The village chief’s gaze swept over Old Mrs. Jiang and Lu Hui—this mother-in-law and daughter-in-law pair were already gnashing their teeth at Zhou Xiaomai.
Zhou Xiang showed no intention of stepping forward to defend his daughter, while Liu Caixia only knew how to weep and wail.
No wonder Zhou Xiaomai didn’t want to stay in this household.
But the village chief was also troubled. He pondered and said:
“Since Xiaomai no longer wishes to be entangled with the Han family, and since you had already discussed these matters with the Han family when accepting the betrothal money, it might be best to let it go. However, if Xiaomai doesn’t stay with her natal family and wants to find a place to settle…”
The village chief looked at Zhou Xiang: “Xiangzi, what do you think?”
There were quite a few empty houses in the village—some were old main residences left behind after villagers built new homes, some were houses left vacant when families moved to the county town to make a living, or left by the childless elderly.
But for Zhou Xiaomai to stay temporarily, she would need the owner’s permission.
Rent in the countryside didn’t cost much, but who would be willing to let a divorced daughter live in their house?
It would bring bad luck.
Zhou Xiaomai had defied her family, and her words no longer carried the obedience they once did. Zhou Xiang was filled with nothing but anger.
“That disgraceful thing, she can go wherever she likes. I might as well have never given birth to her!”
Liu Caixia pleaded through tears: “Husband, you can’t do this. Xiaomai is already pitiful enough. Driving her out would be forcing her to her death!”
Zhou Xiang shouted angrily at Liu Caixia: “If you don’t want to stay in this house, you can get out too, along with this disgraceful thing.”
Zhou Xiaomai thought that even though she didn’t like Liu Caixia, who was weak to the core, she and her two younger sisters were, after all, the ones who had treated the original host best in this family.
If Liu Caixia was willing to leave, she wouldn’t mind supporting a few more people.
Zhou Xiaomai asked Liu Caixia seriously: “Mother, are you willing to leave and live with me? Don’t worry, I won’t let you or my sisters go hungry.”
But Liu Caixia seemed to have heard something utterly outrageous, staring in shock.
“I am a daughter-in-law of the Zhou family. How can I leave the Zhou household?”
Since Liu Caixia was unwilling, the two younger sisters naturally wouldn’t follow a divorced older sister either.
Zhou Xiaomai had actually known this would be the outcome—asking was just unnecessary.
Old Mrs. Jiang said: “You don’t appreciate kindness and resent us at every turn. Fine, you can go live outside. But let me make this clear: if you step out of our door today, never come back. Even if you die out there, it has nothing to do with our family.”
Once the village chief and the clan elder got involved, Old Mrs. Jiang knew that causing trouble at the Han family to demand money was hopeless.
In matters like these, the village and the clan had the authority to intervene. The final decision wasn’t solely in their hands.
And Zhou Xiaomai didn’t believe she would ever need her natal family in the future.
Even if she did, no one would help her if she turned to them.
She was confident enough that she could support herself.
Zhou Xiaomai nodded: “Of course. Please remember your words today, Grandma. From now on, we’ll live our own lives. Return my household registration to me, and I’ll go to the county town another day to transfer it out.”
The village chief’s earlier words suggested that finding a house wasn’t impossible.
After all, she only needed a place to stay temporarily to remain in the village. Whether it was her natal family’s home wasn’t a necessity.
The village chief said disapprovingly to Zhou Xiaomai: “You’ve just been divorced, and people will inevitably gossip. If you transfer your household registration out as well, I’m afraid your reputation will only suffer more.”
Zhou Xiaomai replied: “Of course I want a good reputation, but my fate is just this bitter. People will say what they want—I can’t control that.”
Everyone was still heated with anger at the moment.
Especially Zhou Xiang, seeing Zhou Xiaomai looking so determined and even daring to break away from her natal family, was absolutely furious.
Zhou Xiang said to Old Mrs. Jiang, “Mother, go inside and get that disgraceful thing’s household registration. If she ever dares to show up at our door again, just beat her to death with a stick!”
Old Mrs. Jiang thought to herself that the family wasn’t short on labor anyway, and there was no need to keep such an unlucky person around just to eat for free. So she really went back inside, fetched Zhou Xiaomai’s household registration, and threw it right in her face.
Old Mrs. Jiang said viciously, “Useless money-losing trash, I’d like to see how you survive without your natal family.”
If they hadn’t been so angry at that moment, Zhou Xiaomai might not have been able to get her household registration back so easily.
She carefully picked up the household registration, folded it, and tucked it into her sleeve pocket.
No matter how much the village chief, the elder uncle, and Liu Caixia tried to persuade them, it was useless. Zhou Xiaomai and Old Mrs. Jiang’s family were destined to part ways today.
Being divorced didn’t sound good for one’s reputation, but after all, they couldn’t just drive the divorced daughter of the Zhou family out of the village.
After several discussions, the village chief and the elder uncle decided to temporarily settle Zhou Xiaomai in the main house of their own family.
After seeing off the elder uncle, Zhou Xiaomai gathered the bundle on the table in the main hall and, amid Old Mrs. Jiang’s cursing and Liu Caixia’s sobbing, left with the village chief.
The location of the village chief’s main house was quite remote, at the easternmost edge of the village. There weren’t many families nearby, and further east was the outer area of Kui Mountain.
Zhoujia Cun was uniformly made up of wooden houses. Although the village chief’s main house was old, there weren’t many weeds in the yard. It seemed that someone from the family would come by from time to time to check on it and tidy up.
The village chief took out a key and unlocked the door to the main hall.
“Back in the day, our family moved away because this main house was too remote. But it’s definitely not haunted like everyone says. It’s just that there aren’t many households nearby, and it’s close to Kui Mountain. At night, the sound of the wind blowing through the woods, plus the howling of wolves, can be a bit eerie. If you’re not afraid, you can stay here for now. Once your family cools down, say a few soft words—after all, living together as a family is still the way to go.”
In her not-so-long life during the apocalypse, Zhou Xiaomai had spent all her time fighting Zombies. What was there to fear about the wind blowing through the woods at night or the howling of wolves?
As for her natal family, there was no going back. Wouldn’t it be better to live her own life?
Why stay in that house as free labor, not even getting enough to eat?
“I appreciate your kindness, village chief, but I really can’t stay in that house. There’s no way we’ll ever live together again. Anyway, I’ve been married before, and in a few days, once I transfer my household registration, I won’t even be considered part of their family anymore.”
The village chief wanted to say that Zhou Xiaomai was still too young—how could living alone be so simple?
Besides, Zhou Xiaomai was indeed a bit disobedient and unfilial. As the saying goes, “No parents are ever wrong.” One should respect and honor their elders.
But thinking about the way Old Mrs. Jiang’s family behaved, the village chief couldn’t bring himself to lecture Zhou Xiaomai further.
Well, even an honest official finds it hard to settle family disputes!
“There are plenty of rooms in the main house. You can choose whichever one you like to stay in. Our family doesn’t plan to use the main house for now anyway.”
There wasn’t much furniture in the house. The kitchen only had two empty stove platforms without iron pots.
In the rooms meant for living, there weren’t even cabinets—just old bed boards that couldn’t be moved.
But judging by the condition of the roof, none of the rooms leaked, and there wasn’t a trace of dampness.
It seemed they had been maintained over the years.
It was simple and crude, but at least there was a place to settle down for now.
“Village chief, I really have to thank you this time. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely pay the rent on time.”
The village chief waved his hand, his voice full of sympathy: “Forget about rent for now. What you really need to think about is how to survive. If you need anything, just come find me.”