The Woman From Hell

The people here had typical traditional thinking and were very patriarchal.

Frank and his father went out after having breakfast. Frank's mother and I were the only ones left at home. I was cleaning up the dishes when her gaze on me became more and more amiss. I pursed my lower lip and stopped moving. "Is there something on my face?"

It would have been fine if I did not say anything, but the moment I did, she got agitated. She slammed the table, pointed at my nose, and reprimanded, "It's your face. Your expression ever since you got up has been nothing but sour. What is it? Do you think you've been treated badly since joining this household?!"

I turned my face away, trying to control my emotions. She was just a country woman. Why should I lower myself to her level? Everything would be over when I found a way to contact the outside world and left this place.

Thinking of this, I took a deep breath and forced a smile on my face. I opened my mouth calmly, "How could I possibly think so? I still have to make a living here, after all."

"Really? Your smile is uglier than your crying face. Let me tell you something. I don't care where you were before or what your status was. Even if you were a rich young lady, you'll be forced to work now that you've come to us. You'd better stop thinking about all those useless things. You're going to get it if you don't listen. Go and wash the dishes."

She said to me in a commanding tone. Her gaze was extremely stern, just like those evil mothers-in-law on TV.

it

to the kitchen to avoid getting into a confrontation with her again. I turned on the faucet and started cleaning. I just started washing the dishes when the old hag came over and cursed, "You're using too much dish soap. You spendthrift bride! You just need

the basin is full. Don't waste it. Really now, you don't

soap enough to

but I figured I could not, so I gave up and nodded obediently. "Okay, I

hag obviously

me for a bit before heading out. Her absence made me feel more relaxed. Otherwise, it would constantly feel like she had her gaze on me and that would

after washing the dishes. I did not expect to see the old hag coming over with a basin of dirty clothes as soon as I

and nodded.

don't have such a thing in this house, so

not for my consciousness, I would have thought

would just