Could these words truly have come from her mother-in-law, who never uttered a sentence without cursing?
Zhang Xiaoying rose from bed, dug out fifty wen from the stash the original owner had hidden, and tossed them over: "Now scram!"
Mrs. Liang was dumbfounded.
She thought she was dreaming.
"Don't want them, is that it?" Zhang Xiaoying snapped fiercely.
Afraid that Zhang Xiaoying would change her mind, Mrs. Liang hurriedly turned and walked out: "Thank you, Ma'am."
Zhang Xiaoying ignored her, and as Mrs. Liang stepped away, she deliberately pressed her palms together and muttered a prayer: "Ancestors, head of the family, I know my mistakes, I won't mistreat the Xu family's descendants anymore, please don't come after me, don't drag me down to hell."
When Mrs. Liang heard this, she turned her head and saw her once fearsome mother-in-law trembling, seemingly scared by something.
She remembered how her mother-in-law had woken up, looking dazed; could it be true that the spirits of the ancestors had shown themselves?
Mrs. Liang clutched the copper coins in her hand, wiped away her tears, and hastened out of the room.
As soon as Mrs. Liang left, Zhang Xiaoying folded back to the side of the bed and sprawled down.
She had to think about what to do next.
Xu Changsheng, under the pretext of caring for Xu Wencong, had moved into town with Madam Lin; neither of them had sought work, and Xu Yunfei hung about like a hoodlum all day long. The only one earning money was Xu Qinglin.
Xu Qinglin had no skills and could only rely on farming and manual labor for income, looking age-wise almost the same as the original owner due to the pressures of life.
The Xu family was truly poor!
The little silver the original owner had saved was only a little over three taels, and Xu Wencong's scholarship grant required five taels of silver. If the original owner hadn't killed herself, it's likely that the eldest girl would have been sent off as a child bride to gather a dowry for Xu Wencong's scholarship grant.
Zhang Xiaoying sighed, took the opportunity to check her space and found it still there, but after being besieged by zombies for nearly half a month, her nutritional supplements and food supplies were mostly used up. However, there were some resources she had scavenged and stockpiled.
Her space only had storage capabilities; it had no spiritual spring and couldn't be used for farming.
As for her healing superpower, at the moment it could only repair cuts to the skin back to normal.
The current situation was that her superpowers were still present, albeit weak, but her five senses and reaction speed were almost the same as in the post-apocalyptic world. In other words, she was still very strong in this world without superpower users!
No zombies besieging the city, no mutant flora and fauna, the mountains were green and the waters clear, a dream-like haven for retirement!
Zhang Xiaoying was just feeling grateful that heaven had not treated her harshly, when she heard a scream from outside: "Head of the family, what are you doing? Stop standing up there, come down!"
"Big brother, what do you mean by this? Are you threatening our mother? Do you want our Xu family to be disgraced, unable to straighten our backs, with the girls unable to marry in the future?"
"Mom, come out quickly, my elder brother is going to kill himself!"
...
Zhang Xiaoying leapt up in fury.
Such a bunch of worrisome creatures!
She grabbed the walking stick by the bed in a flash of anger and stormed out.
Not behaving and now resorting to threats of suicide?
As soon as she walked out, she saw Xu Qinglin with bloodshot eyes, standing on the rim of the courtyard well, holding a firewood knife in his hand.
"I have worked hard to support this family. I have never complained about Wencong's education, not even when my pregnant wife had to do heavy labor. But how have you all treated me?
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My wife experienced a pregnancy complication, and I can't even afford to have a doctor help stabilize the fetus! Dajie and Ernie are being bossed around like maids every day by you all, and I, as their father, can't even bear to raise my voice at them, how about you?
You do nothing but beat or scold them. I can't protect my wife, my daughters, or my unborn child; I'm just a useless coward. What's the use of me being alive? Rather than being driven to death by you, I might as well die first!"
Xu Changsheng and the others were frightened by Xu Qinglin's outburst.
Zhang Xiaoying strongly disapproved of Xu Qinglin's way of handling things. The daughters were already so big, yet he acted like a rash youngster. Maybe he could get the money, but it would also scare his wife and children, especially Liang's wife who might lose the baby because of his actions!
"Mother, will you or will you not call the doctor for Guiniang?" Xu Qinglin stared at Zhang Xiaoying, trembling slightly.
Zhang Xiaoying sneered, "You've grown guts, threatening me? If you're brave enough, jump down and see if I'll let anyone pull you back up. After you die, I'll wrap you in a mat and throw you into the mountains, and then by marrying off Dajie and Ernie, I can still get some silver back!"
Xu Qinglin was stunned.
Dajie and Ernie knelt down with a thud, and Dajie said, "Dad, please come down. Mother is still pregnant. If you die, what will we do? Grandma, my dad just made a mistake for a moment, please forgive him."
It was noon, and the villagers were returning from their work in the fields. The commotion at the Xu family immediately attracted a crowd of onlookers.
Xu Qinglin became more unsettled when he saw his two daughters.
Zhang Xiaoying took the opportunity to push him away from the well, then struck down with her cane.
Xu Qinglin grunted.
"You worthless thing, crying, making scenes, threatening to hang yourself, who are you trying to scare? You damned creature, if I had known you'd break my heart like this, I would have been better off strangling you at birth to save trouble, instead of letting you infuriate me like this today…"
Zhang Xiaoying, imitating the original master's tone, abused and beat him.
Liang's wife rushed to help Xu Qinglin, but Zhang Xiaoying's quick reflexes brought the cane down elsewhere, barely managing to avoid rolling her eyes.
She had clearly given the money to Liang's wife earlier, and despite having had many chances, Liang's wife failed to tell Xu Qinglin about it, especially choosing the moment when she was attacking Xu Qinglin to intervene...
If anyone other than her had beaten Xu Qinglin today, Liang's wife's action would have certainly resulted in injury from a cane strike.
"Guiniang, are you okay, is anything wrong?" Xu Qinglin anxiously held Liang's wife's hand.
Liang's wife shook her head with tears in her eyes, "I'm fine."
Zhang Xiaoying: "..."
"Madame Zhang is really vicious, Guiniang finally got pregnant, and she bullies her. Isn't she a woman herself?"
"Look how terribly she bullies people, tsk tsk, this pious old woman will get her karma sooner or later."
"Guiniang fell down the mountain and had a pregnancy complication, and this pious old lady wouldn't even call a doctor. Look, Qinglin was driven to threaten his own life."
"Guiniang is truly unfortunate, so is Qinglin, ending up with a mother like that..."
The villagers peeking over the wall whispered among themselves, discussing Zhang Xiaoying's faults.
And without exception, these words all reached Zhang Xiaoying's ears.
Zhang Xiaoying: "..."
Although she was truly wronged, who would believe it now when she, as Madame Zhang, was the one being chastised?
Lin's wife said sarcastically, "With big brother dead, he's relieved, but don't forget Yunfei isn't married yet, Dajie and Ernie aren't married either. If you die, how will you face our ancestors?"
After a pause, Lin's wife looked at Zhang Xiaoying, "It's better to have Wencong stop his studies and return home, so as to avoid our Second Branch bearing the infamy of driving the First Branch to death, losing face to everyone. Mother, let's go to town today and bring Wencong back home."
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