Kong Miaomiao was unwilling to accept this and glared venomously at their departing backs.
“Mom, Dad, Grandpa, are you just going to stand by and watch my little sister bully my mother and me? What did Panbao and I do wrong? She’s just the little sister, yet she beats up my sister-in-law. If word gets out, my little sister’s reputation will be ruined!”
Xia’s mother and the others didn’t say anything, but they were also worried that if their daughter/granddaughter angered Kong Miaomiao, she might really do something else.
Xia Canglan merely glanced at Kong Miaomiao, and a chill ran down her spine.
“Really? Are you sure you want to do this?”
Kong Miaomiao lowered her head, refusing to look at her, forcing herself to stop trembling. She hugged Panbao, as if that would give her enough courage.
“Yes, I absolutely…”
“Bang!” The door opened.
“Neighbors, come and see! Come and see! Kong Miaomiao, who boasted about wanting all of her husband’s family’s property before even marrying in—she’s back! Now she claims she’s innocent, that her family isn’t giving her food or water, and she’s going to sue us!”
Kong Miaomiao stared wide-eyed at Xia Canglan, who was spouting nonsense and shouting so loudly.
She was furious. Xia Canglan had really gone mad.
“Mom and Dad, why aren’t you stopping her? Are you really going to let her spread all the family scandals before you’re satisfied?”
Xia’s mother had long been dissatisfied with her daughter-in-law, who was only focused on rummaging through their belongings to go back to her parents’ house. She grabbed Xia’s father, who was about to move, and said, “Did my daughter say anything wrong?
Where?
Tell me and I’ll have Lanlan go out and say it again.”
Kong Miaomiao: “…”
Meanwhile, the neighbors, who were already prone to gossip, rushed out without even finishing their meals.
“What’s going on? Did I just hear Dr. Xia’s daughter shouting?”
“It sounded like Lanlan’s voice. But, does it mean Kong Miaomiao is back again? Damn, she’s been gone for quite a while this time, hasn’t she? She’s already spent all her money?”
“It probably is, but, what I’m getting is Lanlan implying that Kong Miaomiao wants to sue Dr. Xia and his family for abusing her? My God, who’s abusing whom here?”
“How dare Kong Miaomiao say that? Humph.”
“…”
Xia Canglan, with her keen ears, naturally heard her neighbors’ conversation. She glanced around, and seeing that most people had arrived, she began her performance.
“Aunt Hu, tell me, when Kong Miaomiao lives with us, my family treats her well, doesn’t she? But if she’s even slightly dissatisfied, she throws a tantrum at them, right?”
Aunt Hu, who lived next door to Xia Canglan, paused for a moment, then nodded.
“Definitely! Sigh, let alone good food and drink, if Kong Miaomiao has even the slightest problem, she curses and insults her in-laws. I’ve never seen such a domineering and unreasonable person. If she were my daughter-in-law, I would have slapped her long ago.”
The others nodded in agreement.
Xia Canglan continued,
“Aunt Chen, as a mother-in-law with three daughters-in-law, tell me, what daughter-in-law in this world, before even entering the family, claims she wants all of her husband’s family’s property to be handed over to her for safekeeping, and if she doesn’t, she causes trouble and disrupts the peace of the household?”
“If you had a daughter-in-law like this, what would you do?”
Aunt Chen sneered. “If she were my daughter-in-law, I’d beat her up the moment she opened her mouth, and then send her back to where she came from. We can’t afford a daughter-in-law like that.”
The neighbors all nodded in agreement, deeply understanding.
It wasn’t that they were heartless towards Kong Miaomiao, but ever since she married into the Xia family, the neighbors had been driven to despair by her.
Moreover, they didn’t know what was wrong with her brain; she couldn’t understand what they were saying, and if they made a move, she would fall to the ground and throw a tantrum, accusing them of wanting to beat her.
As a result, everyone would avoid her whenever they saw her come back; they couldn’t afford to offend her, so they had to avoid her altogether.
A respected elderly woman slowly walked out.
“Lan’er, tell me, what stupid thing did that troublemaker do this time?”
Xia Canglan lowered her head, pretending to wipe away tears.
“Grandma Yao, as soon as I got home from work today, I heard her cursing my parents and grandpa, saying that she sent Xia—Zhaodi—to jail over a trivial matter, and that our whole family has to go and bring her back, and apologize to Xia—Zhaodi!”
“Wow!” The crowd surged, everyone shocked by Kong Miaomiao’s mindless words.
“What is Kong Miaomiao thinking? Her thought process is unbelievable.”
“Wait, why is Kong Miaomiao so nice to Xia Zhaodi? Or does she not know what Xia Zhaodi did?”
“If she knew Xia Zhaodi was in jail but didn’t know what she did to get in, uh, that’s impossible, right?”
“Why is that selfish Kong Miaomiao so good to Xia Zhaodi? There’s something wrong with that.”
“…”
“Thump, thump, thump!”
Grandma Yao tapped her cane on the ground, and everyone immediately calmed down.
“Lan’er, what’s your family’s decision? If you ask me, keeping a woman like that in the house is just a disaster. You should get your older brother back and divorce her as soon as possible.”
I’ve been waiting for you to say that.
Xia Canglan laughed, “Grandma Yao, that’s what I think too. After all, my older brother’s money is still money. Since she came into the family, half of my salary has been given to her, but I haven’t seen her save anything. Even the expenses for her own children are covered by my parents, and even my salary as her aunt.”
“You’re talking nonsense! When did I spend your money? What business is it of yours if I spend my parents’ money? Can’t this money be spent on their granddaughter? Should it be spent on you, someone who’s about to be discarded?”
Kong Miaomiao, who had been eavesdropping inside the door, couldn’t hold back any longer and jumped out to refute Xia Canglan’s words.
“Slap!”
Before Kong Miaomiao could even muster her arrogance, she was slapped across the face by Xia’s mother, who had finally lost her temper.
“Kong Miaomiao, Lanlan is my daughter. Whether she’s gone or not isn’t for you to decide. Take your thoughts back. Don’t think you’re so smart.”
Being slapped by someone she’d always manipulated for the first time was unbearable for Kong Miaomiao.
In a moment of rage, she lunged at Xia’s mother with a ferocious expression, only to be ‘lightly’ kicked away by Xia Canglan. A chill ran through her.
“My God, has Kong Miaomiao gone mad? Is she going to hit her mother-in-law?”
“I’ve already said, there’s nothing Kong Miaomiao wouldn’t do.”
“She dares to hit her mother-in-law in front of so many people. What would she do at home?”
Faced with so many accusations, Kong Miaomiao finally felt a sliver of fear.
“I didn’t… I just—I didn’t use their money. I’ve always used the money my husband gave me. You’ve all been deceived by Xia Canglan.”
Xia Canglan glanced indifferently at the increasingly confident Kong Miaomiao.
“Really? Since you say you haven’t spent any, then take out the savings book my brother gave you over the past seven years and let’s see how much money you actually saved. Or is it that you haven’t saved a single penny?”