AYLS – Chapter 105

When Ermie arrived, the gathering at Lin Qiao’s home had already dispersed. The men had all gone off to work, leaving only Su Weizhen and Li Yan behind to help tidy up the house.

No one mentioned the matter with Zhang Tuo to avoid awkwardness. Instead, they chatted about who exactly Ermie’s relative was and why they had come.

Right in the middle of their conversation, Li Ermei bustled loudly into the yard. “I’m so angry! I’m furious!”

She walked in holding her stomach and plopped heavily onto a chair. “I don’t want to live with Old Chen anymore.”

The group stared at her in surprise. “Ermie, why are you here? Didn’t you have guests at home?”

“Guests, my foot! They’re acting more like the masters than I am.” Li Ermei fumed. “Old Chen’s parents came. Oh, they’re so good at pretending right in front of him. And they brought some cousin from some far-off relative’s family. My, my, she’s just so virtuous and diligent. And the flattery—she’s better at it than anyone.”

Hearing this, Lin Qiao sensed drama and immediately scooted closer.

Su Weizhen and Li Yan also came over. Su Weizhen asked, “Is it the same situation as what happened in our house?”

Li Ermei huffed, “Not the same at all. They’re way smarter than your in-laws. They didn’t say a single suspicious word. They only cared about Old Chen—oh, they nearly moved him to tears!”

Lin Qiao said, “Is it possible she’s genuinely concerned about him?”

Li Ermei instantly rejected the idea. If she really cared, would Old Chen be dumping piles of money back home like that? People working away from home all need money, don’t they?

Of course, her conclusion mostly came from her frustration that the money had been used by Old Chen’s family, making her feel very uneasy.

Then Lin Qiao asked Fat Cat, “In the original story, did Instructor Chen’s family ever appear?”

Fat Cat didn’t miss the chance to smear Ermie again. It now felt like it had taken on the mission of being the resident villain. “The Chen family genuinely cares about their daughter-in-law, so they came to the army to visit. But Li Ermei herself is sharp-tongued and mean, always bullying the folks back home. The whole courtyard couldn’t stand watching anymore. That also laid the groundwork for why she and her husband couldn’t stay in the army later and had to return home. So Li Ermei really isn’t a good person—only you think she is. She treats others terribly.”

Of course Lin Qiao didn’t believe that. At this point, anyone Fat Cat insulted was automatically a good person in her eyes.

It even used to bad-mouth Su Weizhen.

Now that she had the information she wanted, she ignored Fat Cat and listened carefully to Ermie’s complaints.

Ermie was so worked up that even her face had turned red from anger.

Lin Qiao went to make her some brown sugar water. “Don’t be mad, don’t be mad. What if you upset the baby?”

“No one cares anyway,” Li Ermei snapped.

Su Weizhen said, “What nonsense. You’re the child’s mother—if you don’t care, who will?”

“Of course I care. I just look down on Old Chen.” Li Ermei sulked.

Lin Qiao said, “Nothing has even happened yet, and you’ve already worked yourself up. You need to stay calm so you can deal with whatever comes.” In the original plot, she figured Ermie had been too impatient, which caused the later mess. People always sympathize with the weaker one they see, without realizing how hard it is for those who appear strong.

Only then did Li Ermei remember that she wasn’t here to cry—she was here to find a solution.

Just like last time at Su Weizhen’s house—she had to fix this. “Su Weizhen, I helped you a lot last time. You can’t ignore me now. Give me some ideas.”

Su Weizhen rolled her eyes. “You’re putting me on the spot. Our situations are fundamentally different. Yours is much harder.”

Li Ermei was unconvinced. “What’s different? Aren’t they all relatives from back home?”

Su Weizhen said, “At least my Old Xu stands on my side. What about your Old Chen?”

“…” That hit her right in the heart.

She looked pitifully at Lin Qiao. “You always act like you’re Zhuge Liang.”

Lin Qiao: “…I said three cobblers together equal a Zhuge Liang. I can’t do it alone.”

Li Ermei: “…”

She then turned to Li Yan. “You’re at least an educated person. You must have some ideas.”

Li Yan had also pieced together what was happening—clearly a conflict with the in-laws. She looked troubled. “I don’t know either. My in-laws treat me pretty well and have always helped us. Isn’t yours the same?”

“…”

Another knife to the heart!

Li Ermei exploded. “Of course not! Not only do they not help, they go out of their way to cause trouble! Why do you think I only got pregnant after so many years of marriage? Because life was too hard and we barely had enough to eat. Have you ever seen a man send money home and keep only ten yuan for himself? All the money and the good ration tickets—everything—gets mailed back!?”

She cried out bitterly, “In this world, every set of in-laws wants to suck their daughter-in-law dry!”

Lin Qiao raised her hand weakly. “You can’t lump everyone together. My family isn’t like that.” Her dad was a good man, and Aunt Zhang at most didn’t like her going home to freeload. But once she went back, she still got fed well.

Li Ermei pouted. “…Are you all doing this on purpose to make me mad? Why am I the only unlucky one?”

Su Weizhen waved her hand. “Enough, enough, this isn’t a misery contest. I haven’t even said anything yet. The key is to solve your problem. You can’t be impulsive. You need to stay steady.”

Lin Qiao nodded. “Exactly. And isn’t Instructor Chen’s salary all managed by you now? What are you afraid of? It’s not like they can snatch it out of your hands.”

