After a stretch of silence, Song Qiankun suddenly said, “This quilt can’t be used anymore. I’ll get you a new set later.”
I was delighted—those words set the tone.
What Zhao Qin cared about most was this son-in-law’s opinion. He clearly disapproved of how she treated me. From now on, before she did anything nasty to me, she’d have to think twice.
“No need, Brother-in-law. I’m used to it.” I shook my head, wiping my tears. I felt bad about using Song Qiankun, but there was no other way—without making a scene like this, they’d never let me go.
Eldest Brother stood up in anger. “Mom, you’ve gone too far! How old is that quilt? I s money home every month and told you to treat her better—how can you be so cruel to her! Second Sister does plenty of work around the house. She’s the one who farms all our land, and this is how you treat her?”
I said quietly, “During the busiest times, other families get to eat noodles or rice now and then, but I had boiled sweet potatoes and corn buns three meals a day. All the white flour in the house was saved for Eldest Sister. Yet all the work fell to me. After coming back from the fields, I still had to do the laundry and cook…”
“Shut up!” Zhao Qin snapped. “I’ll do whatever I please. I’m the one who runs this house!”
Eldest Brother frowned. “Mom, I’ve been away these two years—how did you become like this?”
I choked up. “Eldest Brother, don’t bother. Even fingers aren’t all the same length, let alone parents playing favorites. But I just don’t understand—why, knowing full well this marriage was wrong, that it was a pit of fire, did you still force me to agree? Dad, I’m not really her daughter, am I? Otherwise she wouldn’t treat me like this.”
My father’s lips trembled, and there was pain in his clouded eyes. He let out a long sigh and was just about to speak when Zhao Qin pressed him down and stood up. “Stop your nonsense! If you’re not my daughter, did you spring out of a crack in the ground? You said you wouldn’t marry—fine, then get as far away as you can! Don’t ever come crawling back to me for anything! From now on, I have no daughter like you.”
I nodded at once. “Fine. I agree. I couldn’t ask for better. And you’d better stop scheming against me and bullying me over everything. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other.”
“In your dreams! I raised you, so you have to serve me. If you don’t support me in my old age, I’ll sue you in court!”
I laughed. “Go ahead. But I’m not your only child. You can’t pin it all on me alone. We can hash it out in court. Besides, in the village it’s the sons who support their parents, isn’t it?”
“That’s enough, Mom! Are you trying to shame us to death with this ugly scene?” Liu Yaolan cut Zhao Qin off, shouting loudly. “I’ve told you—stop treating Second Sister like this. She may not be clever, but she does the most work in this house. How can you treat her this way? If outsiders saw this, what would they think of our family! Give her my quilt later. And didn’t I tell you last month to give Second Sister a few of my clothes? Did you even do that?”
Zhao Qin caught on immediately. “See here, didn’t your uncle say his daughter was getting engaged, so I gave them to her.”
“You can’t always be thinking of your own family. Your sister is twenty already, not young anymore—how can she still wear clothes like this!” She warmly took my hand. “Don’t be angry. I’ll give you a few more outfits later. You know how things are at our uncle’s house—too poor. Mom softened for a moment and gave the clothes to them.”
I smiled faintly. “Of course I wouldn’t know. Your mother has never once taken me back there.”
That wasn’t my real uncle’s family anyway—why would Zhao Qin ever take me there?
Zhao Qin made to slam her chopsticks down again, but one glare from Liu Yaolan and she behaved.
Liu Yaolan took my hand. “Let’s eat. Little sister, I know you’ve been wronged. You’ll always be part of our family—I won’t let anyone bully you.”
I smiled and said nothing. What a smooth talker. Really, she and Xie Yanlai were a match made in heaven. A few pretty words, and she got to take every advantage.
The family ate a meal under that terrible atmosphere.
My father was the same as ever—utterly silent, calm, impossible to tell what he was thinking.
I thought I should find a chance to talk with him properly. If he didn’t care whether I lived or died, fine. But it wasn’t that I didn’t know—it was that I didn’t care to fight. Best to separate the future elder-care arrangements. I couldn’t look after Zhao Qin.
My brother, full of pent-up anger, suddenly said to me, “Will you come with me?”
I nodded. “Mm. Being out there is better than being home. At least work pays wages, and I can support myself. I will definitely be able to live a happy life.”
