After yesterday’s heart-to-heart talk, Wang Zhaoming truly integrated into this family.
In the morning, the very first ray of sunlight descended upon the earth, and the crowing of roosters rang out in eager succession.
Listening to the commotion outside, Wang Zhaoming groggily opened her eyes, let out a comfortable sigh of having slept enough, and then rolled around once in bed wrapped in her quilt.
When Wen Caimei walked in and saw her daughter burying half her face in the quilt, leaving only half of her delicate eyebrows exposed and her eyes tightly closed, she couldn’t help but smile.
She did not interrupt Wang Zhaoming’s morning waking routine, gently stepping back out and pulling the door shut behind her.
“Dear, our daughter must be a celestial fairy descending into our family.”
Wang Chengye, who was tidying himself up in the courtyard and preparing to go to town for odd jobs, looked at Wen Caimei with a puzzled expression upon hearing her say this.
“Our daughter glows.”
Every time she entered her daughter’s room, she felt that her daughter was glowing; the dim room would instantly become bright and luminous just because of her presence.
Wen Caimei only loved her daughter more the more she looked at her.
Hearing this, Wang Chengye glanced toward Wang Zhaoming’s room, strongly tempted to go and take a look at the daughter who could glow as Wen Caimei described.
Yet, mindful of the separation of men and women, he ultimately terminated that thought with a feeling of regret.
“We don’t understand these things, so don’t go disturbing her. I’m off to work now.”
“Don’t forget to look for a suitable piece of timber in town to make a memorial tablet for Zhaozhao’s master.”
“Once I finish up the work in the fields today, I’ll clear out a spot in the main room to place Zhaozhao’s master’s tablet.”
“I remember.”
Just as his voice trailed off, the side rooms on the left and right opened simultaneously.
“Dad.”
“Mom.”
Zheng Duowei and Zhao Guizhi, neat and fully dressed, called out to the two of them.
Wang Chengye acknowledged them and said to the two women, “I’ll have to trouble you both with the housework. Leave any heavy chores for later; wait until I get back, or until those two get up, before doing them. Don’t rush, and don’t hurt yourselves.”
Wang Yuanchuan and Wang Chinzheng had gone out last night and only returned in the small hours of the morning.
Everyone wanted them to sleep a little longer.
The two women nodded, and Zhao Guizhi smiled as she said, “Dad, just go ahead to work with your mind at ease. Mom is here at home.”
“Alright, Caimei, I’m heading out then.”
“Watch your step on the road.”
After Wang Chengye left, Zheng Duowei and Zhao Guizhi nimbly set to work alongside Wen Caimei.
Although the autumn harvest had concluded, it did not mean they could afford to sit idle.
The harvested rice needed to be processed and stored in the granary.
The vegetable plots needed tidying up—the ripened produce had to be gathered, either to be dried into vegetables or pickled into preserved greens to prepare for winter.
Once all the vegetables were harvested, Chinese cabbage and radishes needed to be planted.
Apart from feeding humans, the chickens at home had to eat too.
With so many mouths waiting for them to cater to, they couldn’t spare a single moment of rest.
Listening to the sound of voices chatting outside, Wang Zhaoming finally brought herself to open her eyes.
Yet, feeling the changes within her body, a trace of helplessness appeared on her expressionless face.
Her soul had been separated for too long; although she helped Qi Chunchun and obtained a sliver of merit to mend the fractures between her souls, it was still just a drop in the bucket.
She put on her clothes and got out of bed to stretch her limbs.
Just as she was about to head out, the door was pushed open from the outside. “Little Aunt~”
It was her little niece, Wang Yitang.
She had just woken up, her hair a messy bird’s nest with the imprint of some unknown object pressed into her cheek.
Her clothes were likely put on haphazardly by herself. The moment she came in, she ran over and hugged Wang Zhaoming’s leg.
Wang Yitang had always slept alongside Wang Zhaoming previously.
When Wang Zhaoming fell ill, the family feared Wang Yitang might disturb her and had her moved to sleep with Wang Zhinuan instead.
However, Wang Yitang was used to sleeping with Wang Zhaoming; for the past half-month, she would search for Wang Zhaoming the moment she woke up every morning.
“A thousand cuts to your flesh!”
Wang Zhaoming wanted to pick Wang Yitang up, but thinking of her current physical state, she dismissed the idea. Just as she was about to take Wang Yitang out to wash her face, she heard a loud, sharp voice ring out from outside.
Wang Yitang paid Wang Zhaoming no mind, ran over to the front door, and cracked it open just a bit, shrinking her tiny body against the crack to peer outside.
“Which skull-cracking, disastrous, short-lived ghost beat up my son?!”
“Get out here for Laozi! You have the guts to do it, but no guts to own up to it? Laozi curses you to give birth to a son without an anus, and to die with no one to collect your corpse!”
