Chapter 7

 Unfortunately, the door between the two households had long been bricked up into a wall, so watching the commotion wasn’t easy—you could only stand there and strain your ears to listen.

By around noon, Second Brother Lu and his wife finally headed back home.

At Lu Miao’s suggestion, Second Brother Lu brought over a bottle of cheap, unbranded liquor to share with the neighbors.

But Big Brother Lu was used to drinking branded liquor—he wouldn’t even look at the kind of local brew his younger brother brought over.

And he didn’t come alone. Along with that one bottle, the rest of his family—three of them—tagged along too.

It was obvious they were there to freeload a meal, but with the new son-in-law around, they couldn’t just drive them away and make a scene.

He remembered how Second Brother used to have more self-respect. What had happened to him lately? He’d gotten much thicker-skinned.

The moment Lu Lu saw Lu Miao, her already indifferent expression grew even colder.

The married life she had so looked forward to was nothing like she had imagined.

Barely two days into her marriage, her mother-in-law’s true colors showed. She kept pestering her to hand over her dowry money and even demanded the bedding that came with her as part of her trousseau.

Trying to fool her like she was an idiot—saying all the brothers turned over their earnings to her, and if Lu Lu ever needed anything, she’d give it to her later.

What a nasty old hag.

She was starting to understand why Lu Miao hadn’t gotten along with this family in her past life.

Now she had to work hard to win over Li Qinglin’s heart and didn’t dare to fall out with the old hag. She was scared she’d badmouth her to Qinglin.

So, she chose to swallow her grievances over little things. If the old woman wanted to take advantage, fine—let her.

But the old crone didn’t know when to stop—she just kept pushing further.

If she were only freeloading off her a bit, fine. But every night when things quieted down, the old woman would find some excuse to drag Qinglin out.

And in the morning, when Lu Lu was still groggy, she’d be yelled at to get up and work—feeding the chickens, ducks, sweeping, cooking…

This was the textbook definition of an evil mother-in-law. Nothing like the kind and gentle face she’d shown before the wedding.

She hadn’t even been married two full days, and she had already done more work than she had in the entire year before getting married.

She had just sat down to catch her breath, and that wretched old woman was already assigning her more chores.

And after she’d worked all day, the woman would turn around and tell Li Qinglin she’d done absolutely nothing.

Lu Lu was so angry, she seriously considered putting rat poison in the woman’s food.

What made it worse was that brainless Li Qinglin actually believed his mother over her.

If it weren’t for the fact that he would likely be rich one day and truly cared for his wife, this marriage would’ve been unbearable.

Though things were a mess at the Li household, the moment she laid eyes on Lu Miao, alarm bells went off in her heart.

Especially when she noticed her husband sneak a few extra glances at Lu Miao.

Lu Miao had encouraged Second Brother to come over precisely for the drama.

A housewife’s mood affected the entire household, and back in the day, Qiao Yanxiang never allowed this kind of thing.

But Lu Miao had sweet-talked her into a good mood, so with a wave of her hand, she gave permission to go see the show next door.

Before heading out, Lu Miao grabbed two handfuls of sunflower seeds—because what’s a spectacle without snacks? Half the fun would be gone.

Lu Lu wore a newly made red floral dress she’d had tailored before the wedding—very trendy.

She and Qinglin held hands, putting on a good show of being a loving couple.

Lu Congge had been pulled out of his books by his parents. He wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about watching a scene, but Lu Miao had said it’d help clear his head, so he came along too.

After lunch, Uncle Lu asked Li Qinglin about his future plans. He thought the young man was decent and shouldn’t be stuck farming forever.

After all, a farmer couldn’t guarantee a happy life for his daughter. In good years, they might scrape by; in bad ones, they’d be left chewing on the bitter wind.

Uncle Lu pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and Qinglin thoughtfully lit one for him.

Uncle took a puff and said, “How about starting out as an apprentice at the agricultural machinery station for a year?”

Li Qinglin’s eyes lit up. Why did he break off his engagement to Lu Miao and marry Lu Lu? Wasn’t it because of her powerful dad?

The commune’s ag machinery station was a great place. No matter where you went, people respected those with technical skills.

Skills gave you confidence.

Once trained, you could either stay on as a technician or go out and set up your own gig—either way, it was a solid path.

He’d had some regrets about leaving Lu Miao, but now, it felt like everything he’d given up had been worth it.

Lu Lu, on the other hand, was waiting for him to go into business and make tons of money.

So she immediately shut the idea down: “No way!”

Qinglin turned to her, shocked. He had no clue what she was thinking.

He’d landed a good job—wasn’t that good for her too?

Uncle Lu only wanted to help his son-in-law so that his daughter could live a better life.

But in the end, her opinion mattered most.

The cigarette burned down quickly. Uncle Lu stubbed it out in the dirt.

“Well then, go home and discuss it. Think about your plans for the future.”

He still intended to help Qinglin—but only if Lu Lu was on board.

From wedding joy to this swift disappointment, Li Qinglin was in a foul mood. He kept a straight face, knowing better than to show anger in front of his father-in-law.

Meanwhile, Lu Miao’s family of four got a front-row seat to all the drama and didn’t rush home afterward.

The men chatted about policy and harvests.

The women had their own topics, with the new bride Lu Lu naturally at the center.

