Living like a widow? My rough neighbor is coaxing me to have a baby every night.

Chapter 20: The Vicious Plan of the Zhao Family Mother and Daughter Exposed!

Zhao Xiaoyun's eyes darted around, and she remembered the humiliation she suffered in her husband's family. She could only stand up a little because she had given birth to a son.

If Li Xianglian were truly sold, she would be completely without support. Even if the Li family found out, they would probably only feel ashamed and wouldn't stand up for a woman who had married out of the family.

"Yes, Mother, you're right."

Zhao Xiaoyun grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds and casually said while cracking them open, "You wouldn't believe how heartless the stepmother is in the Li family. The other day, some people in the village were gossiping that my sister-in-law was being mistreated at our house. The stepmother started cursing by the well, saying that a married daughter is like water spilled from a cup, and even in death she's a ghost of the Zhao family. She said she shouldn't die and bring bad luck back to the Li family. If she really died outside, or 'ran away' with someone, the Li family probably wouldn't even collect her body. They'd think she'd disgraced the family."

"That's right!"

Upon hearing this, Aunt Zhao's last lingering concerns vanished, and her old face gleamed with smug satisfaction. "Since she's a lonely ghost without any family backing her up, isn't she completely at our mercy? As long as we send her away, Gangzi can bring his new wife back, and those twin grandsons can rightfully enter the family. Our Zhao family will be doubly blessed from now on!"

When talking about her "twin grandsons," Aunt Zhao couldn't stop smiling; her face was full of wrinkles, like a dried-up old chrysanthemum.

She could almost see the scene of two chubby babies surrounding her and calling her "Grandma"—that was the root of the Zhao family.

Seeing her mother's joyful expression, Zhao Xiaoyun's eyes darted around a few times. She snuggled closer to her mother, took her arm, and began to plead sweetly, "Mother, since this matter is so sure of success, it definitely has to be done. But... how do you plan to divide that money?"

Aunt Zhao gave her daughter a wary look: "What do you mean, how should we divide it? That's money for your brother to raise his children!"

"Oh dear, Mother—"

Zhao Xiaoyun drawled, looking aggrieved, "You know what kind of life I had in the Li family. That old hag was incredibly stingy. I was a great contributor to Hu'er's birth, right? But she wouldn't even buy me a decent piece of clothing."

Look at this polyester shirt I'm wearing; I've worn it for two years, and it's faded from washing. This time when I came back, I saw that the supply and marketing cooperative at the east end of the village had a new batch of fabric, and the patterns were so beautiful…

"Mother, please have some pity on your daughter! When you get the money from selling her, share a little bit with me, just a little bit, so I can buy some cloth and make myself a new dress, and go back and make that old hag from the Li family furious!"

Looking at her daughter's greedy yet pitiful appearance, Aunt Zhao was ultimately biased towards her.

Although this girl is married off, she is still someone who came from my own womb, unlike that outsider who only works silently.

"Fine, fine, you debt collector!"

Aunt Zhao poked Zhao Xiaoyun's forehead with her finger, her tone full of affection, "Once the money is in hand, you'll get your share! I'll give you fifty yuan, you can buy whatever fabric you want, and the rest is for your brother's full-month celebration."

"Fifty?!" Zhao Xiaoyun's eyes lit up, and she almost jumped off the stool.

Fifty yuan was a lot of money these days; it was enough for her to buy several outfits and secretly save some money for herself.

She hugged Aunt Zhao tightly and planted a kiss on her wrinkled old face. "Mom! You're truly my mother! No one in this world is as good to me as you! With this money, I'll definitely go back and hold my head high!"

She paused, leaned forward, and asked in a low voice, "So... when exactly will we make our move? I want to be mentally prepared so we don't give ourselves away."

Aunt Zhao glanced warily out the window and saw Li Xianglian diligently washing diapers by the well with her back to them. She then looked away, her face sinister, and said, "Tomorrow night. Old Sun has everything arranged. He said that old bachelor will be waiting at the village entrance with a sack and rope in the latter half of tomorrow night. All we have to do is drug him, turn him over, hand him over, and take the money—nobody will know."

"Tomorrow night?" Zhao Xiaoyun's eyes darted around, and her original plan to go back to her in-laws' house tonight immediately vanished.

