Chapter 452: Chapter 452: She Just Wants to Order Qiao Xiaomai Around

As for the millennia-old puzzle of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships, Qiao Xiaomai didn’t have any good solutions.

The only idea she could think of was, “Soldiers are met by generals while the water is held back by the earth,” a Chinese proverb.

The fact that Mrs. Zhang came over to ask for sour plum soup was somewhat ridiculous when said aloud.

But if she refused, it would be even more ridiculous.

As she was younger, considering Tong Sanlang’s case, she decided to do it!

Qiao Xiaomai agreed to do so, and Mrs. Zhang still had a gloomy face, drenched with worry.

She had been disciplined by Tong Xingda that morning, but he hadn’t hit her hard.

The first reason was that Tong Sanlang restrained him and second, if he beat her and made a mess of things, then it would surely result in costly repairs and lose one more laborer.

Therefore, she was mostly hurt superficially. By midday, Tong Tiehu ordered her to return to cook lunch.

Without a choice, this family was accustomed to the good life. When they had to work, they were either in pain or itching here or there, so they were extremely inefficient.

Tong Sanlang, on the other hand, worked very quickly, faster than the entire family combined.

However, this did not coincide with Tong Tiehu’s original intention of making the family work, so he specifically instructed Tong Sanlang to slow down.

Tong Sanlang slowed down, making the others appear even slower. After a morning had passed, only half an acre of sweet potato seedlings had been planted.

This was not acceptable. After planting the sweet potatoes, they needed to be watered. If things go at this pace, a day’s work could get postponed to three days.

So, Tong Tiehu got angry and forbade the family from returning home for lunch. They were only allowed to return when they finished planting on two acres of land.

As they were forbidden from returning for lunch, they had to bring their food. Therefore, Mrs. Zhang and Zhu Hongyun—the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law—drove an ox-cart back to the village. Both wore worried looks.

By the time they got back home under the blazing sun, the worries visible on their faces magnified.

During the summer, food storage was difficult, so the meat they bought a few days ago was all consumed.

Also, just so happened that the ground flour was finished too.

If they needed to cook, they could only grind some wheat into flour with a stone mill and then make the meal.

Both the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law had labored all morning. Tired, thirsty, and hungry, they found even making a meal to be a tedious affair. Zhu Hongyun’s eyeballs started rolling—the idea came to her to coax Mrs. Zhang into soliciting Qiao Xiaomai’s help.

Honestly, the relationship between Qiao Xiaomai and Tong Sanlang was quite apparent to anyone from their village who wasn’t blind.

There were three notable public displays of affection: once when Qiao Xiaomai fainted due to menstruation, a second time when Tong Sanlang carried her to Dr. Wu’s house after she cut herself during Tong Tiehu’s sixtieth birthday, and a third time when he carried her home after she was bitten by a rabid dog during the Spring Tax Festival.

Despite the absence of verbal exchanges—Tong Sanlang merely helping Qiao Xiaomai—the actions spoke louder than words!

In addition to these three obvious instances, there were countless times the two were seen together, not to mention the variety of foods Tong Sanlang had shared with her.

Even though the barriers between men and women were no longer strict, it was clear to see the nature of their relationship.

That’s what Mrs. Zhang and Zhu Hongyun were thinking. Since Qiao Xiaomai was going to marry Tong Sanlang, it would only make sense for her to try to please her in-laws.

“Mother, I’ll take some wheat to a neighbor and trade it for some ground flour. You go talk to Qiao Xiaomai, explain our situation. If she is serious about marrying into our family, she should be more than willing to make sour plum soup or even other food for us,” Zhu Hongyun suggested.

Qiao Xiaomai’s cooking skills had gotten better and better, making their own meal seem barely palatable. Both exhausted and hungry, they longed for a meal cooked by Qiao Xiaomai more than ever.

Zhu Hongyun’s proposal was approved by Mrs. Zhang.

The hungrier they got, the more they craved for the food cooked by Qiao Xiaomai.

So, while Zhu Hongyun took wheat to another family to exchange for ground flour, Mrs. Zhang came to Qiao Xiaomai’s place.