Mrs. Thompson's Clever Scheme

Qin Sanniang swayed her waist as she left, glaring fiercely at Mrs. Zhao before spitting and cursing, "Old dog."

When she returned home, Mrs. Tang had already prepared the meal and set it on the table waiting for Qin Sanniang.

Qin Sanniang went inside, sat down, and began eating. Mrs. Tang didn’t dare sit and, seeing Qin Sanniang eating heartily, whispered, "Zhuzi hasn’t come back yet. Maybe we should wait for him to eat."

Qin Sanniang rolled her eyes and cursed, "Wait for what? Wait for him to come back? The food will be cold! You want me to eat cold food? Are you trying to kill me? Get out, get out! You’re an eyesore! And your son is not allowed in the house. If he dares come in, I’ll have Zhuzi beat you to death!"

As she spoke, Qin Sanniang slammed her chopsticks hard on Mrs. Tang’s head.

Mrs. Tang was so frightened she quickly ducked and ran out, sliding along the wall into the woodshed.

Half of the woodshed was piled with firewood, and the other half had been cleared out. Now that Qin Sanniang had driven Mrs. Tang and Zhang Zhaocai out of the house, they could only live in the woodshed.

Zhang Zhaocai was curled up on a tattered quilt, sleeping.

Mrs. Tang came in and sat in the corner, crying, "Alas, how are we supposed to live like this? It’s simply unbearable, sob sob!"

Mrs. Tang cried endlessly. Zhang Zhaocai woke up, and seeing her cry, feeling both hungry and cold, became irritable and snapped, "If it weren’t for your greed, taking bribes from others, my father wouldn’t have had money to buy a new wife!"

Mrs. Tang wiped her tears, "Can you blame me? If I had known taking that silver would cause this, I wouldn’t have sold out Su Li’s family’s secret for anything! But what’s the use of saying this now? That vixen is already in the house, and it’s too late!"

Zhang Zhaocai’s stomach growled loudly, "Mom, I’m hungry. I want to eat."

"Eat what? That vixen in the house calls the shots now. She only gives us a little food each day. If we eat more, she’ll complain and your father will beat us," Mrs. Tang sobbed, "Oh, why is my life so bitter!"

Zhang Zhaocai was young and got hungry quickly. He had hardly ever been hungry before, but now, suddenly treated so poorly, his stomach was the first to suffer.

Mrs. Tang, feeling sorry for her son, said, "Zhaocai, hold on a little longer. Tomorrow we’ll go to Su Li’s house for Zhang Mu’s son’s full month banquet. I heard they have plenty of delicious dishes and enough food. I’ll secretly bring a big ceramic jar to take home the leftovers so we can eat well for several days."

Zhang Zhaocai thought of Su Li’s banquet and then remembered Lingdang, feeling even worse.

He had just decided to turn over a new leaf and sell vegetables with his mother to make money, not be lazy and idle anymore. But his mother messed things up and broke the deal for selling vegetables. His mother had just come into a windfall, thinking they could use the money as a bride price for Lingdang, but his father stole the silver and brought in a new wife.

Now his father didn’t care for him, and although his mother loved him, she was useless. As for Lingdang, it seemed there was no hope.

Mrs. Tang sat on the tattered quilt, looking at her son, then suddenly grabbed Zhang Zhaocai’s sleeve and said, "Zhaocai, we can’t go on like this. Sooner or later, we won’t survive. I’ve thought of a way for us to live a good life all at once."

"What way?" Zhang Zhaocai was immediately interested when he heard about living a good life. He couldn’t stand the current life even for a moment longer.

Mrs. Tang lowered her voice and said, "Tomorrow, when we go to Su Li’s full month banquet, you take advantage of everyone’s distraction to lure Yin Dou into a room. Strip that girl naked and pin her down. Although Yin Dou is young, if you take advantage of her, she has to marry you. Then I’ll say some soft words to get you to become a live-in son-in-law at Yuan’s. You go to the Yuan family and then bring me over. Then we can live the good life, eating well and no longer suffering under that she-devil Qin Sanniang’s torment!"