In Datong village, the seemingly changed Sun Jinhua, along with her eldest daughter-in-law, Dan Jingqiu, became part of the trending juicy gossip amongst nosy women.

Sun Jinhua was infamous in Datong village for her unreasonable bias. While there were many who were naturally biased, they did not hold a candle to Sun Jinhua, who made a name for herself with that personality trait.

When others act on their bias, it was, at most, a reallocation of some resources and maybe diverting more attention towards their favored children. Regardless of how difficult life was, the child was ultimately yours. Who could be heartless enough to send their children to their deaths? With times already hard, a little more hardship would not make a difference.

But not Sun Jinhua. While living under the same roof, she ruled like a landowner with three generations of peasants beneath her. In her family, Jiandang and Xinghua were notoriously fair-skinned. Their skin was paler than an infant that had never seen sunlight, while her other sons looked skinnier than the poorest lepers! As a result, the difference in this degree of biasness was shocking.

Watching Sun Jinhua hold absolute control of the previous few in order to pamper the youngest two, the villagers had always felt that there was something wrong with her head.

As for her insistence on how successful her twins were going to be, the villagers sneered. They have all seen the endings of these types of young women performed in Chinese operas. In a farming village, who would want someone who had never worked a day in their lives? There should be a limit to how much you spoil your children.

At least Jiandang was getting an education in the city. Xinghua, on the other hand, was more useless than Sun Jinhua’s grandchildren! How would a young woman, who had never lifted a finger in the house, ever be successful?!

Of course, Sun Jinhua was basically preening at their speculations. According to her, her twins were vastly different from these peasant folk. They were meant to be city folk! She could care less about their ignorant prattle.

The winds have changed. For the lady to marry, Xinghua must do manual labor!

While it was normal for all the villagers’ children to partake in farming, it was still a strange sight to witness when it came to Xinghua’s turn. Because even when the Lin family was at their lowest, they still refused to allow their precious Xinghua to lift a finger. So why make their daughter work now when their family situation was better? Won’t Sun Jinhua throw a fit?

But the reality was vastly different from the villagers’ expectations.

Not only did Sun Jinhua not oppose to it, but she was also supportive of it. The hungry gossipmongers could not help but gather around Sun Jinhua to get a personal comment, but were all given the evil eye as she supported a hand on her waist and shrewdly asked them to mind their own business while she taught her daughter a little work ethic!

After getting spat on all over their faces, the nosy women returned, wondering how they could have offended Sun Jinhua. They were just asking!

But it did seem like Sun Jinhua had finally changed for the better, which gave them good feelings.

But what about Sun Jinhua herself?

Sun Jinhua was bitter as heck. There was nothing she could do but choke on her sorrows!

But what else could she do? Dan Jingqiu had enormous strength, and she would occasionally make a show by grabbing a few pieces of firewood or a piece of brick, and then squeeze them into smithereens! Heaven knows just how terrified she was. Not only was she unable to sleep at night, but her old man even complained that she was disturbing his sleep.

What could she do? She’s in a bleak situation herself!

The daughter-in-law, who used to cower from her insults and demands, would now glare in her direction whenever she starts scolding. When she put her hands on the grandchildren a few times, Dan Jingqiu would boldly confront her in her room and start breaking the worn-out tables and chairs around them.

The worst part was how SHE had to be the one cleaning up the mess! Lin Yaoxi, who was ignorant of the truth, had scolded her several times over these damages!

Sun Jinhua felt that she had been awfully wronged, but she was too afraid to utter the truth.

Lin Xinghua had also felt her treatment unjust as of late. Her mother underwent a dramatic change overnight. Sun Jinhua used to be overly accommodating, reminding her repeatedly that all she needed to do was find a husband from the city, and unlike her sisters-in-law, she shouldn’t have to do work, so why did it all change?

She recalled her eldest sister-in-law’s fake smile when she announced that she had spoken to the captain, and that from that day onwards, Xinghua would be accompanying her to work and earn her keep.

Back then, she resisted by running to her mother and bawling her eyes out.

But unexpectedly, her mother did not take her side. Instead, Sun Jinhua gave her a bitter look and told her to go do some work.

The more terrifying part was, while she went out working with her sister-in-law, she still wasn’t eating her fill!

Previously, all the eggs, meat, and fresh vegetables belonged exclusively to her and her twin brother. But now? Everything was equally distributed! It was one thing for Dad and Mom to have a portion and even those two sisters-in-law who inherit different last names! But how dare those two worthless nieces be given a portion!

Even without her twin brother in the equation, there were still a total of 9 mouths to feed! After dividing it down, there was nothing left! A few days ago, the wild chickens that her eldest sister-in-law caught in the forest were also equally distributed! Once her twin brother gets home, she would definitely complain to him about how Dan Jingqiu was bullying her!

