Chapter 11: What Bastard Is That?

Seeing the wooden backing of the picture frame intact, Liu Chunhua let out a long breath of relief.

“We bought a few things for the house. Why are you looking at the frame?” Qiao Ran asked with a smile. “What, are you going to frame them?”

Chunhua glared at her. “Someone should sew that mouth of yours shut. Have you been possessed? You’ve gone from a tight-lipped fish to a parrot that never stops talking.”

“Where did the money come from?” she pressed.

“My husband gave it to me.”

“Oh.” Chunhua muttered unhappily, “Your husband works hard for his money. Stop spending it so freely.”

Xia Xiaoqi poked Qiao Ran’s arm. “Did you hear? Mom says your husband earns money easily, so you should spend as freely as you like. Don’t make yourself suffer for other people.”

“Oh.” Qiao Ran turned and gave Chunhua a sweet smile. “Thank you, Mom. You’re so good to me, even better than my own mother.”

The scolding on Chunhua’s tongue stuck in her throat.

Xiaoqi and Qiao Ran weren’t stingy. They left half the walnut cookies and cake in the old woman’s room, then gathered their new basin, cloth, cosmetics, and other things to take back to their rooms.

They’d just entered the kitchen when Auntie Wang, sitting on the edge of the kang in the east room, said, “You’re too softhearted. After all this, you’re still indulging them? If they were my daughters-in-law, I’d have my son beat them to death.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Xiaoqi gripped the doorframe and poked her head in.

“Good heavens, Auntie Wang! There are so many people buried in the graveyard. Which ones did your son beat to death?”

Qiao Ran joined her, leaning against the frame and looking coldly at Wang. “If you’ve got nothing to do, go home and embroider or sew shoe soles. Why come here boasting? You flap that big mouth stirring up trouble everywhere. You could talk the village dogs into splitting up.”

“Besides,” Xiaoqi said, “do you even have a daughter-in-law?”

“No. With that family, those circumstances, and a mother-in-law like her, what decent girl would marry in?” Qiao Ran replied.

“Auntie Wang, people should be kind,” Xiaoqi said.

“Or watch out for a bolt of lightning,” Qiao Ran added.

Their back-and-forth turned Wang’s face green with rage.

Watching the daughters-in-law leave, Chunhua murmured to the trembling woman, “Isn’t it uncanny? They’re thick as thieves now. Say one thing and they have ten answers ready. Don’t take it to heart, Auntie. They’re only children.”

“And you’re keeping daughters-in-law like that around?” Wang retorted. “I’m not just boasting: our Dongmei is ten thousand times better than those two.”

“Yes, yes.” Chunhua nodded. Her eyes fell on the walnut cookies and cake on the kang. *Those two spendthrifts did remember me after all,* she thought.

At dinner, only Chunhua, her two daughters, her grandson Xiaohu, and her granddaughter Xiaoling sat at the table.

“Ling’er, go call your elder and younger aunts to dinner,” Lu Hongna said.

Four-year-old Xiaoling ran out and soon returned.

“Elder Aunt says she isn’t eating. She’s lying on the floor,” the little girl reported brightly. “Second Aunt isn’t eating either. She says she’s going on a secret date with the Duke of Zhou.”

“What?” Lu Hongli sprang up and slapped the table. “Mom, forget dinner! Let’s go catch her cheating. I always knew Xia Xiaofang wasn’t a decent woman. She actually dares meet another man while Second Brother’s away!”

“Eat your dinner. What are you yelling for?” Chunhua glared at her. “If you dare spread that outside, I’ll skin you.”

Did Chunhua trust Xiaoqi?

Of course not. She simply thought that catching someone in the act had to wait until nighttime. Besides, it would be a scandal that made a cuckold of her son; she couldn’t let it spread and damage his reputation.

Night gradually fell. A flickering red candle cast a faint light over the room.

Freshly washed, Xiaoqi rubbed clam oil into her hands. She loved its fragrance and kept holding them under her nose to smell it.

“Sweetie, Xia Xiaofang worked in the fields every day, but her skin is still smooth and soft, not rough at all.” Xiaoqi was absolutely delighted with her host’s body.

“She was born beautiful. What can you do?”

Qiao Ran labored through sit-ups, shooting an envious glance at Xiaoqi’s fair cheek.

Xiaoqi picked up the snow cream and spread it over Qiao Ran’s face. “You’re pretty too. Once you lose weight, you’ll be a real beauty.”

“Fair skin hides a hundred flaws; being fat ruins everything.”

Qiao Ran didn’t actually care much about beauty or ugliness. What mattered to her was training her host’s body to be as agile and strong as her own had been.

They were chatting when Qiao Ran suddenly covered Xiaoqi’s mouth.

“Don’t speak. Someone’s there,” she mouthed in the faintest whisper.

Xiaoqi tensed, clutching the quilt in both hands and scarcely daring to breathe.

Qiao Ran pointed at the drafty window, indicating she’d go out that way. The side room’s paper-covered window had two sections that opened sideways, so it was easy enough for her to slip through.

“Be careful,” Xiaoqi whispered.

Outside, Qiao Ran saw a dark figure lurking by the door, apparently listening to something.

A bamboo basket lay at her feet. She picked it up.

Inside, Xiaoqi heard a clang at the door, followed by a cry of pain.

Then Qiao Ran’s fierce voice rang out. “What bastard is that, sneaking around my wall? Your auntie will have your hide!”

Xiaoqi hurriedly threw on a coat and ran out.

When she pulled the door open, Qiao Ran stood tall with one foot planted on a person, like a victorious general. The person lay sprawled beneath her, a bamboo basket over their head.

Xiaoqi kicked the basket twice. Emboldened by her best friend, she demanded, “What were you trying to steal? Confess and we’ll go easy on you; resist and we’ll be strict.”

A muffled curse came from inside the basket. “You two little hussies have gone too far!”

“Oh, you dare curse at us?” Xiaoqi kicked it twice more, making the person cry out.

Qiao Ran pressed her lips together and slowly lifted her foot.

Only then did Xiaoqi realize something. “Sweetie,” she whispered, “doesn’t that sound like our mother-in-law?”

They looked at each other in silence. Then Xiaoqi tiptoed back into the room and closed the door, pretending she had never come out.

So much for friendship. Her best friend had abandoned her just like that?

By the time Liu Chunhua struggled to sit up on the ground and pulled the basket off her head, she saw her eldest daughter-in-law Qiao Ni yawning as she walked inside.

“Come back here!” Chunhua shouted.

Qiao Ran stopped and looked surprised. “Mom? What are you doing outside the younger couple’s room in the middle of the night?”

Her astonished, composed expression was remarkably convincing. If Chunhua hadn’t heard her voice earlier, she might have doubted Qiao Ran had anything to do with the beating.

“Stop pretending!” Chunhua trembled with anger. “You’ve turned the world upside down, putting a basket over my head!”

“Hm?” Qiao Ran looked utterly bewildered. “What are you talking about?”