Chapter 79 - 79 79 Why should I accept my fate

Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Why should I accept my fate?

Pei Yang should be my man!

Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Why should I accept my fate?

Pei Yang should be my man!

“I can’t stand it anymore!”

Shen Baolan spilled her grievances about her dissatisfaction in the Zhou family like bamboo tubes pouring out beans, hoping to get Liu Cuihua on her side to support her ideas.

However, Liu Cuihua was a typical rural woman, and to her, the complaints her daughter was making were not issues at all.

“You go out and look around the village, which daughter-in-law didn’t come through this way?

A daughter-in-law eventually turns into the mother-in-law; the first couple of years when I married into your father’s family, I had it worse than you!

At least in the Zhou family, you don’t worry about food and drink; back when I married your father, I worked in the fields during the day and took care of the old and young at night, toiling so hard I couldn’t even drink a bowl of soup.

In the middle of the night, I was so hungry I couldn’t sleep, and I’d be so desperate, I almost tore the cotton stuffing out to eat it.

Let Ma Sufen say whatever she wants; why do you care about her?

How many more years can she live?

Just grit your teeth and endure her, and once she’s dead, won’t you be relaxed?”

Shen Baolan didn’t want to continue living with Zhou Shuhuan, and it wasn’t just because of the discord with Ma Sufen.

“Mom, the dream I had was false!

Zhou Shuhuan won’t become a wealthy tycoon, so why should I stay with him?”

Liu Cuihua stared blankly at her daughter, mouth agape, unable to utter a word for a long time.

At first, when her daughter told her about the dream, Liu Cuihua wouldn’t believe it no matter what.

Who takes dreams seriously?

Later, when her daughter took her to the Pei Family to verify it, she slowly began to believe and started to anticipate it.

As time went on, her expectations for Zhou Shuhuan, her son-in-law, grew more and more intense.

She hoped that her son-in-law would prosper soon, so she, as the mother-in-law, could also bask in the glory and live good days.

Even during her spare time, or at night before she fell asleep, she indulged in fantasies of living those better days in the future.

First to build a few spacious brick and tile houses, then to find a beautiful and capable wife for her son, have a bunch of children, and be able to eat pork knuckles every meal—knuckles so tender and soft that they melt in the mouth with a bite, greasy and fragrant.

How beautiful that life would be.

But now.

Slap.

Her dream, shattered.

There were no brick and tile houses, no daughter-in-law, no little grandchildren, and no pork knuckles to eat every meal.

Liu Cuihua’s heart felt as if tender tofu had fallen to the ground, smashed into a pulp.

“Why is it false?

Why is it false?”

Liu Cuihua sat there blankly, as if she had lost her soul.

Shen Baolan could understand Liu Cuihua’s reaction all too well; it was exactly how she felt when she heard from Pei Yang that he wouldn’t leave until April.

It was as if a bolt of lightning from the sky had struck her, and her soul had left her body.

“In the dream, Pei Yang didn’t come back; he would die outside next month, but he’s come back.”

“I asked Pei Yang, and he said he’s not leaving until April this time; he’s not going to die out there.”

“If Pei Yang isn’t dying, Zhou Shuhuan naturally won’t become wealthy either.”

Liu Cuihua was almost confused, “If Pei Yang doesn’t die, he doesn’t die; why are you so sure Zhou Shuhuan won’t prosper?”

“If Pei Yang doesn’t die, then the dream I had is false.

If the dream is false, then how can Zhou Shuhuan become the wealthy tycoon like in the dream?”

It took Liu Cuihua a long while sitting on the edge of the heated brick bed to speak.

“My child, just resign yourself to your fate, stop struggling, have the child, and live a good life with your son-in-law.”

“Why should I resign myself to my fate?

Pei Yang should be my man!”

Shen Baolan’s shocking words nearly made Liu Cuihua jump.

She looked outside the window while covering her daughter’s mouth tightly.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed, speaking nonsense?

Aren’t you afraid of being heard and spat on until you drown?”

Shen Baolan threw off Liu Cuihua’s hand, “I can’t swallow this grievance.”

“If it weren’t for that dream, I would have already married Pei Yang, and I should have been the one enjoying the good life and wearing gold bracelets.”

“I can tolerate everything else, but I cannot tolerate being overshadowed by Shen Mingzhu!

Have I ever been inferior to her in any way since we were kids?

