Cheng Yu snatched the telegram from the telegraph operator’s hand and stormed home, fuming.
For now, Ren Caifeng had no idea that Xing Yanheng had quit his job to go earn money elsewhere. To spare her worry, it was best to keep it a secret.
Before Cheng Yu even reached the front door, she could hear the sound of an argument coming from the courtyard from a distance.
Cheng Yu quickened her pace. As she entered the gate, she saw a middle-aged woman wrestling with Ren Caifeng over a sack of grain.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Cheng Yu’s voice was cold, because she could already tell at a glance that someone had come to bully them.
The visitor was none other than Xing Yanheng’s eldest aunt. Cheng Yu had met her on the day she married Xing Yanheng and had been subjected to several rounds of her sharp-tongued mockery.
The gist of it was that marrying Xing Yanheng was a bad deal for her, and she sneered at Cheng Yu for having poor judgment.
Cheng Yu had been nursing a grudge about that. The marriage between the Cheng and Xing families had been arranged by the elders of both houses. Back then, the old master of the Xing family and the old master of the Cheng family were close friends, and since Guo Fengyan and Ren Caifeng were pregnant at the same time, the betrothal was settled.
It was just that things had taken a turn in this life—Cheng Yan had refused to marry Xing Yanheng, so she had been made to fulfill the marriage in her place.
“Oh, Cheng Yu’s back from her parents’ house?” Liu Limei greeted with a fake smile, and her grip on the grain sack loosened accordingly.
“Well, that’s just perfect. Since we’re all one family now, Auntie won’t beat around the bush with you. When you married Yanheng, he borrowed ten yuan from me. He said he’d pay it back right after the wedding. Since your family can’t come up with the money now, the grain will have to settle the debt.”
Ren Caifeng’s face flushed bright red. She had already lost all dignity in front of Cheng Yu, and now she pleaded humbly, “Sister-in-law, Yanheng and Xiaoyu just got married. Can you give us a few more days? As soon as Yanheng gets his wages, we’ll pay you back right away.”
“You expect me to count on Xing Yanheng? You’re a walking medicine jar—how much do you spend on treatment every single month? No way. We agreed on this, and now you have to follow through. Put it off today, put it off tomorrow, put it off the day after—when will it ever end!”
Liu Limei gave no face at all and lunged for the grain again.
Ren Caifeng was already in poor health. Just arguing had drained all her strength, so all she could do was physically block Liu Limei and beg her for a few more days.
“A few more days? What about my family’s livelihood? Sister-in-law, it’s not that I’m heartless as the eldest sister-in-law—everyone understands the principle of helping in emergencies, not in poverty. Let go now, before the neighbors see. You’ll be shaming the Xing family name!”
“Enough.” Cheng Yu pressed down on Liu Limei’s hand, frost gathering in her eyes as she stared at her coldly.
Liu Limei released her grip at that, brushing the dust off her clothes and speaking in a slippery, unflappable tone. “Niece-in-law, today it’s not that Auntie is being unreasonable. Xing Yanheng is the one who said it to me himself. I lent him the money because I felt sorry for him. A debt must be repaid—that’s only natural.”
“I’ll pay it.”
In Luan Jin’s memories, in her past life, Cheng Yan had indeed returned to her parents’ home after the wedding, complaining about how poor the Xing family was, and had demanded back all the dowry the Xing family had given her.
Presumably, it was also because of the pressure from these relatives.
When Liu Limei heard that Cheng Yu was going to pay, she immediately broke into a smile like she was looking at a fool.
“Oh, my niece-in-law is quite reasonable, isn’t she? Yanheng’s a lucky man to have married you.”
Cheng Yu couldn’t be bothered to waste words on her. She pulled a Da Tuanjie note from her pocket and placed it in Liu Limei’s hand.
“Auntie, take the money and go. And I’ll remember how you kicked us while we were down today.”
“What do you mean by that? So I lend money and I’m the one in the wrong now?” Liu Limei was never one to back down. She stood at the door and started shouting at the top of her lungs.
Cheng Yu only gave a cold smile, her sharp gaze sweeping over her.
“Lending the money wasn’t wrong, and asking for it back wasn’t wrong either. What’s wrong is that Auntie and I ever had to be relatives.”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said!”
“Say it clearly!” Liu Limei, knowing full well that Xing Yanheng couldn’t possibly repay the money, had come to pressure them precisely to flaunt her superiority.
But Cheng Yu wasn’t buying any of it. With her goal unmet, Liu Limei started hopping mad on the spot.
Cheng Yu’s eyes glinted with cold light, full of contempt for her.
“Fine, I’ll say it clearly! First, I’ve never eaten a single grain from your family’s table in my life—I don’t owe anyone in the Xing family anything. Second, you lent the money to Xing Yanheng; he’s the one who owed it. Now that I’ve paid it back for him, you’re square. Third, the way Auntie treats my mother-in-law makes it impossible for me to acknowledge that we have any family connection. As long as I’m in this household, you’d better not come around. If you do, you won’t be welcome.”
“You—fine, you little vixen! So this is how the Cheng family raises their daughters, teaching you to talk to your elders like that!” Humiliated, Liu Limei refused to accept defeat and threw a tantrum right in the courtyard. “Everyone come and see! The new bride is bullying people! She’s been married for only a few days and already won’t acknowledge her relatives! The Xing family has had eight generations of bad luck to end up with something worse than a beast like her!”
Seeing this, was Cheng Yu really going to indulge her?
Seeing that her shouting had drawn the neighbors’ heads out, she didn’t say another word—she charged into the yard, grabbed a broom, and swung it at Liu Limei.
“You shit-mouthed thing, don’t you dare come here and throw your tantrums with me! The money the Xing family owed you—I’ve paid it off. My house, my rules. I don’t care who you are, get the hell out of here right now!”
Cheng Yu wasn’t bluffing—she was genuinely hitting her.
Liu Limei was so frightened by her that she dodged and stumbled, and was driven out of the gate in a sorry state.
“You little wretch! You—you’ve been spoiled rotten by the Cheng family, lawless and reckless! Just you wait, I’ll go find your parents and ask them where their family discipline is!”
Cheng Yu planted the broom upright beside her, one hand on her hip, with the stance of one man holding the pass against ten thousand.
“My family discipline is none of your business. Get lost!”
“Just you wait, you little wretch!” Liu Limei left, cursing under her breath.
The neighbors who had gathered to watch were all stunned by Cheng Yu’s ferocity.
But Cheng Yu could seamlessly switch between a fierce shrew and a well-behaved girl.
She tossed the broom behind her, clapped her hands, and said with a slight smile: “Sorry for the spectacle, everyone. You all know what Aunt Xing is like, I’m sure. If she hadn’t been bullying my mother-in-law, I wouldn’t have chased her off.”
“Exactly! Old Xing’s wife is way out of line—who goes knocking on a newlywed couple’s door demanding debts?”
“She’s just bullying the widow and orphan, isn’t she? Yanheng’s wife did the right thing!”
“Girl, you did nothing wrong. You can’t be too soft and let people walk all over you!”
Just from hearing the neighbors’ words of support, Cheng Yu knew that Liu Limei had been coming to bully them for years whenever Xing Yanheng wasn’t home.
She nodded to the crowd, closed the door, and stepped into the yard. Ren Caifeng stood before her, timid and full of guilt.
“Xiaoyu, it’s my fault. You’ve barely stepped through the door and already you’ve suffered such humiliation because of me…”