Transmigration: On the Gossip Front

Zhang Hui has been eagerly waiting for the mailman lately. If he doesn’t come soon, she’ll have to do the chores herself.

What to do, she can’t cook, even the simplest task of cooking food is quite difficult for her.

Doing laundry? Clothes are currently only long sleeves, which aren’t difficult to wash, but next month it will get cold, and then she’ll have to wash coats, sheets, and covers.

Oh dear, when Zhang Hui thinks of how many tasks are waiting for her, she feels overwhelmed. No matter what, she has to get Zhang Yu to help, she can’t skimp on this expense.

She’s already prepared that if the family isn’t willing to sign the agreement or spend the money, then she’ll bear the expense.

After all, she doesn’t have much money to spend and can ask the family for money if needed. In short, she’s thought everything through.

Thankfully, at the last moment, she finally got the signed agreement from the entire Zhang Family. Looking at the agreement that was just mailed over, Zhang Hui burst into tears, it was really down to the wire.

She quickly stopped crying, "Really, in the end, we still managed to get the agreement, we should have mailed it earlier to avoid the worry."

Zhang Hui thought Zhang Gui and the others were really dilly-dallying, dragging it out till now. While voicing her dissatisfaction with Zhang Gui, she started reviewing the agreement they wrote, checking for any issues.

After a thorough check, Zhang Hui couldn’t help but sigh with relief, there were no problems, absolutely no problems.

Zhang Hui signed her name on the agreement as well, since she was a party to it and had to sign.

When Zhang Yu saw Zhang Hui walk in smiling from ear to ear, she knew there must be good news. It seemed the mailman had come by and Zhang Fu and the others had signed the agreement.

Just as she guessed, the Zhang Family’s letter arrived. "Is the agreement signed?"

Zhang Hui nodded repeatedly, "Yes, the agreement is here, take a look."

Zhang Hui was about to sit down, but then noticed a math book in front of Zhang Yu. "You’re studying?"

Zhang Yu murmured a yes, "Yeah, I’m studying, otherwise I’ve got nothing to do." She had no choice; Zhang Hui knew her grades were bad, so she had to start preparing now to achieve outstanding results in the future college entrance exams.

Zhang Hui pouted, no matter how much she studied, she was still a big dummy, "Besides, there’s no college entrance exam now."

There’s no college entrance exam anymore, what’s the use of studying? Zhang Hui really couldn’t understand what Zhang Yu was thinking.

"I’m just reading since there’s nothing else to do, and when winter in the Northeast comes, it’s really cold. There’s no work in the fields, and we can’t go up the mountains, so what’s the alternative? Although there’s occasional snow removal, it’s not enough to keep us busy, better to study."

That’s right, when October comes, it starts snowing, all the way until March next year. With the mountains sealed by snow, besides reading at home, there’s nothing to do.

"You say, should we talk to the village chief about going back home?" Since from November to March next year, there’s nothing to do here, we could consider going back, right?

Zhang Hui dreamed about going back, having the best food and drink when she reaches home. Most importantly, there would be no one giving her the stink eye; she could enjoy herself.

Go back? Zhang Yu shook her head, "Why should I go back?" Zhang Yu waved the agreement in her hand, "With just this agreement, I’ve already offended the family, and if I go back, what good would that do?"

"Besides, when I go back, I’m not working or studying, there will definitely be many chores waiting for me."

"You can go back, I’m not going." In the first year as intellectual youths, unless there’s a very special situation, going back is absolutely not allowed.

"Moreover, it takes a long time on the road, forget it." Zhang Yu meant that if Zhang Hui wanted to go back, she could go.

Zhang Hui originally thought if Zhang Yu was tempted too, they could plan to go back together, but didn’t expect Zhang Yu hadn’t even considered returning, "Aren’t we going to be lonely spending Spring Festival here?"

"If I go back, wouldn’t I be lonely too? You go back, mom and dad will definitely welcome you, and prepare food, drinks, and necessities for you."

"As for me, when I go back, I’ll be busy preparing things for them, all the housework will be my responsibility."

"Oh, and near Spring Festival, with more supplies available, I’ll have to queue up." Zhang Yu recalled how the original would be busy every Spring Festival.

"And Zhang Tao has a girlfriend now; to save face in front of her, he’ll ask me to help with cleaning. What to do?" The original was in Northeast Rural, naturally couldn’t take leave to celebrate New Year at home; Zhang Juan went in the end.

Because of that, Zhang Juan often vented to Zhang Hui, about how Zhang Tao’s Yue family was overly demanding, criticizing everything, saying how things should be while being picky, not even offering a glass of water after working hard, saying there’s no cup for her.

Not even providing water, let alone food, ultimately she returned home famished, and still had to cook for the Zhang Family, which frustrated Zhang Juan immensely.

What made her angrier was that she was cleaning up for Zhang Tao’s Yue family for free without any benefits, while they complained she didn’t clean well, not making the room tidy enough, requiring them to redo the work and so on.

This drove Zhang Juan mad, she confronted Zhang Tao, who also accused her of not cleaning well, and so on, infuriating Zhang Juan. Yet, it could only end without resolution, because even if Zhang Fu and the others knew, they’d just criticize her for not doing a good job.

Zhang Yu knew that once Zhang Juan opened this door, she would have to go clean for the Yue family during every festive season, under the pretext of being family, not standing on ceremony.

Right, not needing to be polite when it came to work. Zhang Juan was so angry that she cursed in the letter to Zhang Hui. The original thought Zhang Juan was too young, wrote to Zhang Tao, asking him not to make Zhang Juan help clean Yue family.

Also wrote to Zhang Juan, advising her that since they were siblings, she shouldn’t fuss over it.

This kind of action obviously upset both Zhang Tao’s couple and Zhang Juan; the original vowed never to do such a foolish thing, Zhang Juan really didn’t want to do it, could Zhang Tao force her?

Not that Zhang Juan can’t make a fuss; she was just worried that not doing it would make Zhang Fu and them dissatisfied and Zhang Tao angry, making her home life difficult, so she wrote to Zhang Hui, hoping this good sister would help.

But Zhang Hui didn’t step up, the original did, which Zhang Yu felt was what Zhang Hui intended for the original to see, knowing it’d cause a commotion.

"You go back, Zhang Bin and others are at work, nobody is queuing, you can queue up with Zhang Juan."

"You going back for the New Year will make it easier for me, allowing me to cook at will." Most importantly, after dinner, Qian Hao and the others won’t come looking for her unless there’s an urgent matter, big issue, only Zhang Hui would come looking for her, whenever something crossed her mind.

Zhang Hui quickly shook her head, "Forget it, I’m not going back." With so much happening at home recently, she didn’t know how upset they might be.

More importantly, the money mailed from home has been spent on miscellaneous things, even though the meals Zhang Yu cooks aren’t great, she likes eating pastries and such, which require money.

Going back would definitely cost money, and if family can’t reimburse travel expenses, she really couldn’t afford such a large amount.