Chapter 97: A Troublemaker Arrives

  The Qiu family's front door opened, and the person outside was Lao Pozi from upstairs. At a glance, Qiu Ye knew that this old woman had come to watch the excitement and gather gossip.

  The quiet environment was broken by a voice with a slightly sharp tone and a hint of laughter.

  "What's going on here? I heard a ruckus from upstairs and thought you were fighting, so I rushed down to take a look." Old Lady Xiang walked into the Qiu house with an air of self-importance.

  "Sorry to disturb you, Sister Xiang. We weren't fighting, just discussing some things. It's not very convenient here at my place, so I won't keep you any longer. When I have time, I'll come find you and chat." Qiu Ma stepped forward a few steps, wanting to send this trouble-making Item Old Lady away.

  But apparently the newcomer didn't want to go out, and there were also people in the house who didn't want to go out.

  Qiu's grandma also reacted at this time, seeing that there were strangers coming, she became even more energetic, just now she was scolding, now she is crying and complaining.

  She plopped herself down on the cement floor, grabbed a handful of her hair and messed it up, then started wailing loudly.

  "Oh dear, my life is so bitter! I was widowed at a young age and worked hard to raise three sons. Now that I'm old, I've ended up with no one to care for me. Old Qiu, you died too early and didn't get to see how your sons treat their mother."

  "It's inhumane, it's too inhumane! Hurry up and take me away, I can't live like this anymore!" Old Lady Qiu was very experienced, her tears came easily, just a few words and she was already sniffling with a nose full of snot and tears.

  "Elder sister, what's going on? Don't say you're not going to make it, our good days are still ahead. You must be feeling uncomfortable in your heart, come and talk to me, little sister, and calm down." Item old lady didn't mind the mess, she went up to the old lady's side, her bright eyes waiting for the old lady who was sprawled on the ground to speak.

  Qiu Ye listened to it and got a headache, this theory of fate is too messy. His own mother calls his wife "older sister", and his wife calls his grandmother "younger sister". Isn't that a generation gap?

  Obviously, Qiu Ye was the only one who noticed such an unimportant thing on the scene. Others had put their attention on the two old ladies.

  Qiu's mother didn't want Qiu's grandmother to talk nonsense in front of outsiders, so she kept trying to drive Xiang's wife away. However, Xiang's wife had a strong desire for gossip and refused to leave no matter what. Seeing that Qiu's mother was afraid of others knowing about the matter, Qiu's grandmother thought she had grasped her weakness and insisted on pulling Xiang's wife over to talk about what just happened.

  So in the end, another noisy person was added. However, people like Qiu Baba, Qiu Feng, Qiu Yansen and Qiu Jiabao were left behind, all sitting on the sofa.

  Qiu's father also took this opportunity to ask Qiu Yansen about his work. "Have you reported to the family team?"

  Qiu Yansen didn't want to answer his second brother's question, but he also didn't dare not to answer. So he vaguely said: "I went once."

  "What's the meaning of just going once? You didn't do anything in the family team?" Mr. Qiu frowned and asked, he had spent a lot of effort to find this job for his third brother and even used personal connections, but he didn't expect his third brother to be so unappreciative.

  "They made me go to Nandu to work, it's so far away. The work is also tiring, I went for a day and couldn't hold on." Qiu Yansen said in a low voice.

  In the south of Oil City, there is a place similar to a farm where the university's family members' team raises and cultivates land. They raise pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, etc., and have planted hundreds of acres of vegetable fields. Part of the output is sold as wages and bonuses for the family members' team personnel, while the rest is used as welfare benefits for the university staff. Every year during holidays, university staff will receive some meat and vegetables.

  "Do you know how many people I've asked to find a job for you? You're still complaining about being tired, so tell me, what kind of job isn't tiring, what can you do?" Qiu's dad was really angry.

  Seeing his third brother still looking unrepentant and wanting to quibble, he waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, you don't need to say anything to me, I won't interfere with your affairs anymore, as long as you can think of a way to support yourself."

  Qiu Yansen's face was also awkward and he didn't dare to make a sound anymore.

  At this time, the front Qi grandmother finally found someone to pour out her troubles, and she said everything that had happened since she came to the Qi family, of course, the focus in the middle was to emphasize that Qi's mother drove her younger brother's family away, did not support her as a widow, and did not give her pension.

  Qiu's grandma didn't mess around, in the process of telling her story, she added oil and vinegar to emphasize the points that were beneficial to her, and the places where she was unreasonable were either glossed over or directly omitted. Anyway, after finishing speaking, it was all Qiu's parents' fault, of course, the main person who was wronged was Qiu's mother, and Qiu's father was only tempted not to support his elderly parents.

  The old lady nodded in agreement as she listened.

  "Oh dear, look at how this young person is treating an elderly person!"

  "This won't do! They're all our own brothers, flesh and blood, how can we drive them out?"

  "Hey, nowadays daughters-in-law are not like they used to be, can't bear hardships and can't suffer losses either."