She slapped her thigh, her tone revealing a fierce determination: "Then I'm not leaving! I'll send a message to that good-for-nothing of mine right now, telling him that my mother isn't feeling well and I need to stay home to take care of her for a couple of days."

Aunt Zhao was taken aback: "Why aren't you leaving again? Didn't you just say you had to go back to feed the pigs?"

"Feed my ass!"

Zhao Xiaoyun pouted, looking indignant. "I just had a fight with that old hag this morning. She complained that I got up late and made veiled accusations. I'm not going to put up with that kind of humiliation! I'll use this as an excuse to stay at my parents' house for a couple of days and have some peace and quiet."

As she said this, the venomous smile on her face deepened, her eyes fixed on the slender figure outside the window, as if she wanted to tear a piece of flesh from Li Xianglian.

"Besides, with such a grand show, shouldn't I stay and see it for myself? I want to witness firsthand how this hypocritical vixen is stuffed into a sack and dragged away like a dead dog! Just thinking about her suffering in that remote mountain valley makes me happier than drinking ice-cold plum juice on a hot day!"

Seeing her daughter's gritted teeth, Aunt Zhao didn't object. Instead, she nodded approvingly: "Alright, more people means more help. If that little bitch struggles, you're strong enough to help me hold her down."

The sun outside rose higher and higher, baking the ground until it turned white.

Li Xianglian squatted by the well, the large basin of diapers still unwashed, her back already aching so much she couldn't straighten up.

Soap suds mixed with muddy water spilled all over the floor, and the air was filled with a foul smell.

Zhao Xiaoyun sat on a small stool at the entrance of the main house, holding the chubby-faced boy named Hu'er in her arms. While fanning him with a palm leaf fan, she covered her nose in disgust: "Sister-in-law, can't you be a little quicker? This smell is making Hu'er want to throw up. You're such a lazy donkey, always dawdling over nothing."

Her eyes darted around, and as she watched the old hen pecking at its food, her stomach began to rumble with cravings.

Back at her husband's family home, that old hag is very strict. She can get meat sometimes, but not much. Now her mouth is practically tasteless.

"Mom!" Zhao Xiaoyun turned and shouted into the house, "It's already noon, what are we going to eat for lunch? Just porridge won't do, I'm starving, and the worst off is Hu'er, look how listless he is from hunger."

Aunt Zhao was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) sewing shoe soles when she heard her daughter call out. She replied casually, "There are still some pancakes left over from this morning on the stove. Also, take a pickled vegetable dumpling from the jar and chop it up."

"Eating pickled vegetables again?"

Zhao Xiaoyun's face fell. She threw the palm-leaf fan on the ground and pointed at the speckled hen in the yard, saying, "Mother, that hen doesn't lay eggs much anymore. Keeping it is just a waste of food. We might as well kill it! Make some chicken soup for Hu'er to help him grow. This child is at the age where he needs to grow. How can he go without food? Look how thin he's become!"

When Aunt Zhao heard that a chicken was to be killed, she instinctively felt a pang of heartache.

Although these speckled chickens lay fewer eggs, they can still be sold for a little money during holidays.

She was about to scold her daughter for being wasteful when she suddenly remembered what Sun Laowai had said last night—that "goods" could fetch several hundred yuan as soon as they were sold!

A few hundred yuan!

What does that mean?

That's enough to build three large brick houses in the village, buy Gangzi a watch and a bicycle, and still have a huge sum left over to use as a funeral fund!

Thinking of the money that was about to be in her hands, Aunt Zhao's mental abacus beads clicked rapidly.

With this windfall, what's a mere speckled chicken?

"Fine!" Aunt Zhao threw the shoe sole she was holding onto the kang (a heated brick bed), waving her hand with an air of grandeur, as if she were a landlady. "Kill! Kill him! My eldest grandson rarely comes back, he has to have a good meal! To nourish him, so that when he grows up and becomes successful, he'll remember how good his grandma was to him!"

Zhao Xiaoyun was overjoyed that her mother agreed so readily, jumping for joy and showering her son with kisses on the cheek: "Tiger, did you hear that? Grandma loves you the most! We're having chicken for lunch!"

She turned her head and shouted at Li Xianglian by the well with an imperious look, "Stop washing those tattered diapers! Hurry up and boil water to kill the chicken! Mother said we're making chicken stew for lunch. Be quick and don't make a mess of the chicken blood; we need to save it to make blood tofu! If you make a mess, I'll skin you alive!"