Chapter 8: Sowing Discord

Lin Lan took everything in, but her expression remained completely unreadable.

The relationship between the original owner and her daughter was actually quite easy to explain.

The original owner had always yearned to be loved. As a daughter, she had hoped to be doted on like a little princess. Unfortunately, her biological die and niang favored boys over girls and did not cherish her. Although her popo did not favor boys over girls, she had her own youngest daughter to endlessly dote upon.

In particular, her popo's doting on her xiaogu made the original owner extremely envious. This unattainable affection caused her to unconsciously project her desires onto her own daughter, giving her all the love and pampering she herself had always wanted.

Her daughter was the embodiment of herself.

Maisui had been held in the palm of her hand since childhood, but the original owner could never provide the affluent life Maisui desired, which instead caused the girl great distress. Ever since she was old enough to understand things, Maisui had been disgusted by her niang's vulgarity and stupidity. Instead, she envied her xiaogu, who dressed cleanly and beautifully, ate well, was educated, and was deeply loved, attracting the admiration and envy of a crowd of boys and girls at school.

The original owner, lacking education and worldly experience, coupled with her fierce protectiveness, could not sense this. Lin Lan, however, as an objective bystander, saw it with crystal clarity.

If things continued down this path, the daughter would grow up completely crooked. Moreover, she would not feel an ounce of gratitude toward her mother; instead, there would be nothing but endless resentment.

This child, Maisui, had been spoiled into believing that her niang's good treatment was an absolute given. She never considered anything else. For example, regarding this trip to the county town, she didn't wonder if her niang or younger brother was sick, nor did she think of any other possibilities. She simply took it for granted that her niang had gone to look for her.

It was typical egocentrism.

Of course, this was the original owner's own doing; she reaped what she sowed.

Lin Lan, naturally, was not going to indulge her.

Firstly, she did not like children; taking care of them was purely out of a sense of duty. Secondly, since they weren't her own children, her heart didn't ache for them.

Haha.

As soon as she returned home, Lin Lan heard the voices of the old lady and Han-ersao coming from the main room.

Han-ersao sounded furious and indignant. "Where in the world is there such a person? Borrowing money from the brigade to go to the hospital on her own! Who knows if she's just using the child as a cover to get money to spend on herself? If it's really to see a doctor, why haven't we seen her care so much about the child before? What is she pretending for now?"

The family's money was entirely controlled by their popo. Every single cent passed through her hands. Even she herself hadn't managed to get an extra penny, yet that shrew actually ran to the brigade to borrow money!

Did she have no shame?!

The matter of her drinking pesticide and playing dead to avoid labor hadn't even blown over yet, and now she went to borrow money. How could she be so capable, having such thick skin!

Han-laotaitai was also angry, but the old man had already pacified her, extinguishing most of her fury. He told her that Xiaowang's illness had to be treated sooner or later, otherwise people would gossip.

Taking five yuan to get it checked out—it probably couldn't be cured anyway. Then the third branch would give up hope and have no excuse to make a fuss in the future.

Han-laotaitai figured she should be magnanimous and not bicker with a shrew. After all, Xiaowang was also her grandson.

But thinking about how that shrew actually dared to go to the brigade to borrow money, and borrowed a whole five yuan at that, she felt she had suffered a massive loss.

Every single cent of the family's money had to come from her hands. Anyone else taking even a penny was a provocation to her authority, which was truly intolerable.

Not to mention it was five yuan! This was no small sum. Who could casually take out even one yuan these days?

The old man had directly retorted, "Hasn't laosan sent you thousands of yuan? Can't it compare to this five yuan?"

Upon hearing "thousands of yuan," the old lady's heart ached terribly. She quickly told the old man to keep quiet, lest others hear it, get jealous, and try to take advantage, which would only make the third branch's wife cause an even bigger scene.

"Niang, are you going to manage her or not? If this continues, she's going to take charge of the house!" Han-ersao said indignantly. "I say, niang should just drive her back to her niangjia. Laosan is a military officer now, he can find a woman as virtuous as can be. Why must he be stuck with such a shrewish tigress who isn't even filial?"

Just then, Lin Lan entered the courtyard and smiled. "Thank you for worrying, ersao, don't tire yourself out. Rest assured, I will never be virtuous, not in this lifetime. However, laosan simply won't divorce me."

Die of anger for all I care.

