Chapter 195: Lend a Helping Hand or Ride the Autumn Breeze?
"You always claim it’s the last time. Don’t try to scare me with that incident. If it’s so unbearable, just spill it out, I’ve had enough." Wang Family’s voice had grown louder, probably due to agitation.
"Dear sister, why bother putting yourself through this? You’ve been living so comfortably at your in-laws’ place all these years, why let yourself be suppressed by others?" the woman said with a somewhat apologetic smile. "It’s just a bit of silver, I promise not to bother you again afterwards."
After a long pause, Wang Family seemed to be considering, and finally drew a deep breath, "I’ll trust you one last time. If you bother me again, I’ll expose the matter myself instead of constantly being hassled by you."
"Definitely not, my youngest son got married, I don’t have much to worry about now." The woman even chuckled a couple of times after speaking, apparently in a great mood from achieving her goal.
"I don’t have any silver on me today, come get it tomorrow. I’ll be at my stall in West Market, I’ll follow when you pass by, but you must pretend you don’t know me, don’t let my younger sister see you," Wang Family instructed.
"Ok, ok, I’ll be careful."
Then came the sound of footsteps, both of them left the alley, one after the other. Bai Ruozhu didn’t dare move. She was afraid that if Dengdeng cried, it would be like revealing her position. She sent her mother a glance, asking her to follow and watch.
Lin PingEr, being a straightforward person, didn’t dare to follow too closely. When she left the alley, the market was crowded with people, she couldn’t make out which woman had been speaking with Wang Family.
Bai Ruozhu stepped out of the alley as soon as she thought it was safe, carrying the already sleeping Dengdeng. Her mother shook her head at her.
"No worries, they will meet again tomorrow anyway, we’ll find a way to figure it out." Bai Ruozhu winked at her mother.
Lin PingEr frowned, "Wasn’t your aunt concealing something, threatened by someone else? Do you think so too?" She asked uncertainly.
Bai Ruozhu nodded, "Certainly that’s the case. Moreover, it’s not the first time the other party blackmailed her for money. To think she is so stingy that she would give away her money, it must be because the other party knows a big secret of hers. I think it’s not something good, she is very guilty."
"What could it be?" The more uncertain she was, the more curious she became. Lin PingEr felt like she was being teased.
"Man, we’re lucky today. Our town is neither too big nor too small, yet we stumbled upon our aunt’s secret. It seems like even the heavens couldn’t stand it anymore, wanting to teach her a lesson." Bai Ruozhu’s eyes glowed with excitement, looking forward to giving Wang Family a hard time.
Lost in all the speculations, Lin PingEr asked quietly, "Could it be that your aunt is having an affair?"
Bai Ruozhu snorted with laughter, "No one knows. Let’s find out who that woman threatening her is first. We can bribe her with gold, then I can’t believe we won’t hear the truth."
"Your aunt is like a money tree for that woman, what if she doesn’t want to spill the beans?" Lin PingEr started to worry again.
Bai Ruozhu laughed like a cheeky fox, "That won’t happen. Didn’t you hear? Aunt has reached her limit. That woman probably already knows that she can’t extort any more money from her. If she could get a big sum of money at once, she wouldn’t care about selling aunt out at all. Besides, if their friendship was that strong, she wouldn’t have threatened aunt again and again."
They were chatting as they returned to the stall. From a distance, they could see Wang Family’s figure. This time, she seemed smart enough not to dress flamboyantly. Instead, she was wearing a rough cotton dress, which made her look like she was there to put in work.
She was standing in front of the stall, trying to snatch the chores from Bai Zehao, yet only succeeded in spilling some of the Bone Soup. The sight made the customers cringe, exclaiming what a waste of good stuff it was.
Bai Ruozhu gave her mother a look, hinting not to give the game away, before she carried baby Dengdeng over.
"Oh, my dear sister-in-law and Ruozhu, I see that you’ve returned. I saw your Uncle and eldest brother were so busy. Where did you two go to slack off?" She said it in a teasing tone, but it insinuated that Lin PingEr and Bai Ruozhu were shirking their duties.
Bai Ruozhu smiled at Wang Family, "You worry too much, Aunt. I went to nurse the baby. It’s been hard for this poor child to follow us around. Unlike some people who live in fancy houses and sleep till noon, I can’t offer him much, but at least let him have some milk, right?"
Wang Family knew exactly whom Bai Ruozhu was referring to with the phrase "live in fancy houses and sleep till noon". SanLang now spends his days resting and recuperating from his leg injury back in their big house.
Wang Family wanted to retort, but remembering the purpose of her visit, she held back. She put on a friendly face as she pulled Lin PingEr’s arm, "Dear sister-in-law, father sent me here to help because he knew you two would be too busy. Look how much our father cares about you."
The words made Lin PingEr feel sick to her stomach. Forcing herself to hide her disdain, she responded with a smile, "We are so grateful to father, but it would be improper for us to let you work, sister-in-law."
Bai Ruozhu chimed in, "That’s right, auntie, you are our guest here. Please take a seat. I’ll make you a paratha and serve you a bowl of hot soup."
Unable to resist the offer, Wang Family quickly forgot about her father’s commands. Tempted by the idea of drinking and eating, she seated herself at the nearest table as Bai Ruozhu had suggested.
Bai Ruozhu prepared a chicken-stuffed paratha for her, adding two slices of fresh lotus root. This new ingredient, though not expensive, added an enjoyable crunch and was a popular add-on for many customers.
Bai Ruozhu signaled her brother to serve the paratha and soup to Wang Family. Bai Zehao played along and announced loudly, "Dear auntie, please eat and drink to your heart’s content. If it’s not enough, don’t hesitate to tell us. Even if it means losing business, we won’t let you leave unsatisfied."
Wang Family, staring at the food and salivating, didn’t register any of Bai Zehao’s words. But the other customers couldn’t help but snicker, watching how greedy she was. She looked far from ready to work and seemed to be there to take advantage instead.
It didn’t take long for Wang Family to finish her paratha, with her eyes greedily looking at the iron pan, clearly indicating she wanted to eat more.
"Ruozhu, these parathas you make are really delicious. This is the first time auntie tasted such a yummy paratha." Wang Family chuckled.
Bai Ruozhu kept making the parathas while replying, "Auntie, this is called paratha, do you want another one?"
Wang Family, who was so used to a life of laziness and comfort back home, completely forgot that she was outside now and laughed, "I rushed over here first thing in the morning to find you and didn’t have time for breakfast If you could make one with a different flavor that would be even better."
She thought that under these public circumstances, Bai Ruozhu certainly couldn’t refuse her request. Even if Bai Ruozhu did refuse, she wouldn’t care because it would just show everyone how stingy Bai Ruozhu’s family is.
As Bai Ruozhu continued to make parathas and smiled, "Auntie, would you like one with extra meat? Sure, I will make it for you right away!"