She won't clear her name; she'll throw away all the scum.

Grandma Xia ignored them and found a comfortable spot where she could avoid the wind and get some sun. She and her daughter held their bowls, squinted their eyes, and occasionally took a sip of the sweet brown sugar water, feeling completely relaxed.

Song Tiancheng was having a great time chatting with the men when he saw two women who were supposed to be working inside slowly coming out to sunbathe.

He initially thought they were holding tea prepared for them, and was about to praise them when he noticed that the two of them turned a corner and leaned against the wall by the window, each drinking from a bowl.

Song Tiancheng frowned. He used to think his wife's sister-in-law was a virtuous woman, so why was she being so lazy today?

He couldn't just go up to them and tell them to go back to work; that would be too awkward. But if he didn't say anything, who would do all the work at Xinhe's wedding banquet?

If the work isn't finished, won't her son-in-law's family gossip about it tomorrow? This is a major event in her daughter's life.

Sure enough, he's not in a hurry because it's not his own daughter; he's heartless.

Song Tiancheng was very dissatisfied with Old Lady Xia. After exchanging a few words with the others, he hurriedly went to find Chen Mei, wanting Chen Mei to keep an eye on things so that these people wouldn't just eat and not work.

Chen Mei strode out and said, "Sister-in-law, why are you still slacking off? We're all so busy, and you're just making things harder for us."

Grandma Xia tilted her head back, letting the sun shine on her entire face. After hearing this, she asked, "What? Are you going to deduct my salary?"

Chen Mei was even more upset after being rebuffed. They were supposed to be here to help, but now they were sunbathing. Were they even relatives?

“Sister-in-law, what do you mean by that? We’re relatives, we should help each other out. There’s a ton of work to do in the kitchen, and not only do you not do it, you even brought Xiang Hong along. You’ve all gotten your tea, but the men haven’t even had any yet. We asked you to make some tea, and you just pretended you didn’t hear a thing.”

When she got closer, she realized that the bowl didn't contain coarse tea, but rather precious brown sugar, which was meant to be used to entertain the groom's family tomorrow. How could they drink it?

She yelled, "Sister-in-law, even if you don't want to help me, you can't cause me trouble! You've been through this before, don't you know this brown sugar is for my son-in-law's family tomorrow? If you drink it now, what will they drink tomorrow? I'm going to give them brown sugar eggs tomorrow, what am I supposed to do now?"

Grandma Xia picked at her ears, feeling that Chen Mei's voice was too loud. "Keep your voice down, it hurts my ears. I'm only eating a little, it's not like I ate it all for you. How come you haven't tried this candy yourselves? Your good son-in-law has such a big mouth, does he need to eat such a big bag to be satisfied?"

"Xiang Hong and I only scooped out a small spoonful, why are you yelling? At your age, you don't even know how to entertain guests. We've come all this way, and you expect us to work without even giving us a sip of water? What if your son-in-law comes tomorrow and you expect him to chop wood and repair the house without giving us a sip of water? Tsk tsk tsk, being a relative of yours is really miserable."

Chen Xianghong followed Grandma Xia's example and drank the brown sugar water all at once. She was already in a bad mood because of her period, and hearing Chen Mei's impolite words made her even more upset.

“Aunt, you’re really unfair. My uncle’s own daughter is getting married, and my two cousins’ own sisters are getting married. They just shrug it off as if it’s none of their business. And you don’t even supervise them. My mom and I were invited here to attend the wedding banquet, and you just want us to do all this for free with just a few words.”

“If you feel sorry for them and don’t want them to work hard, then do it yourself. Why push the work onto us, the two guests, my mom and me? If you want to work yourself to death, don’t drag us down with you. Besides, look, my third uncle and aunt are here too. If you can’t handle it, go and persuade my third aunt to help you. My mom and I haven’t been feeling well lately, we can’t do it.”

Chen Mei turned around and looked back. Sure enough, her third brother and sister-in-law were coming with their child. The bags and packages inside were definitely full of good things.

Chen Mei's furrowed brows immediately relaxed. Unlike when she saw Grandma Xia and the others, she beamed with joy when she saw her third brother and sister-in-law.

"Third sister-in-law, you've arrived. Why are you being so polite, bringing so many things? Are you tired? Let me make you some malted milk powder. Come inside and sit down, it's cold outside." She eagerly took the things and led them into the house, not even giving Old Lady Xia and the others a glance.

Song Tiancheng was all smiles when he saw them. His third sister-in-law's father was quite capable; after giving them a heads-up, their eldest son, Song Yuhe, got his job. So he had to greet his third brother's family with a smile.

The third brother, Chen Weimin, is a smiling tiger. He treats all his brothers equally, but he's quite cunning. His wife, Xu Meiyu, also treats all her husband's relatives equally. Her family is well-off and dotes on her, so she feels she has the right to look down on them as equals.

Xu Meiyu put her bag in Chen Mei's hands, and after seeing Chen Mei busy wiping non-existent dust off the chair, she chuckled, "Big sister, you're too polite. By the way, where's sister-in-law? I'm craving the longan and walnut sweet soup she used to make for me during my postpartum period."

She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a hand cream, squeezed out a small amount and put it in her hand, then began to apply it. She looked fragrant and precious, and even Chen Mei was a little envious of just this one hand cream.

"My sister-in-law is outside. I'll call her in to cook for you. It'll be ready soon. It's getting cold, so we should eat something nutritious. I specially bought some dried longan yesterday; it's very sweet." Chen Mei went out with a smile, but her expression changed when she saw Old Lady Xia.

"Sister-in-law, your third sister-in-law is here. Why didn't you come in and say a few words? No wonder everyone says you're bad with words. When you took care of her during her postpartum period, you did a good job, and she's still thinking about you. Hurry up and make her that sweet soup, you know what I mean?"

Chen Mei looked down on Old Lady Xia from the bottom of her heart. Apart from her reputation for being virtuous, what else did she have that was worthy of respect? So she didn't even bother to ask if she was willing or not, and just gave the order, knowing that Old Lady Xia would definitely do it anyway.

This time, however, Old Mrs. Xia didn't move, as if she were deaf, her feet seemingly nailed to the ground, not even glancing at her.

Chen Mei shouted, "Sister-in-law, I'm talking to you, what do you mean?"

Chen Xianghong turned her head and said, "Auntie, who do you think you are? How dare you talk to my mom like that? Who do you think you are? Is my mom your housekeeper? Does she have to work for you just because you say so? Why don't you look in the mirror and see if you're worthy? Even if you don't have a mirror, you still have your pee, right?"

At this moment, Grandma Xia began to seriously examine Chen Xianghong. Could it be that her Xianghong had also been reborn?

No, no. If Xiang Hong were reborn, the first person she would hate would be her, and her whole family. Why would she help her?