Chapter 98: You're Being Biased This Way!

The air conditioner in the car was set to the coldest, yet it still remained at 30°C. Jing Shu was sweating profusely and, of course, was very thirsty.

She had had enough of sipping water drop by drop in her past life. In this life, she worked hard to acquire water, so why make her save some? She usually drank juice. Jing Shu thought to herself but didn’t say anything aloud.

Su Long licked his cracked lips, looking enviously at Jing Shu. His aunt didn’t bother to manage her water intake like Su Long did.

“Our family’s water is all managed by Jing Shu. She can drink as much as she wants,” Jing’s mother busied herself auditing the community WeChat group’s material allocations. The water supply had been cut, and the management department was now short on irrigation water. The vegetables they grew were all withered, but there was nothing they could do about it.

“Other districts’ water used for cultivating moldy mushrooms is polluted water, it smells like a sewer,” Jing’s mother shook her head, unsure whether eating such mushrooms would cause problems.

Jing’s aunt awkwardly smiled, “I’m not worried about you guys running out of water, seeing that I forgot Jing Shu is a nominal employee of the management department, raising so many frogs and also having pigs. According to my older brother, we’ve exchanged quite a bit of water, and indeed we’re not short on water. It’s just that Su Long loves frogs so much, but unfortunately hasn’t gotten a single one...”

Uncle pulled Jing’s aunt, and she slapped his hand away loudly, “What are you doing? Didn’t I say something wrong? Jing Shu is capable now, we just need to follow her example.”

“Uncle, does your house have a lot of insects?” Jing Shu asked. Aunt nearly responded by saying Jing Shu provided some frogs.

“There are quite a few, but our family doesn’t have the water to raise frogs. Don’t worry about your aunt, we don’t want frogs,” Uncle hurriedly replied.

Despite disliking his aunt, Jing’s mother felt sorry for him and said, “Brother, frogs only need a sip of water each day. I’ll have Jing An bring some to you later. Don’t let the corrosive insects ruin your food; it would be a loss.”

“Alright, Su Long, thank you, aunt.” Jing Shu’s aunt excitedly responded.

“Thank you, aunt,” Su Long turned his gaze back to the trunk, “Mom, I also want some braised eggs.”

“You kid, you can’t eat what your second grandfather sent you.”

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Although Jing’s aunt scolded Su Long, he ended up eating the braised eggs, swallowing four in one go. He ate them so quickly that he didn’t taste anything, only feeling that they were super delicious.

Of course, Su Long’s second grandfather wasn’t generous.

In her past life, Jing Shu had never met this second uncle nor had any information about him. She heard that he used to go to the countryside as a sent-down youth with her first grandfather, but the second uncle had connections and went back to develop. The first grandfather stayed in Wucheng and after his death, the families had no contact anymore.

Su Mei Mei’s home was also in a civil servant residential area, but compared to the Minister Niu’s area, it was much worse. This was the lowest level civil servant residential area. Although there was no extra electricity supply, at least there were police patrols.

After stopping the car, Uncle grabbed a pound of pork, Jing Shu took the sealed braised eggs made at the end of last year, and the pickles, then went upstairs.

Opening the door was her younger cousin, Zhang Hanhan, whose complexion surprisingly looked quite good. “Uncle, pork isn’t easy to come by these days. Why didn’t you get us more?”

Jing Shu’s aunt rolled her eyes, “A single kitchen knife can only exchange for such a small piece of meat. With so much meat, you little girl are still complaining about it being too little? If our home was really out of things, I wouldn’t want to give any meat. A whole pig had been exchanged, and the family was left with just a bit.”

Zhang Hanhan looked at the braised eggs in surprise, exclaiming, “Braised eggs are also hard to get. Hurry up and eat a few.”

“These aren’t for you. They’re for second grandfather,” Jing Shu pulled her hand back.

“Grandpa, Grandpa, Uncle, and aunt are here, and they brought some good food. They won’t let me eat, saying it’s for you,” Zhang Hanhan glared at Jing Shu and loudly complained, making Jing’s mother and Uncle embarrassed.

Uncle corrected her, “That’s your second grandfather, you can’t just shout about it.”

“Second grandfather is also grandfather, they’re the same. Since they brought food, let’s eat together,” an elderly man walked out from the dimly lit house.

It was Jing Shu’s first time meeting the elderly man. His jet-black hair was neatly combed behind his ears, he looked under sixty, dressed in a clean Zhongshan suit—a person of great temperament.

A large family entered the three-bedroom, two-living-room house without feeling cramped. However, the high temperature meant everyone wore very little. Jing Shu saw potted plants on the balcony, including garlic sprouts and mushrooms, and even a frog. In another room, there were high stacks of bottled mineral water.

Su Mei Mei brought out a plate of blackish things from the kitchen, “Everyone eat some pickled radishes.”

Su Long grabbed a few pieces, but couldn’t bite through them; they were as hard as rocks and smelled awful.

Jing’s aunt discreetly spat out the pickled radishes without showing emotion, “Cough cough, we walked all the way in such heat and thirst.”

Seeing Su Mei Mei pretended not to hear, Jing’s aunt got angry, “Mei Mei, without tea, at least give us a sip of water.”

“Hey, sister-in-law, sorry. Recently, we’ve been severely water-starved, so we have no water left. Should I go to the supermarket to exchange for some water now? But it would take hours to wait in line,” Su Mei Mei replied.

Alright, since we’re visiting the elders, just see them and leave quickly. Let’s just feed that piece of meat to the dog.

Jing Shu coldly smirked inside the dimly lit house.

The conversation was naturally focused on the second grandfather. He was very talkative, and during the conversation, he praised Su Mei Mei, saying that the whole family should love and unite.

“Not to mention, I have to say, you did a poor job handling things this time!” The elderly man spoke to Uncle, “Mei Mei and Zhang Zhongyong went through that situation, and you didn’t provide a strong support. Especially you, Lanzhi, you’re Mei Mei’s older sister. Why didn’t you help her and instead added insult to injury?”

“You guys lost your parents early, poor Mei Mei. After marriage, without anyone to support her, she ended up with Zhang Zhongyong finding a mistress outside. But I’ve already severely punished him, and he said he would resolutely correct his mistakes. I even used my connections to promote him.”

“Lanzhi, Mei Mei might have made some mistakes too, but you’re her sister, you should support her. I heard about the car incident, and in the end, didn’t you benefit? You sold the car and made about 100,000 yuan, but Mei Mei didn’t get anything and lost over 100,000 yuan. If you have a grievance, it’s between you and Mei Mei. Why would you take advantage and then act like a good girl? Why hold a grudge against Mei Mei?”

“I heard you’re now in the Cultivation Department? That’s a lucrative place. I also know Minister Niu’s superior, we’re old classmates. By the way, I heard you recently raised a few pigs and distributed one to each family member, and even exchanged some externally. Why didn’t you do the same for Mei Mei? Being this biased is not good, makes you look petty.”

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Author's Note:

Thank you to *Yunshan Youyo* for the generous rewards! 🥰