Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 112 Revenge
Daying Village Consignment Store.

Li Zhe's family was busy building new greenhouses, and Wang Xiuying hadn't been to the sales store for a while. The talkative wife had once again become the key figure in the store. Her topics and sharp comments always drew a chorus of agreement, and even those with differing opinions were suppressed by her assertive attitude.

The talkative wife steered the conversation towards Wang Xiuying: "Wang Xiuying hasn't been to the store for a while. Has something happened to her family?"

While sewing shoe soles, the plump aunt chimed in, "Didn't it snow a couple of days ago? And the temperature has dropped too. Could something have happened to her vegetable shed?"

The quick-talking wife said, "You know what, it's actually possible. With the wind and snow outside, the temperature inside the greenhouse must be dropping. Maybe all her vegetables have frozen to death. She's not in the mood to come here to rest. I guess her family will have to lose a lot of money this time."

Recently, Zhang Yuzhen has become increasingly disdainful of her quick-tongued daughter-in-law. Just because she introduced a job to her son Xiaohu, she's practically become the empress dowager of the sales agency: "Stop gossiping. The Li family is building a new shed, so she has to help out at home. She'll be here in a few days."

The quick-tongued wife seized the opportunity to ask, "Yuzhen, you're close to Wang Xiuying, do you know where her family got so much money to build a new greenhouse?"

Zhang Yuzhen shook her head: "I don't know. She hasn't come these days, and I can't find her even if I want to ask."

There was a moment of silence in the room.

The quick-talking wife peered out the window with her small eyes, seemingly searching for a new target.

Suddenly her eyes lit up, and she pointed ahead: "Hey, look over there—damn it, where's the beggar?" She was a mean-spirited person and spoke in an extremely exaggerated manner, but that was precisely why she could immediately attract everyone's attention.

Several middle-aged women looked out the window and sure enough, they saw a man with messy hair and tattered clothes walking in their direction.

Zhang Yuzhen also peeked out, her expression shifting from curiosity to shock: "This person looks like..."

Zhang Yuzhen rushed out and grabbed the man's arm: "Xiaohu! Why did you suddenly come back? Why is your face swollen? Why have you become so thin? Child..." Zhang Yuzhen became more and more distressed as she spoke, her voice trembling with tears.

"Mom, I'm alright. It's me, Xiaohu. I'm back."

"What happened to Tiger? He was fine when your father visited you last time. How did he suddenly become like this?" Lin Xiaohu had been working at the factory for two months, and his father had visited him twice. He still had hope for the factory and always reported good news, never bad.

His father, a grown man, was careless and didn't notice anything amiss.

"Mom, we've been scammed! That fan factory is no place for humans. We eat sweet potato porridge every day. I feel like throwing up just hearing the word 'sweet potato' now. And the wages aren't as high as my gossipy wife said. I only got 18 yuan last month!" Lin Xiaohu glared at his gossipy wife. He absolutely couldn't let this woman get away with it. She was the one who made him suffer so much. He had to get revenge.

"How could this happen?" Zhang Yuzhen's eyes widened as she slowly turned to look at her talkative wife, who was walking out of the store, and loudly questioned her.
“Hey, you said the fan factory has really good benefits, and you can earn 62.5 yuan a month? Why is my son eating sweet potato porridge at the factory every day, and he only earned 18 yuan last month?”

“I’ve never worked in the factory, so I don’t know what they eat! As for the money… that’s what my niece told me herself. She earned 62.5 yuan in July. I saw her payslip, and she didn’t lie!”

The wages are down now, probably because fewer people are buying fans due to the cold weather. Once the weather warms up and the factory's profits improve, the wages will go up. The factory food should also improve…”

Zhang Yuzhen was stunned for a moment, then realized what she meant: "You quick-tongued wife, that's not what you said at the time! You only talked about how good this factory was, without mentioning any of the bad points. If I had known it would be like this, would I have gone to such lengths to get my child into the factory?"

The quick-tongued wife also looked aggrieved: "Look at the mess this has made! It was your family who insisted on going to the factory, and I only helped to mediate. Now that your child doesn't want to work there anymore, it's my fault?"

The other women also came out to watch the commotion. The quick-tongued wife put her arms around herself and said, "Everyone, be the judge! How can this be so reasonable?"

Aunt Pang tried to smooth things over: "Yuzhen, it breaks my heart to see the child wronged. I guess the gossipy wife meant well but ended up making things worse, so don't take it to heart."

"Pah! What good intention of hers that backfired? She only helped me get into the factory after taking money and gifts from my family! If she hadn't praised that factory to the skies, I wouldn't have paid her to help me!"

Lin Xiaohu said, "Mom, I only found out later that the fan factory was hiring without any limit on the number of people. Anyone could get in, so there was no need for her to introduce anyone. She was just scamming our family out of the referral fee!"

Zhang Yuzhen was stunned, thinking to herself: Then why didn't you come back sooner? Why did you have to suffer there...?

But now was not the time to ask questions. She turned to her talkative wife and demanded, "You talkative wife, so you've been cheating my family out of money all along! I treated you like a VIP, feeding you well every day! Give me back my 100 yuan, 20 jin of meat, 2 jin of peach shortbread, 10 jin of melon seeds, and 4 jin of peanuts! Otherwise, I'll never forgive you!"

