Chapter 988: The Money Had Been Stolen

“Of course.” Jin Gen’s mother was so proud upon mentioning her son. “With my dear Jin Gen’s appearance, character and ability, none of the women in this area are worthy of him. I think only the actresses are worthy of him.”

Yan Huan who squatted down beside the rock was speechless. Yes, actress, she was an actress. However, she must be blind to take a fancy to Jin Gen. To be honest, Jin Gen, with that behavior of his, was not worthy to even carry her shoes. She was afraid that he might even dirty her shoes.

Finally, the two women left. Yan Huan stood up, tidying the wrinkles on her clothes, and sighed. Humans are truly strange.

Perhaps anything could change in the blink of an eye. She wondered if she could say that if a human’s heart turned bad, then it was bad; if they were disgusted with something, then they were disgusted; if they disliked someone, then they really disliked them. No matter how much they once liked a person, they could also detest that person very much now.

“How is Jin Gen’s mother not ashamed at all?” Liu Fang patted her face. “Even I feel ashamed for her. What character and appearance does Jin Gen have? He is an old bachelor, more than thirty years old, and still, nobody likes him. Did he think that just by putting on a uniform he could become a top dog? I would rather marry a pig than marry him.”

Yan Huan declined to comment on that. After all, bragging was not illegal. Let Jin Gen’s mother brag as much as she wanted to. She had nothing else to do besides bragging anyway.

“Sister Xiao Yan, you’d better be careful.” Liu Fang was quite worried about Yan Huan. “That Jin Gen aunty did not share anything good with your mother-in-law. I think that mother-in-law of yours would not treat you nicely.”

“She’s not my mother-in-law.” Yan Huan’s fingers rubbed the corners of her sleeves from time to time. “It is impossible for me to marry her son.”

Liu Fang just kept quiet and smiled, thinking that Yan Huan was just saying this in a moment of anger.

When Yan Huan reached home, she noticed that Changsheng’s mother was sitting in the courtyard, fixing her gaze on Yan Huan’s silhouette. At that moment, she could sense that she was in a bad mood, a terribly bad mood.

“Where have you gone? Why didn’t you finish the household chores?”

“I went to give someone a haircut.” Yan Huan was still holding the five eggs in her hand. Changsheng’s mother squinted and grunted. “You good-for-nothing, what else do you know besides cutting hair?”

“I also know how to collect firewood.” Yan Huan lowered her head, looking like a fool. The more Changsheng’s mother looked at her, the more disgusted she was with her. She recalled the words of Jin Gen’s mother, perhaps Changsheng would be a city resident after he had earned some money. He would be far away from this poor rural village, and he could even fetch her to the city to live in comfort. If Changsheng married an ugly and dumb woman like Yan Huan, she would be too ashamed. Previously, it was fine as they were in the village. Her appearance could be ignored because she was kind. However, it was different now. Her son would become a city resident in the future, so they could no longer tolerate an ugly woman in their house anymore.

Therefore, Yan Huan had become quite an eyesore to her now.

Yan Huan kept her head low the whole time, pretending to turn the other cheek. It was not that she did not want to argue, it was just that there was no meaning to it. If she favored Changsheng, perhaps she would care for the opinions of Changsheng’s mother. But the problem was, she really did not like Changsheng.

Upon listening to Yan Huan’s idiotic answer, and looking at her crippled leg and the scars on her face, Changsheng’s mother became infuriated.

“Why aren’t you cooking? Are you planning to starve me to death?”

Yan Huan heaved a sigh of relief gently. She did not want to argue with an old woman. She turned around and walked into the kitchen, putting the five eggs in the basket. After all, the livelihood of Changsheng’s family depended on those eggs. Initially, they had a few acres of land and some uncultivated land that Changsheng had painstakingly cleared. They were planning to farm but in the end, the seedlings that they had planted were damaged.

Yan Huan could cut hair, but she did not know how to farm because she had never done it before. It was impossible for her to know everything.

She served the dishes. Perhaps Changsheng’s mother missed her son, so she felt unwell everywhere. She disliked everyone and gave Yan Huan a hard time. She complained that the dish was too salty, then grumbled that the dish was tasteless and all of a sudden there was sand in her rice, saying that Yan Huan intentionally let her eat that so that she would die.

Yan Huan tolerated all of these. What else could she do except compromise? Was she supposed to shout and argue with Changsheng’s mother? She could not learn the shrew-like quarreling of the people in this village, nor could she speak such words.

It was said that one should act like the locals. Yes, she did that. She followed the customs of this village, but it did not mean that she had to learn the way they cursed at each other as well.

After the meal, Yan Huan washed the bowls too. Changsheng’s mother had probably gone out to meet Jin Gen’s mother. Their sons had both left for work to earn money, so now they had common topics that fuelled their endless conversations. However, a person takes their color from their surroundings. If Changsheng’s mother kept getting along with Jin Gen’s mother, perhaps Changsheng’s mother would turn out to be like Jin Gen’s mother in the future – harsh, selfish and opinionated.

Yan Huan walked into her room and took out the money that she had stashed in the pillow. She felt that it was not safe to put such a thick stack of money here. If it was in the past, she had nothing to be afraid of. It was impossible for Changsheng’s mother to enter her room and touch her money, but now...

She gave it some thought before taking the money out and separating them into a few stacks. She hid the money in the cabinet and also in the corner of the wall. She stuffed wherever she could with some money. After she had hidden all of the money, she put on some old clothes and went out to collect firewood.

When she returned, she saw Changsheng’s mother squinting. No matter how she looked at her, there was a cold smile on the corners of her curved lips. She had always found it easy to get along with Changsheng’s mother in the past, but that was not the case anymore.

Yan Huan did not know whether every widow would turn out like this, making their son their everything. They would even see their sons’ wives as enemies who would snatch their sons away from them.

However, she had a feeling there was more to the smile on the face of Changsheng’s mother at this moment. What’s wrong? Is it something that I’m not aware of? She put the firewood down, a bad feeling growing in her chest.

historical

Her money...

She returned to her room immediately and came to a realization of the real situation. Her brain was in a buzz. Her room had turned upside down. The very pieces of clothing she had were scattered around the room. Sure enough, someone had searched her room.

She picked up the pillow that was thrown onto the ground and patted away the soil on it.

Then, she inserted her hand into the pillowcase. She could not feel the money that she had put inside. She could not believe it, hence she put her hand in again to check. In the end, she turned the pillow inside out but still, there was no money. Now, she knew that the money inside had been stolen.