Divorce with three kids? I'll build a house and eat meat, driving my in-laws crazy.

Chapter 41: Eight Pounds of Meat Wasted
Li Ruru forced herself to take another bite of the sesame seed cake before saying, "We can work together."

Aunt Pang knew Li Ruru's abilities. She could turn poisonous konjac into edible konjac tofu, and her business was booming every day, which was enough to show that she was no ordinary person.

The plump aunt took two steps closer, eager for a solution, "Young lady, tell me how we can cooperate?"

“Let’s sell combo meals together.” Li Ruru swallowed the hard, dry sesame seed cake with difficulty, and then quickly drank a mouthful of spicy soup.

"What is a set meal? How is it sold?" Aunt Pang was completely confused; the term "set meal" was not familiar to her.

This was the first time she had heard of this; Li Ruru was indeed very knowledgeable.

Under the adoring gaze of the plump aunt, Li Ruru spoke up: "The set meal is basically combining the items from both of our families and selling them together. My konjac tofu is 3 coins a bowl. Your sesame seed cake, not a fried dough cake. Your fried dough cake can sell for 5 coins..."

"Isn't 5 coins too expensive?" Aunt Pang couldn't help but interject. Her sesame cakes were also made with high-quality ingredients, but they only sold for 2 coins.

Many people even think that 2 coins is too expensive.

"Let me finish. A sesame seed cake is a sesame seed cake, and a fried dough cake is a fried dough cake. Fried dough cakes require oil, so the raw materials are expensive, and the selling price is naturally also expensive."

Aunt Pang nodded repeatedly. What the other person said was absolutely right. How could she not have thought of that? She was such a pig-brain.

Li Ruru continued, "My konjac tofu will sell for 3 coins, your fried dough sticks for 5 coins, and the set meal will be 7 coins. I'll take 3 coins, and you'll take 4 coins. What do you think?"

"Good, good, good, young lady, you're really smart." Besides saying "good," Auntie Pang also tried to squeeze out a few more compliments.

She doesn't usually praise people, and when she does, she doesn't know how to choose her words. Sometimes, even when she's trying to praise someone, her words can make people feel uncomfortable.

She took the lion's share of the meal deal, how could she not be happy?

The sesame seed cakes cost 2 coins and business is dismal, while the fried dough cakes cost 4 coins. If we follow Li Ruru, we'll definitely sell out.

The plump aunt's eyes gleamed with an unprecedented light, and she waved her hand, saying, "Young ladies, you don't need to pay for these pancakes you're eating, they're not very tasty anyway."

Li Ruru: "..." Uh, does anyone talk about their cooking skills like that?

She held the sesame seed cake in her hand, unsure whether she should continue eating it.

Seeing this, Sanya whispered, "Mother, give it to me."

Li Ruru thought she hadn't eaten enough, so she said, "You can soak it in the hot and sour soup to make it softer."

Sanya nodded, her eyes darting away.

Li Ruru chose to cooperate with Aunt Pang because one bowl of konjac tofu is not enough to fill you up.

If you order a set meal, you can have fried dough sticks for 7 coins, plus konjac tofu to cleanse your palate. It sounds so satisfying.

Seeing that Li Ruru had finished eating and was about to leave, Aunt Pang quickly asked, "Little sister, how much konjac tofu are you making tomorrow?"

She thought that since it was a set meal, they should make the same portion size, so it would be easier to sell.

Li Ruru, however, said nonchalantly, "Just double your usual amount. Let's do it this way for now, and we can gradually increase it later when business is better."

The plump aunt nodded vigorously, "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you. By the way, young lady, which village are you from?"

Li Ruru knew that she wanted to find out more about her background. After all, the two were about to start working together, and she would feel more at ease if she knew her inside and out.

She revealed her background: "I'm from Chenjia Village. To be honest, I'm divorced, and my three daughters live with me."

"Divorce?" Aunt Pang's eyes widened in disbelief.

