Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!
Chapter 309 Trapped by Lady Li_1

Chapter 309: Chapter 309 Trapped by Lady Li_1

Zhou La’er had long gotten over the anxieties his dad made him feel about returning to his hometown, leaving only excitement. Slowly coming to a realization, as long as the family lived together, he wouldn’t even get a chance to compete, as driving the carriage was the only task he could do to help the family.

Going back to his hometown would not only allow him to watch over the family’s fields, but also to let his dad see his abilities. Based on what he knew of his dad, arranging tasks for him and his brothers was definitely a test!

After lunch in the afternoon, Zhulan had Zhou La’er buy quite a bit of ribs, and instructed La’er and Chang Lian to dig some lotus roots from the pond, so they could stew lotus root and rib soup for dinner.

Zhou La’er and Chang Lian dug out plenty of lotus roots, with nothing better to do, they took the kids fishing after digging the roots.

Zhulan portioned some of the dug lotus roots and took out three ribs. Turning to Lady Li, who was washing the lotus roots, she said, "Our family will have lotus root and rib soup tonight. Take these to your mother’s house so she can also have a taste."

Just this morning, Lady Li’s family had sent over two large baskets of green vegetables. Her in-laws were really sincere.

Lady Li smiled broadly, "I’ll deliver it in a bit."

Lotus roots, now that’s a treasure. Mother-in-law didn’t dig much last year, and she’s been thinking about it since she came back!

It was almost dark when Zhou Shuren finally arrived. The whole family was waiting for Zhou Shuren to come home for dinner. Lady Li cooked a big pot of lotus root and rib soup, and the kids, tempted by the aroma, ran to the entrance several times, eagerly waiting for Grandpa to start the meal!

Zhou Shuren walked in, "Oh, rib soup, that’s great for nourishing the body."

Zhulan looked at Ming Teng with eager eyes, "We were all waiting for you to start eating!"

Zhou Shuren took his place at the head of the table, quite famished from a day’s travel, and filled his bowl to the brim with rib soup. After tasting it, he said, "Let’s eat."

Zhulan took a sip and noticed that Lady Li’s cooking skills had improved and it tasted better than last year.

Jiang Sheng sipped the soup and was once again touched by the thought that his two sons had really picked the right time to be born, knowing which house was more comfortable!

His wife was staying at her parents’ home for her postpartum recovery, eating well and being well taken care of, which naturally made her milk better. The two little ones were fortunate indeed.

If his in-laws hadn’t come back, only he would have been there to tend to his wife during her postpartum period. His cooking wasn’t very tasty, so he really couldn’t take good care of his wife’s recovery!

After dinner, Zhulan checked on her daughter. Xue Mei had finished two large bowls of rib soup and even had a bowl of rice porridge. This was on top of eating multiple meals a day, with her daughter eating five times daily.

Xue Mei herself felt she was eating quite a lot and blushed, "Mom, I don’t know what’s happening, I just get so hungry."

Zhulan was putting away the dishes, "Giving birth to twins is quite draining; it’s normal to eat more. When you’re at your mom’s, I’ll make sure you’re well-nourished."

Xue Mei felt even more embarrassed. Just last night she had chicken soup, pig’s trotters soup for lunch, and now rib soup for dinner. Staying for the month at her mother’s, her mom would spend a good amount of silver coins. Plus, it was a family of four dining at her mother’s expense, "Mom, our whole family is eating and you also need to nourish me, it must cost quite a bit of silver coins, right?"

Zhulan replied, "You just focus on your recovery, those silver coins are nothing. They aren’t even enough to buy the furs I brought for you!"

Speaking of what she had brought for her eldest daughter, Zhulan indeed hadn’t skimped.

Xue Mei, "....."

She had indeed worried in vain. Her dad was now an esteemed graduate, and she, as the daughter, had received quite a lot of gifts in his honor. Not to mention what her dad brought from Pingzhou.

Zhulan sat beside her and told Xue Mei what she had brought, "Your dad became a graduate and we received many gifts. I saved all the good furs. As the colors of some furs weren’t particularly fine, I divided them up. I brought back a mink fur for you, and there are three more, one for each of your sisters-in-law and your younger brother’s wife. I just haven’t given them theirs yet."