Zhao Qin frowned. “Shut up. I’m annoyed. Be quiet.”
I stopped talking. I knew arguing with her would get me nowhere—leaving was what mattered.
Liu Yaolan kept whispering with Song Qiankun, putting food in his bowl, murmuring something. Song Qiankun smiled and put food in hers too.
I thought to myself: Liu Yaolan is clever enough; she’ll easily smooth this over. But I didn’t care. What I wanted was never to make the two of them an unhappy couple.
Yes, Liu Yaolan schemed against me in my past life. But if I hadn’t been foolish myself—if I hadn’t believed I’d found someone who truly loved me—I would never have stupidly married that scumbag.
Besides, in thirty years I’d had countless chances to leave, and I ured them all. It wasn’t all Liu Yaolan’s fault. It was my own lack of courage and confidence to divorce.
She wasn’t my real sister either. If our positions were reversed, I’d probably hate her just the same, unable to bear seeing her do well.
What I wanted was a free and easy life. I wanted Liu Yaolan to stay far away from my life and scheme against me less.
Just as we finished eating and were clearing the table, the scumbag and his family of three walked in. I didn’t greet them, just sulked and swept the floor.
The three of them looked terrible—probably hadn’t slept the night before?
Liu Cuizhi, seeing how calm our family was, shot Zhao Qin a surprised look.
Zhao Qin glanced at Liu Cuizhi and snorted. “What’s this, in-law? What are you doing here so early?”
My brother hurriedly said, “Mom, the two of them aren’t staying together anymore—why call them in-laws?”
“You say it’s over, so it’s over?” Zhao Qin sneered. “Disgraceful thing!”
I looked at Zhao Qin. “So you’re going to s me back again? Was everything you said just now for nothing?”
Zhao Qin pulled over a chair and sat down. “I don’t care! Your own marriage has turned into this mess—you deal with it yourself.”
“This isn’t just about me.” I glanced at Xie Yanlai. “Why did he trick me into marriage? Everyone here knows why. Sis, why don’t you say a few words about this too?”
Xie Yanlai hurriedly said, “Zhenzhen, I didn’t trick you into marriage…”
“Don’t make me sick to my stomach again. Otherwise, I’ll spread the story of your affair all over town. And that Lin Baozhu—didn’t you promise her that as soon as she turned twenty, you’d marry her right away? If you don’t want to hear more from me, then behave!” I glared at him, and sure enough, he shut his mouth.
Xie Facai’s face also twisted a little. None of them knew how much I had found out, so they were all quite wary.
By this point, Liu Yaolan was hurriedly pulling Song Qiankun to leave. After all, she was a married woman now, and it wasn’t proper for her to be around her former fiancé.
“Sis, say something. What about the money you owe?”
Hearing me call her, Liu Yaolan quickly waved her hands. “I’m not getting involved in this. I’m a married daughter now. Whatever’s going on between you and Xie Yanlai, take it up with Mom.”
Song Qiankun was also pulling Liu Yaolan toward the door. Liu Cuizhi and Xie Facai had never shown Liu Yaolan a kind face, but because the man she married was a city dweller, they held their tempers the whole time.
Seeing Song Qiankun holding hands with her, Xie Yanlai gritted his teeth, but he still didn’t stop them, his eyes following Liu Yaolan as she left.
I raised an eyebrow. So he still had feelings for Liu Yaolan, yet there was no big blowup between them. They just picked on me because they thought I was easy prey.
Only after Liu Yaolan was out of sight did he turn back to look at me, his face full of sincerity. “Zhenzhen, I truly do like you. I’ve talked it over with my parents. We were in the wrong before, but don’t worry—as long as you marry into our family, we’ll give you the betrothal gift, plus the clothes and the Three Rounds and One Sound, just as promised.”
Hearing this, Zhao Qin hurriedly asked, “How much is the betrothal gift?”
Xie Facai said with a smile, “Naturally, we’ll follow the village custom—four hundred yuan. Everything that should be given will be given, not a thing less. What do you say?”
A satisfied smile appeared on Zhao Qin’s face. She was just about to speak when I cut in, “I know exactly what you’re up to. I embarrassed you all yesterday, so you wanted to trick me into coming back, and then settle old scores and new ones together. If I returned to your family, would I even survive? Don’t even dream about it—I’m not marrying you.”