"No wonder there was such a fuss at your house today," she remarked. "Just now when Mrs. Li left, she was shaking so violently that she seemed to stagger thrice with each step. People asked her about it, but she just hesitated, looking like she had been greatly wronged. Behind the scenes, everyone was saying how your mother-in-law is too harsh, deliberately making life difficult for Mrs. Li and her daughter. Who would have thought there was such a drama behind it all!
But Mrs. Li really doesn't know any better, does she? Times are tough for every family, who has the spare silver to spend on quilts? At least she still has clothes to wear when she goes out. The children in Wang Laizi's family from the next village have to share one outfit between them, even in the dead of winter. His teenage daughter still has to sleep naked with her brothers under the same blanket," she said.
