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

Tong Fusheng and Wang were so angry upon hearing this that they almost vomited blood.

What kind of question is that?

They came all the way from Heilong Village, and if they don't stay, are they going to travel back at night?
Besides, they didn't get any silver or food, so how could they possibly go back?

“Sister, what are you saying? Now that we’re here, we’ll naturally stay,” Wang said.

Wang was extremely angry.

She spent half a day preparing a large table of dishes, but Tong Huaqiong and her entourage ate them all, while her own husband and son barely ate any.

After the meal, she still had to wash up.

What made her even more furious was that she had to pay for the groceries herself.

That was their only two taels of silver, which Gu Dahan, that blockhead, had squandered all at once.

Fortunately, when she cooked dinner that night, she made sure to leave some meat and vegetables, including mutton, noodles, and eggs, just in case Tong Zhijie got hungry.

I never expected it would actually come in handy.

She planned to wait until Tong Huaqiong and the others were asleep before she started cooking for her son.

Tong Fusheng's expression was also not good.

The girl is clearly trying to get rid of people.

He's not leaving. He's come all this way, but he hasn't gotten any money, no food, and he hasn't even gotten a foothold in the shop yet. How could he possibly leave?
"Big Foot, do you have some misunderstanding about me? Is it because I didn't speak up for you when Gu Baishuang wanted her parents to be buried together in front of Old Gu's funeral hall that you got angry with me?" Tong Fusheng asked.

After thinking it over, he realized that this was the only thing he had offended the girl.

But he had his reasons.

Gu Baishuang gave him five taels of silver and told him not to get involved in the matter.

He didn't want to accept the money, but he had no choice. He and Tong Zhijie needed money for their studies, and the girl couldn't give him any at the time.

Tong Huaqiong frowned; she hadn't expected such a thing to happen.

"Whether you help me or not, it's all the same." Tong Huaqiong didn't care about his past conflict with Tong Dajiao at all, and said with a troubled look, "Since you want to stay, I can't kick you out, but there are not many rooms in the house and there is no room to move. Fortunately, it is summer now, so why don't you make do in the woodshed for the night?"

Tong Fusheng almost spat out his water.

Should we make him live in the woodshed?
What kind of hospitality is this?

"Sister, you're telling us to live in the woodshed? Can anyone even live in a woodshed?" Wang asked.

Gu Dashu said, "Why not? I used to help you harvest wheat at your house, and every time I was allowed to sleep in the haystacks on the threshing floor. If I can sleep in the haystacks, what's wrong with you sleeping in the woodshed? My family is large, where would we find extra rooms for you to sleep in? You come to our house without even saying hello, who has time to make room for you?"

Liu Yue'e said, "In previous years, during the harvest season, you uncles and aunts wouldn't even prepare bedding for Dashu, and you had to make him bring his own from home. Now you're sleeping in my woodshed, and at least the bedding is ready."

Tong Fusheng and Wang were rendered speechless by the rebuttal from Gu Dashu and his wife.

Wang looked at Chen Sufeng and Gu Dahan, hoping the couple would be sensible and give up the house.

In the past, the stepson and his wife always kept a low profile and yielded to each other.

But this time, Chen Sufeng and Gu Dahan pretended to be deaf and dumb and didn't say a word.

Tong Zhijie looked left and right and said familiarly, "My parents and my second sister live in the woodshed, and I live in the room in the Jingzhe room. Anyway, he hasn't come back from the private school, so the room is just sitting empty."

Wang said to Tong Huaqiong, "Your brother and I can live in the woodshed, and your nephew can live in the house on the day of Jingzhe."

Tong Huaqiong refused, saying, "No one is allowed to enter Jingzhe's room. He's going to take the imperial examination, and the fortune teller said that outsiders entering would easily disrupt the feng shui and affect his luck in the exam. Zhijie, I'm not trying to criticize you, but you and Jingzhe started school together, and you're a year older than Jingzhe. You took the preliminary exam twice but failed. So I can't take the risk of letting you live there. What if it affects Jingzhe? I'm counting on Jingzhe to earn me an official title."

Tong Fusheng originally wanted to speak, but upon hearing these words, he felt short of breath and couldn't utter a word.

Before Wang could say anything more, Tong Hua quickly added, "If you don't want to stay here, you can stay at an inn in town if you have the money."

