Juana finally caught the two girls exchanging glances. She instantly realized Elena was lying, and Lucy’s nodding was clearly just out of shyness.

  Juana refused to believe that Lucy wouldn’t want to marry into a family like theirs—a family with an uncle who was a high-ranking military officer.

  Juana had lost a whole basket of vegetables and hadn’t gained a shred of the information she wanted. Even though those vegetables were from her mother-in-law’s garden—a woman she despised—and she hadn’t lifted a finger to grow them, the lack of a "return on investment" still made her blood boil.

  Lucy was ungrateful, and that Elena person even helped her lie. Looking at them just made Juana’s skin crawl with annoyance.

  She toyed with the idea of asking her brother-in-law, Barda, to retaliate against Elena. But in Solana, while a battalion commander was a high official, there were several even bigger bosses in Beldora. If she pushed too hard, she might destabilize her husband’s younger brother’s position, and then she’d lose her backbone.

  Besides, Barda was a blockhead. Whether he’d even listen to his sister-in-law was another story; he listened to the State first, and his older brother second.

  Forget it, no need to involve the Major in such trivial matters, Juana thought. She’d find her own chance to fix that "skinny, pale little bitch" Elena!

  As for Lucy, the girl was simply treating Juana’s good intentions like dirt. To be scouted by Juana was a blessing, yet the girl didn't know how to appreciate it.

  Fuming as she walked home, Juana passed by someone else's vegetable patch. Her eyes darted around, and she slipped inside to steal a significant amount of produce. Afraid of being caught, she pulled some wild weeds used for pig feed to cover the loot, pretending she had just been out gathering fodder.

  Before leaving, she couldn't help herself—she snapped off a tender cucumber, rubbed off the prickles, hid it in her sleeve, and took satisfied crunches.

  Getting something for nothing improved her mood considerably. However, because she had delayed to steal the vegetables, she arrived home to find the family had already finished dinner. No one had thought to save her a bowl; the bottom of the pot had been scraped clean.

  Matthew was finishing off the last bowl of rice crust and water, gulping it down without even asking if his mother had eaten. Instead, his mind was entirely on Sienna. "Grandma, hurry and boil two eggs for me. I’ve noticed Sienna has looked thinner these past two days."

  The grandmother was stingy with eggs, but when it came to her precious grandson’s happiness, she was a different person. She actually went to boil the eggs.

  Juana’s temper flared. The "little fox-spirit" hadn’t even entered the house yet, and she’d already stolen her son’s soul! But Juana didn't blame her son; she only felt that Sienna was playing dirty tricks.

  As they spoke, Matthew began rummaging through the basket Juana brought back. He picked out two large cucumbers and grumbled, "I wonder if Sienna likes our country cucumbers. Mom, why didn't you pick better-looking ones?"

  "..." Juana felt a sharp pain in her chest. I stole them! How am I supposed to be picky?!

  Was this her son? Or was he a debt collector sent from her past life?

  Juana could do nothing with her son. she went into the kitchen to steam a sweet potato to fill her stomach, only to lift the lid and find three eggs in the pot.

  Two were for Matthew, but what about the extra one? Juana didn't think for a second that her mother-in-law had boiled it for her. Thinking of her third brother-in-law’s pregnant wife, Juana snapped.

  "What do you think you're doing? I boiled that for Hannah!" The old lady rushed forward to stop Juana from grabbing the eggs.

  The old lady had given birth to four sons and three daughters, but only four sons and one daughter remained. The daughter had married off, and the sons had moved out to start their own households after marrying. By custom, the old lady lived with the eldest son’s family. Juana was the eldest daughter-in-law, and Hannah was the third.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Juana shoved the old lady aside. "This is my house, so these eggs are mine! She’s already popped out two girls; this one in her belly is probably another 'money-loser' anyway. Why does she get to eat my eggs?! You old hag, always siding with outsiders..."

  The old lady stumbled, nearly falling. Being shoved and cursed at made her hands shake with rage. She leaned against the stove and wailed piteously, as if there had been a death in the family.

  Juana didn't care about the theatrics. She rolled her eyes, aggressively locked the eggs in the cupboard, and then went back to steaming her sweet potato.

  Originally, she had been annoyed that Matthew wanted to give eggs to Sienna, but compared to her sister-in-law Hannah, Juana suddenly didn't mind. She’d rather give her eggs to that fox-spirit Sienna than let Hannah have a bite.

  Matthew heard the commotion in the kitchen but didn't bother to intervene. His mother and grandmother fought every day; he was used to it. He wiped his mouth, went to his room, and laid down. His grandmother would clean up the table; it wasn't his concern.

  In fact, he was on his mother’s side. Everything in this house would eventually be his—why give any of it to his third aunt? Besides, since his grandmother doted on him the most, he knew she would always give him a share of whatever good things she had. He’d just let his mother play the "bad guy" and oppose the old lady.

  "How can Juana be like that?" Lucy couldn't wrap her head around it. Just because Juana had a son, she felt entitled to control what woman he married? And the moment they met, she wanted someone to pop out sons for him. How disgusting.

  Elena handed Lucy a spoonful of wild bird eggs. "She thinks because her family produced a high official, she’s something special. Just fake a smile and let it go. Why waste your energy on her?"

  In her past life, these things happened because Lucy had lived in Juana’s house. Elena hadn't expected that even after finding Lucy a different place to stay, they still couldn't escape the harassment of these demons.

  Back then, Matthew had been hotly pursuing Sienna, and Juana had seemed kind and approachable. No one had realized that Juana invited Lucy into her home... Wait. Elena suddenly understood. In her past life, Juana had invited Lucy to stay specifically to use her to "win back" her son from Sienna.

  Her son was a failure anyway; whoever he liked would always run off with someone else. Elena heard that he had been engaged in his teens, but as soon as the war started, the girl fled to the enemy's side. She became a soldier for the opposition and hooked up with a wealthy old man. That news had been dropped via hydrogen balloons.

  The message was: Cross the river, and you can date whoever you want!

  From the perspective of someone from the future, Elena also knew the information from the balloons was lying.

  The east bank was under a curfew and martial law. Veterans who had retreated from the west bank to the east bank were not allowed to marry local women. Freedom to date? That was a question mark.

  However, the economic development on the other side was indeed fast. Since minerals and oil fields could be sold, what else was there that couldn't be sold?

  ...Elena’s thoughts drifted far before finally circling back to Sienna. She felt that Matthew’s crush on Sienna could be exploited to shift Juana’s focus away from Lucy.

  In addition, she needed to find a time to figure out exactly what Matthew’s zodiac sign was.

  Lucy nodded. She was used to supporting Elena whenever Elena had a plan.