Gu Jinli looked at Miss Zhou Er and said with a sweet smile, "That’s right, she’s exactly the Company Commanders’ Wife."

Aren’t you super jealous, super sour, just dying to explode, young lady.

Miss Zhou Er froze when she saw Gu Jinli’s smile, and somehow got so angry she burst into tears.

Why? For what reason does the Gu Family get all the good things?

And that face—back then Gu Er was just a sallow, skinny little beggar-like girl. In only five years she’d grown into this appearance: delicate features, fair cheeks, tall and well-proportioned, with quite a bit of grace in her walk. She was stunning.

Then she looked at herself: from doing farm work, her face had gotten much darker, and her hands had become very rough... Miss Zhou Er was heartbroken, and her tears fell harder and harder.

They were all refugees fleeing famine, so why was the Gu Family’s daughter’s fate so good?!

Gu Jinli was speechless. Why did you start crying again? I didn’t even do anything to you.

When Mrs. Zhou Hu heard that Gu Jinli was engaged to Company Commander Qin, she felt really sour too. But hearing her own daughter cry annoyed her even more, and she scolded, "What are you crying for? You’re not a child anymore, aren’t you ashamed to cry in front of your Gu Family sister? Wipe those tears and eat your pancake."

Otherwise if there’s nothing left to eat later, don’t blame us.

At that, Miss Zhou Er sobbed a couple of times, eating the egg pancake while tears streamed down.

Mrs. Zhou Hu’s hand never stopped as she ate. While chewing, she sized up Gu Jinli. "Girl Gu Er has really grown into a beauty. You’re so pretty now it’s ridiculous."

What a pity. If she’d known the Gu Family would rise to this level, she should’ve come earlier and offered her own son to Girl Gu Er.

If her son married Girl Gu Er, their family would get endless dowry, and they’d never have to worry about food and clothing again!

The more Mrs. Zhou Hu thought about it, the more she couldn’t hold back. Her eyes on Gu Jinli were practically glowing green. She nudged Zhou Er and said, "There’s too much egg pancake here, we probably can’t finish it. Take a few to the guest hall for your brothers. Young men eat a lot; they probably didn’t get enough."

After she spoke, she pinched Zhou Er, the hint in her eyes couldn’t be more obvious.

When Mrs. Lin He saw this, she frowned. Zhou Family’s Sister-in-law was up to her old tricks again. Last time, when her eye was on the village chief’s granddaughter, she’d used the same method to get Zhou Erlang an excuse to approach the girl.

If the egg pancakes were sent over, in no time at all Zhou Erlang would follow Zhou Er back, using "thanking his elders" as a pretext to see Miss Gu Er.

Mrs. Lin He said, "Sister-in-law Zhou, there’s food in the guest hall, no need to send any to Er Lang and the others."

Mrs. Cui saw the way Mrs. Zhou Hu was staring at her second daughter and felt something was off. She frowned and said, "Sister-in-law Zhou, there’s food in the guest hall, no need to send it over."

Then she said to Erqing, "They’re all women here, close the door."

If she weren’t afraid the girls from the Zhou and Lin families would set their sights on Good Brother An, she’d actually wanted to bring them into the back residence flower hall to sit. But Mrs. Cui had been scared senseless by those girls pestering Good Brother An and didn’t dare bring young girls into the inner courtyard anymore.

When Gu Jinli heard this, she shouted inwardly: Mom, nicely done, you’ve improved.

"Erqing, Third Grandma’s still not fully recovered from heatstroke. Take a Heat Relief Pill over to her and have the old lady eat one." Gu Jinli took out a Heat Relief Pill and handed it to Erqing. "Remember to close the door."

Before coming, she’d already told Erqing to go find Third Grandma and tell her not to lend Silver to the Zhou and Lin families.

"Yes." Erqing took the Heat Relief Pill, turned, and left, closing the side room door.

