Inside the room, Lu Zhaozhao stood by the doorway, her eyes filled with indifference.
The small mark she had made by the wooden plank bed in the room had disappeared…
Although the old lady had tidied up the room, the small stone she had placed by the bed was gone.
Thinking this, Lu Zhaozhao immediately swept everything in the room onto the floor, quickly creating chaos.
Outside, Old Lady Jiang grew angrier the more she thought about it, cursing loudly in her rage: "You shameless thing, your man is already halfway into the coffin, what's the point of eating? Hurry up and give me the wild vegetables!"
As she spoke, she charged into Lu Zhaozhao's room.
Lu Zhaozhao was leaning against the doorway and, seeing her rush in, put on a pitiful expression.
Pointing at the room, she said: "Mother-in-law, how could you go through my things?"
"What? Can't I come in to tidy up your room?" Old Lady Jiang felt a bit guilty. How did this little bitch know? Hadn't she cleaned everything up?
But anyway, she hadn't taken anything, so there was nothing to fear!
"Is this how you tidy up a room, Mother-in-law? I think we should invite the neighbors to take a look." Lu Zhaozhao pointed at the mess all over the room.
Old Lady Jiang was dumbfounded. This… this wasn't her doing!
She had clearly tidied everything up!
Lu Zhaozhao said her piece and quickly ran out of the room.
"Neighbors, everyone, please judge this for me! I really can't go on living like this. It's only my second day since marrying into this family, and my mother-in-law has already secretly gone through my things…" Lu Zhaozhao cried as she spoke.
She even picked up her jewelry box, which was empty inside.
"Mother-in-law, this originally held my dowry of one hundred taels of silver."
Lu Zhaozhao wept sorrowfully.
Old Lady Jiang immediately exploded: "Who touched your silver? When I opened it, your box was already like this!"
Before she could finish her words, she quickly covered her mouth.
Because the surrounding neighbors had indeed been called out by this little bitch.
"Everyone heard that. My mother-in-law really did go through my things. My husband isn't favored by his mother, but that doesn't mean she can treat us like this." Lu Zhaozhao raised her voice and cried.
Old Lady Jiang was thrown into confusion.
Although she was fierce and unreasonable, she had never encountered such a situation—this was even more unreasonable than she was!
"Who touched your silver!" Old Lady Jiang shouted angrily.
Hearing this, Lu Zhaozhao's eyes filled with tears: "This silver is all the money my family had left. My father gave it to me as a dowry, and I intended to use it to treat my husband's illness. I kept it at home, and now it's suddenly gone. And Mother-in-law went through my things.
If it wasn't you, then who could it be?"
"That's right, Old Lady Jiang. You've always disliked your eldest son. Didn't you cause a scene just this morning?"
"Exactly, this is your son's life-saving money, and it's also your daughter-in-law's dowry."
"Who says otherwise? You should hurry up and return the silver."
The onlookers didn't mind stirring up trouble, chiming in one after another.
"Bah! Don't you all egg me on! I didn't take it!" Old Lady Jiang roared loudly.
"Mother? What's going on here?"
Outside, Jiang Family's Second Son, Jiang Yanxuan, returned home carrying a small bag of rice. His mother had given him silver in the morning to buy it, saying it was for a marriage proposal.
Why did he walk into this situation as soon as he entered?
"My son! You're finally back, this little bitch is trying to drive me to my grave. She insists that I took her dowry money, but I didn't take it!" Old Lady Jiang threw herself into her son's arms, crying even more pitifully.
Jiang Yanxuan frowned upon hearing this.
He looked at his sister-in-law.
Last night, Sister-in-law had already given Mother a hard time, and now she was causing trouble again.
This was not a good sign.
In this household, with Mother keeping order, Elder Brother had to hand over his money for the family's use. If Mother couldn't maintain control, chaos would ensue.
Although Elder Brother was suffering now, once he, Jiang Yanxuan, succeeded in the future, he would find a way to help Elder Brother.
But now, they couldn't let things fall apart!
Thinking this, Jiang Yanxuan said, "Sister-in-law, what are you doing?"
Lu Zhaozhao faced this legendary male lead without backing down: "This afternoon, Mother told me to go up the mountain with Little Sister to dig for wild vegetables. When I came back, the room was in complete disarray. The dowry my father gave me was kept in the jewelry box.
When I returned, it was all gone."
"I didn't take it! Maybe you took it yourself! Who knows if you hid it on your person? Yes, you must have hidden it on yourself!" Old Lady Jiang shouted.
Lu Zhaozhao sneered upon hearing this: "Mother-in-law really knows how to frame others. I ask any kind-hearted sister-in-law to search me, so I can prove the silver isn't on me."
"Let me help." A middle-aged sister-in-law from the neighboring courtyard couldn't stand it any longer and entered the yard.
"A hundred taels of silver carried on the body can be found with just a quick search," the sister-in-law said, leading Lu Zhaozhao into the house.
Old Lady Jiang was filled with grievance: "My son, you must stand up for me."
Jiang Yanxuan frowned: "Mother, Sister-in-law's matter is very strange."
Inside the house, Lu Zhaozhao allowed the sister-in-law to search her.
After searching, the sister-in-law was furious: "Good girl, how did you end up marrying into this family? That old hag, Old Lady Jiang, has always looked down on their eldest son. Your suffering is only just beginning."
"Thank you, Sister-in-law. Marrying my husband was arranged by my father, but I also chose him myself." Lu Zhaozhao's eyes welled with tears, as if she were deeply wronged.
"Don't be polite. My surname is Wu, you can call me Sister-in-law Wu from now on. Come on, I must get justice for you today!"
Sister-in-law Wu had always disliked Old Lady Jiang, and seeing how beautiful Lu Zhaozhao was, crying so pitifully, stirred her compassion.
The two left the house, and Sister-in-law Wu pointed at Old Lady Jiang and cursed: "You shameless old hag, where is the silver on your daughter-in-law? It's bad enough you made a new bride go up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables, but you also stole her dowry.
Do you have no conscience?"
"I didn't!" Old Lady Jiang roared and charged over: "Today, I'm going to tear you apart, you little bitch!"
As she charged, Lu Zhaozhao pretended to be frightened, feigning a slip underfoot, and crashed right into Old Lady Jiang.
She landed squarely on top of her.
"Mother!"
Jiang Yanxuan hurried over to help his mother up.
Lu Zhaozhao scrambled up, sitting on Old Lady Jiang, looking terrified: "Don't come any closer! Men and women should not touch each other, you're not allowed to come near!"
She acted as if she were frightened, pressing down hard on Old Lady Jiang again.
Old Lady Jiang let out a muffled groan, almost passing out.
Jiang Yanxuan's face darkened: "In emergencies, we must act accordingly. Sister-in-law, don't use such excuses to brush me off."
As he spoke, he moved forward to grab the person.
At that moment, a voice, though weak but tinged with coldness, came from the Jiang family's doorway: "What do you think you're doing?"
Hearing this, Jiang Yanxuan froze and turned to look at the entrance.
His outstretched foot paused mid-step.
"Big brother?"