"Even if we run into trouble later, they can just shout through the door and be a huge help to us!"

How could Old Mrs. Wang bear to give away something that had just fallen into her lap?

But she was also timid, and with her daughter-in-law’s cold eyes on her, she could only reluctantly take the items.

******

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. The door was knocked on. Mrs. Chu put down her work and went to open it.

Old Mrs. Wang smiled and handed over a bag, her eyes crinkling with smug satisfaction. She lowered her voice mysteriously and said, "My son and daughter-in-law spent a night at her parents’ home. Her mother is too generous; she sent them back with so many things."

"We thought since your daughter-in-law is about to give birth, and without the right connections, you can’t even get your hands on brown sugar these days. So, we brought you a bag. There’s also milk powder, see? It’s still sealed."

"The younger generation had a few squabbles before, but we’re all neighbors. We’ll have plenty of times we need to help each other out in the future, so how can we really be estranged, right? If we visit each other more, any misunderstanding will be cleared up..."

Mrs. Chu had a bad impression of the Wang Family. They were, after all, her daughter-in-law’s former in-laws.

She had always been one to speak her mind, and she sneered, "Your daughter-in-law nearly cost me my grandchild, and you call that a ’small squabble’? Our two families have already torn all pretenses apart. There’s no need for this fake courtesy."

"Who knows what ill intentions you’re hiding?"

Old Mrs. Wang’s eyes widened in anger. "You city folk are so nasty with your words! I came here with good intentions to bring you nice things, so why am I getting an earful from you?"

"Your daughter-in-law hasn’t even given birth yet, and you already know it’s a son in her belly? Ptui! With a black-hearted person like Zhu Yun, even if she had a whole litter, they’d all be money-losing girls!"

Zhu Yun drifted forward and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? As I recall, a certain Wang family proposed to me because I had a string of older brothers, and because the women of the Zhu family almost always have boys as their firstborn."

A pang of pain shot through Old Mrs. Wang’s heart.

’When an elder chose a wife for her son, looks were the last thing to consider. Zhu Yun had a good, strong frame, the kind that could bear children. Plus, her three older brothers were tall and sturdy, which meant she would surely give the Wang Family a whole line of grandsons.’

’Moreover, Zhu Yun wasn’t highly educated. She was quiet, didn’t talk much, and was easy to control. She was also hardworking and capable...’

’She was practically born to be a daughter-in-law of the Wang family, the perfect person for an old woman like her to lord her mother-in-law authority over.’

’But in the end, she became their neighbor across the hall, while her own daughter-in-law was no pushover, brazenly giving birth to a money-losing girl and acting all high and mighty about it!’

"Hmph! Zhu Yun, you little bastard, don’t get too smug! That thing in your belly is just a money-losing girl, a whole line of them! Just wait until you get kicked out!"

Zhu Yun caught sight of a burly man coming up the stairwell.

The old woman saw him too!

She had lived in the city for half a year and knew everyone upstairs and downstairs crystal clear. She hadn’t seen a stranger in a long time. She saw that the man was tall, his clothes were dirty and tattered, his face was grim, and his gaze was as fierce as a vicious wolf from the mountains behind her old village.

A single glance at him made her shudder uncontrollably.

For some reason, Old Mrs. Wang felt a flash of inspiration. Recalling her daughter-in-law’s earlier words, she decided this newcomer must be a thief!

The old woman looked again at the Chu mother and daughter-in-law, her gaze shifting to Zhu Yun’s belly. A surge of malice became impossible to suppress.

She started cursing with even more vigor, her hand pressing hard on the door.

"I get it now! Zhu Yun, you heartless bitch! Working in the cafeteria, you’ve seen all sorts of good things. Who knows what you’re secretly eating in your room every day."

"Look at how every other family is losing weight like crazy, while you’re getting all pale and plump!"

The burly man paused for a moment, then immediately shot forward.

Zhu Yun’s eyes narrowed. Moving faster still, she grabbed the old woman’s arm. She slammed her own door shut with a BANG, dragged the woman forward one step, then lifted her foot. Another BANG echoed as she kicked the Wang family’s door, sending it crashing to the ground again.

This revealed a terrified Lin Jin, who had been hiding to the side.

The baby sleeping inside was startled awake and began to wail at the top of her lungs.

The commotion was huge. The neighbors upstairs and downstairs loved to rubberneck, and would probably arrive at the "battlefield" within half a minute.

The burly man knew he didn’t have much time left.

’He hadn’t expected to be noticed ahead of time. His original plan was simple: just give Zhu Yun a hard shove to the ground. It would be best if her belly hit a table. Even if it didn’t result in one body and two lives lost, the baby inside would at least be gone.’

’Besides, they had someone planted at the hospital. When the time came, they would just remove her uterus. Heh. That was the ultimate punishment for a woman. Would the Chu family still want a hen that couldn’t lay eggs?’

’As for him? He was just a hero helping someone in distress!’