Chapter 136 Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law
As it was almost noon, the number of people in the shop gradually decreased.
Zhao Xiangrong came out of the kitchen, looked towards the door, and said to Shen Wei anxiously:
"Normally at this time, Xiao Xiaoyun would have brought food long ago. Why hasn't she come yet so late today? Could something have happened?"
Xiao Xiaoyun is naturally Xiaoyun’s eldest daughter.
Like many other families of that era, her father gave her a name containing the character "Di".
After Xiao Xiaoyun moved out with her mother, she was not only well-behaved and sensible, but also smart and cute, which made Zhao Xiangrong and Panxi compete to be her godmother.
Xiao Xiaoyun would always bring lunch to everyone at noon. At first, everyone thought Xiao Xiaoyun was still young and didn’t let her cook.
But she didn't want to live under someone else's roof, so she volunteered to do what she could to repay the mother and daughter for the free food and accommodation they had received these days.
At Xiao Xiaoyun's repeated requests, Shen Wei agreed to let her bring them lunch every day at noon.
They hired this child laborer at a salary of one or two taels of silver per month, so that the three of them, mother and daughter, could live in the yard with peace of mind.
The shop has just hired a pair of twins. With enough manpower, it is no longer as busy as before where it doesn’t even have time to drink a sip of water.
Seeing that the shop was not too busy, Shen Wei asked Zhao Xiangrong to come over and look after it while she went back to the yard.
As soon as I reached the entrance of the alley, I saw many people gathered outside the yard to watch the excitement. When they saw Shen Wei coming, an enthusiastic neighbor immediately said:
"Manager Shen, you are finally back."
"Go in and take a look. There's an old woman making trouble inside."
As soon as Shen Wei heard it, he guessed that it was the old lady of the martial arts hall.
As I walked in quickly, I heard two people arguing in the room.
"You old bitch, you ignored Xiaoyun when she was giving birth, and yet you still have the nerve to come here. How can you be so shameless?"
Shen Wei was very familiar with this voice. It belonged to a kind-hearted woman who lived next door. When she found out that Xiaoyun was so angry during childbirth that she almost died of hemorrhage, she felt sorry for Xiaoyun from the bottom of her heart.
Normally, she would come to see if Xiaoyun and her daughter needed help. Today, when she came, she saw the old lady push Xiaoyun away and rush in to protect them.
"Xiao Yun, you are so cruel. Your son is only one month old and you just abandoned him."
"You don't want to go back because you have a man outside."
Seeing that she could not win the argument with this woman whose voice was louder than hers, the old lady simply frowned and scolded her daughter-in-law.
It was obvious that his son had a mistress and she disliked her daughter-in-law for not being able to give birth to a son, but now she was lying with open eyes and was willing to ruin Xiaoyun's reputation in order to get her to go back.
Xiaoyun was so angry that she was shaking all over, as if someone had poured a basin of ice water over her head and her limbs were trembling with cold.
The kind-hearted woman stood in front of Xiaoyun, with her hands on her hips, and drove the old lady away with her momentum.
"Pah, did you eat shit? Your mouth stinks."
"Get out of here right now, or I'll chase you out with a broom."
Seeing how aggressive the woman was, the old lady regretted not bringing a few people with her. She could scold Xiaoyun with a stern face, but she didn't dare to argue with the woman.
She couldn't win the argument, and if the woman really drove her out in anger, she would be completely embarrassed in front of this cowardly daughter-in-law.
"Whose daughter-in-law are you? Why don't you have a man to take care of you? Forget it. I'm older than you, so I won't bother with you."
"Xiao Yun, are you really so cruel? You abandoned your son not even one month after his birth."
"He can't even drink his mother's milk now, and he cries out of hunger every day."
"My poor grandson, he was abandoned by his own mother as soon as he was born."
The old lady howled loudly, allowing people outside to hear how cruel the woman inside was, for abandoning her one-month-old son.
The enthusiastic woman was so angry that she picked up the broom and swept it towards the old lady's feet.
"Get out! Get out of here right now! I don't know if you've eaten too much shit, but why do you smell like shit everywhere you go? And your poor grandson."
"I think you want her to go back and take care of your family, right?"
"The woman outside came in. She's pregnant and can't serve you. You still need someone to serve you, and you thought of Xiaoyun, right? You want her to go back and do your laundry and cooking for you!" the woman scolded angrily.
When the old lady saw the woman coming over with a broom, her eyelids twitched and she ran out in a hurry.