But toward others, she certainly wouldn’t be so kind-hearted.
Wang Shi’s gaze was sympathetic. “It really tugs at the heartstrings to see you. A girl in the flower of her youth like you, stuck watching over a simpleton husband—it must be a hardship. I just returned from visiting my family today and heard someone say that Squire Zhao’s household in town is hiring capable maidservants. Squire Zhao is one of the wealthiest men in our Ten Mile Town. Anyone who serves in his household is in for boundless riches and honor…”
Lin Shiqi…
Sure enough, there was no such thing as a free lunch.
She was trying to trick her into going to Squire Zhao’s house to work as a maidservant?
What good would that do her?
Was the male lead, Zhou Qinan, already displeased with their marriage?
Or was there something else going on?
She definitely wasn’t going. Right now, she had only one thought: to work together with that idiot Zhou Lang to find a way out of this poor nest where they never knew where their next meal was coming from.
Lin Shiqi smiled and said, “Thank you for your concern, Sister-in-Law.”
Wang Shi frowned.
Afraid that Lin Shiqi hadn’t understood, she patiently explained, “Fourth Sister-in-Law, I’m only thinking of you because I feel sorry for you. You’re stuck with a simpleton husband, eating poorly and dressing poorly in the Zhou family. Why not go beg Father and Mother to let you volunteer as a maidservant at the Zhao household and enjoy the good life there? If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t bother with such meddling. You’re doing maidservant work in the Zhou family anyway—if you went to the Zhao household, not only would you eat well and drink well, but you’d also get monthly wages in silver…”
Lin Shiqi blinked. “I appreciate your concern, Sister-in-Law, but my husband can’t do without me.”
…
Sitting inside the room, Zhou Lang sneezed for no apparent reason.
…
Wang Shi’s smile faded.
She was inwardly annoyed. She hadn’t expected this girl to be so devoted to that fool!
“Then pretend I said nothing, Fourth Sister-in-Law. You go on with your work.”
Her gaze flickered—she saw that Lin Shiqi had already tucked the rice ball into her bosom. It would be awkward to ask for it back, which annoyed her even more.
An ungrateful thing.
She gritted her teeth and headed to the main house.
Since she couldn’t get through to this girl, she would have to risk Granny Zhou’s scolding and go talk to her instead.
…
Neither of them knew that outside the kitchen window, a young woman’s figure stood.
She pricked up her ears and listened to the entire conversation.
A look of longing appeared on her face.
…
Lin Shiqi had no idea what Wang Shi was really up to.
Either way, it gave her a bad feeling.
She didn’t even bother washing the dishes. She carefully gathered several pieces of straw rope and hurried back to her room with them.
But on the way, she happened to pass by the side of the main house.
Voices came through the window.
It was the voice of the eldest sister-in-law, Wang Shi.
“Mother, don’t you think Fourth Sister-in-Law hasn’t been working as diligently these past two days? She’s been slacking off and being lazy. Could it be that she’s getting older and having her own ideas now, looking down on our Fourth Brother?”
Then came Granny Zhou’s scolding voice: “That little wretch—if she dares to slack off, I’ll beat her to death with a big broom! And she dares to look down on my Fourth Boy? She should think about herself—all these years she’s eaten our food and drunk our water. Without Fourth Boy, where would she even be…”
Wang Shi said in a soft voice, “Mother, don’t be angry. A girl grows up and her thoughts grow too. By the way, I heard that Squire Zhao’s household in town is hiring maidservants. As long as they’re presentable, they pay quite well—one tael of silver buys a temporary indenture, five taels buys a permanent one. Why not send Fourth Sister-in-Law over to try her luck? She has a pretty face…”
Granny Zhou’s voice was wary. “That’s not good, is it? If we sell her, who’s going to take care of our Fourth Boy?”
Wang Shi said, “Let Second Sister-in-Law take care of him. She only gave birth to two girls—she’s the most idle person in the Zhou family…”
Granny Zhou replied, “That won’t do. She’s his sister-in-law. There’s no propriety in her attending to her brother-in-law day and night. If word gets out, people will say our family has no morals and is shameless. Even if I agreed, your father wouldn’t. That won’t work.”
However, Wang Shi seemed to have prepared her arguments in advance.
“Then sell her with a permanent indenture—that’ll fetch five taels of silver. Our family can take two taels out to find a younger girl for Fourth Brother to take as a wife, and the remaining three taels can just go toward our Dalang’s school fees. Our Dalang has his great-grandfather’s scholarly bearing—passing the county exam in the future will be more than within his reach. What do you think, Mother?”
…
Lin Shiqi listened up to this point before she understood what Wang Shi was really scheming.
She wanted to sell her off to fund her son Zhou Qinan’s education.
Granny Zhou had never treated her well to begin with—she’d never given her a kind look.
From Lin Shiqi’s observations over the past two days, among the four daughters-in-law in the Zhou family, the most favored was the third daughter-in-law, Liu Shi.
Everything was praised about Liu Shi.
As for Wang Shi, Granny Zhou actually treated her fairly well. Though not as well as Liu Shi, she still respected her in most matters—not at all like the constant oppression and attacks described in the book.
The daughters-in-law with the least status in the Zhou family were actually the second daughter-in-law, Mrs. Ruan, and herself, the fourth daughter-in-law and child bride.
Mrs. Ruan was looked down upon because she hadn’t borne a son, only two daughters, and was often scolded by Granny Zhou for cutting off the second branch’s line.
As a child bride, she hadn’t even produced a single hair—Zhou Lao Si was an idiot and couldn’t father children anyway, so it wasn’t the original owner’s fault.
But Granny Zhou still scolded her no matter what.
The eldest branch’s Wang Shi had given birth to three sons and often called herself the great contributor to the Zhou family. She also claimed that childbirth had damaged her body, so she never did heavy or tiring work.
Even when it was the eldest and second branches’ turn to cook and do chores, she would plead illness or say she needed to look after her sons, leaving all the work to the second branch’s daughter-in-law, Mrs. Ruan.
…
Lin Shiqi was terrified that Granny Zhou, egged on by Wang Shi, might actually sell her off.
She wanted to prick up her ears and listen a bit more, but then she saw someone coming in from outside.
Lin Shiqi had no choice but to head back to her room.
“Zhou Lang, quick, let’s try putting the lock together one more time. Let’s give it another shot—if we don’t try now, it might be too late.”
She told Zhou Lang everything that had just happened.
Zhou Lang remained completely unruffled. “They want to sell you, not me. That Tongxin Lock was given to you by my grandfather. Just return it to me and we’re done.”
Listen to that—was that even human speech?
“Pfft, what Grandpa gave me is mine. Unless Grandpa himself asks for it back, you, Zhou Lang, can go kick rocks.” Lin Shiqi wished she could slap him twice.
At the same time, an idea popped into her head.
If the Zhou family really did try to sell her off, then she’d just steal the half of the Tongxin Lock that Zhou Lang had on him.
Better the other guy dies than me.
Let Zhou Lang rot in this book all by himself.
Let him get done in by the male lead Zhou Qinan hiring some fake miracle doctor!
As the two of them bickered, they both took out their halves of the Tongxin Lock and started trying to piece them together.
Lin Shiqi began tying them up with straw rope.
She was so focused on tying that she didn’t notice the little rice ball Wang Shi had given her slipping out of her sleeve.
Zhou Lang quietly swiped it.
By the time she realized what had happened, this shameless thief had already wolfed down the rice ball in a few bites.
“You, a big-shot CEO, stealing someone’s rice ball to eat—utterly shameless.”