Chapter 988: Slapping Faces

Zhang Yurong felt a pang of guilt; she could not reveal that she had secretly sought someone to adjust her body: "We parted ways halfway; I went to a friend's place. Hasn't he returned yet?"

Mother Fu shook her head and continued sweeping the floor.

She had barely swept a few strokes when the eldest son and his wife returned, carrying a mesh bag half-full of tangerines: "Mom, we're back."

Zhang Yurong, who was just about to enter the room, spotted what they held: "Oh, Big Brother and Sister-in-law, where did you get these tangerines?"

Guo Wenjing smiled faintly: "A friend brought them for Jinyue and the others."

Just as Zhang Yurong was about to speak further, the three children of the eldest branch ran out from the living room: "Dad, Mom."

While catching the youngest, Fu Jinyun, Guo Wenjing also noticed the paper scraps scattered in the courtyard: "What is going on here?"

Fu Jinyue said with an embarrassed expression: "Mom, it's my fault for not keeping an eye on Jincheng and the others; they shredded one of Grandma's sheets of red paper into tiny pieces and threw them all over the courtyard."

Zhang Yurong, who was just about to push open the door, turned around and said: "Look at you lot; not only did you waste that red paper, but you also made your grandma tired from sweeping the courtyard. You really don't know how to behave at all, do you?"

As soon as she spoke, Guo Wenjing's face darkened; just as she was about to retort, Mother Fu said: "Don't just blame these siblings; your own son is hiding in the living room like a quail. He was the one who took that paper from my room."

At this, Guo Wenjing no longer rushed to speak, but simply looked at her eldest daughter, Fu Jinyue, and said: "Since you are the ones who threw it into the courtyard, then you should be the ones to clean it up."

Saying this, she pointed at the broom in her mother-in-law's hand: "Well? Why aren't you going?"

Fu Jinyue offered no rebuttal; she ran forward and took the broom from her grandmother's hands: "Grandma, let me sweep."

After straightening her back, Mother Fu said: "Earlier, Yueyue wanted to sweep, but I felt it was too cold outside today, so I didn't let her."

Her words had just fallen when Fu Jinyi of the third branch ran out from the living room; staring at the mesh bag in his eldest aunt's hand, he looked at his mother: "Mom, I want to eat a tangerine."

Zhang Yurong, however, laughed: "Daughter, if you want to eat a tangerine, you must ask your eldest aunt; Mom doesn't have any tangerines here."

Guo Wenjing glanced at the items Zhang Yurong was carrying.

It was not that she was reluctant to share a single tangerine; rather, Zhang Yurong was a very selfish person. Her own children had never received even a small snack from this aunt, yet whenever she saw her own children eating snacks, Zhang Yurong would always send her daughter over to beg for some.

Seeing her eldest sister-in-law looking at what she carried, Zhang Yurong instinctively hid it behind her back: "This isn't food."

Saying this, she pushed open the door and entered the room.

Once inside, she still felt a lingering fear and patted her chest.

If she hadn't said anything, it might have been fine, but this attempt to cover up only made Guo Wenjing more convinced that she was unwilling to share food with her children.

Although she eventually handed a tangerine to Fu Jinyi of the third branch, her expression was far from pleasant.

Nevertheless, she did not explode; instead, she took a few and handed them to her mother-in-law: "Mom, you try some too."

In fact, there were still tangerines in the family's small storage room, but they were not this fresh; moreover, apart from distributing one each on New Year's Eve and the first day of the Lunar New Year, no one had touched them since, as they were being saved for guests.

Mother Fu originally did not want to accept them: "Keep them for the children to eat; I'm a grown adult, why would I compete with them?"

Guo Wenjing, however, would not let it go: "What does being a grown adult have to do with it? Who doesn't like delicious food? Besides, we cannot indulge them in eating alone; we must teach them to share with others."

With things said to this point, Mother Fu smiled, accepted them, and said: "Very well, then I will try some too, and thank you for thinking of Mom."

This statement was no lie; among the current three daughters-in-law, only the eldest wife was entirely selfless. The third wife, whenever she had something good, would keep it solely for her own small family, and as for the second wife, needless to say, she was the type who left nothing remaining of whatever she ate, so how could she possibly think of others?