Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 792 - 882 Brainwashing Successful

After the elderly couple had entered the room and shut the door behind them, Qiu Shuping began to tug at Old Li’s sleeve, inquiring about Xianghe’s decision to join the army and their second daughter-in-law starting a farming business.

"Oh, let’s not talk about that useless stuff right now, let’s eat first," Old Li said, somewhat impatiently. It was normally time for a midday rest at this hour, and only now were they starting to eat, which made him a bit irritable.

"Look at you, it’s not that you can’t eat, why can’t you just talk while you eat?" Qiu Shuping said as she dished out some rice and passed it over to him.

Old Li took the bowl and began to wolf down big mouthfuls of food, clearly showing he was hungry.

Qiu Shuping picked a few chopsticks of vegetables for him, and after watching him finish half a bowl, she brought the conversation back to the topic they had just been discussing.

In reality, Old Li knew only a little about the farming business that their second daughter-in-law had started. He didn’t know much more than his wife did, so he repeated what he knew about the business, as well as Xianghe’s previous visit to their home when she had decided to accompany the troops.

Qiu Shuping, eating and listening, mulled over the information. She approved of her daughter joining the troops; given Xianghe’s temperament, she couldn’t count on filial piety from her. So it was already good enough that her daughter wasn’t leeching from her, and now that she was accompanying the troops, she was spared from always having to feed her and her child for free.

As for the second daughter-in-law taking land to start a farming business, she didn’t quite understand it. To her, it seemed like the old ways of the landlords. She didn’t engage in labor every day in prison; during the evenings, the guards conducted legal classes, so she understood a little more than before. Someone like Shen Yunfang daring to start a farm right under the military’s nose must mean that she had the state’s permission.

"What’s that second daughter-in-law thinking, if she has that much money to lease land, why doesn’t she do something better? Why insist on farming? There’s no future in farming," she thought, reflecting the old-fashioned mindset.

Farming was an industry that depended on the weather; peasants always worked from dawn till dusk, their backs to the heavens and their faces to the earth, earning hard-fought money. Any farmer with a bit of ability would want to move to the city and enjoy commercial grain. That second daughter-in-law lacked sense, unable to distinguish good from bad. She had given up living in the city to go farm instead. Qiu Shuping thought that her college education had been a waste.

"Now that we’ve divided the family, let them do as they wish. Why should we bother with that? We have enough to worry about," Old Li said, burying his head in his meal.

Qiu Shuping detected a hint of resentment in her husband’s tone. What was wrong? The old man used to like the second daughter-in-law quite a bit. It was he who had strongly advocated for bringing her into the family. Why the change of tune?

Under her gentle prodding, Old Li recounted the events of the previous New Year when their second son’s family had come to visit, clearly expressing his dissatisfaction with the second daughter-in-law’s attitude towards the elderly.

Qiu Shuping couldn’t help but feel amused. In the past, whenever she wanted to find fault with the second daughter-in-law, Old Li would always stop her, scolding her instead. Now, if she wanted to criticize the second daughter-in-law, Old Li surely couldn’t object.

"You’re wrong there, old man. Even though we’ve divided the family, Hongjun is still our son," Qiu Shuping felt she couldn’t continue to act as impulsively as before. Now that her good reputation was gone, if she wanted a good life in the future, she needed to improve her relationship with her children and play on their emotions, "With the second daughter-in-law’s ability to cause trouble, even if our second son had a mountain of gold and silver, she’d spend it all. I just pity my son, who has always been impressive. He married such a spendthrift wife, and if we’re not careful, he’ll be left with nothing in his old age. As long as we’re breathing, we can’t just stand by and watch our son fall into such misfortune."

As she spoke, Qiu Shuping watched Old Li’s expression. Seeing that he didn’t show the same impatience as before and seemed to take her words to heart, she felt secretly pleased. Indeed, if she approached the matter differently, wasn’t it much easier to handle?

Actually, Old Li was very dissatisfied with his second daughter-in-law’s behavior during her last visit. His authority as the head of the family had been severely challenged, which made him think that perhaps his wife was right; the way the second son and his wife were carrying on was really not acceptable. As the father, he had to give his son a wake-up call.

Over the course of one meal, Qiu Shuping had successfully brainwashed Old Li.

After the meal, Qiu Shuping directly pulled him onto the kang bed to lie down, and they continued chatting.

Qiu Shuping knew that the two hadn’t seen each other for over two years, and they might not have much to say on other topics, so she chose to discuss the children instead.

Together, they had five children, and although they couldn’t talk about the youngest, Li Hongqi, at the moment, there were still four other children they could discuss, weren’t there?

The two of them talked about the eldest, Li Hongxing, and his wife, then moved on to the second son, Li Hongjun, and his wife, and from the elder daughter Li Xianglian, to the youngest daughter, Li Xianghe.

Qiu Shuping also got a rough idea of the major and minor events that had happened at home over the past two years.

There hadn’t been much change in the eldest’s household, except that Goudan had stopped schooling to work outside, but being young and inexperienced, he couldn’t settle in the Capital even with free accommodation from the second son. In the end, he went to work in the fields at the second son’s wife’s place in Z Province. It was said that he was doing quite well.

Old Li had learned from the eldest daughter-in-law that the second daughter-in-law had gone to farm. Of course, as to how much Goudan was making each month, Wang Dan, being his mother, was very discreet and didn’t show off. When people asked, she just brushed it off evasively.

In Old Li’s mind, since the eldest daughter-in-law was too embarrassed to talk about it, it proved that the situation with the second daughter-in-law wasn’t as good as she claimed. Otherwise, given her personality, she would have boasted about it long ago; how could she be like this now?

However, Qiu Shuping heard something different in the old man’s words. Firstly, it was possible that Goudan was indeed earning quite a bit. Otherwise, given the stingy nature of the eldest daughter-in-law, would she have allowed the whole family to go visit the second son for New Year’s? Although the reason given was to see Goudan, the round trip tickets weren’t free, after all.

Secondly, she found out that the apartment that the second son lived in at the Capital wasn’t rented but was actually owned by them. They had bought the place early on, oh, how they had deceived her! And it wasn’t just one apartment; the Old Li also mentioned that the second son had a courtyard in the Capital, albeit with only bungalows. freewebnσvel.cѳm

She heard that the old man had talked to the second son during New Year’s, suggesting that the second son give the youngest a place in the Capital to live in when he got out, but the couple refused.

Qiu Shuping was moved by the idea. Since Hongqi had already lost his job back home, and everyone knew about his prison sentence, it would be difficult to hold his head up if he came back. If he could go to the Capital, where no one knew anyone, he could start afresh. Qiu Shuping noted this down; she wasn’t in a hurry since the youngest still had two or three years to serve. All she had to do was secure the house before he got out.

Then there was the second son and his wife. There wasn’t much to say except for the fact that the second daughter-in-law had taken out a loan from the bank to lease land and hire people to farm it. Goudan was just one of her hired hands. Qiu Shuping scoffed at this, looking down on the second daughter-in-law’s logic. There was already enough land to farm back home; it was ridiculous to go out and rent more land to farm, creating trouble out of nothing.