Forced to marry a disabled man in the countryside? I'll repay you tenfold!

Su Lingshan bit her lip tightly. How could this old woman say that everyone was counting on her for medical treatment? What exactly happened? Did Su Wanqing simply refuse to help, and with Secretary Li dying, she conveniently cleared herself of any responsibility? So she became the only sanitation worker?

She didn't want to ask directly, so she could only suppress her doubts for the time being.

When Aunt Wang led them straight to the brand-new red brick houses, Su Lingshan realized something was wrong.

"Wait, Auntie!" Su Lingshan stopped, her voice filled with disbelief. "Shouldn't my cousin Su Wanqing and her family be living in the mud-brick houses at the educated youth settlement? Where are you taking us?"

According to the plot of her book, Su Wanqing's family should live in a drafty mud house. The only brick house was reserved for Chen Weidong, who had a powerful background, and it was also one of the keys to later seducing Su Wanqing into having an affair.

Aunt Wang turned around and smiled, "That's right! This brick house is where Dr. Su lives. Where else would he live if he didn't live here? Come on, I'll knock on the door and see if Dr. Su is back. It's time to finish work."

Su Lingshan's heart skipped a beat. Looking at the sturdy red brick house and comparing it to the low mud-brick house next to it, a strong sense of foreboding instantly gripped her.

Has the plot taken a huge turn? Not only did Su Wanqing escape suffering, but she's now living in a brick house? Or...?

The plot has been revised so that Su Wanqing has already hooked up with Chen Weidong and moved into the house that originally belonged to Chen Weidong?

This is not a good situation.

The door opened.

Zhou's mother and Lin Tingting were still stunned as they stared at the group of travel-worn people before them.

Xie Lanhua's eyes lit up, and an exaggerated smile immediately spread across her face. She pushed past Zhou's mother and went inside, exclaiming, "Oh my! Mother-in-law! It's been so long! We are Wanqing's aunt and uncle! We've come from Bincheng!"

Zhou's mother stumbled from the jostling, frowning. "It's you? What are you doing here? Why did you come all the way from Bincheng?"

"That's right!" Xie Lanhua walked into the outer room as if she were already at home, plopped down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and said as if she were back in her own house. "I've been on the train for three days and three nights, my bones are about to fall apart! I was just thinking of my niece, so I came to see you all!" She glanced at the porridge on the table.

"Oh my, you guys are being so polite! You knew we were coming and even cooked a meal for us? You're being too formal!"

Her words were completely devoid of the respect and fawning she had shown towards Zhou's mother, the capitalist's wife, back in Bincheng.

In her view, the Zhou family is now a phoenix fallen from grace, worse than a chicken. Their property has been confiscated, and their son has been injured and sent to this poor, remote place. Whether they can turn their lives around is another matter. What else is there to worry about?

So she called out to Uncle Su, "Husband, come in quickly! Your mother has prepared a meal for us. Eat something to fill your stomach; we haven't had a bite to eat all day, we're starving!"

Uncle Su was exhausted. He rushed into the house and plopped down on the kang (a heated brick bed), kicking up dust everywhere. He picked up the porridge that Lin Tingting had originally prepared and slurped it down.

"Ah—!" Zhou's mother let out a piercing scream. "Get up right now! You're not allowed to sit on my kang! You're filthy! You're covered in dirt! Get down right now!"

Uncle Su reluctantly moved to a chair. "Mother-in-law, really, you've already been sent down to the countryside, why are you still insisting on so many old customs?"

Zhou's mother covered her nose and gave the three members of the Su family a disgusted look.

Lin Tingting stared dumbfounded at this group of uninvited, impoverished relatives, and couldn't help but curse, "What a bunch of shabby, despicable wretches! They look like beggars fleeing famine, with absolutely no manners! No wonder they raised a shameless vixen like Su Wanqing!"

Xie Lanhua glared at Lin Tingting, "Hey! Who do you think you are, little girl? Why do you have such a foul mouth? We've come all this way, haven't eaten for days, what's wrong with eating my niece's food? What's it to you? Mind your own business!"

Su Lingshan's eyes lit up. Was this Lin Tingting, the spoiled, brainless cousin she had created, who was obsessed with her cousin and always opposed Su Wanqing? What a brainless idiot! Judging from her attitude, she must have given Su Wanqing a lot of trouble lately.

Zhou's mother covered her nose in disgust, "What are you trying to do, coming all this way?" Could it be that Su Wanqing, that brat, secretly brought in reinforcements? Did she think she could turn things around just because she has her family backing her up?

"What are you doing here?" Xie Lanhua snorted, no longer pretending.

"My eldest niece was dishonest when she left home, taking things she shouldn't have! Of course, we've come to reclaim what belongs to the Su family! Also, we married Su Wanqing into your Zhou family so she could live a good life, but who would have thought she'd end up suffering in this poor, desolate place! This time, we've come to take her back to the city to enjoy a better life!"

Uncle Su, not seeing Su Wanqing, asked impatiently, "Where's my niece? Where did she go?" He winked at Xie Lanhua, "Since she's not here, Lanhua, go to her room and search for her trunk. Take our things back! That child, she's really outrageous, taking things from the house without a word..."

Lin Tingting's eyes lit up. Su Wanqing's family was going to take her away? That was perfect! Wasn't that exactly what she wanted? As long as Su Wanqing left, Cousin Yanshen would be hers!

She immediately pointed gleefully to the locked door in the inner room.

"Her things are all inside! But my sister-in-law locks the door tightly as soon as she leaves, like she's guarding against a thief! What treasure did she take that made you chase her all this way? Can you really take her back to the city? What if she can't bear to leave my cousin and doesn't want to go back to the city?"

Xie Lanhua and Uncle Su exchanged a glance, their eyes practically gleaming with greed.

Xie Lanhua spat, "Pah! Why wouldn't she want to go back to the city? Going back to the city is so much better! She can live in a spacious and bright apartment, have an endless supply of fine grains, meat, and vegetables every day, and enjoy endless comforts! Why would she want to stay in this lousy place with you guys, eating cornbread every day and working for those meager work points?"

The more she spoke, the more confident she became, urging Uncle Su, "Husband, stop standing there! This brat still locked the door? She's really acting like a guilty conscience! Break that lock! Let's see where she can hide!"

Upon hearing this, Uncle Su immediately found half a brick and was about to smash it against the door lock.

Zhou's mother was now truly anxious and stepped forward to stop them: "No! You can't break the lock! Even if someone really took something from you, you have to wait for her to come back and ask her for it back! What kind of behavior is breaking the lock?"

What if the door gets smashed? What if her son and daughter-in-law make a racket at night? Wouldn't that make even more noise? Would she, this old woman, ever get any sleep?