Landlady who likes to hoard land

The cold war with Xu Jianren lasted until the Mid-Autumn Festival.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xu Jianren happily brought his two children home to celebrate the festival after a phone call from his mother, as if the farce that had happened a few days ago had never occurred.

Wang Chengyu didn't understand. They had already fought, knelt down and kowtowed, and made such a scene, so how could they act like nothing had happened after only a few days?

"Hurry up and pack your things, let's go home together for the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Xu Jianren shamelessly invited Wang Chengyu to go home for the holiday together.

"I'm not going!"

Wang Chengyu was determined not to go.

"You're so petty! Everyone argues, why are you so vengeful!"

This is Xu Jianren. As expected, birds of a feather flock together. He didn't say a word in defense of his parents and sisters.

Now they're accusing Wang Chengyu of being petty and vindictive. How is this any different from the behavior of Xu Chenxing and his wife?

"Yes, you're right. I am petty and hold grudges, so don't offend me or do anything to wrong me. I'll remember this for the rest of my life."

"Who did anything to wrong you? Go or don't go, it's up to you."

Realizing he was in the wrong, Xu Jianren stopped insisting that Wang Chengyu return to his hometown for the holiday. He left Wang Chengyu alone and took his two sons back to his hometown.

When Xu Jianren returned home that evening, Wang Chengyu was leaning against the headboard, checking job postings on recruitment websites for any jobs that wouldn't interfere with picking up and dropping off her child.

Xu Jianren handed over a stack of cash.

"Grandpa Xu gave me 10,000 yuan. Didn't you want to enroll Xu Wen in tutoring classes? That should be enough."

She's talking as if the child is her own.

"Don't give it to me. Didn't you say that you'd only attend if you had money, and not if you didn't? You've been asking others for money this semester, what about next semester, and what about after that? Will you keep asking others for money?"

"Someone's giving you money for free, and you still make so much trouble. I don't want to make money. This is all I'm capable of, this is all the money I can earn. If you're so capable, go make big money yourself, instead of just criticizing me."

Xu Jianren couldn't understand why Wang Chengyu was so pretentious, insisting on saving face even when someone was giving him money for free.

Wang Chengyu had repeatedly advised Xu Jianren to leave his father-in-law's factory and find a new job. Xu Jianren was used to staying there and was unwilling to leave his comfort zone. He thought he would spend money when he had it and ask Xu Chenxing for money when he didn't.

"Did you think this money was given away for free? This money was given away for what you earned by being labeled a good-for-nothing, a freeloader, and a miser. Return this money to me, and I won't spend a single penny of his money again."

"I'm just a good-for-nothing, a freeloader, a miser, whatever."

Xu Jianren took the money and slammed the door shut again, leaving Wang Chengyu alone, seething with anger.

Thinking about it carefully, Xu Jianren was right. If I had the ability to earn money and solve the problem, why should I only ask others to do things and not myself?

Wang Chengyu composed himself and began looking for a job.

When Xu Wen was in junior high school, Wang Chengyu had to get up at five o'clock in the morning to cook. Xu Wen would get up at five twenty-five to wash up and eat. At five fifty, Xu Jianren would take him to school from home and then go directly to the factory to work.

The eldest child went to school, and the second child is also there. The second child arrives at school between 7:30 and 7:50. School rules stipulate that children cannot arrive early or late; they must arrive at the designated time.

It takes about seven or eight minutes to get to her second child's school from her apartment complex by electric scooter.

Wang Chengyu usually leaves home at 7:20, and with the time it takes to take the elevator, he arrives at school around 7:30.

Wang Chengyu found a job as a kindergarten teacher at a kindergarten across from her residential complex. Although the salary was low, she had weekends off.

The kindergarten's rule is to arrive at 7:20, which conflicts with Xu Yao's arrival time, so the principal granted her special permission to arrive late.

We can manage to leave in the morning, but not in the afternoon. My second child gets out of school at 4:50, which is only ten minutes before kindergarten ends at 5:00. She can't leave early at that time, and the elementary school won't make students wait at school either.

So she discussed it with Xu Yao and asked him to walk back by himself.

After two days, Xu Yao became reluctant to continue. What would have been a ten-minute ride on an electric scooter took him about forty minutes on foot. She had to coax him with snacks to keep him going.

That day, by the time Wang Chengyu saw off the last child and got home from get off work, it was already 7:30. Xu Wen and Xu Yao were already eating instant noodles, while Xu Jianren sat on the sofa playing on his phone, waiting for her to come home and cook. He looked impatient when she returned.

Why are you back so late?

"Couldn't you have cooked first? Even just some porridge would have made it easier for me to stir-fry the vegetables when I got back."

Wang Chengyu said weakly

"I ate at my mom's house, I won't eat tonight."

"You're not eating? Your son's not eating? I'm not eating? Are you all alone in your house?"

Since she started working at the kindergarten, Xu Jianren knew he wouldn't have time to eat when he got home, so he would go to his mother's house for dinner before coming back after get off work.

The main idea is that if one person is full, the whole family won't go hungry.

Wang Chengyu didn't even want to look at his selfish and self-serving appearance.

Exhausted from a long day, Wang Chengyu felt dizzy and disoriented, filled with endless sorrow.

Xu Jianren pretended to be mute, and Wang Chengyu, too exhausted to argue with him any longer, went straight to the kitchen.

She was cooking while crying, feeling that life was so hard and that being a woman was so difficult.

A sentence suddenly popped into my head

"The tears a woman sheds after marriage are the result of the water that got into her brain before marriage."

How much water was in her brain back then? How long will it take to cry it all out?

By the time she finished cooking, it was almost 8:30 p.m. and the family was eating dinner.

"Mom, don't go to work. I've been carrying my schoolbag for so long, and it's so heavy. There's no food for me when I get home."

Xu Yao looked at Wang Chengyu pleadingly, indicating that he didn't want to walk home; the road was dark and cold, and there would be no food at home.

Primary school students' schoolbags are indeed very heavy. Wang Chengyu once weighed his two sons' schoolbags out of curiosity. His younger son's was about ten pounds and his older son's was about fifteen pounds. Carrying a ten-pound schoolbag for so long must be very tiring.

As the weather grew colder, darkness fell earlier and earlier. By the time Xu Yao returned, it was already pitch black, and it wasn't safe for him.

"How about we send Xu Yao to a tutoring class? Tutoring classes can help kids with their homework and they even provide a meal."

Wang Chengyu suggested to Xu Jianren

“Don’t their school teachers discourage students from attending after-school tutoring?” Xu Jianren disagreed.

"What's the point of you going to a kindergarten to earn that meager salary and then handing it over to a tutoring center? You're just putting in all the work, and your child isn't eating well either!"

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"Why don't you wait until Xu Yao goes to junior high school before you start looking for a job?"

Wang Chengyu's suppressed emotions erupted once again.

“I can’t find a job at my age now, and I’ll be even less likely to be hired in a few years. When my child was in kindergarten, you said you’d let me work when he started elementary school, but now you’re telling me to wait until he’s in middle school.”

“I’m fed up with having to ask your parents for money. What’s the difference between that and being a beggar? You know how unpleasant that feels, but you just push the responsibility onto me. Every time we go back to our hometown to ask for money, I’m the one who has to ask.”

"Why don't your parents want to see me? Because I'll only come back for money. Who would be happy to see that? You, on the other hand, get all the blame."

"Why should I be the only one considering these issues? If you could just put yourself in my shoes, you wouldn't be talking so insensitively."

Wang Chengyu launched into a hysterical outburst, yelling and screaming, while Xu Jianren remained seated to the side, silent.