On the other side of the pond, Dan Jingqiu was having the time of her life.

She had long figured that this family’s rations were predominantly provided by Jianguo and Jianjun’s family. The one controlling them was Sun Jinhua. But what about Xinghua and Jiandang? In reality, the two oldest brothers do not take orders from those two, but the twins were able to rely on Sun Jinhua to control their older siblings, nephew, and nieces. And above all of them was Lin Yaoxi, the quiet father-in-law. Despite Sun Jinhua’s forceful nature, she still had to yield in front of her husband.

But Dan Jingqiu’s father-in-law was an indifferent man. He carried himself as the apathetic patriarch with three core principles: Ask not, care not, hear not. From his point of view, he had a healthy body, his sons were bringing back the bread, and his wife managed the money. Even if his younger children were unfilial enough to leave, his two oldest sons would still remain in this village, so could they afford to rebel? That would invite backlash from the village elders!

While he did not prejudice one child from another, his beliefs dictate that domestic affairs should be handled by the women. As long as he could finish his farming responsibilities, lay down, and have a smoke every day, he was content. He could not be bothered with anything else.

If his oldest son hadn’t died, he wouldn’t even have bothered with any of the family’s affairs.

As for his daughter, Xinghua, his eldest daughter-in-law had already told him that she had asked the supervisor to reduce Xinghua’s workload, but it was enough to claim 4 to 5 work points! The average healthy young man was capable of gathering anywhere between 11 to 12 work points a day, while the average experienced woman could claim around 7 to 8 work points in a day. Given Xinghua’s weak physique, claiming 4 to 5 work points a day was considered pretty good!

He was never one to believe that a person should be spared from work just because they were destined for greatness.

However, to Dan Jingqiu, Lin Yaoxi should be the original host’s most detestable person. At least Sun Jinhua was blatant when showing off her bias. Lin Yaoxi pretended to be blind and deaf despite knowing what was happening, taking advantage of all the perks while the others suffered through the infighting.

Even Xinghua’s tantrums fell on deaf ears.

To Lin Yaoxi, who was used to farming, Xinghua’s task of finishing up the lesser work left behind by Dan Jingqiu was nowhere near as difficult.

Sun Jinhua, who also knew this fact, had lost the right to argue despite her heartache.

The villagers who heard Xinghua’s complaints were shocked by her ungratefulness. There were countless who could only dream of being in her shoes.

But they failed to realize, as a person who was rarely under the sun, Xinghua’s complexion darkened so rapidly it was as if lightning had struck her.

Not long after, Li Cuihua’s second daughter-in-law, Xiu Lian, finally returned to work from maternity leave.

From afar, she could see Dan Jingqiu and someone lurking behind her dressed in clothes made from decent materials with trendiest pink fabric. From behind, this person’s figure looked slim and delicate, making Xiu Lian silently spat in envy. This person would definitely seduce all the husbands in this village.

When she hurried over to chat up with Dan Jingqiu, Xiu Lian immediately stepped back in shock.

What the hell is this?! So scary!

When the figure turned around, sitting on top of the pink shirt, was a face that was dark as coal. In fact, the entirety of that small face was a mix of black and yellow, combined with a small smile that revealed a row of shining white teeth that could reflect the sunlight.

Xiu Lian blurted: “Oh my god! Jingqiu, who is this creepy person?! Whose daughter-in-law is she?!”

In an instant, the dark-skinned person burst into tears and ran off, violently knocking Xiu Lian aside while covering her face in shame.

Xiu Lian was dumbfounded: “Who is that? How dare she push me?! I’ll march right to her doorstep and settle this score!” She was so angry about being almost knocked over. Her mother-in-law, Cui Hua, was tremendously talented at gossiping! She was so infamous that not a soul in the village dared mess with them.

Xiu Lian roughly pulled up her sleeves, but due to her recent pregnancy, her scoldings were much gentler in nature.

Dan Jingqiu glanced at the runaway person and then back at the eager Xiu Lian: “She is our family’s Xinghua…”

Xiu Lian was huffing with rage, this Sun Jinhua often chatted with her mother-in-law, and now Xinghua dared to push her, she would definitely not let this…

Wait what?!

Xiu Lian suddenly came to a realization!

Xinghua. Xinghua? Xinghua!

That dark-skinned person was Xinghua? Xiu Lian looked at Dan Jingqiu, who had begun working in disbelief. What Xiu Lian could not figure out was how did Xinghua end up looking like that when she only left a while to give birth and recuperate?

Oof, maybe she shouldn’t start a fight.

Can, can humans really get this dark?