The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 88 The Yang Family Comes Knocking, Stealing the Watch

Chapter 88: Chapter 88 The Yang Family Comes Knocking, Stealing the Watch

It wasn’t until after the new year celebrations that Shen Mingzhu finally put Shen Chaobei’s family of three on the bus back to Shenjiagou.

In the end, she specifically took a moment to warn Du Juan, "Whether your family of three will be eating chaff and vegetables or enjoying meat and spices depends on whether you can keep a tight hold on this craft. If you hold on tight, Daya will be able to wear new clothes, go to school, and eventually come to work and live in the city. But if you let it slip through your fingers, Daya will be destined to struggle in the countryside like you, growing up only to marry a rural man and remain rooted in an impoverished ravine like Shenjiagou for generations."

Qin Jinlian had been waiting eagerly and finally saw the return of the eldest son’s family.

"How did it go? Did your sister agree to lend money? How much did she lend?"

The moment Shen Chaobei walked in the door, before he even had a drink of water, Qin Jinlian was on him with questions.

It was Du Juan, however, who spoke up, telling Qin Jinlian to gather her father-in-law Shen Jianguo and the couple Shen Xiangnan together, as she had something to say.

Qin Jinlian, desperate to know how much money the eldest son had borrowed from his daughter to buy a gold chain for the second son’s wife, hastily gathered everyone.

"Chaobei, how much did Mingzhu agree to lend? This much?"

Qin Jinlian gestured the number five with her hand while calculating, "I was thinking, if we build two mud huts with thatched roofs, we should be able to save quite a bit. Then you can let me use what you’ve saved first, and I’ll pay you back in a couple of years, just like I’m keeping it safe for you."

Du Juan unceremoniously shattered Qin Jinlian’s hopes, "Mom, Mingzhu didn’t agree to lend any money."

"What?! She didn’t agree? Why not? It was her idea to split the family assets, we went along with her to divide everything, and now she just washes her hands of it?"

Du Juan calmly repeated Shen Mingzhu’s exact words in front of the whole family.

"...Mingzhu’s view is that she has no say in us building new houses, and she will not intervene. Dad, Mom, Chaobei and I agreed to split, but as you can see, Mingzhu won’t handle this matter, and we don’t have the money to build new houses, so it looks like we can’t split the family assets for now."

"That’s unacceptable!"

Yang Xuezhen was the first to stand up in opposition.

If the family didn’t split, Mingzhu wouldn’t arrange work for her brother at her maternal home. The split must happen!

Qin Jinlian looked from the eldest son to the second, her mind a tangled mess.

She didn’t want to split the household; she wanted to live together with her two sons in a lively atmosphere.

However, if they didn’t split and didn’t get Yang Bo a job, the second son’s wife and the Yang Family would definitely disagree. When would she ever get to hold a grandson?

"This heartless girl, how could she be so cruel? She won’t even help her own big brother, we’re just asking her to lend money, not give it. Really, a married daughter is like spilled water, completely unreliable..."

After Qin Jinlian finished grumbling, Du Juan spoke up again, "Mom, Mingzhu said that Pei Yang is likely staying at home for just one more month. In April he will leave, and he won’t be back until the end of the year."

Qin Jinlian became anxious upon hearing this.

Yet it was Yang Xuezhen who was even more anxious than Qin Jinlian.

Her brother Yang Bo had just started dating someone, waiting for the job arrangement from Pei Yang’s side so he could earn some money and get married next year.

If Pei Yang left and didn’t return until the end of the year, wouldn’t her brother have to wait idly at home for another year?

That day, Yang Xuezhen returned to her maternal home and shared the news. Her family became anxious as well.

A city job could earn fifty to sixty a month; that’s six to seven hundred a year.

The Yang Family would rather their daughter suffered a loss in the household splitting than miss out on such a large sum of money.

So, after returning from her maternal home, Yang Xuezhen took the initiative to compromise, saying she was willing to give Shen Chaobei the north room where he was currently living, along with the kitchen and storeroom, designated for the couple to live in.

