“Zhao Meiyun.” Zhao Tianlei arrived a moment later and heard his sister cursing his wife.
“So what if I said one thing about her? You feel sorry for her already? You really are a man who forgets his mother once he marries. You have been bewitched by that woman’s looks and do not even know your own surname anymore. Where do you still remember me, your own sister?”
A sharp slap echoed through the room.
Zhao Meiyun covered her left cheek and stared at her mother in disbelief. Shock filled her eyes as tears streamed down her face. “Mother, you hit me?”
She had never imagined that her mother would hit her.
From childhood to now, her mother had never laid a hand on her. Yet now, for Lin Siya’s sake, she had been slapped.
“Zhao Meiyun, your sister in law Lin Siya was married into our Zhao family through proper arrangements,” Zhao Tianlei said, then turned to his parents. “Father, Mother, I do not know why Xiao Yun resents Xiao Ya and pushes all the blame onto her. Xiao Yun slept in, and Xiao Ya said nothing. She even went to call her for breakfast, worried the food would get cold and harm her stomach. Xiao Yun is several months older than Xiao Ya, yet you have spoiled her too much over the years.”
With that, Zhao Tianlei took Lin Siya’s hand and led her out of Zhao Meiyun’s room.
Father Zhao sighed repeatedly. “Go to work.”
Mother Zhao looked at Zhao Meiyun with helplessness and pain, then followed him out.
Zhao Meiyun stood there in a daze. In the next moment, she burst into loud sobs, as if she had suffered an immense injustice.
Hearing his daughter cry, Mother Zhao wanted to go check on her, but Father Zhao grabbed her arm. “Let her cry. She is older than Xiao Ya and does nothing. I think we should find a matchmaker soon and marry her off. Do not let her chill our son’s heart.”
Seeing Lin Siya’s virtue and diligence, Father Zhao grew more and more impatient with his daughter. To him, Zhao Meiyun had become a troublemaker who disrupted the household.
Mother Zhao heard this and gave up the thought of comforting her daughter.
Their son was still at home. If they truly disappointed him, what would they rely on in old age? On their daughter?
She loved her daughter, but she also knew very well that her daughter was unreliable. In the end, they would still have to depend on their son.
“Once the busy farming season is over, let Xiao Ya go visit relatives, or follow Tianlei to the army. Try to let us hold a grandson within the next two years,” Father Zhao said. He envied other families with grandchildren. He only had one son, who stayed in the army all year and rarely came home. They had rushed the wedding even before Lin Siya turned eighteen, all because they wanted to hold a grandson sooner.
Mother Zhao nodded. They finished eating and prepared to head to the fields.
Zhao Meiyun thought that if she cried, her mother would surely come to comfort her and help her deal with Lin Siya.
But after crying for a long time, there was no movement at all.
“Xiao Ya, you have been wronged. As soon as I return to the army, I will apply for you to come with me,” Zhao Tianlei said firmly, holding Lin Siya’s hand.
Lin Siya naturally saw the guilt and heartache in his eyes. This was exactly what she wanted.
“I am not wronged,” she said softly. She truly was not wronged. It turned out that acting weak could bring unexpected results.
In the past, she had never cared about such things or understood how to use her own advantages to gain sympathy. Her entire focus had always been on cultivation.
“I am leaving,” Zhao Tianlei said. He wanted to stay a few more days, because the more he looked at his wife, the better she seemed.
Lin Siya really wanted to say, then just go.
“I will walk you there, and I can also go to the county to buy some things,” she said. In truth, she planned to look for ways to make money, or perhaps something more direct.
A faint smile appeared on Zhao Tianlei’s lips. It was very subtle, but Lin Siya caught it. She had thought this man had lost the ability to smile. Yet now he was smiling.
“All right, let us go to the county.”
Zhao Tianlei tidied up, put on his military coat, and went to tell his parents he was returning to the army.
“Father, Mother, I will head to the county to catch the train soon.”
“So soon?” Mother Zhao asked, her voice filled with reluctance.
He had only been home for a few days and was leaving again. Of course they were unwilling to part.
“Be careful on the road,” Father Zhao reminded him.
With that, Zhao Tianlei took Lin Siya toward the county.
They walked.
Zhao Village was about an hour’s walk from the town. Along the way, Zhao Tianlei kept asking Lin Siya questions.
She was too lazy to respond to most of them.
As they walked, Lin Siya observed everything around her, the fields full of people working. It was exactly as the memories of this body described.
“Xiao Ya, do you want me to carry you?” Zhao Tianlei asked.
Carry her?
It seemed inappropriate to be so intimate on the road at this time.
“Let us keep walking. I am not tired,” she said. This distance was nothing to her. If she were not afraid of revealing something unusual, she would have already reached the county in moments.
Once they reached the town, they boarded the so called passenger bus.
Although Lin Siya showed no curiosity on her face, she was amazed inside. So this was a bus. Her gaze swept across it, memorizing the shape of the vehicle, the seats, the driver’s position, and his movements.
This was a bus, running on the road. It was not as fast as flying on a sword, but the speed was decent, much faster than walking.
“Xiao Ya, are you carsick?” Zhao Tianlei asked with concern.
“No. I have just not been to the county for a long time, so I am a bit excited,” she replied. She truly was excited. Although this body had memories, memories were not the same as seeing things with her own eyes. She could not help but marvel at how clever people here were to invent such things. Compared to her own world, this place seemed backward in some ways, yet astonishingly advanced in others.
Of course, there was one thing this world could not match. Longevity.
As long as one cultivated, life spans stretched for thousands of years. To people here, someone like her would be nothing short of a monster.
“When we arrive at the county, I will take you around,” Zhao Tianlei said.
“Do you not need to return to the army?” she asked. Was he not in a hurry?
As if seeing through her thoughts, he explained, “My ticket is for the afternoon. Once we arrive, I will buy the ticket, then accompany you around for a while.” When they married, he had never taken her out properly.
With someone guiding her, Lin Siya naturally had no objections.
After getting off the bus, Zhao Tianlei first went to buy a train ticket.
Lin Siya waited outside. She observed her surroundings and studied the train station. With her keen perception, she took in the entire station and could not help but sigh inwardly.
Inventions were truly great.