When She Stops Being Dramatic

Chapter 47: Chapter 37: The 1950s Spurned Wife (37)

Zhu Yun chuckled, first greeting Mrs. Chu before turning her head to the stunned Old Mrs. Wang. ”Aunt Wang, have you come to wait on your city-bred daughter-in-law?”

She simply loved twisting the knife. Right after she inherited the original owner’s body, she’d sent Old Mrs. Wang a thick letter, detailing the untold story of the sweet-faced, bitter-hearted city daughter-in-law versus the hardworking, long-suffering countryside mother-in-law.

’Doesn’t Lin Jin care more about appearances than anything else?’

’I’ll just twist all of Lin Jin’s efforts to save face and see how Old Mrs. Wang’s long-dormant volcano erupts. When that time comes, which side will the great filial son, Wang Xianbing, choose?’

’Filial piety on one side, love on the other, with the blade of his career hanging over his head. I can’t wait to have the Teletubbies give me a 24/7 livestream of the drama across the hall!’

The moment she heard the word ”wait on,” Old Mrs. Wang bristled. If there was any waiting on to be done, it should be her daughter-in-law waiting on her.

Even if that was the real reason she had come to the city, no one was supposed to say it out loud.

It was all because the original owner of her body had been such a pushover, allowing the old woman to develop a whole slew of bad habits.

”My son asked me to come here to enjoy a comfortable life,” she huffed, puffing out her chest.

”That can’t be right,” Zhu Yun asked in feigned surprise. ”Comrade Lin Jin is already five months pregnant and hasn’t been eating well. I heard she was even talking about spending forty or fifty yuan to hire a nanny to cook and care for her. Now that they’ve invited you, surely it’s not...”

Old Mrs. Wang’s face darkened. She turned and glared at her son. ”Forty or fifty yuan to hire a nanny?”

’She didn’t care about the rest of it, only the amount of money. How was she any worse than a nanny? Why was her pay getting cut in half? They were giving themselves a family discount, but had they even bothered to ask for her approval?’

”Mom, only high-ranking leaders can afford that. How much do Lin Jin and I even make? Which of the families here in the compound can afford a nanny?” Wang Xianbing coaxed in a low voice.

Old Mrs. Wang nodded. That was true. Her son was capable, but there were far more capable people in the city. Besides, this wasn’t the countryside; food, clothing, everything cost money. That was why she had even lugged two large jars of pickled vegetables all the way here.

But Zhu Yun dismantled his excuse with a puzzled look. ”Huh? I heard Comrade Lin Jin makes fifty or sixty yuan a month, and Mr. Wang brings in over a hundred. How can you not afford it?”

If Lin Jin weren’t such a spendthrift—buying new clothes and cosmetics every season and satisfying her cravings with things like powdered milk and malted milk—a hundred yuan could have supported a family of seven or eight in an ordinary household.

And he was saying this to a newly arrived old woman from the countryside, one who was obsessed with money and calculated every last cent! A combined income of nearly two hundred yuan a month, and he called that ”how much do we even make”? Just how much did they expect to earn?

’My son is completely focused on his work, so he must have no concept of money. It must be this little city daughter-in-law who controls the finances and is unwilling to show any filial respect to an old woman like me!’

Old Mrs. Wang’s face fell, and she shot Lin Jin a gloomy look.

The people in the courtyard crossed their arms, ready to watch the show. The Wang Family cared too much about face. Just one look at the old woman’s small, triangular eyes, and everyone could already anticipate the drama to come.

The current daughter-in-law from the Song and Dance Troupe versus the countryside mother-in-law versus the ex-daughter-in-law from across the hall—the flames of gossip were burning brighter than ever.

Before anyone could react, Zhu Yun’s expression changed, and she angrily confronted Wang Xianbing. ”You mean to tell me that while Aunt Wang toils away for your family, and you two get waited on hand and foot, you’re just going to fob her off with a pittance?”

Old Mrs. Wang ground her teeth. ’That’s right! Compared to two hundred yuan, what is twenty yuan if not a pittance?’

”How can you be so shameless?”

”Never mind that you can afford it. Even if you couldn’t, how could you have the gall to make your mother—the woman who cleaned up your shit and piss to raise you—serve the son, and now the son’s family?”

’Exactly!’ Old Mrs. Wang thought. ’Serving her son and her grandson is one thing, but why should she have to serve her daughter-in-law, too? Her other daughters-in-law were all cared for by their own mothers when they were pregnant. What makes this city one so delicate? Back home, what woman isn’t still working in the fields at eight or nine months pregnant?’

”Even blood brothers keep clear accounts. There are plenty of unfilial children in the world. Who can guarantee that in a few years, when Aunt Wang is bedridden, a couple like you who don’t even cook will take care of her?”

’There are plenty of those unfilial dogs!’ Old Mrs. Wang fumed. ’She had several old friends who were bedridden, and it was a miserable sight to behold. They were left to sleep in their own filth!’

”You’re not even willing to pay her when she’s able to work. What happens when she’s hospitalized and needs money for medicine? Are you just going to drag her home and wait for God to take her?”

’They won’t even pay me, and they still expect me to believe they’re filial?’

”Old people feel insecure. Do you think she’s toiling away for you for any reason other than to secure a comfortable retirement? No amount of sweet talk is as real as putting some cold, hard cash in her hands!”