Chapter 66: Acting pitiful, who’s stronger at it?
“Demanding too little?” Mrs. He spared no sarcasm. “You don’t even look at the state of our family. Still claiming we have modest needs while being well-fed and clothed. My own grandchildren haven’t even achieved a life of food and warmth, yet that old hag actually has the gall to say it out loud.”
Mrs. He unleashed a tirade of curses and sarcasm, then turned her guns on Old Man Ye. “Ye Cheng, do you even know your own capabilities? It’s hard enough to put food on the table at home. The fourth child hasn’t even managed to marry off a daughter-in-law yet. If it weren’t for the daughter’s ability to earn some money, I wouldn’t have the courage to even look for marriage prospects.”
“Do you think a hundred taels of silver is a lot? But don’t forget, that’s the money the girl earned herself. She’s only ten years old. How shameless are you to take all of a child’s money into your own hands?”
“Wenqing from the eldest son’s family and Wenyu from the second son’s family are the same age, thirteen years old, half-grown lads. The matter of their betrothals can hold off for a few more years, but Qinghua is already twelve. Won’t she need a dowry when the time comes?”
“By the time the grandchildren are of marrying age, we won’t have the troubles anymore, but for years now, the money earned by the eldest and the second sons’ families has gone to support the household. Even if we were to split the family assets, as a grandfather, could you really be so heartless as to watch the two grandsons remain bachelors?”
“Now look, the moment Li Shi cries a tear, you’re moved to pity. Have you even noticed if I’ve ever spared myself to make a new cotton quilt in all these years?”
Mrs. He’s grievances turned Old Man Ye’s face both purple and green with embarrassment.
Although Mrs. He made sense, her words indeed sounded harsh, making herself seem incompetent as the head of the household, unable to come up with the money to find wives for the children.
Old Man Ye, looking sheepish, could only muster, “I was indeed misguided in this matter, blinded by pity for Erya’s frostbitten hands, therefore overlooking our family’s situation.”
Old Man Ye’s concession made Mrs. He’s face lighten somewhat, and her eyes reddened, but her nature prevented her from crying.
After all, they were a couple who had spent more than half their lives together. The Old Lady’s tears, which were about to fall yet forcefully held back, tugged at Old Man Ye’s heartstrings.
“Old man, I know Li Shi is your cousin. If it were only the things she did to me, I could have let them slide, but she should never have wronged my children!” If Mrs. He were just a typical overbearing matriarch who knew only how to be difficult and blustering, she wouldn’t have been able to successfully hold Old Man Ye’s heart in her grasp, keeping the entire Ye Family under her control with Li Shi, that old white lotus, around.
It’s just that she never shows her vulnerable side in front of the younger generation.
Isn’t Li Shi just good at putting on an act, at playing the victim?
If Mrs. He wanted to, Li Shi would amount to nothing.
Sitting by the kang bed, Mrs. He’s face easily morphed into one of resentment, “Back when Li Shi could not bear children, I entered the family and successively gave birth to the eldest and second sons. Sons are the flesh of a mother’s heart, yet Li Shi charmed the mother-in-law into taking away my two children.
How hard were those days for me?
The mother-in-law favored Li Shi, her niece by marriage, and set me to work every day. I couldn’t even see the faces of the eldest and the second sons. How bitter was my heart?
At that time, I was genuinely afraid to fall pregnant, for fear that any child I bore would still be taken away, and I, their biological mother, wouldn’t even be allowed to hold them.
Later, when the third child was born, I didn’t dare look at him. The deeper the love, the harder the separation, so I proactively handed the child to the mother-in-law, forcefully restraining myself from caring for my own flesh and blood.”