For Cheng Su, if she didn’t mention it, all was well, but once she did, Liu Wenjing’s loneliness and thoughts, like grass, began to wildly sprout in her heart.
Did she truly not want to remarry?
Of course not.
At her young age, to be blunt, she had decades to endure. Alone, how could she make it to her seventies or eighties? And even if she could, would she?
In other families, husbands and wives would discuss matters together; she had experienced this herself. Although life had been tight, Weidong was always considerate and knew how to cheer her up at night.
Yet, someone like him had been ruthlessly taken by a car accident.
No longer was there anyone to hold her, love her, talk to her through the long nights. In the darkness, there was only herself, silently shedding tears until dawn.
How was she to endure such days, and for how many decades?
What woman didn’t want to be cherished? She did too!
Liu Wenjing shuddered, bowed her head, her face reddening with both excitement and a hint of guilt towards Weidong, just because of this thought!
Before she could speak, a harsh voice came from the door.
"What kind of talk is this, Taiguo daughter-in-law? Weidong has been gone less than a year, and here you are inciting my daughter-in-law to remarry? What are your intentions? Do you have any sense of womanly virtue? A woman does not serve two husbands; even an uneducated person like me knows that, didn’t you learn that with all your education? Talking about remarriage, how shameless! Do you think you’ll die without a man?" The aunt stormed in with a dark face, shooting Cheng Su a scathing look and glaring fiercely at her daughter-in-law.
Remarry, what kind of talk was that?
There were no widows who remarried in the Deng family. If this daughter-in-law remarried, what about her grandson? What about the deceased Weidong? Who would honor his memory?
Liu Wenjing stood up in fright, her complexion turning pale.
The words of her mother-in-law had first scolded Cheng Su, but later, they included her in the scolding as well.
"Mom..."
"Shut your mouth, I’ll deal with you later!" The aunt lashed out harshly, her saggy triangle eyes glaring coldly at Cheng Su as she rebuked, "We Deng family haven’t offended you, have we? How can you be so malicious, shaming us, and even inciting others to remarry? Have you no shame?"
A barrage of rebukes, one after another, pummeled Cheng Su, causing her to tremble all over.
It was ridiculous. When had she ever incited her sister-in-law to remarry? She had only asked if it was alright, but the aunt heard what she wanted, cursing without distinguishing right from wrong. What kind of behavior was this?
"Aunt, which ear of yours heard me persuading or inciting my sister-in-law to remarry? I merely asked her a casual question," said Cheng Su coldly. "Please listen to the whole conversation."
"Look at how sharp-tongued you are, daring to talk back to your elders. No respect, no manners. No wonder you insisted on marrying into our family despite the rejections. With such behavior, which family would dare accept you? Only our kind-hearted Taiguo," retorted the aunt with a sneer.
Cheng Su, seething with laughter, said, "You’re the elder, so if you say I’m disrespectful or rebellious, so be it. Whatever you say goes. But when you claim I have no manners, I disagree. You can insult me, but please don’t insult my parents. They raised me well, and at the very least, they didn’t teach me to insult someone else’s parents. And what about my character? What’s wrong with it? I’m surely better than those who forcefully impose widowhood on others!"
Enough was enough. She wouldn’t bear the insult meekly; if they thought her a sick cat rather than a roaring tiger, well, cursing, who the hell couldn’t do it?
"What did you say?" The aunt trembled with rage, shouting, "Erzhen, Erzhen, come here!"
It was an absolute defiance. A junior daring to talk back to an elder? She couldn’t tolerate it!