Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 55 - 33: Tea Stall_1
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"Mother, look at the things I and my sister have picked, your money won’t be enough for that," Lian Manman said.
"Well, Manman..." Lady Zhang didn’t know what to say for the moment. A moment ago, when Lian Manman asked everyone what they wanted, she had naturally assumed that Manman would pay for the items she had chosen. Now that Manman was saying this, she, as a mother, upon reflection, also felt somewhat guilt for neglecting her daughter.
"How about I buy two pieces of cheaper cloth for your grandmother, and use the rest of the money to buy things for you?" Lady Zhang suggested.
"That won’t do," Lian Manman’s little face was set in a determined frown, "Mother, you can’t spend this money, and if you’re going to spend it, it has to be on us. Just ask anyone, if there’s any sense in this: the granddaughter is sick and needs medicine, but you don’t give her any money, the daughter-in-law sells her own hairpin to buy it, and then she has to fork over a large portion to buy Yangrong Pills."
"Keep your voice down, keep it down," Lady Zhang hurriedly asked Manman to speak more quietly.
"What are we afraid of, we’ve done nothing wrong," Manman replied. "Mother, you also know that what grandmother is doing is wrong, right? You are just trying to be filial, but if others were to know how grandmother handles things, what would they think of her?"
Lian Manman was clutching the money tightly in her hand, and no matter what Lady Zhang said, she refused to let go of it. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
"Manman, before I left the house, I promised your grandmother," Lady Zhang said helplessly.
"So what if you promised, at that time grandmother was pressuring you, and you agreed temporarily just to come to town, it doesn’t really count. She’s being unreasonable, and we don’t have to keep our word in this," Manman argued, "This is originally an unreasonable matter. No matter where this matter is brought up, we aren’t afraid."
"Manman, what you say isn’t wrong. But the thing is, I still have these few Wen Money left, and your grandmother, she knows about it. If I don’t spend it on her, there won’t be any peace," Lady Zhang finally spoke the truth.
The Lian Family hadn’t set up separate households, and even if she and Lian Shouxin earned One Wen Money, it had to be handed over to Lady Zhou. However, her dowry was something Lady Zhou couldn’t touch. This was a rule established by convention in the village, and whoever broke it would be pointed at and criticized.
Of course, Lady Zhou wouldn’t directly lay her hands on her daughters-in-law’s dowries, but after they entered the family, there were always some daily expenses. Lady Zhou never willingly provided for these needs, nor did she give money for them to make purchases. With no alternative, the daughters-in-law had to spend the money they brought from their own families. Then, if a daughter-in-law urgently needed money in her chamber, Lady Zhou would claim to have none, or would hint that the daughters-in-law should show filial piety by giving her gifts, and in such ways, she constantly squeezed money out of them.
Over the years, Lady Zhang had pawned all the jewelry she brought from her parents’ house, leaving nothing behind. In the other chambers, Lady Gu, because she lived in town and was good at flattering Lady Zhou, and considering her status as a Scholar’s Wife, Lady Zhou was somewhat kinder to her. Lady He hadn’t gained much favor from Lady Zhou, while Lady Zhao was stripped of her possessions even earlier than Lady Zhang was.
Now that Lady Zhou knew she still had some money left from pawning her hairpins, she wouldn’t rest until she had skimmed off every last penny. Of course, Lady Zhou wouldn’t be direct about this matter; after all, it wouldn’t be reasonable, but Lady Zhou would certainly show her displeasure and pick on other issues.
"When wealth is gone, life still remains joyful," Lady Zhang said self-deprecatingly. If it hadn’t been for her youngest daughter, she really wouldn’t have wanted to pawn those hairpins.
"Mother, if you continue to indulge her like this, there will be no end to it," Manman said. In her previous life, she had also heard of many conflicts between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, with mothers-in-law employing every means to scrape off their daughters-in-law’s wealth.
"It’s not for anything else but to live in peace for a few days. Otherwise, with grandmother always in a foul mood, our family’s life won’t be easy," Lady Zhang explained.
"Mother, even if you buy these things for her, it will only keep her appeased for a few days," Manman remarked, implying that such compromise and concession were like drinking poison to quench one’s thirst, which not only failed to solve the problem but would also embolden Lady Zhou to be even more demanding.
"Manman, Mother has her difficulties; this has always been the way in our family," Lady Zhang said.
In a family, once a precedent is set, people unconsciously follow it, completely forgetting to consider whether the precedent is reasonable. In many cases, the persons involved may not see any issue with it, but to outsiders, it may seem utterly absurd and intolerable.
Lady Zhang was caught in the midst of it, and unless someone woke her up, she would continue on this way indefinitely.
A home isn’t a place where everything can be reasoned through. For Lady Zhang, being too forceful might not be enough to persuade her. Manman’s status allowed her to wield a different kind of weapon.