She wanted to see Lady Li anxiously waiting. Lady Zhao already had furs from the Qian family and had made a cape. Lady Dong certainly didn’t lack any, it was only Lady Li who didn’t have any. Alright, she just wanted to tease Lady Li.

Xue Mei saw the mischief in her mother’s eyes and knew she was teasing her sister-in-law again.

Zhulan continued, "I won’t go into detail about the cotton and fabric I bought for the child. I got a complete set of silver bangles, a silver amulet, and a silver collar. I didn’t expect you to have twins, so now we’ll need to make another set. For Miumiu, I brought back head flowers and toys popular in Pingzhou City. For Jiang Zhu, I got writing materials."

What the Zhou family didn’t lack at the moment were writing materials; they had received plenty as gifts this time. As for the toys, they were wooden carved with lots of little tricks incorporated. Zhulan played with them for a while after buying them and marveled at the wisdom of ancient craftspeople; the clever mechanisms were ingenious, and she couldn’t help but disassemble one, then couldn’t put it back together!

What was brought back now was newly purchased.

Xue Mei counted in her heart, her mother had brought back quite a few things for her!

Zhulan chatted with Xue Mei for a while, then got a fright when she pushed the door open and saw Lady Li, "Why didn’t you make a sound outside?"

Lady Li looked at her mother-in-law with a grievous expression, "Mother, I heard it all, you had already divided the hides."

Zhulan, "..."

Impressive, Lady Li had actually eavesdropped.

Realizing that something was amiss in her mother-in-law’s gaze, Lady Li responded, "Mother, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. My sister-in-law was waiting for you to bring back the dishes for so long, so I came over to see."

Little did she know, she overheard Mother saying the hides were divided and realized Mother had been teasing her!

Zhulan knew she had misunderstood Lady Li, that’s right, Lady Li wouldn’t dare to eavesdrop, "Take the dishes here and go back with them!"

Lady Li, "....Mother."

Zhulan walked forward, glancing out of the corner of her eye and seeing Lady Li drooping her head, she slightly curled the corner of her mouth, "I’ll give it to you when we get back."

Lady Li grinned, "I knew Mother loved me."

Zhulan, "....."

It seemed she’d been tricked, Lady Li had become cunning, and had even learned to act pitiful. Hmm, it appeared that the simpleton at home had figured out her routine; this wasn’t good!

Zhulan returned to her room, and Zhou Shuren raised an eyebrow, "You seem in a good mood?"

Zhulan moved closer to Zhou Shuren and whispered, "I must tell you, I got tricked by Lady Li."

Zhou Shuren put down the book in his hand, sat beside Zhulan, and started to undo her hair as he spoke, "And you’re happy about that?"

"I find it amusing, that’s why I’m happy. Did we buy the land for the clan school today?"

Zhou Shuren finished untying Zhulan’s hair and took the comb to brush it for her, "It’s bought, and the transfer is complete."

"Any news about the twenty acres we wanted to buy?"

"There’s none left near Li Family Village, but there is some in Zhou Family Village. I’m thinking of buying that and then exchanging it with someone to connect our forty acres into one piece, what do you think?"

Zhulan had no objections, "That’s good, connecting the land makes it easier to manage."

Zhou Shuren continued, "For the land in Zhou Family Village next year, I also want to use the sharecropping system and entrust the forty acres to our clan members."

Zhulan knew Zhou Shuren had already chosen people for this, people he would need in the future, "What about Jiang Sheng?"

"He’ll help us collect the grain every year, and we’ll just distribute the seeds at the start of spring."

Upon hearing this, Zhulan asked, "So Jiang Sheng doesn’t need to take care of the seedlings anymore?"

"Yes, with the increased land, it’s too troublesome for Jiang Sheng to personally look after it. It’s better to distribute the seeds at the beginning of the year. The amount of land one is responsible for will determine the amount of seeds they receive, and it will also be easier for Xue Mei and her husband."

Zhulan said, "That’s also quite good, Jiang Sheng has two more children now, and a person’s energy is not unlimited."