The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 95 Qin Jinlian’s Karma

Chapter 95: Chapter 95 Qin Jinlian’s Karma

Du Juan’s words were logical and well-founded. Even Qin Jinlian, with her thick skin, couldn’t resort to outright snatching and could only return to the eastern room with a darkened face.

Shen Jianguo was sleeping soundly when suddenly an object struck him on the head, startling him so much that he flipped over and sat up.

Once he saw that it was a bamboo dustpan that hit him, Shen Jianguo flew into a rage at Qin Jinlian, who was standing at the head of the bed, "What are you going crazy about so early in the morning?"

"Your wonderful son..."

Qin Jinlian incessantly recounted to Shen Jianguo how she was refused the egg cakes when she went out to ask for them, and after finishing, she cursed Shen Chaobei and his wife for being heartless, calling them ingrates and even saying that Du Juan deserved not to have any sons.

Shen Jianguo couldn’t listen anymore, and after arguing back and forth a few times and realizing he couldn’t win, he put on his clothes and went out.

Qin Jinlian sat alone at the head of the bed, her belly full of grievance and sadness.

Her two sons, with Shen Chaobei always being honest and obedient and the one who respected her and listened to her the most, had now changed, and he wasn’t even willing to give a few egg cakes to his own mother.

"My life is so hard, wuu wuu wuu..."

Qin Jinlian was so preoccupied with her sadness and tears that she didn’t reflect on how she usually treated Shen Chaobei and his wife.

Qin Jinlian’s crying at home wasn’t enough; she also ran to the village to cry, telling everyone she met about her grievances, accusing her eldest son and his wife of being unfilial, trying to win the villagers’ sympathy, and wanting them all to stand by her side and denounce the couple.

Unless the couple wasn’t afraid of being drowned in the villagers’ spit, they would dare not give her anything she asked for in the future.

Qin Jinlian had calculated well, but the villagers had long been fed up with her favoritism. They not only refused to stand by her side but even helped Shen Chaobei and his wife by scolding her—

"Jinlian, you keep up your act. Having a mother like you, the Chaobei couple sure hit bad luck. In the past years, they did more than half of the farm work together. How did you treat them? When dividing the household, you didn’t give them a penny. Has Chaobei ever spoken ill of you? No, right? And yet you’re still not content!"

"The Chaobei couple tried to earn some extra cash by setting up a small stand, and the entire village turned them away. You, their mother, had the money to buy a gold necklace for your younger daughter-in-law but never thought of lending a hand to your eldest. Are you not being heartless? All you think about is good fortune."

"Didn’t you consider your younger daughter-in-law a jewel, hoping she would support you in your old age? If you want egg cakes, let her take out the money and buy them for you!"

"Exactly, you spent so much money buying her a gold necklace. Surely she wouldn’t deny you egg cakes that cost only one yuan and fifty cents per jin, right?"

The villagers’ words, one after another, were like resounding slaps on Qin Jinlian’s face, leaving her red-faced, speechless, and humiliated.

She returned home dejectedly, locked herself in her room, and sulkily made a commotion on purpose.

She thought that her younger daughter-in-law would come over to check on her upon hearing the noise, comfort her, and after knowing the grievances she suffered, she would spend money on delicious food to shut the villagers’ mouths.

However, Yang Lizhen turned out to be blind and deaf, utterly quiet and unresponsive.

Qin Jinlian had wasted her energy all morning and, seeing that it was nearing noon, still had to cook for the entire family.

The moment she stepped off the bed, Qin Jinlian couldn’t help but murmur to herself, wishing they hadn’t divided the household.

Before the division, the household meals were always prepared by the eldest daughter-in-law. Whether it was the busy farming season or a time of leisure, at mealtime the table would surely have hot dishes waiting; she would just sit down to eat, wipe her mouth after finishing, and Chaobei and his wife would clean up. She didn’t have to worry about anything.

Now that they’d divided the household, she had to do all the work herself.

After painstakingly preparing lunch with a stomach full of discontent and resentment, the door to the western room finally opened.

Seeing Yang Lizhen sit down directly at the dining table, Qin Jinlian was upset, "What have you been doing, cooped up in the room all morning?"

"Nothing, I’m just not feeling well."

Upon hearing this, Qin Jinlian was suddenly anxious, "Where do you not feel well?"

