The Naihe family were all honest people. Though upset by the near tragedy of "one corpse, two lives," Mrs. He had long passed away, and old Mr. He, who was always meek and unassuming, never dared to openly provoke Yang Anshi. Although their son, He Zhuang, once went to confront the Yang Family, Yang Anshi, spitting in anger, shamed the then twenty-year-old He Zhuang into utter humiliation. To avoid further upsetting his daughter-in-law, the He Family had no choice but to endure in silence.
However, the He Family never interacted with the Yang Family ever since, not even exchanging words upon meeting.
But the Li family, Li Dafeng’s maternal home, refused to endure. The Li family was a prominent clan in Xiaobudong Village, related to both Lizheng Li Cheng and doctor Li Yi.
Despite the saying that a married daughter is like spilled water, she was still a daughter of the Li family. She was married nearby to ensure she could be visited at any time. Hence, the old lady and Yang Anshi faced off, invariably ending in arguments or even fistfights whenever they met. This turbulent relationship persisted for over a decade.
Truth be told, Yang Peili was known to be lenient, but Yang Anshi always escalated conflicts to the point that they grew more intense, leaving him no choice but to let things take their course.
Fortunately, the Li family was not as unreasonable as Yang Anshi. After several elders of the Yang Family stepped in to apologize and even promised to take extra care of the He Family, the matter was dropped.
Of course, only the old lady didn’t let it go so easily. Even if the men didn’t stand up, she was determined to take on Yang Anshi at every opportunity.
Likewise, after the Yang Family produced a Scholar, the Li family seemed overshadowed. Yet, that Yang Baiyue was short-lived.
Upon Yang Baiyue’s death, the old lady callously rejoiced for a long time. She went around claiming that Yang Anshi was so disgraceful that even the heavens wouldn’t allow her prosperity, thus took the Scholar away. Because of this, Yang Anshi went out of her way to have a showdown with the old lady, but neither emerged as the victor.
With the recent commotion of the Yang Family splitting up, the old lady was the first to mock them, paying even closer attention to the affairs of the Yangs. So, when the scandal about the sand substituted for grain surfaced, she was naturally the first to jump out, unafraid of offending Yang Anshi.
"You, strutting around with your pants down, looking for trouble... Why are you everywhere? Get out of my house, you old hag, or I’ll tear you apart..." Yang Anshi’s hair was disheveled from the fighting, but her combative spirit was undiminished. As she reached to claw at the other’s face, she bellowed loudly, "You useless woman who can’t even give birth to a son, it’d be better if you just killed yourself. You’ve brought an end to the Li family line; why hasn’t Li Cheng divorced you yet?"
The old lady had a loving marriage with Li Cheng, but her only regret was not having a son, only a daughter, Li Dafeng. Although Li Cheng was open-minded, believing daughters and sons to be equal—especially since his elder brother had two sons, negating the need for him to produce an heir—this remained a sore point for the old lady. Yang Anshi bringing it up only fueled her anger.
"So what if I didn’t have a son? My daughter and son-in-law are as filial to us as a son would be. Look at you: you might have borne many sons, but the promising one died early, the filial one is crippled. All the rest are either desecrating graves or harassing widows. Better to have none at all; your family is just a crooked beam leading to more crooked beams..."
Yang Ruxin couldn’t help but applaud the old lady’s words—they struck right to the heart of the matter.