"Who took your money? I didn't take your money! You're making baseless accusations!" The quick-tongued wife twisted her neck and refused to admit it, pouting as if she had suffered a great injustice.

The old women at the consignment shop, always eager for a good show, were now flushed and buzzing with excitement, as if they'd been injected with adrenaline. They couldn't tell who was telling the truth.

"You shameless woman! You took their money and you won't admit it! That night, Xiao Hu and I delivered it to your house. I brought two pounds of peach shortbread and two pounds of melon seeds, and I also slipped you ten ten-yuan bills."

Before Zhang Yuzhen could finish speaking, her quick-tongued wife interrupted her, "You're talking nonsense! Who saw me take your money? You're ruining my reputation! I was just trying to help out; your family is the ungrateful one. Besides, Lin Xiaohu is incompetent and couldn't make it in the factory; how can you blame me for that?" Seeing the other woman turn the tables, Zhang Yuzhen trembled with anger, pointing at her but unable to speak, "You...you..."

The many older women in the store were also confused. Some sided with Zhang Yuzhen, while others thought Zhang Xiaohu was useless and that his quick-tongued wife was just a victim of his actions.

“I can vouch for it!” A voice rang out from not far away. Everyone turned to look and saw that it was Wang Xiuying who was speaking, with her daughter-in-law Ma Laixiao standing next to her.

Aunt Pang asked curiously, "Wang Xiuying, were you there that day too?"

Another woman asked curiously, "Yes, how much money was given?"

“I didn’t see it,” Wang Xiuying said.

"How can I prove it if I haven't seen you?"

"You might not know, but the first woman my wife dated wasn't Yuzhen, it was my family." Wang Xiuying was furious when she brought this up.

"Back then, she tried to trick my son into working in the factory using the same method. I gave her 37 eggs, and she still wanted meat coupons and 100 yuan! Luckily, my second son is smart enough to see through her lies, otherwise he would have suffered in the factory like Xiaohu!"

Seeing Lin Xiaohu in such a miserable state, Wang Xiuying felt even more resentful of her quick-tongued wife: if her own second son had been tricked into working in the factory, who knows how much suffering he would have endured!
The eggs were in whole and broken pieces, and Aunt Pang didn't think it was fake. Besides, the quick-talking wife had mentioned it herself, and many people had heard it: "Xiuying, why didn't you say anything when this happened?"

“Because she won’t admit it even if I tell her! Just like now—Yuzhen told her, but she still won’t admit it! If I hadn’t stood up and exposed her, you would all have been fooled by her. This talkative wife is very wicked; she’s taking advantage of the villagers’ trust in her to deceive them.”

As soon as Wang Xiuying stepped forward, the situation on the field immediately changed, and everyone's gaze towards the quick-talking wife also changed.

"I have something to do at home, I'll head back now." The quick-tongued wife turned to leave.

Lin Xiaohu stepped in front of her and said, "Stop! Give me back my family's money." Then he said to Zhang Yuzhen, "Mother, it was her family who led the beating."

"You fast-talking wife! Not only did you swindle my family's money, but you also let your family beat my son! I'll fight you to the death!" Zhang Yuzhen pounced on her and started fighting with the fast-talking wife.

Unfortunately, Zhang Yuzhen was at a disadvantage because her quick-talking wife was stronger.

Lin Xiaohu was anxious watching – it's not good for men to get involved in women's fights, but he could "break them up".

"Stop hitting her! Stop hitting her!" he shouted as he grabbed the talkative wife from behind. Zhang Yuzhen seized the opportunity to retaliate, grabbing the talkative wife's hair with her left hand and slapping her several times with her right.

The quick-tongued wife screamed and struggled desperately as she was beaten.

But a woman's strength is no match for a man's, and she was held tightly by Lin Xiaohu, who was trying to break up the fight. She scratched Lin Xiaohu's hand with her nails, and Lin Xiaohu, in pain, accidentally knocked her to the ground.

“You still dare to arrest people…” Zhang Yuzhen straddled her and beat her again.

The quick-talking wife rolled on the ground in pain, barely managing to escape Zhang Yuzhen. Just as she stood up, Lin Xiaohu grabbed her again, shouting, "Stop hitting her! Stop hitting her!" He pretended to try and stop the fight, but in reality, he hugged her tightly again. Zhang Yuzhen rushed over and began scratching and hitting her face repeatedly, making the quick-talking wife scream in pain.

"Waaah... I'll fight you to the death!" The quick-talking wife was hugged by Lin Xiaohu, and she raised her legs to kick Zhang Yuzhen. Lin Xiaohu immediately let go of her.

The talkative wife fell flat on her backside, wailing in pain, "Ouch! It hurts so much! My back..."

Several gossipy old women saw that the talkative wife had been beaten so badly that they hurriedly went over and pulled the men apart.

Zhang Yuzhen also cursed, "You quick-tongued wife! If you dare to come to my house again, I'll tear you apart!"

The quick-tongued wife smoothed her disheveled hair and cried out, her voice trembling with tears, "You're just bullying me because my family is from another village! When my husbands come back, they definitely won't let you get away with this!"

Zhang Yuzhen retorted, "Pah! You think you're the only one with men in your family? Are my men dead? Let your men try coming to my house! See if you can break their legs!"

The quick-tongued wife originally wanted to say a few more harsh words, but seeing that Lin Xiaohu was about to "mediate" again, she didn't bother to brush the mud off her body and limped away.

(End of this chapter)