In her previous life, after her stepmother Liu Zilan gave birth, Zhao Wansheng came to the military compound as a little nursemaid. She never had enough to eat, never stayed warm enough, never slept well, and had to work and watch the children day and night without rest.
She worked like that for ten years, raising four younger siblings like an old ox, until she turned sixteen and the youngest sister had started elementary school—only then could she finally catch her breath.
Zhao Zhiwen had never treated her as a daughter. In the Zhao household, he coldly watched as Liu Zilan beat and scolded her over trivial matters. Even when Liu Zilan locked her in that pitch-black storage room and refused to give her food for days, he turned a blind eye.
After she came of age, the Zhao father and son sold her again and again to protect their own futures.
Zhao Wansheng didn't know how she had survived those years.
By the time she finally managed to make something of herself, she was drowned in water by her jealous elder sister.
She refused to accept it!
Beneath her sleeve, Zhao Wansheng's hand clenched into a fist. Her palm was smooth and delicate—nothing like the calloused hands that years of labor would later produce.
She swept a cold gaze over the hypocritical father and daughter before her.
This time, she would see whether the Zhao family's fortunes would still rise without her.
And she swore that in this life, she would take back everything the Zhao family owed her in her previous life!
She would crush beneath her feet every member of the Zhao family who had controlled her fate!
Zhao Zhiwen went through the motions of asking for Zhao Wansheng's opinion, just as he had in her previous life.
Zhao Wansheng replied calmly, "Then I'll go with Mother to Grandma's house."
And so it was decided.
Chen Xiang brought out the dowry and luggage she had prepared long ago, carried out of the Zhao family's gate by her two elder brothers.
Before Zhao Wansheng left, her sister Zhao Tingting saw her off at the door.
"Sister really is so fortunate! Soon you'll have a new home and a new father. Aren't you happy, sister?"
Zhao Tingting seemed certain that Chen Xiang would remarry once she returned to her natal family. Her childish face was full of a sarcasm that didn't match her age. She couldn't help but laugh at the end, her pretty face wearing the same smug, petty look as Zhao Zhiwen.
"If you're so envious, then you go. The new home, the new father—I'll give them all to you, and the fortune too."
Zhao Wansheng said this with a smile, then turned around and added:
"I'll go tell Father right now that you want to go to Grandma's house to find a new father…"
Zhao Tingting quickly grabbed her to stop her. "Don't you dare! What's agreed is agreed—you can't go back on it! I'm a daughter of the Zhao family. I won't be a tagalong!"
Zhao Wansheng couldn't be bothered with her. Seeing her uncles and mother waiting for her outside the gate, she put on an innocent smile befitting her age and hurried over to meet them.
Behind her came the indignant voices of her two elder brothers. "Little sister, Zhao Wansheng left with that woman. I'll never acknowledge either of them again."
"Little sister is too much. That woman abandoned us, and she just went off with her! She must think our family is too poor."
The two brothers didn't resent their biological father, who had left them in the countryside to farm. They only hated Chen Xiang for being heartless—abandoning her children to return to her natal family for her own sake. Now they wouldn't even call her "Mother."
Zhao Tingting let out a scornful laugh. "Father's an official now. Mother's just a divorced woman dragging along a tagalong—what kind of good life can she have?"
Zhao Tingting thought to herself: This time, the path to the city is mine for the taking!
Zhao Wansheng acted as if she hadn't heard any of it.
In her previous life, she had carved out a path to survival even in such dire straits. This time, she had plenty of ways to ensure a stable and smooth life for herself—there was no need to trade words with these people.
The group walked out of Zhao Family Village. When they reached the village entrance, the second maternal uncle looked back and said indignantly, "Sister, those children of yours really are ungrateful wolves. All these years, you raised them all by yourself through so much hardship, and now that you're leaving, they won't even come see their own mother off."
The eldest uncle glanced at his sister and saw the pain on her face. He quickly scolded, "Stop your nonsense! It's getting late—save your breath for the road!"
Zhao Wansheng lowered her eyes, her heart utterly unmoved.
Zhao Tingting had always been sweet-tongued in the Zhao household. In her previous life, Zhao Tingting had left under the pretense of fulfilling her filial duty to care for her birth mother, and the Zhao father and sons had seen her off at the village entrance.
At that parting, Zhao Jianguo and Zhao Jianjun had been so reluctant to let her go.
When it came to her, there was only cold mockery—which showed just how biased they were.
Fine that they didn't come. In this life, she would never again be drained of her blood and flesh by those two brothers.
The four of them walked off into the setting sun, and by the time the last glimmer of light vanished beyond the horizon, they finally arrived at the Chen family home.
Zhao Wansheng followed her mother through the courtyard gate and looked up to see her eldest aunt standing at the main door with an unpleasant expression.
Grandmother heard the commotion outside and came out of the house. Seeing her daughter, she stepped forward and grabbed Chen Xiang's hand. "You're home now, so settle in and don't be afraid!"
With that, she shot a glare at her eldest daughter-in-law, who stood by the door with a sour face. "Go bring the food from the pot to my room."
Liu Zaohua, cowed by her mother-in-law's glare, didn't dare say a word. She turned her head and went into the kitchen.
Grandmother was naturally displeased with her daughter-in-law's attitude, but since her daughter had come back to her maiden home with the child, she felt somewhat in the wrong and couldn't very well scold her.
She put on a stern face and shooed away the grandchildren who had gathered to greet their aunt and younger cousin, then pulled her daughter and granddaughter into her room to talk.
No sooner had the mother and daughter sat down than the sound of the eldest aunt-in-law banging things around came from the kitchen:
"What's wrong with me being upset! In the old days, I wouldn't have minded a divorced sister-in-law suddenly showing up in the house, but Daxing is about to have his marriage prospects looked at, and now there's a sister-in-law in the house, dragging along a burden from a previous marriage—what decent girl would dare step through our door now?"
The eldest aunt-in-law's shrill voice was piercing, and the last glimmer of light in Chen Xiang's dull gray eyes was instantly extinguished.
She had thought that since her brothers had come to bring her back to her maiden home, everyone in the family had agreed to her return.
But she hadn't expected to be greeted like this the moment she walked in…
Grandmother's face darkened. She glanced at her granddaughter sitting obediently beside her daughter, forced a smile, and said, "So how did the Zhao family agree to let you bring Wansheng back?"
Chen Xiang shook her head. "I don't know what he was thinking either. Since he was willing to let me bring the child, I brought her along."
Grandmother sighed. She wanted to tell her daughter that she shouldn't have brought the child back, as it would affect her chances of remarrying, but mindful of Zhao Wansheng sitting right there, she said nothing in the end.
This daughter of hers had never had much of a mind of her own.
Her only asset was a decent face, but unfortunately, years of toil in the Zhao family had drained the color from it. Now, looking so aged and haggard, and dragging along a burden from a previous marriage—who knew what kind of family she could find.
"Don't take your eldest sister-in-law's words to heart. You know what she's like. This matter of yours came too suddenly—it's no wonder she let out a few complaints. Rest up at home for now, and later we'll find you a good match. Take Wansheng along with you, and life will go on just the same."
Zhao Wansheng looked at her grandmother, who spoke of remarriage as if it were the most natural thing in the world, then at Chen Xiang, whose face showed sorrow but no resistance to the idea of remarrying.
Zhao Wansheng understood that her mother's remarriage was as good as settled.
The only question was—who would her mother marry in this life?