei, sat on the kang bed at her maiden home, leisurely cracking sunflower seeds.
As she cracked seeds, she complained with a belly full of grievances.
“At such an old age, giving birth to another little brat—as if it isn’t embarrassing enough! Instead, they’re making a massive fuss over it, with the whole family hovering around…”
When she gave birth back then, how come no one served and spoiled her like this?
How come no one borrowed white flour for her, or red sugar and eggs?
Was her mother-in-law the only precious one around here?
Of course, Qian Yuemei hadn’t come to her parents’ house to borrow red sugar.
She wasn’t stupid enough to borrow things from her own family to subsidize her husband’s household.
Besides, even if she borrowed it, they wouldn’t give her a drop to drink anyway.
Qian Yuemei’s mother, Lady Wang, was mending clothes while lifting her eyelids to give her daughter a glance.
“Alright, say a little less! Your mother-in-law’s whole family is nearly crazy with joy. If your husband’s family finds out about what you said, who knows how much grief you’ll catch? Your mother-in-law is no soft pushover.”
“I’m not stupid, of course I wouldn’t say it in front of the Su family,” Qian Yuemei said with an indifferent face.
Immediately, she lowered her head and stroked her slightly bulging belly.
“Mother, do you think this baby of mine will definitely be a girl?” Qian Yuemei asked with a face full of hope.
If she gave birth to a daughter, the whole family would have to turn around her as well!
Lady Wang stopped her handiwork and looked at her daughter’s belly.
After some thought, she said, “Back when I was pregnant with you girls, I was just like you, wanting to eat spicy food all day long. Doesn’t the saying go ‘sour for boys, spicy for girls’? Yours should be a girl…”
Qian Yuemei opened her mouth.
Truth be told, she didn’t want to eat spicy food at all—she craved sour food.
But wouldn’t craving sour food mean giving birth to another son?
After speaking, Lady Wang suddenly let out a sigh and added, “If only you could swap with your eldest sister! She gave birth to three daughters in a row and gets cursed at implicitly by her mother-in-law all day…”
“Mother, don’t talk about my eldest sister. Didn’t you fail to produce a son as well, getting scolded by my grandmother for half your life? I think my eldest sister just took after you.”
Qian Yuemei blurted out, exposing her own mother’s soft spot without hesitation.
Lady Wang’s expression froze, her heart stabbed right in the tender spot by her daughter’s words.
Failing to bear a son had been the pain of her entire life.
Lady Wang glared at her vexing daughter.
“Why didn’t you take after your mother then? Go ahead and bear a few daughters for me to see!”
“Wasn’t I afraid of taking after you, which is why I insisted on marrying into the Su family no matter what?”
A smug look appeared on Qian Yuemei’s face.
“If you marry into another family and give birth to a daughter, you get scolded by your mother-in-law; if you marry into the Su family and give birth to a daughter, you get pampered by the whole family.”
After saying this, Qian Yuemei proudly raised her chin at her mother.
Lady Wang’s expression froze once again.
In her heart, however, she couldn’t help but agree with her daughter’s words.
“Then stop complaining all day long about the Su family being poor!”
Lady Wang retorted irritably.
Qian Yuemei’s smug expression immediately dimmed a bit.
She was satisfied with everything about the Su family—except that they were way too poor!
Still, in front of her mother, she couldn’t admit she had been wrong.
So, Qian Yuemei immediately raised her voice, putting on a self-righteous demeanor.
“If I hadn’t married into the Su family, would our family be living so comfortably in the village?”
“Look around the whole village now—who still dares to mock our family for not having a son?”
“Who still dares to bully our family?”
“And those cousins of mine—who among them still dares to scheme after our family’s house all day?!”
Qian Yuemei blurted all of this out in one breath, acting entirely as if she were the greatest hero of the Qian family.
Truth be told, because the Qian family had no sons, people used to ridicule them behind their backs as “heirless.”
They suffered mistreatment not only in the village, but also within their own clan.
Especially a few close relatives in the clan, who constantly plotted to take over the Qian family’s house and two acres of land.