This is clearly showing no mercy; if they stay, they'll only be able to live in the woodshed.

“Alright, we’ll make do in the woodshed for the night,” Tong Fusheng said through gritted teeth.

Tong Zhaodi used to stay overnight at the Gu family's house and always shared a room with Gu Taohua. She had originally planned to discuss with Tong Huaqiong about sharing a room with Gu Taohua, but now she didn't dare to.

Tong Huaqiong was too lazy to pay attention to them anymore, so she got up to wash up.

When the rest of the Gu family saw Tong Huaqiong get up, they dispersed and went back to their rooms.

Following Tong Huaqiong's instructions, Gu Dahan delivered the bedding to Tong Fusheng's family in the woodshed. The bedding was the same thin and tattered blankets he used to use when he was carrying sandbags outside.

Tong Huaqiong told him to throw it away, but he couldn't bear to part with it, thinking he could use it in the pigsty during the winter.

This came in handy even before summer was over.

It seemed that Tong Fusheng's family wouldn't cause any trouble in the Gu family's courtyard for the time being. They even wanted to squeeze money out of Tong Huaqiong, so Tong Huaqiong wasn't worried about them causing any trouble at all.

Before going to bed, she asked Man'er to take the mutton and eggs into her space, while the rice, flour, and oil were taken to her own room.

Then turn off the lights and go to sleep.

I saw that the lights on the upper floor were off.

Tong Fusheng cursed in the woodshed, "They haven't even given us enough to eat."

Tong Zhijie exclaimed, "I'm so hungry, I can't sleep."

Wang Shi, rubbing her rumbling stomach, got up with Liu Zhaodi.

"There's still a lot of meat and vegetables left from what we bought during the Great Cold. Zhao Di and I will cook them for you."

While the mother and daughter were washing dishes in the kitchen, they hid the meat, vegetables, eggs, rice, flour, and oil.

They were just waiting for Tong Huaqiong and the others to fall asleep so they could go to the kitchen and cook a special meal for them.

Tong Zhijie's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "That's great, Mom! Make me a basket of egg pancakes, and put lots of oil in them."

Tong Fusheng laughed too, and sat up like an old man in the moonlight, saying, "Let's cook all the meat and vegetables for ourselves, we can't let them have it for free."

Wang thought so too.

Wang and Liu Zhaodi arrived at the kitchen and, familiar with the place, found where they had hidden the items.

When I touched it, it was empty.

"Zhaodi, did you hide the meat and vegetables here?" Madam Wang asked with a suspicious look.

“That’s right, it was hidden there.” Liu Zhaodi reached over and tried to pull it out, but found nothing.

"Could it be that Da Han took him away?"

Wang muttered to herself and then went to touch the eggs and flour.

She had hidden the eggs and flour, but when she reached into the cupboard, it was empty.

The mother and daughter searched the entire kitchen, but found nothing—no rice, flour, oil, eggs, meat, or vegetables.

Wang was so angry that she wanted to clap her hands and scold Tong Huaqiong for being so mean, leaving her with nothing.

Liu Zhaodi said, "Mother, I'm afraid Aunt has put all these things away."

Wang gritted her teeth and cursed, "Who else could it be but her? These meat and vegetables were bought with our family's money."

Tong Fusheng and Tong Zhijie were leaning against the haystack, waiting to eat mutton and egg pancakes, when they saw Wang Shi and Liu Zhaodi return empty-handed.

Tong Fusheng asked, "What's wrong? Is the meat stewing?"

Wang cursed, "Your sister is so heartless! She took all the meat, vegetables, eggs, rice, flour, and oil I hid. There's nothing in the kitchen except cold water."

Tong Zhijie let out a howl of hunger and rolled on the haystack, then jumped three feet high and said, "I'm going to kill a chicken right now."

Tong Fusheng had Wang Shi hold him down and said, "Do you want to alarm your aunt?"

Tong Zhijie groaned, his stomach churning, "I'm so hungry I can't stand it anymore."

Wang looked distressed and stomped her feet while cursing Tong Huaqiong.

Tong Fusheng said helplessly to Tong Zhaodi, "Go and fetch two bowls of water for me and Zhijie to drink."

Tong Zhaodi went out and brought in two bowls of water.

Tong Fusheng gritted his teeth and forced the contents down his throat.

Tong Zhijie then knocked over the bowl. (End of Chapter)