In the following days, the three men of the Shen Family went to the mountains and carried back more than a dozen baskets of stones. They mixed the stones with mud and built a wall over a meter high in the courtyard, officially splitting the household in two.

Shen Chaobei’s family of three moved out on their own, while Qin Jinlian and her husband stayed with the second-eldest son’s family.

Once the division was settled, Qin Jinlian, together with Yang Xuezhen and the Yang Family members, didn’t stop to catch their breath before heading into the city to seek Shen Mingzhu to cash in on her "promise."

Arrangements for Yang Bo’s job had already been made by Pei Yang’s side.

It was Pei Wenping who had lent a hand. There was a vacancy for a coal feeder in the boiler room of a cotton mill—arduous work with low pay, which the city folks were unwilling to do.

But for a country lad like Yang Bo, with no qualifications or skills, it couldn’t be more suitable.

Once Yang Bo’s employment issue was resolved, Qin Jinlian was still not willing to leave.

With her unwavering, Yang Xuezhen and Yang’s mother stayed at the Pei Family home as well.

The three of them found everything new and curious, chattering noisily, which gave Shen Mingzhu a headache.

Their hands were even worse, wanting to touch and feel everything, and they even crushed the dried flower arrangement Shen Mingzhu had set out, much to her annoyance.

Taking advantage of Shen Mingzhu’s inattention, Qin Jinlian even sneaked into Shen Mingzhu’s bedroom.

Shen Mingzhu saw it but kept her composure. When the three visitors were preparing to leave after their tour, she directly blocked the door.

"You’re welcome to visit my home, but let me make myself clear, if I find anything missing, you’ll come back tomorrow to take Yang Bo with you. From then on, count each and every one out, none of you will step foot inside my threshold again."

The three looked at each other, perplexed.

Yang Lizhen retorted angrily, "Mingzhu, what do you mean by that? Are you suggesting that we stole something from your house?"

Qin Jinlian also criticized her with a displeased face, "How can you talk like that? You’re going to offend all your relatives!"

Shen Mingzhu sneered, "I’m not targeting anyone; I’m just giving a heads-up. If by chance someone inadvertently pockets something that doesn’t belong to them, now is the time to take it out. I won’t pursue it. Otherwise, if I find something missing afterward, you’ll have to take Yang Bo back. His job was secured through my older cousin’s help, and who knows if he might follow suit and get into thievery, causing trouble for my cousin."

Upon hearing Shen Mingzhu’s words, Yang Xuezhen’s expression turned particularly unpleasant.

"Shen Mingzhu, don’t push us too far. We haven’t taken anything from your house!"

Shen Mingzhu smiled and nodded toward Yang Lizhen’s mother, "Sister-in-law, do you want to ask your mother-in-law first?"

Yang Lizhen immediately turned to look at her own mother.

The latter denied taking anything, but her shifty eyes belied her words, clearly indicating guilt.

Yang Lizhen’s anger couldn’t find an outlet, "Mom, what did you take? Take it out!"

As everyone in the room looked at her, Yang’s mother, unable to deny it any longer, slowly fished a wristwatch from her pocket.

Qin Jinlian recognized the wristwatch at a glance as her daughter, Shen Mingzhu’s, and was instantly displeased.

Indeed, she had long harbored resentment toward Yang’s mother, blaming her for instigating the second son’s wife to demand a gold chain.

Now that she had caught Yang’s mother red-handed, Qin Jinlian was not about to let it slide. "Oh dear mother-in-law, if you wanted a watch, you could have had your son Yang Bo earn money to buy you one, but it’s not right to take my Mingzhu’s. This watch was specially brought back from abroad by Pei Yang for my Mingzhu, and it’s worth quite a bit of money."

Qin Jinlian’s sarcastic remark was like a resounding slap in the face, leaving Yang Lizhen unable to save face.

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