Chapter 37: Chapter 35: Run! A Tigress and a Henpecked Husband

Zhang Yazhen stepped forward and tapped her on the forehead. “You wretched girl, is that any way to talk to your mother!”

Xiong Yan looked at her resentfully. “I’m not wrong. You came running back and broke two eggs on the way. Then you fried them all for Weicheng. Xiong Hui and I didn’t even get to see the shells! You favor boys over girls.”

“Such a sharp tongue on you.” Zhang Yazhen scolded, raising her hand to hit her.

Xiong Yan dodged behind Xiong Jianjun and made a face. “Haha! You can’t hit me!” She tugged on Xiong Jianjun to tattle. “Dad, after Mom fried the eggs, she grabbed a stool and was leaning over the wall, spying on who knows who!”

“Mom was looking at that vixen Lin next door. She even said she was going to cut off her fox tail,” a chubby little boy of six or seven announced smugly, standing at the kitchen entrance while holding a red peony.

Zhang Yazhen rushed to cover her son’s mouth. “Keep your voice down! Someone might hear you.”

Xiong Yan whispered, “Dad, Mom also went to the Eucalyptus Forest to sell… to sell…”

WHACK! Zhang Yazhen slapped her on the forehead. “You just had to run your mouth, didn’t you? Now hurry up and go help your sister set the table.”

“You favor boys over girls!” Xiong Yan yelled, then went to the kitchen, clutching her head.

Xiong Jianjun tried to placate her gently. “Yazhen, let’s just mind our own business. Why are you trying to provoke her? That woman is not to be trifled with. Even the production team leader has to give her a wide berth.”

Zhang Yazhen pursed her lips and stared at him. “Tell me, have you taken a fancy to that little widow next door?”

“My ancestors,” Xiong Jianjun said, his face paling in alarm. “Don’t talk such nonsense! Are you trying to get that widow to come after me with a knife?”

Zhang Yazhen pointed at his nose. “If you dare do anything to wrong me, you won’t have to worry about the widow. I’ll be the one to grab a knife and castrate you myself.”

Xiong Jianjun forced a smile. “As if I would dare!”

Zhang Yazhen scoffed. “That’s right. You wouldn’t dare.”

Just then, Xiong Weicheng ran to the doorway. “Mom, Second Sister said you’re a tigress and that Dad is henpecked!”

“That wretched girl!” Zhang Yazhen grabbed a thin bamboo switch and charged into the kitchen.

Xiong Yan shot out of the kitchen, wailing as she ran to hide behind Xiong Jianjun. “Dad! Dad! Mom’s going to beat me to death!”

Xiong Jianjun chuckled. “A thin switch won’t kill you. Just let her hit you a couple of times so she can blow off some steam.”

“Dad, I’m not talking to you anymore!” Xiong Yan cried, then stormed into her room.

Seeing Xiong Jianjun’s foolish grin, Zhang Yazhen’s anger flared. She pointed at his nose and yelled, “You spoil her! Keep spoiling her until she ends up just like that widow next door, lazy and greedy! Then you’ll be happy, won’t you!”

Hearing her insult their daughter, Xiong Jianjun’s expression soured. “Look at you, acting like a complete shrew. What kind of mother says things like that about her own girl?”

Furious, Zhang Yazhen slapped her thighs and screamed, “You son of a bitch! So you think I’m a shrew, huh? Then why don’t you go find that vixen! Can you even afford to keep a woman like that?!”

“You… you…! I can’t even be bothered with you.” Furious, Xiong Jianjun turned and went into the room. SLAM! The door slammed shut behind him.

Zhang Yazhen remembered Lin Lan’s sinister smile, and the wicked fire in her heart flared. ’Useless bastard! Marrying you was the worst luck of my last eight lifetimes!’

“Married!” Xiong Jianjun’s muffled voice boomed from inside the room. “Where was your dowry? I was too embarrassed for you to even mention it, and you still have the nerve to bring up our marriage?”

Zhang Yazhen burst into the room, wailing, “You son of a bitch! I’ll kill you!”

Her dowry was a thorn in her side. Because her family had accepted a betrothal gift of eighty-eight yuan from the Xiong family, they hadn’t prepared a single item of dowry for her. From the moment she’d married, her wicked old mother-in-law had tormented her, saying even a hooligan’s wife was better off, with complete sets of bedding and trunks.

Xiong Jianjun completely lost his temper. He grabbed her arm and struck it several times. “All day long, you do nothing but gossip about this family and that! If I’d known you were such a blabbermouth, I would have rather stayed a bachelor than marry you!”

Zhang Yazhen didn’t back down an inch. “And who was the shameless bastard who kept showing up at my family’s house every other day, groveling like a dog and refusing to leave?”

A full-blown brawl erupted in the Xiong family’s home.

The Xiong and Lin homes were separated by a private plot of land, a path, and two walls, so Lin Lan had no idea that a fight had broken out at the Xiongs’.

When she entered the house, she saw the old woman had already cooked the rice. Lin Lan stir-fried some dishes and brought the meal to the table with a smile. “No wonder the old saying goes, ’An elder in the family is a treasure.’ With you here, I can come home to a ready-made meal.”

“What’s not to like about getting free room and board for an old woman like me?” the old woman said cheerfully. Suddenly, she noticed Lin Lan’s pants were covered in mud. “How did you get so filthy?”

Little Douzi ran over to look at her too. “Mama, did you fall down?”

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