He Dadong came to the door with his four younger brothers.
This was something Mingyue had expected. They arrived even later than she expected.
Of course Mingyue didn't know that He Dadong and his five friends had been relying on Aunt Wu these days. They completely ignored the cold eyes of Aunt Wu's family and the sarcasm at the dinner table, and they just shamelessly stayed at Aunt Wu's house to eat and drink for free.
The key point is that when Aunt Wu was working at home, they could hardly see her, but when it was time to eat, she came faster than anyone else and ate more than anyone else.
These were really not their own food, and they didn't know how to save them. The five children were full, but Aunt Wu's family was reluctant to spend the food, so the children could only eat until they were two or three-quarters full.
In this regard, Aunt Wu's daughter-in-law Meng Hua often complained privately to the villagers, thinking that Aunt Wu was a really unreasonable mother-in-law.
The people in the He family had already spread all over the village. They were little bastards with ruthless hearts and bad intentions. Everyone was afraid of getting involved with these little bastards. Her mother-in-law was kind enough to bring them into the house. She was really foolish.
Seeing the rice in the rice jar disappearing day by day, the son and daughter-in-law's faces were full of complaints. Even the husband who was always a good man looked sad. A good family was no longer like a home. Even the soft-hearted Aunt Wu couldn't help but wipe her face and began to hint that He Dadong and others would leave soon.
However, He Dadong and the others seemed not to understand, and kept saying nice things.
Listening to them saying all the time, "Auntie, you are the only good person in the world, we can only rely on you", "Auntie, you are the only one who is truly kind to us, we all remember all this", "Thanks to you, Auntie, otherwise we brothers would have starved to death long ago", Auntie Wu felt very sad but couldn't say it.
She wanted face and a good reputation, so she was destined not to just drive He Dadong and the others away.
But if you put it more tactfully, they would pretend not to understand, which would make Aunt Wu very worried.
Seeing that the atmosphere at home was becoming increasingly weird, Aunt Wu became more and more anxious. She even began to blame He Dadong and the others, thinking that they were abominable and hateful.
She thought that she had no relation to them at all, and that it was good enough that she had helped them for so long. Why were they not satisfied and why didn't they understand and be considerate of her
But although Aunt Wu was anxious, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She always remembered Zhou Laosan's false compassion and was afraid that outsiders would accuse her of being hypocritical.
Until yesterday afternoon, Aunt Wu's daughter-in-law Meng Hua went into the house for a while, and when she came out, she was shocked to see that the basket of mulberries she had worked so hard to pick in the mountains all morning had been eaten up by the five men from the He family. Their mouths had turned black purple from eating so much, and they didn't leave a single mulberry for her.
Meng Hua was so furious that his anger suddenly reached his head. He had been holding it in for a long time and finally couldn't bear it anymore and exploded.
She picked up the big broom used to sweep the yard at the door, rushed towards the five little beasts and beat them, cursing as she beat them: "I know your mother died early, but didn't your father live for many years? Why do you look like wild kids who have no parents since childhood? You come to other people's homes all day long to eat and drink for free, and you don't understand good or bad words. I don't know where you got such thick skin."
"I worked hard all morning to pick mulberries, and you ate them all without even saying hello. What's wrong? Do you really think this is your home? You are stealing, you are thieves." Meng Hua said, her heart burning with anger. She gritted her teeth and said, "My mother-in-law is old and confused, but I am not. Get out of here today. Next time I see you entering my house, I will beat you up."
He Dadong and the others were hit by her broom and ran around everywhere. They accidentally ran out of the yard and bumped into Aunt Wu who had just come back from washing clothes and was standing at the door with a washbasin.
Aunt Wu's face was full of embarrassment, mixed with anger and grievance. She meant well and was doing good things, so how could her daughter-in-law say that to her
He Dadong and the others saw Aunt Wu as if they had seen a savior, and they all gathered around to complain:
"Auntie, look at your daughter-in-law. We just ate some mulberries, but she beat us like enemies. That's too much!"
"That's right, Auntie, you are so kind, how come you have such a hateful daughter-in-law?" "She also said that you are old and confused. You are such a good person, how could she say that to you? It's simply outrageous."
"She is not a daughter-in-law at all. She is more like a mother-in-law than you are. It's as if she is the master of this family..."
As He Dadong and his men instigated discord, Aunt Wu began to feel dissatisfied. Thinking of the way her daughter-in-law had glared at her these days, she became furious.
Then, Aunt Wu stood in front of He Dadong and the others and said something that surprised Meng Hua: "Hua, it's just a few mulberries. What you did was really outrageous. Just apologize to Dadong and the others and let it go."
Meng Hua almost had a myocardial infarction. She knew that her mother-in-law had always been vain, liked to label herself as a good person, and liked to sympathize with others. But now her mother-in-law's behavior had seriously affected the family's life.
If I continue to let my mother-in-law be unable to distinguish right from wrong, life will be unbearable.
Meng Hua couldn't bear it, nor did he want to bear it.
So she threw the broom on the ground, went straight into the house, took two pieces of clothes and went back to her parents' home.
Before she left, she said, "It's either me or them in this house, or it's either me or them."
Doesn’t her mother-in-law want to raise these little beasts? Fine, then, she’ll leave.
She is responsible for all the big and small things in the house. The house becomes a mess when she leaves. She doesn't believe that her mother-in-law will get away with it.
Aunt Wu was really dumbfounded now. She wanted to suppress her daughter-in-law, but she really didn't want to drive her back to her parents' home!
Meng Hua had just walked a few meters out of the door when she ran into a neighbor who was standing at the door listening to gossip. She didn't think she had done anything wrong and even smiled at the neighbor before leaving.
There are no secrets in the village. Soon, the bad things happening in Aunt Wu's family spread throughout the village. Many people were secretly making fun of Aunt Wu for not being able to tell the difference between inside and outside.
After Aunt Wu's husband and son found out about this, they finally became tough. When He Dadong and his friends came to have dinner in the evening, they closed the door and did not allow Aunt Wu to open it.
No matter how much He Dadong and his friends knocked on the door, the only thing they heard from inside was, "Go back, don't come here again, we don't cook for you."
He Dadong and the others then realized that something was wrong, but it was too late.
They couldn't get their meals at Aunt Wu's house, and other people in the village looked down on them, as if they were afraid that they would depend on them.
After being hungry for a whole night, the five brothers immediately made up their minds: go find their eldest sister-in-law.
(End of this chapter)