Transmigration: I Have Storage Space in the Apocalypse
Chapter 112 - 110 Ingrained Old Thinking

"Alright, your mother-in-law didn’t mean it, after all, it’s your mom’s poor health, no one is to blame." Xie Tiesheng saw his son-in-law enter the kitchen and then whispered a few words to Da Niu:

"This matter, after we leave, you should talk it over properly with Jiefang, you can’t act as if nothing happened. You need to make sense of the details yourself, and what needs to be said must be said. Otherwise, if your mom gets upset again next time, I won’t allow her to leave the house!"

If Xie Tiesheng didn’t know that his son-in-law was a good man and that his daughter was devoted to him, he would have really liked to take Da Niu back home.

This thought only flashed through his mind in a moment of anger. Anyone with a bit of sense would know that it was a rash statement, and no matter what, they couldn’t ignore the three grandchildren. So ultimately, with deep-rooted traditional thinking, he could only make his point to his daughter in a logical manner.

"I understand, Dad, I will talk to Jiefang about it properly. She, she went too far." Xie Jinghong’s eyes turned red, even the tip of her nose, it was evident how worked up she was. At this moment, she couldn’t care less that the person she was speaking about was her husband’s own mother, she was truly annoyed with her mother-in-law.

As for her own mother, Zhou Xiuhua, she really was filial. Her parents always treated their sons and daughters fairly, and gave them all the love and support they could, it was just that conditions were truly harsh, not because they were selfish and made their children suffer.

Back when her previous fiance broke off the engagement, her mother cried even more than she did, seeing her unwillingness to marry, allowed her to follow her own heart, until she met her husband. Even if her mother was not satisfied with him, she still listened to her.

Her mother knew she had a tough heart, knew she was competitive, but once she was set on her husband, her mother went along with her wishes, only saying: When a child grows up, they are beyond the mother’s control, as long as she is truly happy, that’s all that matters.

If Li Xiaochun only made her suffer a bit, Xie Jinghong could still endure it. But now that her mother fell ill, she inevitably developed a grudge against her mother-in-law, Li Xiaochun, out of love and protection for her mother.

"Alright, let’s not mention this in front of me, give your man some face." Xie Tiesheng shook his head and waved his hands, gesturing his daughter to help him lift and move the tea table toward Zhou Xiuhua, so she could lean against the wall and eat more comfortably.

"Thank you, Dad. Mom, you have to take care of yourself; otherwise, Da Niu will be branded an eternal sinner!"

"Stop overthinking, your mother knows what kind of person you are." Zhou Xiuhua glanced weakly at her elder daughter and took the porridge bowl passed from Zhang Shanni’s hand, slowly sipping the warm rice soup with a hint of sweet pumpkin and savory meat flavor, which was truly delicious!

The delicious food finally improved Zhou Xiuhua’s mood, especially seeing that both her husband and her daughter-in-law were looking at her with concern. Her heart softened and she slowly exhaled the pent-up frustration.

This temper, it must be managed. So as not to worry the husband and children.

After eating, considering Zhou Xiuhua’s sudden condition, Zhang Shanni let the old lady take her medicine and then go for a nap, taking advantage of the Spirit Core Water not yet digested, it might help her to get the most out of the medicine, and when she wakes up, they’ll see if she can manage to take the bus home.

Just thinking about the public buses of this era, Zhang Shanni’s scalp felt numb and her stomach churned—ugh!

Hastily suppressing the surge of nausea, Zhang Shanni sat weakly at the base of the wall, staring blankly into the sky.

At this moment, having seen his mother-in-law go to sleep, Fan Jiefang gave up the Space to allow some private conversation between father and daughter. He, on the other hand, went to return the tricycle first and then to find someone, checking if he could get a sedan to take his father-in-law and family back.

Of course, he could have asked for a favor and use a company car, but after all, those are public vehicles at the unit, and he wasn’t at a level where he was entitled to a car. If he truly needed a car, he would have to borrow one as a favor.

There was really no money left at home. It was Zhang Shanni, upon seeing her brother-in-law going to return the trike and borrow another vehicle empty-handed, who gave her sister a pointed look and took out candy and biscuits from the cloth bag her mother brought, letting him take those as a gift.

After all, the exchange of favors is important. She’s not a local, and doesn’t understand Fan Jiefang’s personal connections, so she could only let him handle it.

The debt of favor is an intangible one; it partly depends on the relationship between the two parties and partly on the quality of the other person’s character. Giving too much is inappropriate, yet giving too little is worse. Fortunately, bribery hasn’t become a standard practice, and the tradition of reciprocity still prevails. If you commit a faux pas, at most others might disregard you, but they won’t go as far as to make things difficult for you!

Fan Jiefang didn’t stand on ceremony and took however much was required, letting his wife prepare it all, to give two pounds of white sugar to the tricycle owner. This amount was already sufficient; although it was only borrowed for an hour and wasn’t worth much, when someone hears you’re in trouble and immediately lends you their vehicle, they treat you as a friend, as a gesture of goodwill. To Fan Jiefang and Zhang Shanni, two pounds of white sugar in exchange for this gesture was absolutely worth it.

Seeing that her sister-in-law and her husband both nodded in agreement, even though Xie Jinghong felt a twinge of reluctance, she still packed it up.

And another package was filled with one pound each of candies, biscuits, and two pounds of brown sugar on top. Brown sugar was even pricier than white; sometimes, even if you had money and rations, there was no place to get it.

In order to make her mother more comfortable, Xie Jinghong didn’t hesitate to start packing. After Fan Jiefang returned the trike, he picked up the packed cloth bag and left. Seeing her brother-in-law knew to leave discreetly, Zhang Shanni definitely would not meddle between father and daughter.

But she wasn’t idle either, looking at the disorder in her sister’s courtyard. Though she might not be adept at many tasks, she had the strength, and managed to tidy up the small ten-square-meter vegetable garden in less than an hour.

Upon seeing the wooden planks stored in the corner, with a little measuring, she understood that her sister was preparing to set up a temporary chicken coop to raise some hens for eggs!

In the corner, all the tools and timber boards were readily available. She might not know how to build a house, but setting up a small coop wasn’t beyond her. After approximating the measurements of the lumber boards, she had a rough idea of the structure and got straight to work.

By the time Xie Jinghong and Xie Tiesheng, father and daughter, heard the noise and came out to see, they discovered that the small courtyard had undergone a big change. Everything was tidy and in order, and to their surprise, the Third Son’s Wife was actually building a small chicken coop!

"Hey, Shanni, you don’t need to work, you should rest to avoid injuring yourself!" Xie Jinghong persuaded Zhang Shanni with a blush on her face. It was understandable for the house, being newly moved in, to be a bit messy, but seeing the Third Son’s Wife tidy up the whole courtyard in an hour made her feel embarrassed.

"It’s okay, Dad, Sister, don’t worry about me, continue your chat. This is just setting up a small chicken coop, I can handle it." Without turning her head, Zhang Shanni’s hands moved accurately with every hammer blow; the nails were driven straight into the wood, joining planks and sticks together to form the structure...

Under Xie Jinghong’s watchful eye, Zhang Shanni took less than twenty minutes to successfully construct a small chicken coop.

Having acknowledged Zhang Shanni’s strength in the morning, Xie Tiesheng could calmly watch the capable actions of the Third Son’s Wife.