Wealthy beyond measure, yet you call me a sister-supporting-brother demon?

Zhou Changlin's home in Dongshan Village.

Zhou Changlin returned home exhausted. As soon as he reached the door, his youngest daughter, Zhou Yuzhu, came to greet him.

"Father, what happened to your leg?"

"Dad is fine, he'll be alright tomorrow."

Upon hearing her youngest daughter's voice, Yuan Pan'er asked Zhou Yuchuan to watch the stove and came out to greet her.

"Changlin, what exactly happened?"

Zhou Changlin has a noticeable problem with one of his legs, and his walking posture is somewhat abnormal.

Yuan Pan'er rolled up Zhou Changlin's trouser leg, revealing a red mark on his left calf.

"I didn't run away in time when the tree fell, and I got hit by the leaves," Zhou Changlin said wearily.

Yuan Pan'er held back her tears, "Logging is such a dangerous thing, Changlin, have you thought about it? If you hadn't run slower today, you might have broken your leg. If your leg is broken, what will happen to the four of us? What if..."

Yuan Pan'er couldn't help but shed tears.

Zhou Changlin looked conflicted. Logging was just that dangerous; otherwise, they wouldn't pay him only one or two taels of silver a month.

"Changlin, you can't just think about Dad and Changsen, you have to think about us too!"

Zhou Changlin looked at Yuan Pan'er and then at Yuzhu, and made up his mind.

Just then, Old Mrs. Wang's voice came out, "Eldest daughter-in-law, is the food ready yet? Changsen is starving, he always takes so long to do things."

“That’s right, my sister-in-law takes so long to cook.” Ma Xiangqin’s voice came from inside the house.

Zhou Yuqing chimed in, "Auntie, my stomach is growling with hunger. What are you and Uncle talking about? Hurry up and cook!"

Hearing their urging, Zhou Changlin frowned, "Shouldn't my sister-in-law be cooking today?"

Yuan Pan'er whispered, "Mother dislikes Ma Xiangqin's cooking and thinks it's not tasty or clean, so she often makes me cook."

“But Mom helped Second Aunt with cooking, feeding the pigs, and cleaning the pigsty—all the chores Mom does. Second Aunt doesn’t do them, so in the end, Mom and I have to do all the work.” Although Zhou Yuzhu was only three years old, she understood.

Yuan Pan'er didn't want to cook for Ma Xiangqin, but every time the old lady asked her to cook, it would be considered disobedient and unfilial if she didn't.

The old lady didn't clearly assign other household chores to Ma Xiangqin, so Ma Xiangqin took the opportunity to shirk her responsibilities.

Every time she talked to Ma Xiangqin, the two of them would have a big fight, causing chaos at home, but the next day it would still be the same.

Yuan Pan'er knew the root of the problem wasn't Ma Xiangqin, but the elderly in her family. But the word "filial piety" weighed heavily on her, making it impossible for her to resist.

Zhou Changlin patted Yuan Pan'er's hand, "I'll tell my parents after we finish eating."

Yuan Pan'er gave a bitter smile. It was no use talking; the only solution was probably to divide the family property. But her husband was so filial that he wouldn't agree to the division.

Yuan Pan'er turned around and went into the kitchen to cook.

Zhou Changsen will return to the private school tomorrow morning. Wang Chunxiang asked Yuan Pan'er to stew all the meat that Yuan Sheng sent. Yuan Pan'er stewed a big pot of fragrant pork belly and green beans, and also made a big bowl of smashed cucumber, a big bowl of cold purslane salad, multigrain steamed buns, and brown rice porridge.

After the meal was prepared, the three children brought the dishes to the table, set out stools, and called the adults to eat.

Zhou Yuqing and Zhou Yuhu rushed out of the room, and the three of them, without washing their hands, found seats and waited to eat.

Zhou Yuhu is the youngest son of Zhou Changshui and Ma Xiangqin, and he is six years old this year.

Zhou Yuchuan said to Zhou Yuqing and Zhou Yuhu, "You two just wait to eat, you don't even know to set up a table or get chairs, how can you be so lazy?" He then glanced at Ma Xiangqin.

Yes, he was using veiled criticism to attack someone else.

His parents are kind, honest and hardworking, so does that mean they deserve to be unlucky?

Do my second uncle and aunt deserve to enjoy a life of luxury just because they are lazy and good-for-nothing?

Zhou Yuqing and Zhou Yuhu were a little afraid of Zhou Yuchuan, but their mother's gaze gave them confidence. "Today your mother cooked, and you did some small things like setting up the tables and chairs, and you came here to ask for credit."

"That's right, Grandma asked your mother to cook, and you all helped your mother with some chores and you're still arguing with us. Are you dissatisfied with Grandma's arrangements?"

Just as Zhou Yuchuan was about to reply, his grandmother, Wang Chunxiang, shouted, "You can't even let people eat in peace! Your uncle rarely comes back from the private school, so why don't you let him have a proper meal at home?"

Zhou Yuchuan clenched his fists. His grandmother, that senile old woman, was an accomplice of the second wife's family.

