Xia Wan immediately cut Yang Shufen off.
Yang Shufen couldn’t quite believe her own ears.
“What did you say?”
Xia Wan continued, “It’s a fact that Lu Jingxing and I lived together as husband and wife for a year. When he passed away, I was still his wife, and I even took care of you for a full year in his name.”
“I cooked for you every day, made the fires, even brought you water to wash your feet. Even if you hired a maid from outside, the wages wouldn’t be cheap, right?”
“And all your daily food and expenses were paid with my ration coupons and my money! Shouldn’t we settle those accounts as well?”
No matter how thick-skinned Yang Shufen usually was, having her shamelessness exposed in public still made her face flush red.
She wanted to refuse, but seeing the contemptuous looks from familiar neighbors and thinking of Lijuan’s job she ultimately swallowed her words.
“Fine! I’ll give you all 3,500 yuan of the compensation money! Get rid of this jinx from our Lu family. From now on, our Lu family will only have good days ahead!”
“Alright. You go write the severance document. I’ll go pack my things.”
With that, Xia Wan went into the room and packed up her important belongings and some simple clothes.
She looked around. Although she herself hadn’t lived here long, the original owner’s memories still made the place feel familiar.
At last, she was leaving this cage.
From now on, her life would only get better!
Xia Wan packed one suitcase and carried it out.
Yang Shufen glanced at it and, seeing that Xia Wan hadn’t taken much, finally relaxed.
Xia Wan took the severance letter, read it through, and signed it without hesitation.
Seeing her sign so decisively, Yang Shufen inexplicably felt a surge of irritation. “From now on, you, Xia Wan, and our Lu family will go our separate ways forever!”
Lu Hongmei saw that Xia Wan had signed, taken the money, yet was still standing there. She urged angrily, “Why are you still standing here? This isn’t your home anymore! Get lost!”
Xia Wan held out her hand to her. “Give me back my clothes.”
“What?”
Xia Wan tilted her chin toward her. “You took quite a few clothes from me, and they were expensive. Including the one you’re wearing right now you have to return it. I brought it with me when I married in; it’s part of my dowry.”
Lu Hongmei’s face turned red as she cursed angrily, “Are you that hard up? You’re seriously nitpicking over just a couple of clothes?”
Xia Wan curled her lips. “Not just that. Everything that belongs to my dowry, I’ll take back in full. There’s a list of the items I brought with me before. You’d better prepare everything on it. Once I’m settled, I’ll send someone to collect them. If anything is missing, you’ll compensate me in cash.”
With that, she handed the list to Yang Shufen.
Back then, Xia Wan’s father had also been a technical employee at this textile factory, and their family conditions were quite good.
When she married in, she had brought many practical items with her.
Plus, the “three turns and one sound” that Lu Jingxing had bought for her all rightfully belonged to her.
She was taking everything.
Hearing that Xia Wan wanted to take everything listed, Yang Shufen staggered backward, nearly losing her footing.
Su Lijuan hurried forward to support her.
“Xia Wan, isn’t this going too far? Are you trying to drive Aunt Yang to her death?”
Xia Wan asked in confusion, “I’m taking back my own dowry how is that driving her to death? These things never belonged to her in the first place! Everyone, do you think what I’m doing is unreasonable?”
The surrounding crowd nodded repeatedly.
“Since ties are severed, the dowry should be taken back to her natal family. Why would it be left with the in-laws?”
“Exactly. Yang Shufen’s son is already gone—does she still want to swallow up everything from the Xia family?”
Hearing the murmurs around her, Su Lijuan’s face grew uncomfortable.
She was just about to speak when Xia Wan pointed at her.
“That dress you’re wearing doesn’t it also look like mine?”
Su Lijuan hurriedly tugged at her hem, guiltily saying, “You must be mistaken. Aren’t all the popular styles similar these days?”
“When I buy new clothes, I like to stitch the character ‘Xia’ at the back of the collar, so no one takes my clothes by mistake when collecting laundry.”
Before Su Lijuan could react, Xia Wan flipped open her collar. Sure enough, there was a neatly stitched character Xia sewn in fine thread.
The owner of the dress was obvious.
Xia Wan raised her brows. “Will you take it off yourself, or should I help you? I’m taking this one back too.”
The moment Su Lijuan saw the character, her face flushed bright red.
She forced an awkward smile and turned to Lu Hongmei. “Hongmei, didn’t you say this was your own dress and you were just lending it to me for a couple of days? How did it turn out to be Xia Wan’s?”
Lu Hongmei shot Su Lijuan an indignant look.
It was Su Lijuan herself who had rummaged through her room and openly demanded the dress!
Just as Lu Hongmei was about to explain, Yang Shufen grabbed her daughter and glared at Xia Wan with venom-filled eyes.
“You want Lijuan to take off her clothes and return them to you right now are you planning to make her walk out naked? I taught you long ago not to be so selfish!”
“Even if I’m not your mother-in-law anymore, I can still say this as an elder, can’t I? The fabric doesn’t even look that expensive. Lijuan needs decent clothes for her office job. Just treat it as a gift to her!”
Xia Wan raised her brows, a cold smile forming on her lips. “Mother-in-law oh, former mother-in-law aren’t you contradicting yourself? If it’s not expensive, how can it be considered ‘decent’? The fabric for this dress was obtained using cloth coupons from the factory while my father was still alive. Only through his connections could I get such high-quality material.”
“So are you saying our factory’s craftsmanship is worthless?”
Xia Wan stepped forward, tugged lightly at Su Lijuan’s dress, and proudly showed the fabric to everyone.
Seeing it clearly, the crowd couldn’t help but admire its quality.
Then Xia Wan frowned slightly and leaned in to sniff Su Lijuan.
“Why do you smell like body odor? Then I really can’t take this dress back. Pay me instead.”
Su Lijuan froze, staring at her in disbelief.
Xia Wan winked at her. “This fabric isn’t cheap. I won’t count the cost of the cloth coupons. Since you like the tailoring so much, that means you recognize my craftsmanship. The labor fee has to be counted. For my former mother-in-law’s sake, I’ll give you a discount ten yuan.”
“Ten yuan?! Why don’t you just go rob someone?”
Su Lijuan cried out in shock.
Xia Wan looked aggrieved. “Sister Su, go ask around can you buy a dress like this for ten yuan at the department store? I already gave you a discount because we’re acquaintances.”
Before Su Lijuan could reply, the aunt from earlier couldn’t hold back anymore.
“If you think it’s expensive, then don’t wear someone else’s clothes!”
“Your fox-like stench ruined the dress, and you still want to sponge off Xia Wan’s scent?”
Hearing the crowd chime in, Su Lijuan lifted her eyes pitifully toward Yang Shufen.
Seeing people verbally attacking Su Lijuan, Yang Shufen panicked. With a heartache, she pulled ten yuan from her bag and shoved it into Xia Wan’s hand.
“Take it! Our Lijuan isn’t as petty and stingy as you! Now that you’ve got the money and settled the clothes, is there anything else? Say it all now and once you’re done, get lost!”