Yang Lizhen took a sip of soup from her bowl and said indifferently, "I haven’t been sleeping well these days. I wanted to catch up on some sleep this morning but was disturbed by the noise and now have a headache."

Qin Jinlian was left speechless, feeling both stifled and aggrieved.

The younger daughter-in-law clearly knew she had been upset yet didn’t come to take even a glance or offer any comfort; instead, she complained of being disturbed.

Qin Jinlian was so angry that she couldn’t even eat her meal.

Yang Lizhen, however, ate and drank well, wiped her mouth after eating, and casually said, "I’m going back to my parents’ house to stay for a couple of days," before getting up and returning to her room.

By the time Qin Jinlian had finished cleaning up the dishes, Yang Lizhen had already packed up and left, heading to her parents’ home.

With no outlet for her pent-up anger, Qin Jinlian could only go back to her room and lie on the bed, sulking.

As Yang Lizhen reached the entrance of the village, she ran into Shen Chaobei and his family of three returning from work.

They exchanged greetings as they met face to face.

"How’s business?"

"Not too bad."

Hearing Du Juan’s reply, Yang Lizhen smiled, sidestepped the family of three, and walked away.

Shen Chaobei continued walking home with his load, while Du Juan, carrying Daya, turned to look several times at the receding figure of Yang Lizhen.

She had a keen nose and faintly smelled something fishy on Yang Lizhen.

It was like the scent of a woman on her period.

But wasn’t Yang Lizhen pregnant?

Although puzzled, Du Juan didn’t think too much about it, considering that she might have been mistaken due to hunger.

The couple was accustomed to being frugal and hadn’t indulged in eating out; they were still hungry, having only given Daya a small piece of egg cake to fill her stomach.

Upon returning home, Shen Chaobei got busy cooking while Du Juan went into the room to do the accounts, and Daya sat alone on a small stool, playing.

"Wife, how did it go? Did we lose money?"

Seeing Du Juan enter the kitchen with a dazed expression, Shen Chaobei’s heart sank, but he tried to reassure her, "It’s okay if we lost some. It’s our first time, we lack experience. It will definitely get better."

"We didn’t lose, Chaobei, we made money."

Shen Chaobei was half-doubtful, "We really made money? Are you sure you counted right?"

Du Juan gave her husband a glare, "I may not have studied as much as you, but I’ve never messed up the accounts!"

That was true.

Although Du Juan wasn’t well-educated, she was excellent at accounting; she always handled the family’s grain taxes each year.

Although he knew they had made money, Shen Chaobei guessed that it wasn’t much, as she didn’t seem very happy, so he cheerfully said, "It’s good that we made money, even if it’s a little. Little by little, it adds up."

"It’s not a little, we made five yuan."

"What? What did you say?"

Shen Chaobei was so shocked he dropped the spatula, his eyes widening into circles, "Five yuan? We made five yuan today?"

Du Juan nodded, then a happy smile appeared on her face.

Her lack of a smile earlier wasn’t because she was unhappy, but because she was still coming to terms with the reality, feeling like she was dreaming.

At this moment, the joy and happiness of making money surged over her so strongly, she couldn’t stop smiling.

But Shen Chaobei couldn’t smile.

He simply couldn’t believe it; they’d made five yuan in one day?

What did five yuan mean in Shenjiagou?

It could buy twenty kilos of rice, thirty kilos of wheat flour, fifty kilos of cornmeal; it was more than what their family of three could eat in a month.

Five yuan in one day meant fifty yuan in ten days, and five hundred yuan in a hundred days?

Unthinkable, he simply couldn’t fathom it.

"Wife, I’ve made something of myself! I actually made five yu..."

Du Juan quickly put her hand over her husband’s mouth, whispering in his ear, "Chaobei, don’t tell anyone about how much money we made. If mom finds out, she’ll definitely want us to give money to your brother to cover his expenses."

Before, Shen Chaobei would have thought his wife to be petty and mean-spirited for thinking so badly of Qin Jinlian.

But after the experiences of dividing the family’s assets and borrowing money, he had really been chilled by Qin Jinlian’s actions and knew that his wife’s fears were not alarmist but could very well happen.

Shen Chaobei nodded repeatedly, then, from outside, the voice of Shen Xiangnan came—

"Brother?"

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