Ever since Qian Yuemei married Su Erhu, he and Su Sanhu—armed with axes—visited every single household one by one. After that, no one ever dared to scheme against them or “prey on the heirless” again.
Precisely because of this, Qian Yuemei felt she had accomplished a major feat for her maiden family, giving her a lot of say in her parents’ household.
Hearing her daughter’s words, Lady Wang suddenly felt a pang of regret.
“If only we had brought in a live-in son-in-law for you back then.”
“I originally thought that no matter how poor the Su family was, they would never let their sons go out and become live-in sons-in-law for someone else.”
“Who would have thought that the fourth Su son would actually…”
Reaching this point, Lady Wang let out a rueful sigh.
“Mother, what on earth are you thinking? Can our family’s life even compare to Manager Li’s family in town?” Qian Yuemei said. “They have money and shops, so they could afford to take in the fourth Su son as a live-in son-in-law. What does our family have?”
Qian Yuemei directly stabbed her mother in the heart once more.
Lady Wang patted her chest to smooth her breathing and calm herself down.
Qian Yuemei couldn’t care less that her mother was angry enough to smack her. After speaking, she grabbed another handful of sunflower seeds and ate as she spoke: “Besides, my father-in-law still refuses to acknowledge the fourth brother to this day said he’ll pretend he never had this son for the rest of his life…”
Lady Wang was surprised.
“Your father-in-law still hasn’t relented? Haven’t they even had a child now? If he won’t acknowledge his son, surely he won’t refuse to acknowledge his grandson?”
“Mother, are you silly?” Qian Yuemei looked at her mother as if looking at a fool. “Is that a grandson of the Old Su family? That belongs to Manager Li’s family—the child’s surname is Li!”
Lady Wang: “…”
How did she give birth to such a vexing daughter?
Lady Wang smoothed her chest once more to catch her breath, suddenly feeling fortunate that she had married her daughter into the Su family.
Though the Su family was a bit poor, everyone in the family was honest, upright, and possessed good moral character—there were no crooked or wicked minds, nor any troublemakers.
Well, except that her daughter certainly had the potential to become one.
Besides, the Su family never mistreated or abused their daughters-in-law.
Otherwise, with a temper like her daughter’s, how could she ever get along well under a mother-in-law’s thumb?
“However, Fourth Brother-in-law did secretly come back a few times,” Qian Yuemei suddenly put on a secretive expression and lowered her voice: “I even saw him giving silver to my mother-in-law. But my mother-in-law is a fool too; she refused to take it no matter what…”
As Qian Yuemei reached the end, she curled her lip, looking thoroughly dissatisfied.
Yet, this didn’t stop her from cracking sunflower seeds, with seed shells still flying everywhere.
Looking at her daughter like this, Lady Wang felt a headache coming on.
“Your mother-in-law has backbone—she won’t sell her son,” Lady Wang said.
“Can backbone put food on the table? They can barely keep the pot boiling, so why pretend to be high and mighty? If she’s got so much backbone, why send me out to borrow brown sugar?” Qian Yuemei retorted plausibly with a face full of disdain.
Lady Wang: “…”
There was simply no continuing this conversation.
“Alright, now that your mother-in-law has given birth to a daughter, the Su family’s days are going to get better…”
Lady Wang waved her hand, wanting to dispatch her daughter quickly so she wouldn’t stay and frustrate her further.
“Mother, you actually believe that? Just relying on that little girl…”
“Second Sister! Something huge happened!”
Before Qian Yuemei could finish her sentence, the youngest daughter of the Qian family, Qian Sicao, came running in, shouting at the top of her lungs.
Author’s Note: My dear cuties, for the sake of uniform address, Eldest Sister-in-law Zhao Chunhua and Second Sister-in-law Qian Yuemei in the story will also be called by their names from now on.
Actually, Ye Zi always felt that using terms like Eldest Brother/Sister-in-law, Second Brother/Sister-in-law, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth was simpler and clearer. But since some cuties suggested it, Ye Zi will follow the readers’ wishes! Love you all, mwah~