Watching her hop off the cart like some kind of warrior, I was afraid she might do something irreversible out of anger or hurt herself.
Liu Shouren and Lianshan didn’t even bother with the bicycles and blankets on the ox cart. They quickly got off and chased after Shuzhen.
But could the two of them, no matter how fast, catch up with Shuzhen, who was determined to make a big scene?
Before they could rush into the noisy courtyard, they heard two loud slaps: "I thought no matter how humanly flawed you were, you were still my sister-in-law for eight years. Even if our Liu family couldn’t tolerate you anymore, we didn’t completely expose your dirty laundry. What, our benevolence to you was on a blind wolf, and now you want to bite our Liu family back?
Wu Xia, are you trying to ruin your family’s marriage prospects for your sisters just because of your divorce?"
Suddenly slapped twice, Wu Xia’s face hurt painfully, and the villagers’ mocking laughter made her burning anger even more intense.
It’s all because of that damned Liu Shuzhen. If not for her, I wouldn’t have ended up divorced and sent back to my parents’ house. Thinking of these past few days of scorn from the sisters-in-law and the reprimands from her parents and brothers after complaining, Wu Xia hated Liu Shuzhen with a burning fury.
Her stupid man valued Liu Shuzhen the most, even disregarding eight years of marriage for her.
Tired of being everywhere disliked and coming in last at home, she wanted nothing more than to tear apart the little wretch in front of her to get back into her home, but had to offer the other cheek after being slapped.
Not to mention that she always tricked her into accepting the situation as usual, she definitely couldn’t let her become the stumbling block in reconciling with her husband!
This kind of thought quickly spun in her mind, and under everyone’s gaze, Wu Xia completed a series of actions from a shrew cussing in the street - being slapped suddenly - to blazing anger followed by bawling her eyes out. Her skilled acting was such that in today’s internet slang, the whole world owed her an Oscar!
"Wah... Shuzhen, I was wrong, Saozi here was really wrong this time! You’re magnanimous, please don’t stoop to my level, okay? After all, we’ve been sisters-in-law for eight years! Please, be kind and persuade your elder brother, the old saying goes, it’s better to demolish ten temples than to ruin a marriage..."
Seeing Wu Xia kneel straight in front of her, almost grabbing her pant legs to cry, Shuzhen felt a rush of disgust. Is it possible that this kind of person, like trouble itself, grows stronger when you’re weak and wilts when you stand firm?
Wasn’t this Wu Xia, who in a past life was eloquent, almost fooling her and destroying the Liu family? Now, she had nothing but crying, throwing tantrums, and threatening suicide left!
Even knowing that this was her strategy of retreating to advance, Shuzhen could only look down on her.
Casually responding with an "oh," she spoke first before her brothers, sisters-in-law, and Lianshan: "Better to demolish ten temples than ruin a marriage, huh! So in your heart, Wu Xia, you reaching the point of divorce with my brother is because of me? If that’s the case, do you dare to speak out in front of everyone what earth-shattering things you’ve done to this poor sister-in-law that made my normally honest and kind, famous for loving his wife in ten nearby villages, brother determined to divorce even if it wasn’t enough to vent his anger?"
Among the gossiping gazes, Wu Xia, immersed in acting pitiful, was so shocked she forgot to cry, only looking at Shuzhen in disbelief: Is this little wretch crazy for wanting to reveal her dealings with Bai Jing?
Shuzhen’s smirking expression told Wu Xia she wasn’t crazy—she was clear-headed! She just grasped Wu Xia’s weakness, betting Wu Xia didn’t dare to gamble away her family’s and her safety.
Indeed, as flawed as her parents and siblings were, they were still her family. As ruthless as Wu Xia was, she couldn’t completely disregard their safety.
But even if she wanted to kill, it didn’t have to be with a sharp knife, right?
With things at this point today, if she couldn’t come up with something substantial, there might not be any chance for her and Shouren. Thinking of this, Wu Xia, with determination in her eyes, knocked her head towards Shuzhen with loud thumps: "No, not at all, Sister Shuzhen. I may be uneducated, lacking in words, but please, be generous with me.
I was just thinking, thinking you could persuade your brother. After all, a night of marriage, a hundred days of grace, and I’ve been married to your brother for a full eight years!
Shuzhen, as long as you help your Saozi, I promise to behave in the future. I’ll no longer argue, speak harshly, or throw fits. I’ll treat you like my own sister, and treat the child in your belly as my own. From now on, I’ll live peacefully with your brother and the child, isn’t that enough..."
"Exactly, exactly. No couple gets by without disagreements; crying and fighting should end things, there’s no need for divorce! It ruins camaraderie! Big Sister of the Liu family, stop crying; Sister Shuzhen isn’t unreasonable. It’s just knocking you down a peg to teach a lesson. Now that you’ve realized your mistake, naturally everything will pass.
Isn’t that right, Sister Shuzhen?
We’re about to unite and work on the autumn harvest, our members need to pull together to accomplish big things. How can we have division now!" Watching things not go as planned, with her daughter being slapped into submission by Liu Shuzhen, Mrs. Wu feared losing this advantage but still not being able to prevent the divorce. So, she smartly took a shortcut to get village team leader Lin Yuanzhi.
Not that she expected him to dispense much justice, just thinking he might want to step on the Liu family to curry favor with Dai Weiguo and his well-off new daughter-in-law. Given this opportunity, maybe the divorce would be called off.
The team leader, who controlled the distribution of work and the calculation of work points—essential things for members—spoke with some authority that the Liu family would respect. Besides, after such a long eight-year marriage, separation due to a heated moment offers room for negotiation. What leverage could an infertile son-in-law have?
Feeling she had grasped the strongest weakness of the Liu family and seeing things develop as she had hoped, Mrs. Wu was momentarily smug. She was just waiting for the Liu siblings to be worn down by this series of threats, gritting their teeth to admit the divorce was nothing but a spat between a couple.