“Madam Zhou, your husband is back! Why are you still washing clothes here?”
“Go back and take a look! Your husband placed third in the palace examination and came back riding a tall horse. What a magnificent sight!”
Lin Xiuniang turned around in delight. “Aunties, is that really true?”
“Of course it’s true. Why would we lie to you about something like this? Stop washing and take your child home. We’ll carry these clothes back for you later.”
“Ah, all right, all right. Thank you, Aunties.” Lin Xiuniang hurriedly wiped the water from her hands, then turned to pick up her daughter. “Suisui, come on, let’s go home. Your father is back!”
Her heart brimming with excitement, she scooped up her daughter and hurried home, chattering as she went. “Suisui, have you missed your father? He came back riding a big horse. Maybe he’ll even let you pet it later.”
Zhou Sui lay against her mother’s shoulder, her little brows tightly furrowed. She couldn’t help sighing inwardly. Ah! What was meant to come has come after all.
Zhou Sui was not truly a five-year-old girl. She had transmigrated into this world while still in the womb. In her previous life, she had unexpectedly unlocked a Spirit Spring Space and spent all her savings stocking up on supplies. Who could have known that before the apocalypse ever arrived, she would transmigrate into a book instead?
Life was truly unpredictable. Fortunately, her space and supplies had come with her, and the plot had not yet reached its worst point. There was still time to turn everything around.
The gate of the Zhou residence was packed with villagers who had come to watch the excitement. When they saw Lin Xiuniang and her daughter return, they hurriedly made way for them. Greetings, praise, and congratulations sounded one after another.
Suppressing the joy in her heart, Lin Xiuniang smiled and responded to everyone. After finally squeezing through the gate and stepping into the main room, however, the smile on her face abruptly froze when she saw what was happening inside.
The room had been filled with laughter and cheerful conversation, but the moment she entered, all the lively voices suddenly fell silent. The elders sat upright together, some clearing their throats and others drinking water, while their gazes toward her carried a strange undertone.
The smile on her mother-in-law’s face instantly vanished. Her brows drew together, and her eyes filled with disgust. Her eldest sister-in-law, on the other hand, greeted her with a broad smile.
“You’re back, younger sister-in-law.”
“Mm.”
Lin Xiuniang had barely responded and had not yet had a chance to ask what was going on when her husband’s younger sister, Zhou Juhua, approached with a malicious grin.
“Sister-in-law, what are you saying? She isn’t your younger sister-in-law anymore. We should be calling her Concubine Lin!”
“Juhua, what do you mean?” Lin Xiuniang asked, her eyes full of confusion.
“What do I mean? I’m merely telling the truth.” Zhou Juhua raised a hand and touched the silver hairpin in her hair, her smile growing increasingly smug.
Lin Xiuniang vaguely sensed that something was wrong. She gave the silver hairpin a long look, then let her gaze pass over the eldest brother, who had lowered his head and remained silent, before settling on Zhou Yanzhi, who had kept himself apart from the commotion.
He wore a dark purplish-brown brocade robe and a jade crown. His bearing was entirely different from before he had left for the capital to take the examinations.
Old Madam Zhou’s expression darkened. She suddenly slammed her hand on the table.
“Madam Lin, you have been married into this family for six years without bearing a son. Today, this old woman will demote you from wife to concubine on behalf of my son. Do you have any objections?”
A letter demoting her from wife to concubine fluttered lightly to the floor beside Lin Xiuniang’s feet. She glanced at her daughter, and her heart suddenly lurched.
Her daughter’s dream… had actually come true?
Even though she had already prepared herself for this possibility, when it truly happened before her eyes, she still could not keep the pain from welling up inside her. She gently set her daughter down, then reached out with trembling fingers and picked up the thin sheet of paper.
The three words “Letter of Demotion” at the top stabbed painfully at her eyes. She read the document word by word, then suddenly laughed. With a few swift movements, she tore the paper in her hands into shreds and looked up at Zhou Yanzhi, who had remained silent off to the side.