Seeing this, Mrs. Zhou Hu was a bit displeased. Fanning herself with her hand she said, "Girl Gu Er, it’s scorching hot and you shut the door for what? No breeze can get in, we’re going to roast to death. You better open that door."

Rumble rumble!

A peal of thunder sounded. The originally bright sky darkened, a strong wind whipped up, and it was clear a thunderstorm was about to break.

Mrs. Zhou Hu: "..."

God, seriously, this timing? This humble woman wasn’t even plotting anything that crooked, just wanted her son to have an excuse of delivering food to come thank Mrs. Cui and then seize the chance to meet Girl Gu Er.

If it actually worked out, wouldn’t everyone be happy?

Rumble rumble, another peal of thunder crashed down, like Qin San Lang’s fury, wishing he could strike Mrs. Zhou Hu dead. He’d finally chased down his wife, they were already engaged, and she still dared harbor crooked thoughts!

Seeing how scared half to death Mrs. Zhou Hu was, Gu Jinli smiled. "Aunt Zhou, it’s about to rain. It won’t be hot anymore."

Mrs. Zhou Hu’s face went dark. She felt utterly humiliated.

Gu Jinli had something even more embarrassing for her. After sitting down beside Mrs. Cui, she directly asked, "Aunt Zhou and Aunt Lin came to borrow Silver to pay the tax?"

When Mrs. Zhou Hu heard that, she forgot her fear of thunder, took a bite of her pancake, and said, "Girl Gu Er got it right. We aunts did come to borrow money."

Then she launched into a sob story. "Girl Gu Er, your family lives well. Silver piled up into hills, and you’ve got a Scholar brother, so you don’t have to worry about this tax. But my family’s not like that. Nearly thirty people crammed into two mud courtyards, life is miserably poor. Don’t even mention taxes, we don’t even have money for a proper meat meal."

"Ma, what are you saying?" Miss Zhou Er still cared about face. She didn’t want Gu Jinli to know how poor their life really was, so she cut her mother off.

Mrs. Zhou Hu glared at her and scolded, "Saying what? Of course I’m talking about borrowing Silver. I know it’s embarrassing to ask people to lend you money, but our family really can’t scrape together dozens of taels for tax. Do you want face or do you want Silver?"

After scolding Zhou Er, she started scolding the Emperor. "The Lord Emperor really isn’t a damn thing..."

"Aunt Zhou, if you want to die, go die by yourself. Don’t drag our family down with you." Gu Jinli’s face went cold, her eyes stabbing into Mrs. Zhou Hu like ice picks. "The Emperor is wise. Collecting tax is to resist the Rong people. If your family has a problem with that, take it home and say it there."

Words that get people beheaded must not be spread out of their house!

Mrs. Zhou Hu was frightened... How did this Gu family’s Second Girl turn into a female King Yan, flipping her face just like that?

Mrs. Lin He hurried out to smooth things over. "Gu Family’s Second Girl, don’t be angry, Sister-in-law Zhou is just like this, she’s used to speaking bluntly."

Gu Jinli had no intention of indulging Mrs. Zhou Hu and shot back, "If she wants to be blunt, she can do it at her own house. Don’t say things that get people beheaded in mine."

Hearing this, Mrs. Zhou Hu couldn’t save face. She jumped up in fury and scolded, "Girl Gu Er, what kind of way is that to talk? I’m decades older than you, I’m your elder. Who talks to their elders like that?"

"Pah, what elder? How are you any sort of elder to her? You were just a random passerby we met fleeing famine, and you haven’t shown your face in years. Now you show up and claim to be an elder. Planning to remarry into the Gu Family, are you? Too bad you’re so old—at your age, even if you remarry, you won’t be marrying into a rich household like the Gu Family!" Mrs. Chen walked in just in time to hear Mrs. Zhou Hu’s words and instantly cursed her right back.

After cursing, she slapped the door and said, "It’s raining, hurry up and open the door for your old lady."