B5SB -Chapter 333 Nitpicking

The Zhao Family

Zhao Xu glanced at the plate of cabbage stewed with glass noodles on the dining table and suddenly frowned.

In a low voice, he asked, “Is there anything else to eat?”

Auntie Zhang was carrying a bowl of millet rice out of the kitchen. Hearing him, she replied, “No.”

Driven by money, she had been focusing on drawing designs after getting home. By the time Zhao Hu returned from school, she suddenly realized it was already late.

She hurriedly stewed some cabbage and glass noodles, and that was it. There was no time to make anything else.

Zhao Xu suppressed his dissatisfaction and said lightly, “Make a few more dishes next time.”

Auntie Zhang didn’t think much about it and replied cheerfully, “Alright.”

“Pah, why is this dish so salty?”

Zhao Xu frowned, drinking water as he asked Auntie Zhang beside him, “How much salt did you put in?”

“Not much.”

Auntie Zhang looked at him doubtfully, picked up a bite, and tasted it.

“It’s not salty! Is your mouth salty or what?”

“Dad, I don’t think it’s salty either,” Zhao Junjie nodded in agreement.

Luo Bi glanced at Zhao Junjie, who was busy eating, and forced herself to swallow the overly salty cabbage.

She guessed her mother-in-law had probably added salt twice, and one time it hadn’t been stirred properly.

Keeping a straight face, she said, “Dad, I think it tastes just right.”

Zhao Hu smacked his lips after eating his steamed egg custard. It wasn’t salty at all—pretty fragrant, actually.

He looked up at Zhao Xu and said, “Grandpa, do you want braised pork head? Are you just picking faults on purpose?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Eat your egg custard,” Luo Bi said softly, patting Zhao Hu’s back.

Hearing Luo Bi say it was fine, Zhao Xu shifted his gaze to Zhao Junjie, who was eating happily.

A trace of doubt flashed in his eyes. Was there really something wrong with his taste?

He picked up some glass noodles and carefully tasted them.

They seemed coated in a layer of undissolved salt, fiercely stimulating his tongue. In the next second, the sharp saltiness filled his mouth.

“Ugh—”

Zhao Xu hurriedly stood up and rushed to the kitchen sink to rinse his mouth.

This made Auntie Zhang furious. She felt he was making trouble for no reason.

“Bang!”

She slammed her chopsticks onto the table, stood up, and walked into the kitchen.

She watched coldly as he pretended to rinse his mouth.

Seeing her come in, Zhao Xu became even angrier and scolded her,

“You stay at home all day doing nothing, and you can’t even cook properly! There are five people in the family, and you only made cabbage and noodles. Fine. But you even put in so much salt! Who are you trying to choke to death?”

Hearing this, Auntie Zhang’s anger flared.

“Stop looking for trouble when you’re full and bored! Why didn’t anyone else think it was salty?”

Zhao Xu had already been holding in resentment for months because she hadn’t washed his clothes. Now the food wasn’t good either.

He couldn’t hold back anymore and growled,

“You eat my food and spend my money. What’s wrong with asking you to cook a few more dishes? It’s not like we can’t afford it! How much could it cost?”

Auntie Zhang felt both angry and amused.

Just because she hadn’t met his expectations for one day, he lost his temper like this.

He never thought about why she made only one dish today—whether she felt unwell or had something to deal with.

He only knew how to blame her.

Thinking of this, she said coldly, “What pigs eat depends on the person feeding them. Since when do pigs get to order dishes?”

Zhao Xu’s face darkened.

“You’re mocking me as a pig now?”

“What do you think I mean? If you’re not idle, you’re just being picky. You don’t even cook—what right do you have to nitpick?”

Auntie Zhang retorted coldly.

Now that she could earn money, she stood straighter. She no longer had to endure his lousy temper.

The two glared at each other, neither willing to back down.

“Cough… cough…”

Zhao Junjie couldn’t help coughing after hearing them compared to pigs.

He turned to Auntie Zhang and shouted, “Mom, you ate the pig food too!”

Luo Bi was speechless. She raised her hand and smacked his head.

“Will it kill you to stay quiet?”

“Why did you hit me again? What if you make me stupid?” Zhao Junjie complained, holding his head.

Luo Bi rolled her eyes and didn’t bother replying.

Seeing Zhao Junjie get hit, Zhao Hu covered his mouth and snickered. Serves him right—for always hitting me.

Luo Bi hurriedly finished her millet rice, stood up, and said to Zhao Hu,

“Come on, let’s go upstairs and listen to the radio.”

She didn’t want to get involved in her in-laws’ quarrel. After all, couples fight by the bedside and make up by morning.

No matter how fierce it was, they’d be fine after sleeping.

Zhao Hu stood up, made a face at Zhao Junjie, and ran upstairs with a smug smile.

Zhao Junjie felt his hands itching. He really needed Zhao Hu’s butt to “relieve” it.

At the Lu Family Kitchen, Lu Huailin wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

Weakly, he said, “Wife, I’m so tired.”

Gu Yihan paused while stirring the pork rib soup.

“Work not going well?”

Lu Huailin shook his head, sighed, and started talking about his mother.

“Mom’s rent is 120 a year. I’m paying it.”

Gu Yihan said calmly, “That’s reasonable. You earn 260 a month. You can easily cover her rent.”

She wouldn’t argue over this. It was money spent properly, not on some other woman.

“She wants me to give her 100 yuan every month for living expenses.”

“Bang!”

Gu Yihan slammed the pot lid shut and asked casually, “You agreed?”

“No, I refused,” Lu Huailin said.

“She gets 42 yuan in pension every month. She’s not short of money. She just wants to take money from us to subsidize my older brother.”

After saying that, he lowered his eyes, trying to suppress the hint of jealousy in his heart.

Sensing his mood, Gu Yihan turned off the stove, turned around, buried her face in his chest, and hugged his waist.

Softly, she said, “You don’t need to envy how Mom treats your brother. In the mother-son relationship, she favors him. He benefits. It’s normal for you to feel jealous. But in the father-son relationship, Dad favors you. You benefit. Your brother will feel jealous too. So each parent favors one son. That’s fair. And with your brother’s current situation, you’re actually the one who’s winning.”

Only recently had Gu Yihan realized that Lu Huailin had a knot in his heart about his mother.

After her divorce, he did everything personally and tried hard to show his presence—all to gain her recognition.

He didn’t know that her favoritism was carved into her bones and would never change.

Even if his brother just farted, she’d think it smelled good.

She didn’t like Lu Huailin. No matter how good he was to her, she wouldn’t care.

Listening to his wife’s roundabout comfort, Lu Huailin felt warmth in his heart.

At least someone cared about him.

He lowered his head and kissed the top of her hair.

Then he said softly, “Dad told me to inform the guards at the gate not to let Mom in anymore.”

“He’s doing that for your own good,” Gu Yihan said.

Lu Huailin hummed softly and hugged her tightly.

“Wife, thank you.”