Early that morning, Liu Yong had gone down to the ditch to catch eels. Li Fengmei found him there, and the two hurried back home, worried that Xia Xiaolan and her mother might suffer some injustice.
When they reached the entrance of the house, they noticed people lingering outside, craning their necks to look in.
Someone pulled Li Fengmei aside.
“What's going on?”
“Has your sister-in-law’s husband’s family finally come?”
“That must be Xia Dajun.”
“Looks like the couple’s quarrel this time is serious. Afen has been staying at her parents’ place for quite a few days.”
“Fengmei, your sister-in-law is pitiful too. Don’t rush to drive them away. Stand up for her a bit.”
Liu Fen was honest and hardworking, and she never cared about dressing up. Dark and thin, she was plain and unremarkable, posing no threat to the other women in the village. People could gossip with her without worrying that it would spread all over the village.
Her misfortune was simply that she hadn’t borne the Xia family a son. If even a daughter-in-law like Liu Fen couldn’t be tolerated by the Xia family, then being a woman truly was a bitter fate.
They often said distance makes affection grow, and closeness breeds contempt. In Dahe Village, Liu Fen had been treated much the same way. Yet after twenty years of marriage there, when the scandal involving Xia Xiaolan broke out, not a single person from Dahe Village spoke up for Liu Fen.
Everyone was simply waiting to watch the drama unfold.
Qijing Village, however, was Liu Fen’s hometown. The Liu family had lived here for three generations and were no longer considered outsiders. The villagers all sympathized with Liu Fen and her daughter.
After thanking everyone for their concern, Li Fengmei finally managed to get away. When she entered the house, she saw several people sitting in the main hall.
Liu Yong sat in the seat of honor.
Xia Xiaolan and her mother sat to his left.
While the Xia family members sat on the right.
Thankfully, it didn’t look like anyone was about to start a fight.
Li Fengmei breathed a sigh of relief. If it came to blows, her husband would definitely be at a disadvantage.
She would have to call the villagers to help.
“Well then.” Liu Yong said coldly.
“What exactly did you come here for today? Didn’t we make ourselves clear last time?” His eyes were full of disgust.
Those two Xia women still had the nerve to show up. As if he didn’t know how Liu Fen had been bullied by her two sisters-in-law while living with the Xia family.
Zhang Cui was the silent kind who bit without warning.
While Wang Jingui was the old matriarch’s most vicious attack dog.
Neither of them was any good.
Xia Dajun glanced at Liu Fen. She was staring at the ground, counting ants. The couple hadn’t seen each other for over ten days, yet Liu Fen didn’t show the concern she once had for him.
She hadn’t even said a single word to him.
Xia Xiaolan was the same. She hadn’t even greeted him.
Suppressing the anger rising in his chest, Xia Dajun said, “I came to take the two of them back. The work in the fields is done, and my mother’s illness has mostly recovered.”
What he meant was that the family was no longer angry at Xia Xiaolan. He had even brought his two sisters-in-law along so that everyone could back down gracefully and return to living together peacefully.
Xiaolan’s damaged reputation was certainly troubling, but on the way here, his eldest sister-in-law Zhang Cui had promised that they would find Xiaolan a husband so she could marry quietly and settle down.
Liu Yong felt a headache coming on.
Reasoning with a blockhead was never easy.
Clearly, Xia Dajun hadn’t taken a word of their previous conversation to heart.
“Afen doesn’t want to live with you anymore!” Liu Yong said bluntly.
“You two never officially registered your marriage anyway. Write a statement, press your fingerprints on it, and from now on we’ll go our separate ways.”
In rural China during the 1980s, it was common for couples to live together for decades without ever registering their marriage with the authorities. No one paid much attention to such formalities.
Marriage was considered a lifelong commitment; even if couples fought fiercely, divorce rarely crossed anyone’s mind.
A marriage certificate seemed useless to most people.
If Liu Fen truly didn’t want to stay with Xia Dajun, she could simply pack up and leave. At the very least, the law wouldn’t bind her.
Still, Liu Yong worried that the Xia family might continue pestering them later, so it was best to write down an agreement.
Xia Dajun felt that his brother-in-law was being unnecessarily stubborn. His expression darkened.
Seeing that the situation was turning unfavorable, Zhang Cui quickly cut in.
“Brother-in-law.” she said, smiling.
“There’s an old saying... Better to tear down ten temples than to break up one marriage'. My sister-in-law and Dajun have lived together for twenty years. What couple doesn’t quarrel sometimes? If you insist on separating them, you should also think about Xiaolan…”
“She still has to marry someday. If her future husband’s family hears that her parents are separated, it won’t sound good. Don’t you agree?”
At those words, Liu Fen—who had been staring at the floor... began to tremble slightly.
Li Fengmei let out a mocking laugh.