Aunt Lu asked her daughter how things were going at her in-laws’. Any trouble with the mother-in-law or sisters-in-law? Was her husband treating her right?

Lu Lu’s marriage had been a disaster so far, but not wanting her parents to worry—or to make things hard for Qinglin—she just said things were “alright.”

Seeing her little sister-in-law back for a visit, Hu Jing had her own ideas.

She didn’t have a job—just cooked and cleaned all day—and her mother-in-law still said she was lazy.

To be fair, she was lazy. She hated those dirty, exhausting farm chores.

She’d had her eye on the scorekeeper job for a long time. After marrying into the family, she realized how much the Lus spoiled their daughter, so she put that idea on hold.

But now that Lu Lu was married, she technically wasn’t part of their team anymore, so it didn’t make sense for her to keep the scorekeeper position.

It was an easy job with high work points.

Hu Jing, all smiles, offered Lu Lu a handful of peanuts. “Lulu, now that you’re married, what about your job on the team?”

Lu Lu gave a cold smile. That sister-in-law of hers really was greedy—might as well have written “I want your job” on her forehead.

Pretending not to get the hint, she said, “The job? I can just go back and forth to work every day. We don’t live that far apart.”

Hu Jing’s smile started to crack. She coughed and shot a look at her husband, Lu Jiang.

Qinglin was chatting away with Lu Jiang about the livestock station. It took him a while to realize Hu Jing was trying to get his attention.

Remembering what his wife had told him the night before, he took the initiative, “Sis, going back and forth would be a hassle. Why not let your sister-in-law have the job?”

Hu Jing finally heard the words she’d been waiting for. It was better coming from Lu Jiang than from her, the sister-in-law by marriage.

Smiling, she turned to Lu Lu for her answer.

“Well, we’re family, so I guess it’s fine to give it to my sister-in-law.”

Hu Jing found her words oddly familiar…

“But,” Lu Lu continued, “if I give up the job, I won’t have any income. You should compensate me a little.”

Being a scorekeeper meant guaranteed full points, so giving Lu Lu some money as compensation would make things look fairer.

“How much do you think is fair?”

“Oh, I won’t fuss. Thirty to fifty’s fine, but I wouldn’t mind a hundred or two either.”

Lu Miao: Hey? That sounds like something I’d say!

Aunt Lu jumped in to fight for her daughter’s rights: “Then give her two hundred!”—straight to the highest number.

Hu Jing’s eyes almost popped out. Was her mother-in-law crazy? Did she know how long it would take to earn two hundred yuan?

Normally, a job like that went for about a year’s worth of pay. Thirty would’ve been plenty. For the sake of appearances, she’d been willing to go up to fifty.

With a gentle smile she said, “We don’t have that much money at home.”

Lu Lu was ready to sell the job anyway—scorekeeper really was a cushy gig, assuming there were still points to record.

If she remembered right, in her past life she got married in the winter of 1980. Right before that fall, the village started parceling out land.

From then on, land was farmed by individual households. The old collective model disappeared—so did the need for scorekeepers.

In a few months, the job would vanish anyway. Since Hu Jing wanted it, might as well squeeze a little value out of it first.

In her past life, when Lu Lu married into the city, her rural household registration was revoked, and Hu Jing naturally took over the job.

But not this time. Not without paying.

After some back-and-forth, Hu Jing ended up handing over fifty yuan as compensation for the job.

Selling off a job that was about to go extinct might seem shady—but Lu Lu didn’t think she’d done anything wrong.

If her family had truly cared for her, she wouldn’t have tried to outmaneuver them.

Her past life had already taught her: to them, she was nothing more than a pawn to be used.

The moment she lost her usefulness, they'd toss her aside without a second thought.

Still, that unexpected bonus of fifty yuan didn’t make Lu Lu forget her original mission.

“I’m married and settled now—when’s sanshui planning to tie the knot?”

She hadn’t forgotten the way Li Qinglin had turned back to look during the wedding. As long as Lu Miao remained unmarried and stayed in the village, there was always a risk those two might get tangled up again.

Lu Miao kept nibbling on sunflower seeds without missing a beat. “No idea,” she said casually. “Whenever the family decides, I guess.”

That carefree, indifferent attitude was exactly what irked Lu Lu the most. She turned to Grandpa Lu and said, “Grandpa, you really need to pay more attention to sanshui’s marriage. It shouldn’t be delayed anymore.”

Grandpa Lu responded with a nonchalant “Oh.”

“But if we’re changing the groom, we should still talk it over with the He family first,” he added.

Before leaving, Lu Lu made sure to grab her mother’s hand and quietly urge her to push Grandpa to hurry up and get Lu Miao married off.

Aunt Lu, the eldest daughter-in-law, wasn’t in a rush to marry Lu Miao off. Deep down, she still believed whoever had a chance to marry at city had a better life so she actually hoped the match of Lu Miao with the He family would fall through.

But her daughter’s words carried more weight now, and for the sake of protecting her marriage from any future interference, she kept nagging the old man at home to do something about it.

Grandpa Lu got so annoyed he finally gave in—he’d be relying on his eldest son and daughter-in-law to take care of him in his old age and couldn’t afford to offend her.

So, he gave Professor He a call, had a little chat, and when he got back, he informed his eldest daughter-in-law that the He family would be coming over this Sunday.

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