That really woke her up. Li Ermei suddenly saw the light—yes, that was right.

Things were different now. Old Chen’s money was completely under her control.

No matter how much noise the others made, they couldn’t afford to upset her.

Otherwise, the baby wouldn’t take Old Chen’s surname.

She let out a long breath. “It’s freezing anyway, so they probably won’t stay long. I’ll just endure it for now. If Old Chen dares act stupid, I won’t be polite.”

Li Ermei stayed at Lin Qiao’s house for a while before heading back.

She didn’t feel safe leaving them alone—afraid they’d cause trouble. She had to keep an eye on things.

Lin Qiao walked her to the door, advising her not to get too upset since it wasn’t worth it. If anything happened, she should come over or go next door to find Su Weizhen.

Li Ermei now had confidence. With so many people on her side here, she wasn’t afraid of being bullied. She marched off energetically.

Lin Qiao ran back inside. “Will this get out of hand?” She still feared Ermie would repeat the original storyline.

Su Weizhen said, “As long as she stays steady, it’ll be fine. From what she described, her in-laws are smarter than Old Xu’s family. They won’t throw tantrums or tear things apart publicly. People like that won’t cause trouble if you just ignore them.”

…

The Chen family really didn’t make a fuss outside. On the very first day, they made friends with the neighbors. In the eyes of everyone in the compound, they were hardworking, honest folks from the countryside with not a hint of bad intentions.

They truly didn’t have bad intentions toward outsiders—their malice was reserved solely for their daughter-in-law.

They had chosen this daughter-in-law because she came from a family with many daughters and was good at housework inside and out. She looked decent enough—not unworthy of their son, who was a cadre.

But after she arrived, she behaved for only a few days before causing a ruckus at home. It made the household unbearable.

She even hogged all the good food, saying those things were mailed home by their son, so as the daughter-in-law she should eat them. Never mind that before she married in, the family always saved the best for the children. What was she, a grown adult, expecting? A newcomer who’d only been in the door a few days wanting to act like the family’s master—while the parents were still alive.

Eventually, things got so bad that their third son directly took Li Ermei away. Only then did the Chen household regain peace.

Mother Chen was not worried about her son being swayed by pillow talk. She knew the son she had raised—he was someone who remembered kindness.

He could study only because his family was willing to let him continue, right?

The whole family had shown him great kindness, so of course he had to repay them.

And later events proved she wasn’t wrong. After Li Ermei joined the army as a military spouse, her son still kept sending things home just like before. It didn’t change for years.

Originally, if things kept going like that, everyone would’ve lived peacefully.

But who knew things would change this year? First came a letter saying things were expensive over here and he needed to keep more money for himself.

Mother Chen felt a sense of crisis, but she didn’t rush over right away. One, she couldn’t leave; two, she thought it wasn’t that much of a difference. She didn’t want to create friction with her son over a bit of money.

But Li Ermei pushed her luck. Just because she was pregnant, she grabbed all her son’s money into her own hands. The money and things sent home were less than even half of what they used to be.

How could that be okay? There was a whole big family waiting for that money to celebrate the New Year.

They were at least a cadre family; shouldn’t the children get a set of new clothes for the New Year?

Shouldn’t there be some hearty dishes?

And after the New Year, the family still had to live, right? So many children had to go to school. They couldn’t possibly expect their third son—a cadre—to not help his nephews at all.

So Mother Chen dragged her husband along and came.

Once they arrived, they saw that this daughter-in-law Li Ermei was fair-skinned, with rosy lips and white teeth, and her face was plump and round. Such a black-hearted woman—just how much good food had she eaten to grow like that?

She figured that even after living in the Li family for twenty years, she had never eaten so many good things.

Even though she was furious at Li Ermei, after walking around the compound, Mother Chen didn’t dare say anything bad about her. Who knew whether they would bump into someone who knew Li Ermei?

But they did manage to find out a few things.

For example, Li Ermei wasn’t the same as before—she had a job now and was getting allowances.

She worked in the chicken farm, raising chickens.

That was a good job. Mother Chen was all smiles when she heard it, but on the way home, her face immediately fell.

She complained to her husband, “See? She’s earning even more now, yet she’s sending back even less. Back then, as long as we had even one bite of food, we gave it all to the children. We never hid anything for ourselves.”

Father Chen also felt disappointed in his son. A grown man, letting a woman control him like that.

Beside them, Sun Qiao tried to console them. “Third Sister-in-law is capable. Uncle, Aunt, don’t be upset.”

“Capable, my foot. Without our third son, would she have this opportunity? Not to mention the whole production team—just you alone are much better than her. You manage both the household and the fields, and you’ve studied. You even have a better temperament.”

“Aunt, don’t say that. Sister-in-law and I aren’t the same. After all, I escaped a famine.”

Mother Chen said, “She’s just lucky, but she doesn’t appreciate it.”

“The entire Chen brigade says our family is the best. Even the brigade leader gives our family some face. With such a good in-laws’ family, she still makes trouble.”

The more she talked, the more displeased she became.

Her heart felt like it was being stoked with fire.

Angry, when she returned home and saw Li Ermei, she didn’t give her a good look.

But Li Ermei didn’t care at all. She firmly held onto her strategy of “if the enemy doesn’t move, I don’t move,” eating her food and drinking her brown sugar water.

If anything happened, she would just call Su Weizhen from next door.