178 Adding Fuel to the Flame
Lady Ruan watched as the group of people laughed and conversed and pretended that she didn’t exist.
She felt like she was going to die from anger. It was fortunate that her third son didn’t live with them anymore. If he did, she would die after a few days from rage.
Lady Ruan huffed loudly but was ignored.
The six family members wrapped dumplings happily. Since nobody acknowledged her, Lady Ruan left with her face dark.
Right now, it was a bad time to fight against her third son and his wife, so she had to endure.
Lady Ruan’s never been so angry in recent years and she felt so stuffy.
For lunch, she managed to eat two whole bowls of dumplings. As she munched, she complained, “What kind of luxurious life have you been living? You eat white rice and white noodles every day and you don’t even give any to your mother or father. Your mom and dad are so old and they have to chew on vegetables. How are you able to swallow your food?”
Lady Ruan’s spit went everywhere as she ate, making the whole family lose their appetite.
Lu Jiao stared at Lady Ruan unpleasantly, “The rice and flour were gifts from the villagers. I taught everyone how to make money by selling herbs and everyone wanted to thank me by giving me rice, flour, eggs, and vegetables. The Village Leader gave me a whole bag of pork buns. Mother, I want to ask you, since I helped you make money, how come you don’t gift us anything in return?
You and father are chewing on vegetables in order to save money for the fourth brother’s marriage. I heard the engagement was going to cost 15 taels of silver in addition to new clothes and jewelry for your future daughter-in-law. You are voluntarily eating vegetables to save for the fourth. Why is that our business?”
Lu Jiao was too lazy to talk with Lady Ruan and cleaned up the plates.
She truly had no more patience for that woman. What woman truly acted like she was her mother-in-law?
Lady Ruan didn’t expect Lu Jiao to give her attitude and turned to Xie Yunjin right away.
“My third son, did you see that? I only said two things and your wife gave me so much attitude. What kind of wife is she?”
Xie Yunjin’s expression didn’t change as he responded, “I imagine the daughter-in-law takes after the mother-in-law. Honestly, though, Lu Jiao is nothing compared to you. I heard when you first married into the Xie family, you managed to make my grandparents faint.”
Lady Ruan’s face went dark and she almost lost it. The thought of that contract, however, made her stop herself and she only ended up mumbling quietly.
In the living room, the four little ones looked up to Xie Yunjin, “Daddy, when is grandma leaving? I don’t want her here.”
“I don’t want her here either. It puts me in a bad mood.”
“Mommy is in a bad mood too.”
The Fourth Born said angrily.
Xie Yunjin’s eyes darkened and his breathing deepened. Since his mother had so much free time, he’ll make sure she gets busy.
Since his mother was angered here today, she will for sure go home and take it out on his father. His father had someone who was willing to listen and counsel him now and for sure he will end up at her place asking for comfort.
Xie Yunjin thought about it and comforted the four little ones, “Your grandma will go back tonight.”
The First Born followed up, “Will she come back tomorrow?”
Xie Yunjin’s lips curled up, “She probably won’t have time to come tomorrow.”
Today, he will add fuel to the flame and do his best to out his father and Widow Wang’s affair. Once that whole thing becomes public, his mother will be far too busy to come here.
The four little ones trusted their dad wholeheartedly and his comfort made them happy.
Xie Yunjin pushed himself outside. Lu Jiao had sawed off the door stall so Xie Yunjin could move around freely at home.
He went to the kitchen. There, Lu Jiao was washing the dishes with an ugly expression on her face. She barely ate any of the dumplings they made. How could she be happy?
Xie Yunjin entered the kitchen and Lu Jiao sensed him. She glanced at him, ignored him, and then continued to do the dishes.
Xie Yunjin pushed himself closer and tried to fetch a dirty plate to help Lu Jiao out.
Lu Jiao stopped him, “It’s fine. There are only several bowls and plates, you don’t need to help me.”
Xie Yunjin didn’t persist and asked, “You are in a bad mood?”
Lu Jiao snickered and looked back at him, “What do you think?”
Xie Yunjin moved forward even more to get closer to Lu Jiao. subconsciously, Lu Jiao inched backward. Her body wobbled and she almost slammed into the wooden bucket containing the dishes. Xie Yunjin extended his arm and grabbed her by the waist to help stabilize her.
Unprepared for any of this to happen, Lu Jiao fell straight into Xie Yunjin.
Her face landed right before his chest.
Above her head, Xie Yunjin’s face turned red and his heart raced. He subconsciously felt like he should let go but his arm seemed to have been sewn onto Lu Jiao and he didn’t want to let go.
Lu Jiao was a little stunned but she quickly snapped back to reality and struggled. Angrily, she looked up at Xie Yunjin, “If you want to talk, talk normally. Why do you keep moving towards me?”
If it weren’t for this person getting dangerously close to her, she wouldn’t have lost her balance and ended up in his arms.
Xie Yunjin felt his hand itching as he stared at her wide-eyed angry face. He wanted to pinch her chubby cheeks. However, given how angry she was, he was too scared to provoke her further.
He lowered his voice, “You don’t want my mom to come here anymore, do you?”
Lu Jiao pursed her lips and remembered how he wanted to set up Lady Ruan last time. Today, he wanted to set her up again?
Lu Jiao’s mood lifted and asked excitedly, “What good idea do you have now?”
“If my mom gets too angry with us today, she will surely project that anger onto my dad later.”
He stopped talking.
Lu Jiao was not a stupid person and understood right away. He’s telling her to make his mother angry so she would go home and give Xie Laogen a hard time.
If Xie Laogen gets mad, he would subsequently go to Widow Wang for comfort.
As Lu Jiao thought about it, Xie Yunjin spoke again, “Has Aunt Guihua been tired lately?”
Xie Yunjin then left. Behind him, Lu Jiao’s big eyes grinned with her lips.
Xie Yunjin reminded Lu Jiao to go talk to Aunt Guihua. Aunt Guihua may actually be too tired lately and didn’t keep an eye out for Widow Wang.
If she knew there was something going on at her neighbor’s, she would miss sleep to see what was going on.
Lu Jiao very quickly formulated a plan against Lady Ruan – a plan that formed all thanks to a certain someone.
The thought of Lady Ruan made Lu Jiao cuss that she deserved what was coming. She knew her son didn’t welcome her and kept on coming here to provoke him.
Lu Jiao just finished up with the dishes when someone rushed inside in a hurry, “Is the scholar’s wife around?”
Lu Jiao went outside and found two women. One was elderly and the other was middle-aged.
These two were without a doubt, here to ask her for treatment. After Lu Jiao dewormed Tong Xiaoyu, even the neighboring villages learned of Lu Jiao’s existence.
Rumor has it that her medical skills surpassed doctors from the town and the county. The key thing was that she treated patients for free. Therefore, other than the Xie Village, the neighboring Parasol Tree Village, Daliu Village, and Apricot Flower Village all made their way here to get treated by Lu Jiao.
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