Chapter 98: The Traitor in the Family

  These people at home are still making trouble. Qiu's grandmother seized the opportunity to bring up the issue of her second son's family eating meat every day but not giving her pension.

  Qiu's mother is also worried to death, all the money at home was used for the old lady's hospitalization, now there is no money.

  Qiu's grandma made a fuss for over an hour and was getting tired, Zhang Cuilan saw the old lady's fighting spirit weakening and knew that today might be a futile trip. She turned her eyes and had another idea. Then she chatted with Qiu's grandma for a while, at first Qiu's grandma's face was unwilling, but later she was coaxed into nodding in agreement.

  Qiu's mother looked at their appearance and knew that this was Zhang Cui Lan giving advice to Qiu's grandmother, trying to scheme against them. No way, she had already thought it through, today no matter what the situation, she would not give them the money, she had to teach them a lesson, otherwise in the future if her own family didn't meet Old Lady's expectations, Old Lady would have to go to the hospital and harm her own family.

  Qiu's grandma and the third daughter-in-law discussed it and stopped crying, got up from the ground, and said to Qiu's mom and dad behind her: "Alright, you guys don't have money, but the Yanshen family has even less, they're running out of food. At my age, I shouldn't be a burden to them. I'll move over tomorrow, you can't say I'm not contributing to the household expenses, right?"

  Qiu's mother was stunned, she had thought of everything but didn't expect the old lady to think of living with her. She still thought that the old lady and Old Three's family were inseparable. Thinking that her mother-in-law would come to live with them, wasn't that going back to their previous life? What if Old Three's family of four had to come to their house for dinner every day? Qiu's mother was hesitant and regretful, wondering if it was worth bringing these people back home for just 35 yuan.

  Qiu Ye saw it clearly, this was Zhang Cui Lan forcing her own family's trick. She knew that none of her family members liked living with Qiu Nainai together, in order not to let Qiu Nainai come, she probably compromised as well.

  Just by looking at her mother's appearance, she knew, but she didn't want to let them get away with it. Today, she could make her family pay 35 yuan for elderly care, and tomorrow she could make them pay 45 yuan for nutrition fees. It wasn't that Qiu Ye was stingy about spending money on the elderly, but rather she didn't want to give in to those evil people who hide behind the elderly and use them as a shield.

  "Mom, it's great! Grandma is coming to live with us. Now you can go to work every day and we'll have someone to cook for us."

  Qiu's mother, who had slightly relaxed her expression, immediately perked up again upon hearing her daughter's words. Alright, let the old lady come if she wants to, our family won't be short of a meal.

  "Really, mom you're coming to live with us, that's great. Although the conditions at home aren't too good, no matter how poor we are, we can't afford to lose your help with household chores, and the kids are always at home with no one to take care of them, I'm worried about it. Originally you said you couldn't bear to part with your grandson, and I didn't dare ask you to stay behind, now it's just right, there's someone to help out at home."

  This made Qiu Nainai stunned, this reality did not match their plan. They originally thought that as long as she said she wanted to move in, Qiao Fengqin would compromise. From the short time they spent together before, it seemed like she didn't like living with her, so why was she welcoming her now?

  She was just about to regret it when Zhang Cui Lan beside her said: "Oh, Second Aunt, you are really a good daughter-in-law. Mom will definitely be better off with you than with us. At least she won't go hungry. I'll send Mom over tomorrow then."

  She finished speaking and quickly called for Qiu Yansen and Qiu Jiabao, supporting Grandma Qiu as they left.

  The Qiu family's battle, which lasted for more than two hours, also came to an end. Qiu Feng felt that the ending was too inexplicable, as if the quarrel had just reached its climax and then suddenly stopped.

  "Xiao Ye, how did you agree to let your grandmother move in? Didn't you and your siblings dislike her?" Qiu's mother asked the girl quietly after a thorough pause, still being careful to avoid letting the child's father hear, since they were discussing his own mother. Although he knew what his mom was like, he wouldn't want to hear anyone say anything bad about her.

  "Mom, I think it's also beneficial to let grandma come and live with us. Think about it, our family doesn't support the elderly or provide them with living expenses. If grandma says something outside, there will definitely be people who speak ill of you."

  Qiu's mother interrupted: "Say it then, I'm not afraid of what people say. Besides, we have a reason for not giving you living expenses."

  "Mom, the reason is just between our family, it's strange if grandma can tell others. You're busy every day, and you have to explain what happened in our family to others every time? Even if you say something, not everyone will believe it. So let's just let grandma move in with us, we'll take care of her, and then no one can say anything about it. Even if grandma says something herself, others will think it's her own business. Living in our house, eating and drinking are all taken care of by us, and she still speaks ill of us? Others who hear it will just think she's an old lady with too many complaints, never satisfied."

  But Qiu's mother seemed to be unaware of her daughter's 'precocity', or rather, she was too used to her little adult daughter and sometimes even forgot her age.

  Qiu's mother listened to the girl's words, thought for a moment, and nodded: "Then let's do it this way for now, and we'll see how things go later."

  The next evening, Old Lady Qiu really brought a small bundle and came upstairs. She still lived in Qiu Ye's room, so Qiu Ye had an excuse to go back to Fang's house and sleep in the new bed that night.

  Qiu Feng's face was filled with envy, jealousy and hatred. He also wanted to stay at his godfather's house tonight, he also wanted to sleep in the new bed, but his mother wouldn't let him. She said that grandma had come, how could he, this big grandson, not be at home to receive her? If not, others would say they were unfilial.