“So the Xia household is run by Sister-in-law Zhang now? What’s this? Since when does an Aunt get to decide whether Xiaolan marries or not?”
Bah!
Using Xiaolan’s marriage prospects as a threat.
Did Zhang Cui really think the Liu family were easy to bully?
Meanwhile, Xia Xiaolan was getting impatient.
She still needed to go out and collect eels.
Compared to her plans for making money, the Xia family mattered very little.
“Let me say a few words.” she said calmly.
“I will never go back to the Xia family. And I won’t let my mother go back either. Even if she sold herself to the Xia family back then, twenty years of working like an ox and horse have paid that debt off long ago.”
“And don’t glare at me. The rumors have already spread everywhere. They ruined my reputation and tried to drive me to suicide. As for what the truth really is.... Eldest Aunt probably knows it very well in her heart.
“First: I have absolutely no improper relationship with Zhang Erlai from Shipuo Village. Never before, and never in the future.
“Second: Even if every man in the world were dead, I would never try to seduce Xia Ziyu’s man.
“You’ve dumped these two filthy accusations on my head. I will never admit to them!”
Xia Xiaolan hated it when people refused to speak plainly and insisted on hiding things behind vague insinuations.
Some people in Qijing Village had already heard the rumors. They simply hadn’t brought them up in front of the Liu family. Xia Xiaolan didn’t want people making wild guesses, so she laid everything out clearly.
She stood upright, fearless and with a clear conscience. The “original” Xia Xiaolan might have looked flirtatious, but she had never actually behaved improperly.
As for Wang Jianhua, the feelings had been mutual. But they had never crossed the final line. Sooner or later, she would settle accounts with Xia Ziyu and Wang Jianhua.
Looking at Xia Dajun, she couldn’t hold back a cold laugh.
“Did you ever try to understand what really happened? When the rumors drove me to the brink of death, did you feel even a shred of fatherly concern?”
“These past days, have you once thought of confronting Zhang Erlai for ruining your daughter’s reputation?”
“You didn’t, right?”
“So tell me... Why should I return to the Xia family? Why should I stop being a proper human being and crawl back like a dog wagging its tail for scraps?”
Xia Dajun stared at her, mouth agape.
Wang Jingui muttered, “After doing something so shameful, who would bother asking about it?”
“So if Hongxia were carrying such rumors, you wouldn’t care either?” Xia Xiaolan asked coolly.
Wang Jingui exploded with anger. If people spoke about her daughter Hongxia like that, she would have taken a hoe and fought them to the death. Even that Zhang Er-lai would have been beaten half to death to see who dared to spread nonsense again.
Only then did Wang Jingui realize that Xia Xiaolan had led her thinking astray. She immediately began cursing.
“My Hongxia is nothing like you! Flies don’t land on uncracked eggs. If there wasn’t something going on between you and Zhang Er-lai, why would everyone gossip about you? I won’t argue with a girl like you. Just come back with us, apologize properly to your Grandmother, ask Ziyu for forgiveness, and we’ll all still be family!”
“Sister-in-law!” Zhang Cui cried anxiously.
This brainless woman was about to provoke Xia Xiaolan.
Right now, the priority was coaxing Xia Xiaolan back. Once she returned to the Xia household, they could shape her however they pleased.
“What your Third Aunt said was only out of anger.” Zhang Cui said hastily.
“How could your Grandmother hold a grudge against her own Granddaughter? And your cousin Ziyu never said she blamed you either…”
Xia Xiaolan ignored the women’s chatter and looked directly at Xia Dajun.
“Is that true? If I go back, I have to apologize to Grandma and to Xia Ziyu?”
Zhang Cui desperately signaled to Xia Dajun with her eyes. Xia Dajun hesitated for a moment but still spoke his mind.
“Your grandmother fell ill because of this. Your sister doesn’t hold it against you, but you can’t pretend nothing happened.”
In other words, if the mother and daughter returned, they had to apologize.
After all, family harmony brought prosperity. Once others forgave Xia Xiaolan, there would be no more quarrels in the household.
Liu Yong’s eyes nearly popped out with rage.
Li Fengmei had never seen such a father.
After everything Xia Xiaolan had said, Xia Dajun hadn’t heard a single word.
Xia Xiaolan realized there was no point arguing with an idiot.
But Liu Fen, who had been silently counting ants, suddenly lifted her head as if struck at the heart.
“Xiaolan will not apologize! Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear what she said? She did nothing wrong. Outsiders bullied her, and the Xia family tried to force her to die. None of you stood up for her!”
“And now you want her to go back and apologize? Who does she need forgiveness from? Who has she wronged?”
She stared straight at Xia Dajun.
“Xia Dajun, if Xiaolan isn’t going back, then I’m not going back either! I want a divorce!”