She won't clear her name; she'll throw away all the scum.

Chapter 373

Yu Yan, who was hiding in her own kitchen, overheard this and secretly chuckled to herself. Finally, someone could refute her mother's reasoning.

Comrade Xia is absolutely right. Every word she said makes perfect sense. It's a shame that someone as reasonable as her was assigned this house. Someone in her factory must be sabotaging her.

It's so pitiful. This old woman, all alone, was abandoned by her husband's family and then targeted behind her back by the scoundrels in the factory. It's truly a world where good people are not allowed to live. She will definitely take better care of Comrade Xia in the future and won't let the other two families bully her.

Although Yu Yan herself wasn't confident she could persuade the other two households, it didn't stop her from secretly deciding that she would definitely stand firmly on Comrade Xia's side from now on.

Chen Xianghong and Yu Hongzhen visited several times in the following days, all about their marriage. Due to everyone's collective opposition, Yu Hongzhen's plan to lock up his biological parents failed before it even began.

That day, Old Mrs. Xia took her sister and her soon-to-be-married daughter, Chen Xianghong, to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some things. Although she was divorced, Chen Xianghong had no one else to ask besides her own mother for such important matters. Since Chen Xianghong had come to her door, Old Mrs. Xia couldn't just shrug and push her away, leaving her to figure it out herself.

Today's visit to the supply and marketing cooperative was Xia Yu'e's first in a while. She had come before, but mostly to buy necessities. Her husband and son wouldn't give her coupons or money, so she could only rely on doing odd jobs or taking odd jobs in the neighborhood to keep herself from starving.

Today, in addition to buying some wedding supplies for Chen Xianghong, Grandma Xia also wanted to buy some clothes for her sister.

During this period, Xia Yu'e wore Xia Laotai's clothes. She didn't wear the nice clothes, even if they were handed to her, she would secretly put them back. She just picked out those old work clothes to wear, and thought they were very comfortable and not easy to wear.

She was an old woman who stayed at home all day, so she didn't need to wear many clothes. She should have dressed herself up nicely so that people would envy her when she went out to chat. But Xia Yu'e didn't. She didn't have that kind of vanity at all. She was like a mouse, trying to hide all the good things and money.

Grandma Xia was very dissatisfied. She had been mocked several times by the money-grubbing neighbor for being mean to her sister. The neighbor said that even her money-grubbing mother dressed better than her sister and asked her who the money-grubbing one was.

Damn it, this is practically a blatant provocation! Old Mrs. Xia was furious and was determined to make her sister turn into a living person today.

Old Chen gave money for Chen Xianghong's dowry, and Old Lady Xia naturally contributed as well. She used the industrial coupons she obtained by exchanging grain coupons to buy Chen Xianghong a festive washbasin and a Shanghai brand watch. Yu Hongzhen said he would buy her a sewing machine, which she would bring along with the dowry.

A few days ago, Grandma Xia even had a cotton quilt made. She thought these three things were already quite good.

Chen Xianghong thought so too. She didn't believe her parents would skimp on this, so everything was up to them. Mainly, it had been a long time since anyone had told her how girls should behave or whether she should consider her brothers more. Since no one had said anything, Chen Xianghong assumed all her brothers agreed.

What Chen Xianghong didn't know was that if she had married another ordinary rural man from the brigade that had been sent to the countryside, there would definitely have been no shortage of people who complained.

Now, they are just bottling up their dissatisfaction.

One reason is that the eldest son's family, who were the most troublesome, were separated from their parents and their surname has not been changed back to their original surname. They are considered to be married-out sons, and they are too ashamed to say anything about it.

Secondly, his parents' divorce has left Old Chen feeling constantly troubled. Now, he'll yell at anyone who dares to question him, and sometimes he'll even hit them. As for whether it hurts or not, you'll have to ask Chen Xiangbei.

Thirdly, the three brothers each have their own things to do now. The eldest has a formal job, the second has a formal job, and the youngest is a gossip. They really can't be bothered to argue with Chen Xianghong. Anyway, they are all married daughters who will rarely come back in the future.

If they don't cause trouble for Chen Xianghong now, Chen Xianghong will be more on their side in the future. If anything happens, they can ask Yu Hongzhen for help, which is more important than that little bit of money and stuff.

During this time, they have all grown up and gained a clearer understanding.

After buying Chen Xianghong's things, Grandma Xia started picking out fabrics for Xia Yu'e. "Sister, this color is nice, and it's comfortable and soft. Feel it."

Xia Yu'e looked displeased. "If you want to buy something, buy it for yourself. Why buy it for me? You work in a textile factory yourself. Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to buy some discounted fabric there than here?"

Grandma Xia: "Then why don't you wear the clothes I specially made for you? If you don't wear them, I won't even buy the fabric anymore, I'll just buy you ready-made clothes."

Xia Yu'e cursed, "How dare you! You've had too many good days and forgotten how hard it was before. My life now is like heaven to me, I'm happy enough. Why do you insist on buying me such fine fabric to make clothes? If I wear these clothes, I won't dare touch this or go anywhere, for fear of ruining them. You're not doing this for my own good, you want me to die young!"

Grandma Xia covered her mouth, "Sister, why are you cursing yourself for no reason? I finally found you, and now I finally have someone who truly cares about me. Aren't you making me cry?"

She burst into tears instantly, her eyes reddening just like when she was a child, watching her sister swallow her pride and beg her parents to make her a bowl of brown sugar water when she had a fever. Her heart ached. She didn't know why she was so vulnerable around her sister, even though she was Xia Yue'e, a woman with iron-fisted methods.

Xia Yu'e was immediately at a loss. "You're almost fifty years old, why are you actually crying? Hurry up and wipe your tears, don't let people laugh at you. Put it on, I'll put it on, okay?"

Xia Yu'e felt as if fate had seized her by the neck. Unable to bear seeing her sister heartbroken, she had no choice but to agree. Old Mrs. Xia immediately bought her a fine piece of cloth and a pair of shoes. When she was about to buy a silk scarf, Xia Yu'e couldn't take it anymore. "Go back! No more buying anything, you hear me?"

Grandma Xia was pulled out by her, smiling broadly, "Sister, I'll start making clothes for you when we get home."

Xia Yu'e: "I can make them myself. And what are you buying those shoes for? Wouldn't it be better if I made them myself?"

Grandma Xia: "These shoes are beautiful. You can wear them to Xiang Hong's wedding. People will definitely envy you."

Xia Yu'e: "I'm already so old, why should I want people to envy me?"

Grandma Xia: "You're my sister, why can't people envy you? Let's make our lives better, eat when we're hungry, drink when we're thirsty, wear what we're dressed for, why should we save money? Oh right, I'll go get some more wine from someone later, and then we'll cook some meat for dinner."

Xia Yu'e: ...Her younger sister spends money recklessly and doesn't know how to manage a household at all.

Despite her thoughts, she couldn't help but smile as she watched Grandma Xia mutter to herself.