I'm dressed up as the timid eldest daughter, and the whole family has to listen to me!

Wang Guihua snorted coldly, sat down directly in the chair, crossed her arms, and twisted her body.

“Aunt Luo, you’re not right about that! We agreed on the dowry money in front of Grandma Sun. You can’t just say it’s two taels short. There are witnesses to that! If you keep saying it like that, and you’re short two taels today and three taels tomorrow, wouldn’t you have emptied our family’s savings?”

Aunt Luo was getting a little anxious at this point.

“My daughter married into your family. She deserves credit for her efforts, even if she didn’t do anything special. Now that her younger brother is getting married and needs money, shouldn’t your family lend a hand?”

Wang Guihua glared at Aunt Luo.

"Today his brother is getting married, and tomorrow his grandfather will be moving his grave and they'll all come to our family to borrow money. How can we possibly pay them back? Our family won't be able to eat, and we'll all be living for your Luo family! Don't you have any sense of propriety?"

"What are you saying? Wang Guihua, I never expected you to be this kind of person. You usually seem quite honest, so why are you saying such awful things today? What do you mean by moving his grandfather's grave? His grandfather has been dead for so many years, why would you want to move his grave for no reason! My daughter is married into your Su family, so why can't you watch your words?"

Su Hanzhang was afraid that the two would start fighting in his own courtyard, which would put Lianhua in an awkward position, so he quickly stepped between them to smooth things over.

"Oh, everyone, please don't get angry. Mother-in-law, have some tea and calm down. My Guihua doesn't know how to talk, so please don't argue with her. But we really can't help you with this loan. Although our house is finished, we still have a huge debt to pay. We have to pay the villagers who helped us, and with the year-end approaching, we're trying to raise money to pay them back. We can't keep owing them money forever. Everyone needs money at the end of the year, and we really can't help you with this."

Aunt Luo raised an eyebrow and looked at Su Hanzhang.

“Father-in-law, you can’t lie to me about this! You said you built such a big house, but you borrowed money to build it, didn’t you? If you had said this earlier, we would never have let Lianhua marry you. What family’s daughter would have to live with your family’s debts for the rest of her life? This is marriage fraud! Aren’t you lying to people? Your whole family has no shame!”

Wang Guihua was already angry, and seeing that Aunt Luo was relentless and seemed determined to get her way, she directly confronted her, standing up and pointing her finger at Aunt Luo's nose as she cursed:

"I'd never lie to your mother! What did I lie to you about? Didn't we give you the dowry money you wanted? Did we lack anything from you? Now that your son is getting married, you still want to borrow money from us. This is your son, not mine. Why should I care whether he gets married or not? Even if he stays at home as a bachelor for the rest of his life, what does it have to do with me? Besides, since Lianhua married into our family, we haven't let her suffer at all. Unlike when she was with you at her parents' house, she had to wash clothes with cold water in the freezing cold. Look at her body! After we brought Lianhua home, we took a long time to help her recover. Now you see that Lianhua has a healthy complexion, has gained weight, and is pregnant. And now you're trying to cause trouble for us again! You want this and that. Why don't you take back our big house and live there yourself?"

When Aunt Luo saw Wang Guihua pointing her finger at her and scolding her like that, she couldn't sit still any longer.

"How can you talk like that? We're in-laws, after all. Last time our two children got married, such a big mess happened, and I didn't cause you any trouble, but you didn't even bother to come and apologize. Now that our daughter is married into your family, you think you're done with it and don't treat the Luo family like human beings anymore? We're just going through a tough time and we wanted to ask you for help. We're all family, how can you be so cold-hearted? You won't even help with such a small favor. And to make matters worse, you're pointing your finger at me and yelling at me like that. I never knew you were such an unreasonable person!"

"Am I more unreasonable than you? You want us to help with every little thing at home, you practically want to empty our house to help you out! You always say that marrying your daughter into our family is like you've suffered some great injustice, but do you ever think about how you treat your daughter at home? It makes me so angry just thinking about it. Don't even mention me, the filthy things you've done are unbearable even for outsiders, and you still have the nerve to talk about your daughter in front of me! Now that your daughter has married into our family, she's finally escaped your hellhole. Otherwise, she would have been under your thumb for the rest of her life, being used and exploited, and then left to suffer the consequences!"

Upon hearing this, Aunt Luo immediately felt dizzy with anger.

"What nonsense are you spouting? I was wondering why my daughter was so cold to me when I came here. Turns out it was you, you old hag, stirring things up inside, causing this mess between my daughter and me! Do you think I don't know what you're up to? You just want to win my daughter over to your side so she can cut off all contact with me and stop having to be filial to her own mother. You give her a little favor, and she'll treat you like her mother! To be honest, my daughter is stupid. How could she listen to your slander and fall out with her own family!"

Aunt Luo grew angrier and angrier, and ran a few steps to the door of Lianhua's room, pounding on it and shouting into the room:

"Lotus, get out here! I want to see how you got manipulated like this. You brainless thing! Don't you have a head? You believe everything people say. You even neglect your own mother after a few words from others. I came all the way to your mother-in-law's house to see you, and you hid inside and wouldn't see me. I asked you to bring me a cup of tea or a glass of water, and you acted like you'd suffered a terrible injustice. Remember this: no matter what, I will always be your mother. You are flesh of my flesh, the child I carried for ten months and gave birth to. You will never escape my grasp!"

As Aunt Luo spoke, she pounded on the door and occasionally kicked it hard.

"Stop pretending to be asleep in the house! Get out here right now! Let's talk this out. If it doesn't work out, you can come home with me today, and I'll find you a new husband!"