After making the phone call, Zhou Mu took her granddaughter to the town’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
“Mom, Zitong, what brings you here?”
The speaker was the original host’s second sister-in-law Zheng Yawen, who worked as a salesclerk at the cooperative.
“Third Son’s wife fell and got a deep gash on her head yesterday. She’s currently staying at the clinic. As her brother and sister-in-law, you and Second Son should find time to visit her after work.”
“I’m not going. She causes drama every few days like clockwork. Second Son and I work hard for our money, and we have two children to support. We can’t afford to keep filling her bottomless pit.”
Hearing it was about Wen Nianxin again, Zheng Yawen didn’t even bother to stand up. She sat back down and rolled her eyes dramatically behind Zhou Mu’s back.
“This time it’s not an act. She really got badly injured from the fall and doesn’t even recognize people now.”
“Really?”
Zheng Yawen sprang to her feet, inwardly overjoyed.
“Second Aunt, it’s true. When we visited Third Aunt yesterday, she couldn’t even say my name.”
Zheng Yawen struggled to suppress her grinning lips, replying coldly with feigned reluctance: “Fine, I’ll go after work.”
The moment Zhou Mu left, Zheng Yawen sat behind the counter fantasizing about Wen Nianxin’s condition. She became so absorbed in her thoughts that she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Wan Hong, I just remembered there’s something urgent I need to handle at home. Could you cover my shift?”
Although Wan Hong was extremely unwilling, she thought of Zheng Yawen’s father who was the department head and reluctantly agreed.
Zheng Yawen had never been so eager to get off work before.
She truly couldn’t wait another moment, eagerly wanting to go to the clinic and relish Wen Nianxin’s miserable state.
“Second Sister-in-law, what brings you here? Are you off work today?”
“I heard from Mom that the fat bitch injured her brain. Came to see the show.”
Li Xiaofen felt suspicious. Why did she get the impression that Second Sister-in-law wasn’t here to visit a patient, but rather seemed somewhat gleeful about the situation?
Then again, in the Zhou family, these two sisters-in-law had never gotten along. They started fighting whenever they met, each wishing misfortune upon the other.
Zheng Yawen entered the ward and saw Wen Nianxin lying on the hospital bed with thick bandages wrapped around her head. Walking over, she looked down at her condescendingly and sneered: “Well, if it isn’t the most capable member of our Lao Zhou Family – accomplished at nothing but scamming people, our living ancestor Third Son’s wife.
How come you’re lying in bed like a sick dog now? This doesn’t seem like your usual self.
The you from before would even pick fights with stray dogs at the village entrance. Seeing you so weak and vulnerable is truly a rare sight.”
Hearing such a sharp and unpleasant female voice, Wen Nianxin, who had been resting with her eyes closed, furrowed her brows and opened her eyes impatiently.
Looking at the visitor whose name she didn’t know yet, she automatically matched her with a character from the book.
This person was precisely the female lead of that novel – the original host’s second sister-in-law, Zheng Yawen.
From the very first day the original host married into the Zhou family, Zheng Yawen had harbored some inexplicable hostility toward her.
Even though the original host had no prior interactions with this second sister-in-law before marrying Zhou Zhan, Zheng Yawen would either mock and ridicule her or glare at her coldly whenever they met. Even as a reader, Wen Nianxin couldn’t quite understand where this hostility toward the original host came from.
But one thing was certain—no one wished for the original owner’s death more than this Second Daughter-in-law. After all, in the book, upon hearing the news of the original owner’s death, she had locked herself in her room and laughed nonstop for a full hour or two.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?
Oh right, I heard you damaged your brain in the fall—can’t even recognize people now. Can you even form a complete sentence?
What, can’t curse anymore? Just gonna babble like an idiot?”
“Did you eat shit on your way here? Why’s your breath so foul? Or are you actually a maggot crawling out of a latrine, clinging to everyone you meet to disgust them?
If you’re here to visit, get the hell out. I don’t need your fake concern.
If your brain’s malfunctioning, turn right outside the door—the doctors are there. Go find one yourself!
Don’t snap at people like a rabid dog in front of me. I might struggle with words, but I’ve got more than enough to curse a bitch like you.
If you dare say one more word, once I recover, I’ll camp at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative entrance and curse you for three days and nights without rest. If I don’t make you sick to your stomach, my name isn’t Wen Nianxin!”
“You—!”
“You what, you? Get lost!”
Already suffering from dizziness and nausea after cracking her head, lying uncomfortably in bed everywhere, she now had to deal with this nonsense.
She had a slightly better temper than the original owner and was a bit more civilized, but that didn’t mean she’d silently endure insults.
If someone pissed her off, she’d clap back on the spot.
She wasn’t the type to “take a step back for broader horizons.”
Too much tolerance would only lead to breast hyperplasia; too much compromise would cause uterine fibroids and thyroid nodules. For the sake of her health, why the hell should she hold back?
Seeing how sharp-tongued Wen Nianxin remained despite her injury, Zheng Yawen shot her a hateful glare. “Just you wait!”
With that, she stormed out of the ward, hips swaying in anger.
Wen Nianxin spat in her direction. She’d outgrown such childish threats back in elementary school.
If truly provoked, she’d grab a brick and settle things directly!
“Nian Xin, are you okay?
Don’t listen to your Second Daughter-in-law. She’s just…”
Once Zheng Yawen left, the eldest daughter-in-law Li Xiaofen cautiously sat back down by the hospital bed.
“Just what?”
“Just… well… just ignore her.”
Before the Second Daughter-in-law arrived, Li Xiaofen hadn’t heard Third Daughter-in-law curse at all—in fact, she’d been much more polite than before. She’d naively thought Wen Nianxin had changed, but clearly, she was mistaken.
“She asked for it, coming here to pick a fight! Can’t blame me!
No idea which mental asylum let this lunatic out!”
Even while reading the book, she’d intensely disliked the female lead Zheng Yawen, who seemed to have a split personality.
Zheng acted normally around others, but the moment she encountered the original owner, she’d turn into a powder keg, more prone to outbursts and snapping than the original owner ever was.
There was one thing about Zheng Yawen she truly couldn’t understand:
As a town girl with a father who directed the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and siblings who held permanent positions at the cannery, Zheng came from a decent family and openly looked down on villagers like the Zhou family, considering herself superior.
Yet later, she defied her family’s objections, rejected well-matched suitors, and chose to marry Second Brother Zhou Lang.
She clearly didn’t even like Zhou Lang!
Wen Nianxin remembered that the book mentioned Zheng Yawen actually had a crush on someone for a long time, but she didn’t know who it was, because she hadn’t finished listening to the entire book before transmigrating here.