“Hitting my son, you lot will get your retribution sooner or later! You pestilential beasts!”
Wang Yitang turned back and whispered to Wang Zhaoming, who was walking over, “Little Aunt, it’s Grandma Lin.”
The person shouting curses outside was Scar-face Zhang’s mother, Lin Chunhua.
Hearing the commotion, everyone opened their doors and came out to look.
“Lin Chunhua, are you out of your mind? Running over here at the crack of dawn to wail like at a funeral.”
“Lin Xiuyun, was it you who beat up my son?!”
Lin Chunhua pointed angrily at the person who had just spoken and demanded.
“Are your eyes blind? How could this frail frame of mine manage to beat up your son?”
“If it wasn’t you, why are you cutting in? Who knows if you found some illicit paramour to help you out.”
Lin Chunhua was acting like a rabid wild dog right now, biting anyone she saw.
“That’s right, I hooked up with your deceased old man and had him crawl up from the grave to help teach that dog-brained bastard of yours a lesson.”
“I wrapped your old man around my finger; according to seniority, you should be calling me Mom—go on, call me.”
Lin Chunhua had been shrewish her entire life, but she could never win an argument against this arch-rival. Grievously provoked by anger, she lunged at Lin Xiuyun. “I’ll tear your mouth apart!”
The people nearby who were on good terms with Lin Xiuyun hurriedly pulled her back upon seeing this.
“Don’t hold her back, let her come at me! If you don’t beat me to death today, you’re not human.”
“Alright, Xiuyun, stop talking.”
“What’s going on here, Chunhua? Running over to our side first thing in the morning to curse people out.”
Gazing at Lin Xiuyun, who stood akimbo and looked completely fearless, Lin Chunhua suddenly, for reasons unknown, recalled the time she had been cheated out of a sum of money by Lin Xiuyun half a year ago.
She stamped her feet and retreated a few steps, clutching her money pouch, and instead of looking at Lin Xiuyun anymore, she began to beat her thighs and wail loudly.
“My life is so bitter!”
“I have only this one son, and I can’t bear to eat well, can’t bear to wear nice clothes, and wouldn’t even bear to lift a single finger against him!”
“Who on earth was the beast that beat my son up? They beat him until he doesn’t even look human, and his face is swollen so badly you can’t bear to look at it!”
“Bounce it back!”
Just as Wang Zhaoming was getting really into watching the show, she heard a rapid succession of low voices behind her chanting *bounce it back*.
Looking down, she saw that the other three little ones in the family had already woken up and were all crowding in the back to watch the fun.
Wang Zhaoming was almost killed by how adorable they were.
Looking further over, Mom and the two sisters-in-law were also peeking out to watch the spectacle.
What’s more, they wore expressions of tasting something utterly relishable, as if the person being cursed out outside wasn’t their adversary.
Hearing Lin Chunhua say that Scar-face Zhang had been beaten until he didn’t look human, the joy on everyone’s faces overflowed.
If not for the fact that they were hiding behind the door and Lin Chunhua was busy wailing her grievances, one could have spotted the clues instantly.
“I have only this one son!”
Hearing this, Lin Xiuyun found it thoroughly annoying. “What’s the matter? Weren’t the four or five daughters you gave birth to before your children? Do you only acknowledge this one?”
“How can daughters be the same? They’re all other people’s property!”
When the women present heard Lin Chunhua’s words, they felt exceptionally uncomfortable in their hearts, yet they had no way to refute it.
“Piss on your father’s swine plague!”
“Your anus is growing crooked, insisting on dividing people into upper and lower classes, but don’t you dare count us in.”
“My daughters are the flesh of my heart; even when they marry out, they are still my daughters.”
“No wonder your maternal family doesn’t dote on you and your marital family doesn’t love you—turns out you treat yourself like an outsider everywhere you go.”
“What’s the use of doting on a son? Does your son share your last name? How hilarious. Only someone like you treats that little bastard like a treasure. If my son were like that, I’d have shoved him straight into a urine bucket and drowned him to save him from harming others.”
Lin Xiuyun and Lin Chunhua were first cousins from the same village and had married into Songjiacun around the same time, subsequently giving birth exclusively to daughters after getting married.
Before giving birth to Scar-face Zhang, Lin Chunhua’s relationship with Lin Xiuyun had been passable enough.
After giving birth to Scar-face Zhang, however, Lin Chunhua always felt her backbone stiffen, making her superior to Lin Xiuyun.
Lin Chunhua flaunted her sense of superiority everywhere in front of Lin Xiuyun and even disparaged Lin Xiuyun’s daughters.
The two of them had a massive falling-out over this matter and parted ways entirely, becoming bitter enemies who opposed each other in everything they did.