The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 168 Bought Fifty Acres of Fertile Land

Xu Zaohua knelt in the mourning hall, concealing the resentment in her eyes.

After the man died, the mother-in-law cursed her, saying she was a jinx.

The mother-in-law's thinking is both right and wrong.

The reason it's not right is because her husband had a congenital disease that destined him to die young.

If that's correct, then the man's death was indeed related to her.

When Xu Zaohua married into the Zheng family and was led by the second son of the Zheng family to the wedding ceremony, she knew that the eldest son's illness was much more serious than she had expected.

Following Xu Jin and Madam Yu's instructions, she had to leave a child for Young Master Zheng no matter what. As long as she had a child, even if Young Master Zheng died, she would still be the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zheng family.

No one can get past her.

But the young master Zheng's flesh was all soft, and touching it made her feel nauseous.

What she found even more difficult to say was that Young Master Zheng was not only physically ill, but also mentally ill.

On her first day after marrying into the Zheng family, the eldest son of the Zheng family burned her with a red-hot thin iron wire.

She endured it for the sake of her status as the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zheng family.

On the third day after she married into the family, the eldest son of the Zheng family vomited blood twice.

She knew that the eldest son of the Zheng family could die at any time, so she needed to get pregnant as soon as possible so that she could continue to maintain the dignity of the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zheng family after the eldest son's death.

So she forced the eldest son of the Zheng family to drink deer blood wine.

After drinking the deer blood wine, the eldest son of the Zheng family died in bed.

That's right, her husband's death was directly related to her. Fortunately, her in-laws didn't know about the deer blood wine incident.

If they found out, they might make her pay with her life.

Xu Zaohua tossed yellow paper into the basin, the flickering flame mirroring her turbulent thoughts.

Now that her in-laws despise her so much, she must safeguard her position since she has already married into the Zheng family.

What do your in-laws care about most when their husbands die?
What she cares about most is that her husband has offspring.

If she were pregnant, her in-laws would never have accused her of being a jinx; they would probably have treated her like royalty.

As Xu Zaohua pondered, a smile crept onto her lips.

Then she stood up and went to her mother-in-law's room, where she knelt down with a thud and said, "If you blame me, I have no words to say. Now that my husband is gone, my heart has died with him. I wish I could go with him. But I can't. If Heaven takes pity on me, perhaps it can grant me a son or daughter."

Xu Zaohua touched her belly and wept bitterly.

Upon hearing her say this, Madam Zheng's withered face instantly regained its radiance.

She asked in a trembling voice, "What do you mean?"

After her son became engaged to Xu Zaohua, he fell ill and could not get out of bed. She had no hope that her son and Xu Zaohua would consummate their marriage.

Xu Zaohua bit her lip; she knew she had made the right bet.

So she said, "Mother, I can't say for sure right now. Please wait two months, and maybe I'll be pregnant by then."

Madam Zheng's eyes were filled with hope.

He repeatedly instructed his maid to help Xu Zaohua up, telling her not to overexert herself.

They even had bird's nest delivered from the small kitchen.

Xu Zaohua lowered her head to hide the cold smile in her eyes. This morning they were saying she was a jinx to husbands, but now they're treating her like a treasure.

In the few days since she married into the Zheng family, only now has she begun to experience the treatment of the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zheng family.

She was deeply enamored with this treatment.

Since she's already a widow of Young Master Zheng, there's no way she can remarry.

The Zheng family also forbade her to remarry.

Being a widow isn't so bad; it's much better than being branded with a hot iron by Young Master Zheng.

She naturally had to make plans for herself. She had to fight tooth and nail to secure her position as the eldest son's wife.

She had already come up with a plan.

Xu Zaohua leaned against the soft cushion as Madam Zheng sent people to deliver tonics to her room in a continuous stream.

She knew that if she didn't conceive Zheng's child in two months, not only would the tonics stop, but she would probably spend the rest of her life in the Zheng family's Buddhist hall.

Who would be willing to accept that?

Therefore, she must be pregnant.

If someone like Tong Dajiao from Qinghewan could live a good life as a widow, she didn't think she was any worse than Tong Dajiao.

When Xu Zaohua thought of Tong Dajiao, she naturally thought of Gu Jingzhe.

She hated the mother and son to the extreme.

Once she has established herself in the Zheng family, she will take action against Tong Dajiao and Gu Jingzhe.

She wanted to destroy Tong Dajiao's shop and Gu Jingzhe's future.

And don't expect to find a good marriage partner if you also have a peach blossom in your heart.

While Xu Zaohua was at the Zheng family hating Tong Huaqiong, Tong Huaqiong was holding the land deed and grinning from ear to ear.

Everyone in the entire Qinghe Bay knows how fertile those fifty acres of land at the foot of Xishan Mountain are.

Liu Tielian is indeed the chosen village chief; he is extremely efficient. Now, these fifty acres of land belong to Tong Huaqiong.

Tong Huaqiong felt very independent, and not only did she want the shops to be registered in her own name, but she also wanted the fertile land to be registered in her own name.

Originally, Liu Tielian discussed with Tong Huaqiong that since the original owners of the land were guilty and it would be difficult for them to recover, there was no need to go through the government to buy their land; they could do it privately and save on taxes.

This kind of land sale is very common among ordinary people.

Both parties agreed that a simple agreement would suffice.

But Tong Huaqiong disagreed.

Land deeds that have not been officially certified by the government are called "white deeds" and do not have the legal effect of official recognition.

Normally the government doesn't interfere, but if there's any unrest or land re-surveying, the land under the "white deed" will be redistributed.

Tong Huaqiong thought that since she had already paid the money, she didn't mind paying a tax.

She needs to obtain a "red deed," which is an officially certified land deed, to feel at ease.

So early in the morning, Tong Huaqiong went to the government office from her shop and met with the land transferor, Liu Tielian, and the two parties signed a contract.

She left the rest to Liu Tielian and went back to her shop.

After returning to Qinghewan from the shop, Liu Tielian delivered the red contract to her home.

"Mother, do those fifty acres of land really belong to our family?" Gu Dashu asked excitedly.

Tong Huaqiong made the land purchase decision entirely on her own, without consulting anyone. As the head of the family, she didn't need to consult with others; they simply had to accept her decision.

After returning home from the shop, Liu Tielian delivered the land deed to Tong Huaqiong, and only then did Gu Dashu and the others realize that Tong Huaqiong had bought land.

Moreover, the land they bought was the 50 mu of the most fertile land at the foot of Xishan Mountain.

For farmers, even opening a shop is not as exciting as buying land.

After all, everyone knows that having land is the foundation for survival.

“With a land deed, how could it be fake?” Tong Huaqiong said.

However, Tong Huaqiong felt it necessary to correct Gu Dashu's use of "our home," so she emphasized to Yiwo Daizhu: "I bought this land, I am the owner on the land deed, this is my land."

“Yes, yes, yes, it’s Mother’s land. Every blade of grass in our family belongs to Mother,” Liu Yue’e said.

Listening to Liu Yue'e's enthusiastic tone, Tong Huaqiong couldn't tell whether her second daughter-in-law was being sincere or sarcastic.

However, she didn't care what Liu Yue'e thought. As long as she was willing, the entire Gu family, down to the last blade of grass, was indeed under her, Tong Huaqiong's, control.

(End of this chapter)