"Still picking?" Liu Tieniu's face fell. Did he really think he was a big shot?
"Well, the house is leaking, and I'm going to get some stones to fix it." Zhao Zheng knew this bastard was still obsessed with his daughter-in-law.
"Father-in-law, I'll go with you," Yang Zhaodi said.
Zhang Xiao'e also said, "Father-in-law, we can do it."
Liu Tieniu saw this as a good opportunity to show off.
He hurriedly said, "How can I let my two sisters-in-law do this kind of rough work? I'll pick it up!"
He pounded his chest. "Uncle Zhao, since Brother Shitou and his brother are gone, you can treat me like your son. My mother said that a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor. If you need anything in the future, just call me anytime."
Zhao Zheng nodded with a half-smile, and glanced ahead again, and saw a furtive head looking in his direction.
Who else could it be but Liu Laosi?
"Tie Niu, Uncle Zhao was right about you. Don't worry, if you work hard, your uncle will not treat you unfairly." Zhao Zheng patted his shoulder and said.
Liu Tie Niu was excited. He didn't expect Zhao Zheng to be so easy to fool.
Yang Zhaodi felt that Liu Tie Niu had bad intentions and wanted to remind his father-in-law, but he was helping her out of kindness. If she complained about this and that, people would say she was ungrateful if the news got out.
Watching her father-in-law and Liu Tie Niu leave, Zhang Xiaoe frowned and said, "Sister-in-law, didn't the Liu family have a few quarrels with our family? Why did Liu Tie Niu come to help your father-in-law?"
Yang Zhaodi shook her head and said, "I don't know. I'll ask my father-in-law later."
Zhao Zheng was happy to have help. Originally, if he picked it himself, he would only get half a basket.
Now, the basket is directly filled.
"Okay, these are enough. We'll come back later." Zhao Zheng said with a smile.
Liu Tieniu cursed inwardly, but the words were already out, and he couldn't break them. "Get up!"
He bared his teeth, mustering the courage to walk towards Zhao Zheng's house.
"Wow, you're so strong, Tieniu! You must be the strongest man in our little village!"
"Liu Laosi is so damn lucky to have a son like you!"
Zhao Zheng kept talking non-stop. Liu Tieniu was so pleased, but he kept saying, "My dad says I'm stupid. Uncle Zhao, stop praising me! I'm embarrassed!"
After running a few times, the stones in the yard piled up like a small mountain.
Zhao Zheng finally nodded in satisfaction. "That's enough for now, Tieniu, have a drink of water!"
Zhao Zheng poured him a glass of cold water and handed it to him.
Liu Tieniu was tired and hungry. He thought, after all the work he'd done, Zhao Laosan would definitely treat him to a meal, right?
He still had several pounds of corn at home, so he wouldn't be so stingy.
Thinking of the sweet corn, he swallowed silently.
Most importantly, it would also build closer relationships with the two younger sisters-in-law.
"Tie Niu, take this cake. You've worked so hard." Zhao Zheng handed over half a wild vegetable cake he'd extorted from Liu Lao Si, and without waiting for Liu Tie Niu's hypocritical push, "This is your reward. Don't refuse it, or I'll be furious!"
Liu Tie Niu laughed angrily. He'd worked himself to death carrying so many rocks, and he'd just give himself a wild vegetable cake?
How stingy!
"Uncle Zhao, this..."
"Don't be embarrassed. This is my rations saved. I'm old, so it's okay to eat less. You're still young, so you need to eat more."
With that, he stuffed the dry cake into Liu Tie Niu's mouth, a look of pain on his face.
Hearing this, Liu Tie Niu felt embarrassed to mention the corn; he had volunteered to help in the first place.
How could you ask someone to give you corn rice?
At this critical moment, who wouldn't break a grain of rice into two to eat? It was good enough that the stingy old Zhao was willing to give him half a dry cake, which could satisfy a meal.
"Well, thank you, Uncle Zhao." Liu Tieniu was actually a little happy in his heart, feeling that he had taken advantage of the Zhao family.
"This is a good start. Taking half a dry cake today, how long will it take over the Zhao family's land and daughter-in-law?" Thinking of this, he walked back happily.
Looking at the dry cake in his hand, he was a little surprised. "Why does this cake look familiar?"
He tasted it. "This tastes so familiar, exactly the same as my mother made..."
He didn't think much about it, as all wild vegetable cakes tasted the same, and then he gobbled it up.
Zhao Zheng used a wooden stick to mark the position of the stove and the bed.
Yang Zhaodi was helping on the side. After a while, she said, "Father-in-law, that Liu Tieniu is not a good person!"
"I know."
"Then you still..."
"Zhaodi, Liu Tieniu has always had feelings for you. I know he is targeting you."
Yang Zhaodi's face changed. "Father-in-law, I never had such an idea."
Zhao Zheng waved his hand. "You and Xiao'e are still young. You have a long way to go in the future. You two don't have children to tie you down. You can still find a good family in the future."
"If you really have this idea, don't worry about me getting angry. Just tell me. I'll happily marry you off."
Yang Zhaodi's sallow face suddenly turned pale, tears streaming down her face. She knelt on the ground, "Father-in-law, I really have no intention of remarrying. I just want to stay with you, serve you, fulfill my filial duty on behalf of Brother Lei, and provide for your old age and see you to the end of your life."
Zhang Xiao'e was also terrified and cried, "Father-in-law, are you going to kick us out? I will definitely work harder in the future. I'll only eat one meal a day from now on—no, half a piece of bread, absolutely nothing more. Please don't kick me out, okay?"
Zhao Zheng didn't think much of it. The two daughters-in-law were still young; in modern times, they would be high school graduates.
They married their adopted sons without a wedding night and no children.
They couldn't spend their whole lives with their father-in-law.
Besides, they were still young. If they thought this way now, what about the future?
Zheng Chunmei had hooked up with Ma the Hunter not long after her husband died, and she already had a mother-in-law and three children.
These were just practical issues.
Whether physically or mentally, they needed someone to rely on.
Rather than letting them flirt with others behind his back, it was better to speak openly.
"I'm not trying to drive you away. When you're older, you won't feel that way anymore," Zhao Zheng said.
"Even if I die, I will die in the Zhao family!" Yang Zhaodi said resolutely: "If my father-in-law drives me away, I will hit my head against the wall and die now."
"Me too!" Zhang Xiaoe said with a determined face.
A daughter who is married off is like spilled water.
They are now members of the Zhao family.
Now that their husbands are dead, they should listen to their father-in-law and be filial to him.
If they abandon their father-in-law, won't they be stabbed to death?
Zhao Zheng was also slightly moved in his heart.
In modern times, this kind of filial piety and loyalty is rare.
Seeing the two girls' determined faces, Zhao Zheng said: "Don't worry, I won't drive you away. You are members of the Zhao family and my relatives. From now on, it is more important than anything else for the three of us to live a good life."
The two girls breathed a sigh of relief and cried with joy again, "Thank you, father-in-law!"