Yue Xiaofang changed into her mother's clean clothes and sat on the bed, staring blankly at the ground.
She sighed, "Mom, I really regret not listening to you back then."
In fact, the Ma family had a bad reputation in the village, and Ma Jinbao's mother—Li Zhaozdi—was known in the village as a gossipy woman who always liked to stir up trouble among neighbors.
Ma Jinbao's father was taciturn, and the household was practically ruled by Li Zhaozdi's word, with Ma Jinbao always following his mother's arrangements without question.
When they married Xiaofang, half of it was also arranged by his mother.
What they valued was Xiaofang's gentle nature, not a daughter-in-law who dared to talk back to her mother-in-law in the village.
Xiaofang had hastily married herself off without understanding these matters clearly.
When she first married into the Ma family, because of the generous dowry, aside from throwing all the work her way, the family hadn't done anything too outrageous.
Xiaofang, diligent and hardworking, didn't fuss over these things.
Once the Ma family used Xiaofang's dowry to lease the Fruit Orchard, Xiaofang was even more dedicated to her responsibilities, often working from before dawn until after dusk before returning home.
But as the Ma family gradually prospered, Li Zhaozdi began to dislike Xiaofang even more.
She often whispered in Ma Jinbao's ear that Xiaofang's family was poor and couldn't offer any help, and felt that Ma Jinbao was too good to his wife, worried that he might end up under her thumb in the future.
Because of the work in the Fruit Orchard, Xiaofang, exposed to the sun and wind, gradually lost her former beauty.
With her mother-in-law's instigation, Ma Jinbao naturally became colder and colder towards her.
Later, when he got drunk, he even struck her on the pretext that she couldn't bear children.
Xiaofang was unwilling to go back to her parents' house to complain and silently endured, but such forbearance in return only led to more intensified humiliation.
The Ma family treated her like a punching bag; whenever someone was in a bad mood, they would pinch her or kick her.
Even Ma Jinbao's seventeen-year-old sister learned to bully the weak and fear the tough, once complaining that the porridge Xiaofang made wasn't tasty, and directly threw it on Xiaofang, nearly scalding off a layer of skin on her arm.
Instead of stopping her, the mother-in-law just stood by, laughing and scolding her, saying she deserved it.
Xiaofang endured such days for who knows how long.
Until this year during the New Year's celebration, when she had prepared a table full of dishes, only to be pushed into a corner and not allowed to touch the chopsticks.
Xiaofang clenched her teeth and bore it, but Li Zhaozdi, while eating, insisted that a piece of meat was missing from the house and accused Xiaofang of being the meat-stealing thief.
After pinching her viciously, she actually went to fetch a bowl of boiling oil from the kitchen, intending to pour it down Xiaofang's throat.
Xiaofang was terrified and fled out the door.
Halfway through her escape, she realized she had nowhere to go and could only wear her thin clothes, braving the snowstorm for over two hours to return to her parents' house.
Yue Qingqing, held by Zhang Ying, had a face full of shock.
There could actually be such a family in the world.
Zhang Ying and Wang Xiaoni cried until they looked like tearful messes.
Lin Chunju, frustrated, said, "Why didn't you speak up earlier? Every time you came, you were always dressed so tightly, even in summer, I always felt something was off!"
Otherwise, they wouldn't have let her eldest son perform today to test the waters.
Zhang Ying sobbed, "The Ma family must have thought your parents' house wouldn't care about you, that's why they went to such extremes. Any woman with brothers at her parents' home wouldn't have been bullied ."
Xiaofang was both embarrassed and ashamed, "It's my fault; I can't stand up for myself, and still have to worry mom and my sisters-in-law."
If it weren't for her son in her arms, Wang Xiaoni would want to go to the kitchen, grab a kitchen knife, and fight with the Ma family to the death.
"What are you talking about? It's always said that the merciful get bullied, you're just too good-natured."
Lin Chunju banged the table, "We'll go to the Ma family tomorrow, mom will help you get a divorce!"
Xiaofang went pale with shock, "Divorce?"
She dared not reveal the truth to her family, fearing that the Ma family would send her back to her parents' house.
Yue's family was already poor, and with her as another mouth to feed, it would be even harder.
Moreover... moreover, how many women abandoned by their in-laws could have a good outcome?