Mother Zhao shifted uneasily and tried to persuade her daughter again. She genuinely felt that the meal her daughter in law had cooked tasted good, even better than her own. She could not understand why her daughter kept finding faults.
“Xiao Yun, shall we switch bowls?” Lin Siya said gently, reaching out to exchange her rice with Zhao Meiyun’s.
Zhao Meiyun looked disgusted and slapped Lin Siya’s hand away. Lin Siya’s bowl tipped over, rice and food spilling onto the ground. It was white rice.
“Xiao Yun, this is white rice. I cooked a little specially because Father and Mother have been tired these past few days.”
Father Zhao and Mother Zhao felt heartache at the sight, especially Father Zhao. He felt that his daughter was deliberately stirring trouble.
He raised his hand and slapped her.
Zhao Meiyun fell to the ground at once.
“Xiao Yun, are you alright?” Lin Siya asked anxiously, stepping forward. Inside, however, she felt a surge of satisfaction. She had not expected that pretending to be weak could cut so deeply without spilling blood. She decided she would continue using this approach in the future.
She was surprised by how pleased she felt.
Zhao Meiyun, having been struck because of Lin Siya, now saw Lin Siya coming closer to comfort her. That only fueled her resentment. “Do not touch me. Do not touch me.”
She scrambled to her feet and ran out.
“Father, I will go take a look,” Lin Siya said, then chased after her.
Mother Zhao felt distressed and could not help complaining after seeing her husband hit their daughter. “Why are you taking your anger out on the child?”
“Wang Cuihua, how old is your daughter now? Look at how well you have raised her. I used to think Xiao Ya was at fault, but now I see it clearly. It was all Xiao Yun’s doing. She complained that Xiao Ya did not cook, then complained that the food was not cooked properly. If she does not want to eat, then she should not eat.”
Mother Zhao also felt that Xiao Yun was deliberately making trouble, but when choosing between her daughter and her daughter in law, she naturally chose the former.
“But Xiao Yun is still young.”
“Young? She is a few months older than Xiao Ya. She cannot even bring herself to call her sister in law, always addressing her by name. Once the busy farming season is over, find a matchmaker and marry her off. I want to hold a grandson. I want to live a few more years,” Father Zhao said sternly.
This time, Mother Zhao did not argue back.
She had to admit that her daughter really was older than Xiao Ya.
Looking at the meal, looking at how clean the house was, she had no grounds to refute him.
Zhao Meiyun ran ahead while Lin Siya followed behind slowly, calling out to her.
“Xiao Yun, Xiao Yun.”
During the busy farming season, people usually tended to their private plots after work, so there were still villagers on the road.
Naturally, this scene was noticed.
They saw Zhao Youde’s daughter running ahead, with his daughter in law chasing behind.
“Shitou’s wife, what is wrong with Xiao Yun?” someone asked Lin Siya.
Lin Siya knew that reputation mattered at this time. She could deal with Zhao Meiyun privately, but if Zhao Meiyun’s name was truly damaged, Father and Mother Zhao would inevitably grow suspicious of her.
“It is nothing. Xiao Yun is just taking a walk after eating. A walk after meals helps one live to ninety nine,” Lin Siya said with a faint smile.
Lin Siya had once been the village beauty of Linjia Village and a high school graduate. Young men from neighboring villages had all been preparing to propose, only for Zhao Tianlei to get there first.
Back then, Lin Siya’s grandfather had saved Zhao Youde’s life. At the time, Lin Siya’s mother, Zhang Xiuhong, had been pregnant with Lin Jianshe, and the two families had agreed on a childhood betrothal. When Zhang Xiuhong gave birth to a son, the Zhao family had been disappointed, but with Lin Siya’s later birth, their enthusiasm for the engagement returned.
Hearing Lin Siya’s explanation, the gossip minded villagers were momentarily stunned and did not know how to respond.
A walk after meals to live to ninety nine?
Was that an old saying?
Why had they never heard of it?
Just like that, Lin Siya brushed them off.
“Xiao Yun, even if you are angry, you should not starve yourself because of me,” Lin Siya said in a gentle, considerate tone.
Zhao Meiyun stopped and glared at her. “You are being a busybody. Mind your own business.”
Lin Siya’s eyes dimmed, and she turned away.
When she returned home, Mother Zhao was already cleaning up the kitchen.
“Mother, let me do it. You have all worked hard today,” Lin Siya said.
Mother Zhao felt conflicted. Seeing Lin Siya being so virtuous, then thinking of her daughter constantly causing trouble, stirred mixed emotions.
“It is fine.”
A trace of mockery flashed through Lin Siya’s eyes. As expected, since she was not her biological child, no one even asked whether she wanted to eat more after her bowl had been knocked over.
Fortunately, she had never intended to give her heart completely.
Those who treated her well, she would repay tenfold.
Lin Siya helped clean up and said softly, “Mother, Tianlei told me to take good care of you and Father.”
Mother Zhao paused. Her son had been away in the army for years, and his feelings toward them had grown distant. Hearing her daughter in law say this warmed her heart. As a result, even when Zhao Meiyun did not return, Mother Zhao did not go looking for her.
Lin Siya understood clearly. The weak point of Father and Mother Zhao was their son, Zhao Tianlei.
In this era, people valued sons over daughters. A family without a son would be considered ill fated. Father and Mother Zhao cared most about their son. Because he was rarely home, they had poured their affection into their daughter, which had fostered Zhao Meiyun’s selfish temperament.
Zhao Meiyun wandered around outside and, without realizing it, found herself at the educated youth compound.
“Zhao Meiyun, why are you here?” she heard someone call out.
She turned and saw a familiar face and the building behind it. Only then did she realize she was outside the educated youth compound.
“Jiang Meina, I came by accidentally,” Zhao Meiyun replied.
She disliked Lin Siya, but she also disliked Jiang Meina from the educated youth compound. Part of it was appearance, and part of it was because Jiang Meina seemed rather close to Zhang Jianghua, which left Zhao Meiyun with a bad impression.
“Do you want to come in and sit for a while?” Jiang Meina asked warmly.
Zhao Meiyun had once deliberately tried to get close to Jiang Meina, hoping to be closer to Zhang Jianghua, but Jiang Meina had been cold toward her. This sudden warmth felt unfamiliar.
“No,” Zhao Meiyun said, then turned and left.
In her current haggard and miserable state, she did not want to leave a bad impression on Zhang Jianghua.
In front of the person they liked, every woman wanted to present her best self.
Jiang Meina watched Zhao Meiyun leave with a cold expression.
Seeing Lin Siya earlier that day, she had looked even more beautiful.
Jiang Meina envied her, and at the same time, she was jealous.
Jealous of her happy family and parents who cherished her.
She had heard that when Lin Siya was still a daughter in the Lin household, she never had to work in the fields and had even gone on to high school. Jiang Meina herself had also attended high school, but her parents, favoring their son, had been willing to send her, their daughter, down to the countryside instead.