The family sat down, and Ma Xiangqin, Zhou Yuqing, and Zhou Yuhu, oblivious to the situation, sat in front of a large pot of stewed meat.

Wang Chunxiang rolled her eyes at Ma Xiangqin and brought the stewed meat to Zhou Changsen.

"Son, you work hard studying every day, eat more."

The old lady picked up the steamed buns made from three different types of dough and started dividing them out. Zhou Changlin, Zhou Changshui, and Old Man Zhou each received two coarse grain steamed buns and a bowl of thick brown rice porridge.

Zhou Changsen ate three coarse grain steamed buns and a bowl of thick brown rice porridge.

She ate a simple coarse grain steamed bun and a bowl of thick brown rice porridge.

Yuan Pan'er and Ma Xiangqin each had half a coarse grain steamed bun and a bowl of thin brown rice porridge.

Zhou Yuchuan and Zhou Yuqing, along with several other boys, each had half a coarse grain steamed bun and a bowl of thin brown rice porridge.

Zhou Yuzhu had a bowl of thin brown rice porridge.

Zhou Changlin broke off a piece of his own steamed bun and gave it to his daughter.

Wang Chunxiang didn't want to scold her son, so she glared at her granddaughter. "That good-for-nothing who got married only knows how to eat the family's steamed buns! I don't know what kind of glutton she was reincarnated from."

Zhou Yuzhu's little hand holding the steamed bun trembled slightly. Yuan Pan'er held her daughter's hand and told her to eat without worry.

Zhou Changshui saw the fragrant pork belly and was about to pick it up when Wang Chunxiang slapped his hand with her chopsticks.

She picked up Zhou Changsen's bowl and first scooped out a large bowlful of meat for him, saying, "Changsen studies so hard, he should eat more meat."

Only after Zhou Changsen has picked out his meat can the others take some.

Zhou Changshui, Zhou Yuqing, and Zhou Yuhu, like starving ghosts, quickly grabbed meat from the bowl and ate it.

Even Zhou Yuchuan and Zhou Yufeng, who were originally eating politely, had to join in the scrambling, otherwise the whole bowl of meat would be gone in no time.

Ma Xiangqin was so hungry she was practically drooling, but because she had vowed not to eat the meat Yuan Sheng brought, she could only eat stewed green beans instead.

Green beans stewed in meat broth are much more fragrant than usual!

She was filled with regret. She should have looked carefully at what was in the jar before mocking her sister-in-law and Yuansheng.

I don't know what suddenly went wrong with Yuan Sheng, he actually gave his sister five catties of pork belly, it's like the sun rose in the west!

This scoundrel only ever gave his sister a gift once, and she just happened to be there. What bad luck!

She was filled with regret, but now was not the time for regret. This delicious meat and green bean soup was too good to pass up; if she didn't eat it soon, it would be gone.

Yuan Pan'er put a few pieces of meat on Yuzhu's plate, and Wang Chunxiang whispered, "What's the point of eating meat, you worthless girl?"

Yuan Sheng bought the meat, and Yuan Pan'er stood up for herself, saying, "Mother, my brother bought five catties of meat. Can't I give my daughter a few pieces?"

Seeing this, Old Man Zhou also put two pieces of meat into Yuzhu's bowl, saying, "Let our Yuzhu eat meat and grow tall." After putting the meat in, he glared at his wife.

Zhou Changlin felt helpless seeing his mother treat her daughter this way. His mother's preference for sons over daughters was deeply ingrained, so he could only give more of his own food to his daughter. Fortunately, his father was not a sexist.

Ma Xiangqin, with her big mouth, quickly grabbed the food. After she had almost finished eating, she started bragging about her younger brother, Ma Laixi's, many talents.

"Chen Yang from our village went to Donglaishun with his cronies to dine and dash, and he was immediately detained. Manager Cao of Donglaishun said right then and there that we had to report it to the authorities and have them arrested!"

"These young men were so frightened, their faces turned as white as paper."

"Chen Yang begged Lai Xi, and Lai Xi, seeing that they were from the same village, didn't want to see Chen Yang go to jail, so he pleaded for these young men, and they were spared imprisonment."

Wang Chunxiang also heard about this and looked at her second daughter-in-law with a smile, "Xiangqin, your younger brother is really capable!"

Ma Xiangqin tilted her head slightly, "That's right! My brother is someone who can speak with authority in front of Manager Cao!"

"Chen Yang is just lucky to have my brother Lai Xi around. Otherwise, he would have been in jail."

Old Zhou listened with great interest. His family could make a name for themselves in Dongshan Village, but they were nobody in Qingshan Town. They had to rely on Xi in Dongshan Town!

Even Zhou Changsen looked at his second sister-in-law with a kind expression. To be honest, his second sister-in-law's conduct and character were not as good as his eldest sister-in-law's, and he looked down on her. But his second sister-in-law had a promising younger brother, and he wondered if the students from those wealthy families at the private school would give Lai Xi Ge any face.

Enjoying the admiring glances, Ma Xiangqin looked at Yuan Pan'er defiantly and said, "So what if your brother brought five catties of meat? Your brother is far inferior to mine!"