These past few days, she'd seen Li Ruru taking care of her three children alone, and assumed her husband was paralyzed, had gone on a long trip, or might even be dead.

But she really hadn't considered divorce.

Seeing her surprised expression, Li Ruru said, "If you don't like it, then just pretend I didn't say anything about cooperating. We can each sell our own products."

With that, he took the children and left.

By the time Aunt Pang realized what was happening and went to chase after her, she had already disappeared. Li Ruru loves shopping, and today, as usual, she bought a lot of things, including a large crucian carp, which she planned to make into a crucian carp soup when she got home.

The Chen family had already seen the doctor. Old Lady Zhao was reluctant to spend money, so she found the cheapest clinic in the county for the three of them.

She spent only 180 coins on the doctor's visit and medicine, and she said smugly, "If I hadn't gone to several different places, you would all have been ripped off."

If you ask me, you don't actually need to get these herbs; just go up the mountain, dig them up, and dry them according to the prescription.

Wang Shuixia endured the physical pain while listening to her mother-in-law's nagging, which annoyed her to no end.

“Mother, if we had to go up the mountain to dig up medicinal herbs and then dry them, we might have died from the pain by now.”

Zhao glared at her, "We both got a beating, but my son didn't say anything. You're the one making a fuss."

“They’re tough and thick-skinned, how can I compare to them?” Wang Shuixia immediately felt aggrieved. “Mom, you didn’t complain about the price when you spent 200 coins to hire the oxcart this morning.”

It was something that could have been done for a maximum of 20 coins, but Mother insisted on raising the price with Li Ruru.

If she hadn't seen her mother give 200 coins to He Dajiao, she would have thought her mother was just joking.

I never expected she was asking for real money.

Feng Yuzhu witnessed her mother-in-law being tricked little by little, and she only realized what was happening at the very end.

To be honest, Zhao was also a victim in this matter.

But Zhao's money belonged to everyone, and when Feng Yuzhu came to her senses, she felt that her mother-in-law was a complete idiot.

She was also holding her breath, thinking, "It was too expensive. I wasted 160 coins, which could have bought 8 catties of meat."

The Chen family measured everything by meat, and they wasted eight pounds of meat. How could anyone not feel sorry for them?

Chen Dagang's face darkened as well. "It would be so much better if we had that money to eat meat."

There hadn't been any meat in the house for a long time, and he couldn't help but lick his lips.

Chen Sanbao also complained, "Mother, can you please be more careful with your spending in the future? I still need to marry Junniang."

Don't let him finish building it!
When Zhao heard her family blaming her, she immediately became angry and started cursing, regardless of that they were in the market.

"You heartless bastards, is it my fault that I kindly bought medicine for you?"
"I shouldn't have given birth to you ungrateful wretches! You crawled out of my womb and now you don't even recognize me as your mother!"

Chen Dagang hurriedly pulled her away, "Mother, stop making a fuss, that's not what we meant."

"What does that mean? Explain yourself!" Zhao persisted.

Chen Dagang said, "We're just saying that the 200 wen flower was wronged."

"Injustice? If I didn't spend that money, would you be able to see a doctor? I was only doing this for your own good, you heartless bastards."

As Zhao cursed, she grew angrier and angrier, eventually lying on the ground and throwing a tantrum.

The old woman was full of grievances, recounting the hardships she had endured these past few days.

“My third daughter-in-law emptied the whole house, there isn’t even a bed left. You unfilial children, none of you gave up your beds, leaving this old woman and your father to sleep on straw mats.”

"So many things inside and out were gone, and I was the one who ran around getting them back."

"You two daughters-in-law are so lazy you don't even cook. One has a stomachache today, the other can't walk tomorrow. Who cares about whether this old woman lives or dies? Waaah..."

"What kind of life am I living? Waaah, my life is so miserable~~~"

As Zhao was singing and crying, a figure suddenly appeared before her.

She paused, her sobs subsiding, and asked warily, "What...what do you want to do?"

(End of this chapter)