Wang Xiaoni rode her bicycle home, tears dried on her face by the wind only to be replaced by new ones.
She didn’t want her mother to suffer, but her mother was equally afraid of her suffering.
Ning Ke stayed at home, being ordered about.
Yue Jianxi, hearing the sound of the bicycle, came out to greet her and was startled by the tear stains on his wife’s face.
"Xiaoni!" He embraced her, and Wang Xiaoni, finally finding her anchor, began to cry loudly.
As if she wanted to cry out all the grievances, including those of her mother.
Just as the children peeked out, Yue Jianxi waved them back into the house.
"It’s okay, it’s better to cry it out," Yue Jianxi clumsily comforted, "Shall we go inside? Let’s have a good cry."
Wang Xiaoni shook her head, resting it in the crook of her husband’s shoulder.
Only then did she remember that the children were all home today, and she felt somewhat embarrassed, hardly daring to lift her head.
Yue Jianxi called out, "After you’ve eaten, go upstairs and watch TV."
Yue Qingqing and the others got the message and immediately went upstairs, purposely making noise.
Only then did Wang Xiaoni lift her face, and Yue Jianxi wiped it with his sleeve.
Yue Jianxi asked his wife to sit in the dining room while he went to heat up the food.
"Talk while you eat, eating is most important, don’t starve yourself."
Wang Xiaoni, embarrassed to refuse her husband’s kindness, reluctantly picked up her chopsticks.
After a few bites, she felt somewhat more at ease.
Wang Xiaoni laid out the whole situation, and Yue Jianxi was furious.
He didn’t even consider that among those "beasts" was Wang Xiaoni’s own brother; in his view, such relatives were better off shunned, clearly not of the same class.
"Earlier, in a moment of impulse, I told my mom I wanted to bring her over, but she didn’t agree," she pointed out, also gauging her husband’s reaction.
Yue Jianxi didn’t disappoint her, "I didn’t know about this before, but now that I do, we can’t ignore it. This house is too big for us anyway, bringing our mother here is a good idea."
Worried about the pressure on Wang Xiaoni, Yue Jianxi also took her hand.
"I’ll call Zhuancheng later and tell them it was my idea."
Wang Xiaoni, deeply grateful, felt she had found the best man in the world.
"But I worry mom won’t agree, and as for Wang Hai and Wang Hong, their wives are not easy to deal with. It wouldn’t look good if they create a scene at the door."
Wang Xiaoni could no longer bring herself to even say "brothers."
She had heard everything clearly at the door, when Li Banlian called her an ungrateful wretch, and both her brothers had said nothing.
Did they not know that although she was a married daughter, the Yue family had let her bring so many things to her maternal home?
It was only because her mother-in-law was generous that she had even suggested it; in any other family, she would definitely be criticized for being cunning and trying to strip her husband’s family to support her own.
Hearing his wife’s concerns, Yue Jianxi pondered for a moment.
"If those two women want to make a scene, let them. We’ll treat it like watching a monkey show," he said.
Wang Xiaoni, tickled by laughter, hadn’t expected such a mischievous comment from her own husband.
After eating, Yue Jianxi made a call to Zhuancheng.
It happened to be Lin Chunju who answered.
Yue Jianxi was concise, explaining the situation, but only mentioned that he was concerned about his mother-in-law being bullied, so he thought of bringing her over to live with them.
After listening, Lin Chunju was silent, and Wang Xiaoni felt a tightness in her chest.
Her mother-in-law was so wise, she must have guessed it was her idea.
Would she disapprove?
Recalling all the kindness her mother-in-law had shown her since she had married into the family, Wang Xiaoni felt she might be overstepping and held her breath, daring not to make a sound.