The Female Cannon Fodder With Boundless Merits
Chapter 439 - 443 Shang Family’s Daughter (4)

Chapter 439: Chapter 443 Shang Family’s Daughter (4)

Su Li wiped off the excess lipstick from the corners of her mouth with fine silk, and said with a half-smile, "What are you thinking? Do I even need to lift a finger to do any work?"

Yuan Ping’s face changed slightly, but he forcibly suppressed his reaction and replied with a strained smile, "I know it’s demeaning for you to do chores, but most of the work at home is already being shared by the two younger sisters. You just need to show face, so others in the family won’t have complaints."

"Family harmony brings prosperity to everything...."

Su Li didn’t respond but instead raised her eyebrows and asked, "Was it your niece who complained to you or did Er Niu feel she was wronged?"

Yuan Ping hastily waved his hands, "You know them, they’re honest and simple, like old oxen."

"Then how come right after I had a spat with the second wife, Yuan Jiaming, Xiao Xiao, and you all came to see me one after another?"

"You were in the study reading, and you let these trifling matters disturb you?"

Yuan Wen said, "It’s because Xiao Niu was crying so hard, we all heard it, it was so loud I couldn’t concentrate on my reading."

"You should be ashamed, picking on little girls like Xiao Niu."

"Even your sons and daughters know it, they think you’ve gone too far."

The more they spoke, the more impatient Yuan Wen became.

He knew his niece was upset on behalf of Er Niu and felt injustice in her heart, so he spoke directly, "Just do it for me, go to the kitchen later and help wash some vegetables, that’ll do."

"As for Xiao Niu, since you make sweet soup for Xiao Xiao every day, just serve a bowl to Da Niu, Er Niu, and Xiao Niu as well."

Su Li just chuckled.

While fiddling with her fingernails, she explained to Yuan Wen, "You probably don’t realize, but the sweet soup has medicinal herbs in it, and one packet only makes enough for two small bowls. Yuan Jiaming and Xiao Xiao sharing it is already not enough, and you want to send some to the second wife’s family?"

"Why not just boil an extra packet?"

Su Li said, "It’s easy for you to say, just open and close your mouth and give things away, you probably don’t know how expensive the medicinal herbs are."

Su Li, counting on her fingers, calculated the cost of the medicinal ingredients for Yuan Wen in a manner akin to a miser, which left him both angry and embarrassed.

"All you think about is money, isn’t it? Xiao Niu and the others are my nieces after all. You, as their aunt, can’t even serve them a bowl of food without counting the cost? It’s really....."

"Mom, we won’t eat, you give the sweet soup to Sister Xiao Niu and the others."

Hiding outside the door, the two youngest couldn’t hold back, and directly ran up to Su Li, looking up at her and speaking loudly.

Yuan Wen nodded approvingly at the two children, "See, you’re not as sensible as Yuan Jiaming and Xiao Xiao."

It turns out that only those of the Yuan surname are truly family. Su Li was not the original owner, one to ache for flesh that fell from her own body.

Su Li clapped her hands, "Then fine, if you two don’t eat, I will."

"I feel another wrinkle forming on my forehead; I really should pamper myself properly."

"Mom..."

"Mom... how can you be like this..."

The two children were both anxious and angry. Could she not be a little kinder?

Yuan Wen was also very angry with Su Li’s attitude; even after both children had spoken up, she remained obstinately unswayed.

She used to be reluctant, but she still somewhat cared about their feelings.

Su Li’s face turned cold, "What am I doing? Is this the propriety, righteousness, integrity, and honor that you learn from your father? Is this how you treat your mother who gave birth to you?"

Including Yuan Wen in her scolding, his face turned as black as a pot.

Su Li: "You have food to eat because I am your mother. If those little girls want to eat, they should go to their own parents, not to me, their aunt. I didn’t give birth to them."

"If you don’t want to eat, then you never will again."

Yuan Jiaming and Yuan Xiaoxiao were only focused on being angry and didn’t take Su Li’s words seriously at all.

Yuan Wen also took his wife’s words as mere venting.

Others might not know, but how could he be in the dark? Su Li was a classic case of a sharp tongue but a soft heart.

"Let’s go, we’ll leave and let your mother think things through by herself."

Yuan Wen, pulling the two youngsters, left in a huff.

Once outside the door, he whispered to Jiaming and Xiao Xiao.

"When your mother’s sweet soup is ready, bring some to Sister Xiao Niu and the others. Today your mother was wrong. All the chores at home are done by your second aunt, no wonder Sister Xiao Niu and the others can’t stand it."

"How can mother be like this, we are all one family, and she acts so precious, lying around all day doing nothing... I understand, I will apologize to Sister Xiao Niu and the others later."

"I will too, second aunt has been so good to us, giving us all the delicious food, and Sister Niuniu and the others got nothing... mother is just too stingy..."

They murmured these words in low voices, not realizing that Su Li could hear everything clearly.

The original owner’s two children were essentially spoiled, their mother’s wholehearted devotion reduced to such ungratefulness in their words.

Whatever good things their second aunt had for them were all bought with the money provided by the original owner.

Using the original owner’s money to buy things and please these two fools, and yet the fools still foolishly thought their second aunt was truly wonderful.

Why couldn’t they show such gratitude to their own mother?

Su Li snorted coldly and turned to pull out a chest from under the bed, filled with her private dowry.

The chest looked ordinary, but upon closer inspection, it was quite ingeniously made.

Without the key, no matter if you burned it or smashed it with rocks, you couldn’t unlock it.

Violent methods would only destroy what was inside.

Su Li took out the key, opened the chest, and inside were glistening golden fish.

Apart from gold and silver, there were notes and deeds from the manor, and over a dozen silver notes.

So much silver coin was quite a grand sum for the Su Family; no wonder the people from the Yuan Family were eyeing the original owner’s private funds.

Su Li counted everything, closed the chest again, found a small basket, placed the chest inside, and covered it with a silk cloth.

She did not intend to put the chest key back in its original place but instead braided a chain with red cords and threaded the key onto it, which she then hung around her neck.

Yuan Jiaming, the original owner’s son, knew where the key was kept. Guarding against a household thief is hard...

The fool really was a fool. His mother’s dowry would eventually fall to him and his sister, yet he was actually helping others to steal what should be his.

Even though that ’other’ was his biological father.

This fool was eight or nine years old now, wasn’t he? In some families, children are betrothed early, and by this age, they are starting to look at suitors, yet he could only laugh foolishly every day.

Actually, the original owner had thought about educating them, but she didn’t know if the Yuan Family blood was too dominant or what, since from a young age, the siblings had always been close to the Yuan family and indifferent towards their maternal Su Family.

Even though the Su Family showed them extraordinary affection, it was still no match for a single word from Old Man Yuan.

What was even more alarming was the revelation that her son and daughter harbored resentful energy in their hearts towards the Su Family.

Resentful that their maternal grandparents, who clearly had money, wouldn’t give some to their grandparents so they could enjoy a better life.