Every time I think that I personally let such a good man as Pei Yang slip through my fingers into her hands, I hate that I can’t slap myself twice.”

As she spoke, her face suddenly felt two sharp slaps.

There were two crisp slaps, and Shen Baolan was utterly stunned.

“Mom, why did you hit me?”

Liu Cuihua glared at her, “Why did I hit you?

Of course, to wake you up, you foolish girl!

Are you still half-asleep?

Do you think getting married is like children playing house, where you marry whoever you please today, and then change your mind and choose someone else tomorrow?

Doesn’t the Zhou family have a mirror?

Otherwise, I’d throw down a pot of urine right now for you to take a good look at yourself—to see what you’ve become, with that big belly of yours, fat as a pig.

Not to mention someone like Pei Yang looking down on you, even the old bachelors at the head of the village would despise someone like you!”

Shen Baolan’s head buzzed from the scolding.

She of course knew that she didn’t look good now, not as she did when she was a maiden, but were these the words of a mother, or of an enemy?

Liu Cuihua, unusually severe, said, “You better get rid of that thought immediately.

Live well with Shuhuan, do you hear me?”

“I simply won’t!”

Liu Cuihua raised her hand to strike again, but Shen Baolan pushed her face forward, “Go on, hit me—hit me to death then!

Anyway, there’s no point in living like this.”

Liu Cuihua glared at her stubborn daughter, her raised hand not coming down for a long while, and at last, out of frustration, she began slapping her thigh furiously.

“What sins have I committed to give birth to such a stubborn donkey like you?

Are you courting death?!”

Shen Baolan wiped the tears from her face, her expression resolute.

“Mom, just you wait and see.

If I had the ability to snatch away Shen Mingzhu’s marriage before, I certainly have the ability to snatch Pei Yang back now!”

Liu Cuihua looked at her, incredulous, “How do you plan to snatch him back?”

“I haven’t thought of a way yet, but I’m sure I can come up with one.”

Liu Cuihua’s vision darkened, and she nearly passed out from anger.

—

In the countryside, there weren’t many forms of entertainment, and after dinner as darkness fell, the norm was to climb into bed and sleep.

Villagers weren’t particular; washing feet was a communal act with a single basin used by the whole family, and Pei Yang wasn’t squeamish.

He washed his feet cheerfully and, while doing so, deliberately pressed his large foot on Shen Mingzhu’s delicate white one.

Even though she glared at him several times, he didn’t restrain himself, instead becoming even more brazen.

He quietly used his toes to tickle the sole of Shen Mingzhu’s foot, which almost compelled her to want to push the man’s head into the foot basin for a good scrub.

After washing his feet, Pei Yang eagerly asked Shen Mingzhu, “Which room will we be sleeping in tonight?”

No wonder the man had been so excited since dinner—turns out he was looking forward to some delight.

Shen Mingzhu replied with a smile that was not quite a smile, “You’ll sleep in the east room with my eldest and second brothers, as well as my father.”

Pei Yang paused, “Then where will you and Xiaohuan be?”

“Obviously, we’ll be sleeping in the north room with my sister-in-law and Daya.”

“…”

Pei Yang, not reconciled, further inquired, “Where did you use to sleep before?”

Shen Mingzhu nodded towards the west room.

Pei Yang glanced in that direction, puzzled, “Isn’t that your second brother’s room?

Did you share a room with your second brother?”

“Previously, my second brother slept in the small adjoining room.

Last year when he got married, they knocked through the two rooms and turned them into his new quarters.”

Then Pei Yang fell silent.

The next day.

After breakfast, her sisters-in-law invited Shen Mingzhu to join them at the market.

Thinking that she had nothing else to do at home and that a stroll around the marketplace would be nice, Shen Mingzhu readily agreed.

No sooner had Shen Mingzhu left than Qin Jinlian, Shen Jianguo, as well as the two brothers of the Shen family called Pei Yang into the east room for a talk.

Pei Ziheng glanced at the east room, then turned and said to Daya, who was sitting happily on a wooden cart, “Let’s play hide and seek.

You go hide first, and I’ll seek.

I’ll count to ten.”

After saying this, without waiting for Daya to reply, he covered his eyes and began to count.

Daya clumsily hopped off the wooden cart, looked around, and then toddled off toward the firewood shed.

Upon finishing the count, Pei Ziheng lowered his hands and headed straight for the east room, not even glancing at the firewood shed.