  ……

  Finally, when Old Lady Qiu finished telling her grievances, Item Old Lady looked at her with a disapproving expression and said to Qiu's mother: "Fengqin, I have to criticize you for this. How can you not support the elderly? This is unheard of in our university community! Moreover, your family conditions are so good, you go to the market every day to sell tofu and earn a lot of money, your family has money to eat meat every day, how can't you take pity on the old lady and pay her pension on time?"

  Xiang's wife said something quite mean, not only did she flatter Qiu's mother, but also revealed the economic conditions of the Qiu family.

  She envies the Qiu family, originally their condition was not as good as hers, but now they are stronger than her family. Every now and then, she can smell the fragrance of braised meat from downstairs. Can you say she's not jealous? So she came today with ill intentions.

  Qiu's mother was furious after hearing her words, this old lady is always up to no good, now she comes to their house to stir up trouble again, saying that they eat meat every day, isn't this stirring up the relationship between them and making the problem even more intense?

  "Ah, you heartless woman! We've been here for so many days and all you've given us to eat is plain cabbage and potatoes. You were hiding the good food from us! Your heart is too wicked! How can you treat your own mother-in-law like this? You'll come to no good end in the future! I'm going to report you to your workplace, let everyone know what kind of person you are!"

  "Item sister, you must have a basis for your words, when did you see our family eating meat every day? My mother-in-law's body is not good, if because of your words, I will be angry with you." Qiu Ma said to Item wife in a very strong tone.

  "I, I don't have any basis for this, but at home, every now and then I can smell the scent of meat. If it's not your family, whose is it?" Old Lady Xiang said with some embarrassment, she really couldn't be sure whose house it was, all she had heard was that Old Qiu's daughter-in-law made money selling tofu, so she thought it was their house.

  "Our family lives downstairs from Teacher Fang's family, and Teacher Fang's family lives downstairs from Teacher Li's family. They are all dual-income households, you know what kind of conditions they have? You think they eat meat every day? And just now, you said something about my family's situation... I don't like hearing that, what do you mean by saying we drove our own brother out? We also have to make a living, with two children and an elderly mother-in-law to support. How can I afford to raise four more adults? Moreover, when my mother-in-law was hospitalized, it cost over 100 yuan, if I were a heartless daughter-in-law, I wouldn't pay that money and no one could do anything about it. But ask my mother-in-law, who paid for her hospitalization? Wasn't it our family? Now I still have external debts to pay off, and every month I have to give 35 yuan to my mother-in-law to support her idle brother's family... How can I be so foolish?"

  "Oh dear, I just feel so sorry for my sister-in-law. At her age, she still can't enjoy her later years in peace and has to worry about the living expenses of her family members. It's really frustrating for me to see her like this. If I had a wife like that, I would definitely take good care of her and let her enjoy her later years, and also enjoy the life with a caring wife." She was actually saying this for the benefit of Qiu Ma and Qiu Nainai, because everyone in the university knew that her mother-in-law was an extremely fierce old lady. In her earlier years when she was still alive, she had given her daughter-in-law a really hard time, making her suffer so much that she would often cry whenever she talked about it. Now that her mother-in-law had passed away many years ago, she seemed to have healed from the wounds and forgotten the painful days with her mother-in-law.

  Qiu Ye suddenly said: "Item Da Niang, if you want to enjoy it, you can take my grandmother to your home for a while. I think my grandmother and you are very compatible, talking and going together. I believe you will definitely be able to serve my grandmother well. And my third uncle's family is also idle at home with nothing to do, you can also take them in and treat them as close brothers."

  Qiu Yexin thought to herself: I'm teaching you how to speak and it's not like my waist is aching, aren't you looking for an old wife? There's one readily available, if you want her, just take her away.

  Xiang's wife heard Qiu Ye's words and immediately changed her tone of voice.

  "Goodness, listen to this kid talking. This mother is still blindly acknowledging, and besides, our family's conditions are not as good as yours, I still have several sons to raise, how can we afford to raise others? That dog meat can't be stuck on a sheep's body."

  "Item Dangniang, who are you calling a dog?" Qiu Ye seemed unhappy with the way people were talking about her grandmother, but in fact she was laughing so hard she was about to spit it out. No wonder this Item old woman was so annoying, she didn't even know how to speak properly and yet she said things that would provoke people's anger.

  Qiu's grandma, reminded by Qiu Ye, also detected the inappropriateness of her words and glared at her, saying: "Who are you scolding? Who are you scolding? Can't you speak properly? If you can't speak properly, then don't spout nonsense." Now, Qiu's grandma didn't consider her a comrade-in-arms anymore, but rather an enemy of the class.

  "Good grief, I'm being kind but getting no reward. Forget it, I won't bother recruiting here anymore. You can fight all you want." With that, he quickly walked to the door and left.

  Mrs. Qiu obviously didn't expect that the old lady would turn her face faster than turning a book, and after being scolded, she was full of resentment. Moreover, seeing that no one here gave her a good look, she felt that she had found an excuse to slip away.