With Han Qingsong's personality, he hadn't divorced the original owner for the sake of the children even when she turned the world upside down. Now that she wasn't making a fuss and was properly educating the children for him, he ought to be shedding tears of gratitude, alright?

"You!"

Too arrogant!

Han-laotaitai snapped, "You sure are capable, wandering around all day instead of going to work. Is the county town a place you can just go to whenever you please?"

Lin Lan said with a beaming smile, "Even if I don't go to work, what the children's die earns is enough to feed me, right?"

Want me to do manual labor? It's impossible for me to exert heavy physical effort in this lifetime. This sister doesn't have that kind of strength; walking fifty li nearly made me fall apart, okay?

Seeing the old lady and Han-ersao furious to the point of exploding, she herself wasn't angry in the slightest. Instead, she fanned the flames. "Oh, right, Maisui went to the county town to wash clothes for her xiaogu and rubbed her hands raw. Tsk tsk, I can't even bear to let my own precious guinv suffer such fatigue. Her xiaogu took her to the department store to look at leather shoes and said she would ask mama to buy her a pair."

Han-laotaitai was right in the middle of a fit of anger. Those five yuan were already enough to make her gnash her teeth in lingering resentment. Now she was talking about leather shoes! A pair of leather shoes cost seven or eight yuan; was that something that could be bought casually?

She pulled a long face and vented her anger on Maisui, scolding, "How old is this girl to be so vain? Why doesn't she take a piss and look at her own reflection to see if she's worthy of wearing leather shoes?"

Except for her youngest guinv, in her eyes, no one else was worthy. Especially the third branch's guinv—she was the most unworthy of the unworthy.

Hearing her say this, Lin Lan felt it played right into her hands. Her intention all along was to sow discord between Maisui and her grandmother and xiaogu, to prevent them from constantly taking the opportunity to instigate Maisui and Dawang into alienating their own niang.

She added fuel to the fire, saying, "What kind of talk is that? Why can your guinv wear leather shoes, but my guinv cannot? The money was earned by her die, after all!"

Maisui indeed took this to heart. She looked at Lin Lan with tearful eyes, realizing that it was still her biological niang who protected her and spoke up for her.

Even though mama had money, she only spent it on xiaogu and not on her, yet that money was originally earned by her own die.

Wuwu~~~

Maisui began to cry heartbrokenly. Covering her face, she ran back to the east wing to sulk. She usually slept in the east room of the main house with the old lady, despising the east wing for being narrow, dark, smelly, and dirty.

But at this moment, she had completely forgotten about that.

Han-laotaitai was so infuriated by Lin Lan that her whole body trembled, and the finger she pointed at Lin Lan was shaking.

Lin Lan smiled. "Aiya... niang... please don't be angry. It's not worth ruining your health over."

Calling a stranger "niang" was still something Lin Lan wasn't quite used to.

At her advanced age, it would be troublesome if she suffered a stroke.

Smiling faintly, she led Xiaowang back to the east wing, humming a little tune, "Today the common folks are happy, so happy~~"

Han-laotaitai and Han-ersao looked at each other in dismay. Look, just look! What kind of behavior was this!

Han-laotaitai cursed, "She might as well have jumped into the river, hung herself, or drank pesticide!" At least then she would only be harming herself. Now that she wasn't seeking death, she was like a smiling tiger possessing a body, specifically aiming to infuriate others!

Could she really be possessed by a smiling tiger? Should they secretly find a shaman to take a look?

Lin Lan returned to the east wing and had Xiaowang lie down to rest until it was time to eat. She then fished out a piece of the candy Yang Han had given her and popped it into Maisui's mouth.

A slap followed by a sweet date, after all. Especially for a little girl, when her heart was hurt, she needed to be comforted immediately. This way, as her biological niang, she would appear gentle and close in her daughter's eyes.

Eating the sweet candy, Maisui buried her head into Lin Lan's embrace and said aggrievedly, "Niang, my mama is so biased."

Lin Lan was instantly at a loss. Her whole body stiffened, cold sweat broke out, and she wished she could flee immediately.

Xiaowang was only four years old; hugging a small child was one thing. But with a girl as big as Maisui, Lin Lan truly didn't know whether to hug her or push her away, feeling entirely unsure of what to do.

Afraid of making Maisui suspicious, she had no choice but to gently pat her back. "I took Xiaowang to see a doctor, and someone gave us a few pieces of candy..."

