As everyone knows, vinegar is sour and salt is salty. There was a reason for the deep-seated resentment Li Yuemin held toward his grandmother and his second aunt.
As just explained, Li Yuemin’s mother, Meng Qiaozhen, was originally from Daqiaogou and was the eldest of her siblings. She had a younger sister, Qiaolian, and two younger brothers, Meng Jun and Meng Qiang. Because Meng Qiaozhen was the backbone of the family, her mother, Old Madam Meng, had been unwilling to see such a productive worker marry away. With no other choice, Li Yuemin’s father, Li Guangyao, had become a matrilocal son-in-law.
After moving to Daqiaogou, Li Guangyao worked himself to the bone day and night. Within a few years, he had helped build a sturdy three-room tile house for the family. Just then, Meng Jun, the eldest brother, was preparing to get married, and Old Madam Meng began to eye that house. In order to drive Qiaozhen and her husband out, she callously had her second daughter, Qiaolian, falsely accuse her brother-in-law, Li Guangyao, of molesting her. They successfully forced the family out and seized the house for themselves.
Chapter 36