After a pause, Mrs. He continued, "Song Yuemei is truly worthless. With the wheat harvest recently underway, the family has been working day and night. Even Yu'er gets up early to cook and then has to go watch over the threshing ground, bringing meals out to the fields at noon. Song Yuemei came to help in the fields with us this morning, but by mid-morning, she claimed the sun was making her dizzy and needed to go back to rest."

"I thought, with one more person working, things could get done faster, so I said she could rest for a while after lunch when she went back alone. Surely, as a mother-in-law, that's quite reasonable, right? I was working in the fields too, wasn't I?"

"But Song Yuemei whined to Qingshan, and Qingshan insisted that because Yuemei wasn't feeling well, she should go rest. We few would just stay up a bit later, and it would all balance out. Every time we came home, Song Yuemei was sitting perfectly fine at the dinner table, eating heartily—not a bit hesitant. Does that look like someone who’s ill? She’s clearly just being lazy."

Mrs. Huang, who had been listening quietly, finally spoke up. "Sister-in-law, if Qingshan's wife acts this way, and Qingshan still spoils her so much, life ahead will be difficult."

In truth, everyone present who understood Mrs. He's words felt the same way. However, since Mrs. Huang and Lin He were related by a degree of separation, it wasn't appropriate for them to criticize Qingshan. But Hongyun was his aunt, so saying a few words wouldn't hurt.

Mrs. He lamented, "Who’s to say otherwise? Marrying such a daughter-in-law in, I truly regret it until my guts turn green. If I had known, I’d rather have sent Qingshan to the government office. A son like that is useless."

Now everyone fell silent. Hongyun knew a bit about these matters, but this was a difficult point to engage with; she certainly couldn't agree that sending Qingshan to the authorities would have been the right move.

Mrs. He kept railing against Qingshan and Song Yuemei, and as she spoke, she suddenly burst into loud sobs, crying, "You don't know! I truly don't know what everyone means by wanting sons these days; sons are just here to collect debts! Hongyun, I envy you now. Having two daughters, how wonderful that is. Sons are all useless."

Lin He felt a wry smile tugging at her lips. Was Mrs. He talking about her own family's troubles or criticizing others? She knew that having no sons was a painful spot for Hongyun, yet she said it aloud. But then again, it didn't seem like she was finding fault with Hongyun; she was just lamenting her own son's shortcomings.

Hongyun didn't seem bothered. Knowing her sister-in-law's way of speaking, she didn't read too deeply into it. Her two daughters were both well-behaved and obedient; what was so bad about that? Furthermore, seeing Mrs. He weeping so miserably, she felt a stir of pity.

Mrs. Huang felt the same; seeing Mrs. He truly heartbroken, she felt sympathetic. Even though Mrs. He was usually unkind to them, loved to take small advantages, enjoyed stirring up trouble, and was notoriously fierce and unruly, she treated her son Qingshan very well. When Qingshan got into trouble, Mrs. He ran everywhere borrowing money while Qingshan sat at home. Every bit of money Mrs. He brought back was spent ensuring her children were well-dressed. When it came to work, Mrs. He would rather toil in the fields herself than let Qingshan tire himself out. Now that he was married, she put his wife first and disregarded everything else; anyone would feel chilled to the bone.

After a period of silence, Mrs. He continued, "Second sister-in-law, you have two sons. When you find wives for them in the future, you must keep your eyes wide open and choose carefully; don't follow my path. I think having daughters is better. Look how much better our Qingshan treats his in-laws than he treats us two elders—perhaps better than a son should."

Then she went on to describe how often Qingshan and Song Yuemei visited her parents, and how much stuff they took from their home each time. They wouldn't dare touch those things themselves, but Qingshan never offered them a bite; instead, he happily carried things over to his mother-in-law’s house, followed by another long list of grievances.

Everyone was listening when a voice drifted in from the courtyard gate. "Well, Mother also has a daughter. Surely Yu'er will marry into a far better family than I did. My in-laws had nothing, and they never allowed me to take anything to my parents’ home. I only used the money I earned from embroidery to provide for my mother. But Yu'er is likely to marry into a wealthy household; her in-laws must be much better off."

Everyone looked up to see Song Yuemei had arrived without them noticing, and her tone suggested she had heard quite a bit of what Mrs. He had been saying. Mrs. He, already annoyed by the interruption while speaking, became even more incensed by Song Yuemei's words and shot back furiously, "Yes, your in-laws are terrible, so why did you pester and beg to marry into our family in the first place? Our Qingshan had no trouble finding a wife!"

Song Yuemei didn't get angry. She walked in, pulled over a stool, sat down, greeted Mrs. Huang and Hongyun with a smile, and sat down opposite Mrs. He, saying coolly, "Mother, I don't care how many wives your Qingshan could have married; the fact is, he married me. I didn't say my in-laws were bad; I just stated facts. I didn't realize stating facts was a crime, though."

Mrs. He was driven to near rage by Song Yuemei and shouted, "I don't care if it's a crime or not! It’s you, you little vixen, who has taught our Qingshan badly! Before, our Qingshan was so filial, and our family lived so well! You’re just a trouble-maker who came in and made life unbearable, causing us to rack up a pile of debt, and now Qingshan isn't filial anymore!"

"Is that so? I haven't used a single penny of your family's money. I brought my own dowry when I married in, and any money spent on personal necessities comes from what I earn embroidering. Your debts have nothing to do with me, do they? You just said how well your family lived before I arrived—so how did all these debts accumulate then?"

"Even if you didn't incur them, but Qingshan did, he lived with you before marrying me. If he did wrong, it’s because you didn't teach him properly. Such things haven't happened since I married in." Song Yuemei finally understood the source of the family's debt issues.

Mrs. He was so enraged by Song Yuemei that she foamed at the mouth, unable to form a coherent reply. She could only glare hatefully at Song Yuemei, pointing a finger but speechless, swaying unsteadily as if about to faint.

Mrs. Huang and Hongyun were startled. What if she fainted right there in the courtyard? That would attract a huge crowd of onlookers. Last time, because of Mrs. Zhou, the Lin family had been gossiped about for days. Now it was Lin Dajiang's household's turn, and people would likely start criticizing all the Lin family members.

Mrs. Huang and Hongyun quickly helped Mrs. He to a nearby chair and told Chen'er to fetch a cup of water for her to drink and calm down. They did all this in silence. With Song Yuemei present, it was unwise to offend Mrs. He, but offending Song Yuemei might make them the next target—that woman’s tongue was notoriously sharp. Indeed, where there’s one strong person, there’s always a stronger one; even the formidable Mrs. He was slightly outmatched by Song Yuemei.