"Ouch!"
Mrs. Zhang fell and hurt her backside, frustrated and annoyed, she glared at her husband angrily.
"Li Qinghai, are you even a man?! Your own wife is being bullied, and you don't even step up to help! Oh, my life is so miserable, marrying such a useless man..."
"That's enough! What's with all the yelling and shouting?"
Mrs. Li Zhou tolerated Mrs. Zhang's occasional complaints about her second son before, but now Mrs. Zhang was insulting her son right in front of her, and Mrs. Li Zhou couldn't take it.
God knows how she abuses the second son in private? As a mother, she was heartbroken.
Mrs. Li Zhou was becoming more and more displeased with this daughter-in-law.
She turned to A Qiu and asked, "Third son, how many eggs do you want for the glutinous rice?"
"Three, probably. She won't be happy with less than a bowl of glutinous rice." Long Yue echoed.
Mrs. Li Zhou felt the pinch about the eggs, but she hadn't had glutinous rice lotus root in many years either, and she craved it, so she urged the eldest son's family to bring it over.
The Chen family and the Li family had always gotten along well, and soon the rice was exchanged, and Long Yue casually glanced at the Li family members staring blankly at the glutinous rice and lotus root, then turned around and pulled A Qiu into the kitchen.
"Sister-in-law... you..." A Qiu looked at Long Yue washing the lotus roots in disbelief, wondering if he was seeing things.
The third sister-in-law was actually in the kitchen?
Was the third sister-in-law sick today?
Li Qingmu arrived at the kitchen door and saw his little wife bustling around inside, his eyes filled with tenderness.
He didn't go in, as he knew nothing about cooking, and would only cause trouble if he went in.
During Long Yue's downturn, she always cooked for herself, and her best dish was glutinous rice lotus root, which required an extended time to stew for the flavors to fully develop. By evening, the whole yard was filled with the rich aroma of lotus root and glutinous rice.
The family members each poked their heads out of their respective rooms, hungrily staring at the kitchen.
Soon, a large dish of glutinous rice lotus root cut into sections was served on the table, and the whole family sat around it, their gaze fixed on the lotus root.
Long Yue observed their expressions and knew her plan was likely to succeed. Just as Mrs. Zhang reached out to grab some, she pressed down on the plate to stop her.
Mrs. Zhang's face changed instantly, and she yelled, "What the heck? It's dinner time, and you're not letting us eat? Are you planning to have it all to yourself?"
Mrs. Li Zhou trembled slightly at these words, and Long Yue noted their changes in expression with a faint smile.
Still smiling, she said, "Mom, it's rare for us to have such a nice meal, we must enjoy it thoroughly, so I plan to divide it up."
"Divide? How?"
Mrs. Zhang sensed something was off and widened her eyes.
"Of course, we'll divide it according to age and headcount." Long Yue smiled mischievously, "Dad and Mom are older, so they need more, Big Brother and Sister-in-law work a lot, so they need more too, and the children are growing, so they need more as well, hmm, my husband, the rest can be for us, one each!"
Li Qingmu squinted his eyes, seeing through his little wife's intentions. Since she wanted to mess with Mrs. Zhang, let her do so!
Sure enough, Mrs. Zhang was discontented: "So I only get one piece?"
"That's right!"
"No way, I'm a grown person, eating so little will starve me. The two kids from the eldest brother's family are so small, do they need a whole piece? I think half is enough!"
"That won't do. Third sister-in-law said children need more to grow, so this lotus root is for me and the kids!"
Although Mrs. Wang was meek, when it came to her children's interests, she was firm. She quickly took the lotus root portioned by Long Yue and hurriedly let her children eat.
Mrs. Zhang looked left and right, seeing everyone else had started eating, while she was running around but only got one piece of lotus root. Then, thinking of the losses she suffered from Li Qingmu earlier, her backside still aching!
She was extremely angered and felt her husband was useless, so she lost her temper, picking up the bowl of dish soup on the table and splashing it over Long Yue.
"Yue'er!"
Long Yue, having not eaten glutinous rice lotus root for a long time, was so focused on eating that she didn't notice her surroundings. When she looked up, she saw Li Qingmu's tall figure blocking in front of her.
"Prime Minister!"
Seeing the table now splattered with soup, Long Yue immediately realized what had happened. She stood up quickly, looked at her husband, and checked him over thoroughly.
Fortunately, the soup had already cooled, making it just a bit messy but not injuring him.
But how could Long Yue let her off so easily? She immediately picked up the large bowl with the leftover glutinous rice lotus and rushed over.
"Hey, third son's wife..."
Mrs. Li Zhou wanted to stop her, but she was evidently slower than Long Yue. With a bang, the large bowl was already upturned onto Mrs. Zhang's head.
"Ouch, ow—" Mrs. Zhang screamed; she had originally wanted to see Long Yue and Li Qingmu make fools of themselves, thinking they would be enraged and argue with her. Little did she expect Long Yue to retaliate so aggressively and with such thorough retribution?
Mrs. Zhang was stunned, her head dizzy from the blow, and she fainted right then.
"Okay, what... what to do now, quick... quickly get the doctor!"
Seeing that the bowl Long Yue overturned was covered in blood, Mrs. Li Zhou was scared pale, fearing they had seriously injured someone. She trembled as she spoke, urging the second son, Li Qinghai, to quickly get the doctor.
The room was in a clamor, and Long Yue wasn't in the mood to clean up the mess, pulling Li Qingmu into the room.
"Hurry and wash up and change clothes."
Long Yue said with concern, but her tone was not pleasant.
Li Qingmu knew his wife was angry, obediently going to a small room beside the woodshed to take a quick wash, returning with a basin of warm water.
Seeing Long Yue's slightly fatigued face, he felt tender heartache and softened his tone, "Yue'er has been running up the mountain for days, you must be exhausted. Wash up and rest quickly!"
As he spoke, he looked at Long Yue, his gaze full of affection and tenderness, without realizing it, even his way of addressing her had changed.
Long Yue nodded gently, her voice carrying a bit of sultriness, "My feet hurt..."
Li Qingmu immediately understood, carefully squatting down to take off Long Yue's shoes. As expected, her once pale and delicate feet were covered in blisters. One after another, just looking at them hurt.
His expression darkened with guilt, feeling it was his fault that his wife suffered.
He plucked a hair, gently threading it through the blisters to squeeze out the pus, then cleaned it with warm water.
His movements were gentle and proficient, making it so that Long Yue didn't feel much pain.
He then fetched two more basins of water, thoroughly cleaning Long Yue, and when everything was done, he swiftly nestled onto the bed, pulling Long Yue into his arms, satisfaction evident in his expression.
"Well..." Long Yue thought it was time to bring up the main issue, but before she could speak, he started first, "Is it about the second sister-in-law?"
Long Yue nodded, "Yes! You saw what kind of person the second sister-in-law is today, she's a troublemaker, staying in our house causes chaos and unrest! I have to figure out a way to get her out, will you agree? If not, I won't continue this life!"
Looking at his little wife, feeling aggrieved, he suddenly found her very endearing, lowered his head to kiss her smooth forehead, and hugged her tighter.
"Yue'er, don't be mad. Actually, I've been annoyed with her for a long time, but she's my second sister-in-law, and as a brother, I shouldn't interfere in her and her husband's matters. But now, since she targeted you, we have a reason."
"Isn't that right? Fortunately, the soup was cold, otherwise, I would have torn her apart on the spot!"
Thinking of how Li Qingmu protected her despite being splashed with soup by Mrs. Zhang, Long Yue felt both touched and heartbroken. Even though she taught her a lesson, she still felt unsatisfied!