Maisui cried until she choked with sobs. "It's still niang who treats me best!"

Mama only made her serve her xiaogu, washing clothes and fetching tea and water for her, yet they never even praised her. Her niang, on the other hand, could never bear to let her do any chores.

Wuwu!! Her own niang was still the best.

Lin Lan stroked her hair, imitating the gentle tone other mothers used to coax their daughters. "Maisui ah, don't worry. Once we split the family and have money, niang will definitely buy you leather shoes and floral skirts."

"But... from what mama meant, splitting the family means driving us out without giving us any money."

Lin Lan smiled. "That won't be up to her."

Rain must fall, a widowed mother must remarry, and a son must transfer to civilian work—these were things beyond human control.

A moment later, crying could also be heard from the west room. It was Han-ersao crying.

She cried about the family being poor and unfair. The second branch and the eldest branch were still squeezed into the west room, one family sleeping on the north kang and the other on the south kang, while the children slept in the east room with their yeye and mama.

Yet the third branch's wife got to sleep in the east wing all by herself.

She even used playing dead as an excuse to skip work all day, avoiding labor and letting the family feed her for free.

On what grounds!

She had saved up cloth coupons for a long time. Afraid they would expire, she would exchange them with others every so often. She had saved until now to finally have enough, but she didn't have the money to buy the fabric. She would probably have to wait until the New Year to properly ask her popo for a few yuan to buy cloth.

But that shrew had it good, just going to the brigade to borrow money herself.

If it was going to be like this, she would go borrow money too!

When Han-dasao returned and heard someone crying in the house, she initially thought it was the third branch's wife. Listening closely, she realized it was the second branch's wife, and immediately felt suspicious.

She assumed that because she had come back late and hadn't cooked, the old lady had asked the second branch's wife to cook, and the second branch's wife was unhappy about it.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, I'll cook."

At this moment, Lin Lan came out of the east wing and smiled. "Dasao, let me help you cook."

Han-dasao shuddered in fright and subconsciously replied, "No need, no need. You must be exhausted from taking the child to the county town, go rest."

In the past, the third branch's wife always had a dark expression, acting as if everyone owed her a bottle of pesticide. Whenever she opened her mouth, she would snap at people, and no one dared to speak to her.

Now that she was being so amiable and even volunteering to work, Han-dasao was terrified that she had ulterior motives. What if she wanted to put pesticide in the pot and poison the whole family to death?

Han-dasao shivered and hurriedly went into the house to cook, thinking to herself that she would have to keep a close eye on things in the future and absolutely not give the third branch's wife any opportunities.

They say a biting dog doesn't bark. In the past, she barked all day but didn't bite, only tormenting herself. Now that she wasn't tormenting herself, she better not start biting people.

Thinking this way, she felt they really did need to split the third branch out of the family.

Lin Lan spread her hands. It wasn't that she was being lazy and avoiding work; it was that they didn't dare to use her.

She looked around and took the initiative to sweep the courtyard. The family raised several chickens, so the yard was quite dirty. Cleaning up the courtyard meant they could eat outside in the evening, where it was cooler.

After sweeping, she noticed that the three boys still hadn't come home, so she went out to look for them.

Erwang was fine; he was glib and insincere, which could be subtly corrected in daily life. But Sanwang's obsession with water truly required strict discipline to control, right?

She had no experience in educating children either. It was nothing more than relying on the experience she had gained as a bystander and filling in the blanks with her imagination.

Then there was Dawang, who was no longer small, and truly gave her a headache.

She wanted to go to the South River to check first, terrified that Sanwang might get a leg cramp or something. After all, their diet lacked nutrition, and if he was deficient in calcium, he would definitely get cramps.

The most terrifying thing while swimming was getting a leg cramp.

When she reached the village entrance, she saw several boys playing a game of war and struggle sessions.

The leader had a buzz cut, thick eyebrows, and long eyes. Though young, he naturally possessed a heroic spirit, and his small body was as sturdy as a little calf. He was currently directing his playmates to do this and that, speaking with clear logic and reason.

It was none other than Dawang.

He liked being the leader of the kids, and his playmates all had to listen to him. If anyone questioned his position, a conflict would break out.

Sure enough, there was an older boy who refused to accept Dawang as the leader and openly provoked him.

The two boys started fighting.

The other children excitedly surrounded them, clenching their fists and cheering them on, "Fight, fight, go Dawang!"