“When someone wants to condemn you, they can always find a pretext. You say I haven’t borne a son in six years? Isn’t Suisui your own flesh and blood? We’ve spent more time apart than together all these years. How could I possibly have gotten pregnant by myself? As for accusing me of disrespecting Mother and failing to get along with the other women of the family, that is even more absurd. Heaven sees everything people do. Something doesn’t become true simply because you say it is! You want to demote me from wife to concubine? I refuse!”
With that, she flung her hand upward. The torn scraps of paper fluttered through the air and scattered across the floor.
A shattered mirror could never be made whole again, just as her feelings for him could never return to what they had once been.
As expected, no one was more heartless than a scholar. Zhou Sui silently gave her mother a thumbs-up in her heart. Looks like all those dreams I made up and told Mother over the past two years weren’t for nothing!
“You…” Old Madam Zhou, afraid that something might go wrong with Madam Lin, was just about to scold her when Zhou Yanzhi raised a hand to stop her.
He glanced indifferently at the scraps of paper covering the floor, then slowly shifted his gaze to Lin Xiuniang’s face and frowned slightly.
“Madam Lin, stop making a scene.”
He rose and walked over to Lin Xiuniang. His bearing was refined and his face gentle, yet every word he spoke was cold.
“Everything Mother said is reasonable. You have borne no son in six years; that is unfilial. You have repeatedly harbored resentment over household matters; that is a failure to live in harmony with the family. The Zhou family is no longer what it once was. What I need is a virtuous wife who can manage the inner household and continue the family line, not a vulgar, unreasonable village woman like you who fails to understand the bigger picture.”
He paused, his tone softening slightly before he continued, “Demoting you to a concubine and allowing you to remain in the Zhou household is already more than generous considering our past relationship. I am still giving you a roof over your head. Don’t be ungrateful.”
No longer what it once was? Ungrateful?
Lin Xiuniang clenched both hands into fists, her knuckles turning white from the force. Her body trembled uncontrollably as a bone-chilling cold, like countless fine needles of ice, pierced into her heart one by one, so cold that the blood throughout her body seemed ready to freeze.
“Mother, is he my father?” Zhou Sui tugged at Lin Xiuniang’s hand and asked timidly.
Zhou Yanzhi lowered his eyes and glanced at his daughter with a complicated expression, but he said nothing.
It was as though Lin Xiuniang had suddenly found something to steady herself. She came back to her senses, clasped her daughter’s little hand in return, and smiled at her reassuringly.
Mother knew what she had to do now.
When Lin Xiuniang raised her eyes again, all the sorrow and anger had disappeared from her gaze. Her voice became calm.
“Zhou Yanzhi, you want to demote me to a concubine and reduce my daughter to the status of a concubine-born daughter, and you call that doing me a favor? Have you forgotten who has managed this household all these years? Who quietly supported you and paid for your studies?”
Zhou Yanzhi’s expression turned cold.
“What woman doesn’t manage household affairs after marrying into a family? Considering our past relationship, the fact that I haven’t repudiated you and driven you from this house is already generous enough. Don’t push your luck!”
“That’s enough! Stop putting on this hypocritical act in front of me. You’ve already taken up with another woman, so why put on such a show just to force me to submit?”
The way Lin Xiuniang looked at him, as though she could see straight through him, made Zhou Yanzhi deeply uncomfortable. His gaze flickered as he turned his face away, no longer daring to meet her eyes.
Seeing this, Zhou Juhua immediately jumped forward, planted both hands on her hips, and spat, “Bah! Stop flattering yourself! Who’s forcing you? You clearly can’t bear to give up your position as the principal wife because you covet the wealth and glory our Zhou family will enjoy in the future, yet now you’re turning around and slandering my brother!”
The eldest sister-in-law, Madam Liu, quickly chimed in. “Exactly. Listen to what Younger Sister-in-law is saying. Anyone would think Second Brother’s success in the palace examination was entirely thanks to you. Did our branch of the family contribute nothing?”
“Hmph!” Old Madam Zhou gave a cold sneer. “My son has placed third in the palace examination and has a brilliant future ahead of him. Of course she can’t bear to let go of all that wealth and glory. She should take a good look at herself. Does she really think someone like her is worthy of being the mistress of the Zhou household?”