  So in the end, Qiu Feng would go home to sleep after finishing his homework at night, and every morning before 5 o'clock, he would be woken up by his early-rising grandmother.

  Every day, Qiu's mother and father go to the tofu workshop at 3 am. The breakfast at home can only be made by the old lady, who is resentful of cooking for Qiu Feng and Qiu Ye. Moreover, the elderly wake up early, so every morning around 5 o'clock, they start making a racket while cooking, venting their resentment.

  Qiu Ye's days were unaffected, although grandma was very annoying, but had to admit that grandma's cooking skills were still good, so she lived a very comfortable life.

  Until a week later, Old Lady Qiu suddenly said to Mr. Qiu at the dinner table, "The grain in your house is almost gone. Tomorrow you have time to go buy some more, or else there will be no food for tomorrow."

  Everyone at home except Qiu Feng was stunned. There was a bag of highland barley in the warehouse, how could it be possible to finish eating it in just one week?

  Qiu's mother rushed to the kitchen to take a look, only to realize that she hadn't entered the kitchen for a week and it had already been emptied. The storage room was empty, not just the sorghum rice, but also the small millet that Xiao Ye bought back every day to cook porridge in the morning, over 10 kilograms of it was gone without a trace. Her peanuts, rice beans, green beans, etc., were all gone too. The small oil bottle had been drained dry.

  "Mom, why did we finish our rice so quickly?" Qiu's mother asked as she sat down at the table and looked at the old lady opposite her.

  Actually, there's no need to ask. Everyone can see the situation and knows that there must be a traitor at home. All the things at home have been stolen, as for where they went, do you still need to ask?

  "It's crowded!" Old Lady Qiu said with some embarrassment, but immediately added: "I eat a lot, what's wrong with that?"

  Obviously has a lazy meaning, an old lady. Ate dozens of kilograms of sorghum rice by herself in a week, who would believe that!

  Qiu's father didn't even move from his original position, but he could already imagine the state of the kitchen. He helplessly wiped his face and said to Qiu's mother: "Alright, don't say anything else. Tomorrow when you get home, just go straight to the grain store and buy some grain back." After thinking for a moment, he added: "There isn't much grain left in the granary anyway, so just buy a little less, we can eat that first and then buy more later."

  He also knew that no matter how much food there was at home, it would all be taken away by his mother to the third brother's house. His own family had to make a living too and couldn't supply the third brother's household indefinitely.

  Qiu's mother didn't say much either, she just replied with a sentence "Alright, I'll go buy it tomorrow." and then fell silent.

  Qiu's grandma was self-satisfied, and this week wasn't a waste of time. Every day when no one was home, she would take some rice to Lao San's house in a bag. Cui Lan said that even without money, the grain could be used as debt repayment.

  The next evening, after Qiu's mother came back, she put the two catties of high-quality millet in her hands into the kitchen.

  Qiu's mother-in-law took one look at the little rice her daughter-in-law had just bought back and got unhappy, angrily asking: "Why did you only buy so little grain? This is only enough for one meal! And why didn't you bring back any oil? What are we going to stir-fry with?"

  Qiu's mother explained: "There is no more oil in the grain at home, so let's save a little bit of that oil and eat it sparingly. There isn't much money at home either, so let's buy less grain. We can finish eating what we have first and then go buy some more." She had calculated carefully how much to buy - two kilograms of sorghum rice was enough to steam a big pot of rice, which would be enough for their family of five to eat one meal with some leftovers that they could eat again at noon the next day. She didn't mind the trouble and planned to buy grain every day.

  "This is not enough for me to eat?" Old Lady Qiu was anxious, this little bit of rice might not be enough for these few people to eat, how could she take it to her third son's house?

  "Mom, are you sick? This amount of rice is not enough for us to eat, at least two big bowls per person. We should go to the hospital and have a check-up." said Qiu's mom with concern.

  Qiu's grandma didn't dare go to the hospital again. People die there all the time, so she listened to Qiu's mom and didn't dare make a sound either.

  From then on, Qiu's mother bought grain every day and didn't buy oil. Without oil to stir-fry dishes, they ate boiled vegetables instead. There were still many pickled mustard greens in the jar at home. Moreover, she would save some dried bean curd and vegetable for dinner every night, finishing it all up so as not to leave any opportunity for anyone else.

  Qiu grandma had a terrible week, upstairs every day was just sorghum rice with salted vegetables, and at night it was slightly better, there was some tofu or something, this whole week didn't have any oil or water.

  Cui Lan also insisted that Er Sao couldn't bear to let Qiu Feng and Qiu Ye, these two children, eat like this every day. Adults can do it, but for kids, eating like this is too lacking in nutrition. Er Sao's behavior was only temporary.

  Who would have thought that this persistence was just a few weeks, and at home, she had a full face of dishes, while others, especially the two children, still had rosy cheeks and plump heads, without losing any weight.

  She didn't know that every day when they left home in the morning, they would first go to Fang's house downstairs to eat something, and at night when they went to study, Zhao Shuyan would also add a meal for them, so how could they possibly be thin.

  At the end of December, when it was snowing heavily outside, Old Lady Qiu couldn't hold on any longer and said, "I'm not going to be your old mother-in-law anymore." She then rolled up her small bundle and returned to her third son's home.