Chapter 177 A Tongtong's Only Wish

Bai Nuo fetched a basin of water, then went to the kitchen to get a small stool and sat down between her two older sisters, washing things with them.

Tie Jinhua has very high hygiene requirements for everything used by the livestock and poultry in the breeding team. She always felt that people are prone to getting sick if they live in a poor environment, and the same should be true for livestock and poultry. Therefore, the feeding troughs in each pen are washed every day, and the straw bedding for poultry pens, pig pens, cow pens, horse pens and the like are taken out to be dried every few days and scrubbed every once in a while.

Some small baskets and mats also need to be washed.

Bai Nuo brought a few tethers and small baskets that she usually uses to carry things to the backyard to wash and dry them in the sun all morning.

Perfect timing! I can also chat with the two older sisters. Don't be fooled by the fact that Mu Rujun and Fan Lianhua rarely chat or gossip with the older women in the village, and they're not the type to talk to outsiders.

However, these two people knew quite a lot, simply because Mu Rujun was Secretary Lu's eldest daughter-in-law, and she could hear about everything that happened in the village from home.

Fan Lianhua's mother-in-law is a very lively old lady whose greatest hobby is going out to chat with her old friends. She likes to go home and share whatever she hears with her daughter-in-law. So even though Bai Nuo rarely interacts with the gossipy aunties and grandmas in the village, she still knows a lot of things.

"Oh, did Old Madam Liu really agree to let the second branch of the family separate?" Fan Lianhua kept working, but her eyes were curious as she looked at Mu Junru.

To be honest, the brigade leader was really ruthless. He actually dumped the Liu family's matter on Secretary Lu, and then ran away without giving Secretary Lu a chance to refuse.

So in the end, it was Secretary Lu who became the biggest victim, running around with the Liu family.

Mu Rujun smiled and nodded, then whispered, "Of course it's true. I heard from my mother-in-law that Old Mrs. Liu was originally against it. Don't you know that old lady? She's completely biased towards Liu Laosan, and she'd love to cut off the flesh of the first and second wives to feed Liu Laosan."

Normally, Liu Laosan and his wife never did any farm work. The family's work points were basically earned by the elderly couple and their two wives. How could they easily let the second wife give them away? If the family had fewer work points, what would happen to their precious youngest son? But in the end, the second wife did give them away.

"I have heard about it, but how exactly did they agree to it?" Fan Lianhua pressed for details.

Mu Rujun sighed as she recalled the scene: "How else could they have divided the property? Liu Erzhu and his wife were practically risking their lives to separate the family. At first, Diao Xiaoyan absolutely refused to let Wang Mudan live with the Liu family, saying it would affect her daughter's chances of finding a husband. She cried and said that the Liu family didn't treat her daughter like a human being and would ruin the lives of several girls in the family. Originally, Old Mrs. Liu didn't take it seriously at all."

Later, our women's director went over and said that the leaders said women hold up half the sky, and the country now attaches great importance to the education and safety of women. Abuse of granddaughters and daughters-in-law can also be reported to the police.

Then Diao Xiaoyan cried and insisted on going to the police, saying that they should help them. She said that delaying her daughter's marriage was ruining her life, and that this wasn't abuse. She threatened to take her daughter and commit suicide if her reputation was destroyed, making a huge scene.

Fan Lianhua and Bai Nuo listened from the sidelines, their faces filled with shock and admiration.

“There’s nothing wrong with making such a fuss.” Fan Lianhua nodded in agreement. “After Liu Erzhu and Diao Xiaoyan had two daughters, they haven’t had any more children. Old Mrs. Liu has scolded them a lot these past few years. The two daughters from the second wife’s side do all the housework. I think the two daughters from the first wife’s side are good at being cunning and sly. They have a sweet tongue and have managed to win over the old lady. They are much better than their father. Looking at it this way, the second wife’s side is the most miserable. No wonder Diao Xiaoyan and her husband are so determined to separate the family.”

"That's right. Now, thanks to the eldest son and his wife's actions, even if everyone knows about it, no one will say that their separation is unfilial. After all, they are parents who are doing it for their daughter's future. Besides, Diao Xiaoyan was the one who first suggested that the eldest son's family separate, but Wang Mudan and Liu Dazhu refused to agree no matter what."

Finally, Diao Xiaoyan said that the Liu family was being inhumane by separating their second branch of the family; their division of the family property was disgusting. She added that if it weren't for her father-in-law, the Wei family's uncles, and the women's director keeping things in check, they wouldn't have given the second branch a single grain of rice.

"Oh, why is it like this?" Bai Nuo pouted. If she were to encounter someone like this, she would have them all sliced ​​to death with a knife. If everyone is going to die, then everyone should die together, and no one should live.

"That's exactly how Old Mrs. Liu is," Fan Lianhua said disdainfully, clearly looking down on the old woman.

Mu Rujun nodded in agreement: "That's right. In the end, they begged and pleaded and only gave us twenty yuan and a hundred catties of grain. There are four people in Liu Erzhu's family. How could that be enough to eat? Apart from their tattered blankets and clothes, they didn't give us anything else. This drove Diao Xiaoyan crazy, and she ran back to her parents' house to call for help."

The Diao family was notorious in the neighboring brigade for their ruthlessness. They had many sons, and a whole bunch of them showed up. My father-in-law was nearly driven mad with anger. In the end, Old Mrs. Liu gave them another twenty yuan and a hundred jin of grain, all of it old grain. If they asked for more, they threatened to sit on the ground and wail.

Mu Rujun shook her head speechlessly: "I heard from my aunt Hongying to my mother-in-law that Liu Erzhu and Diao Xiaoyan had no choice. If they made any more trouble, their reputations would be ruined. They were also afraid of damaging their daughter's reputation, so they let it go."

As a result, Old Mrs. Liu caused trouble again, wanting to kick the family of four out of the Liu family home, not giving them a single room, and instead giving the second wife's room to the third wife, because Liu's third wife suddenly found out she was pregnant.

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