A circle of people shook their heads, looking at the delicate and tender, pale and soft Ruan Jiaojiao not too far away, indeed finding it hard to believe.
The Li Family continued, "It was just two pheasants, and if she wanted them, so be it, but after taking them to cook and eat, she didn’t even let my daughter and son-in-law get a glimpse of the meat!"
"Later, a wild boar was finally encountered, and this time it was the four brothers who hunted it together. Shouldn’t the meat be divided equally then? Right? But do you know what her mother-in-law did? Out of more than two hundred fifty pounds of meat, her eldest son got one hundred pounds, and the rest was divided among the other sons, while she herself took the spare scraps straight to her eldest son’s house."
"All this is just food, missing a bite won’t make much difference, but her son’s leg was broken yet she could refuse to help, keeping all the money for her eldest son to build a house. That’s not all; she even had the nerve to send my daughter back to ask us for money. Can you believe having such a mother? Isn’t this heartless? Even a stepmother wouldn’t be this cruel, right?"
The Li Family’s expression was convincing, and her speech rose and fell dramatically as she spoke. Most of the onlookers believed her words, but there were still those who expressed disbelief: "These are all born of the same mother; how could she be so biased?"
No sooner had this been said than someone retorted, "It’s not impossible; I heard long ago that the Ruan Family favors the granddaughter over the grandsons. With nine boys, they finally have one granddaughter; maybe it’s a case of ’rarity makes precious’?"
"’Rarity makes precious,’ and now you’re quoting literature?" someone laughed at the person who had just spoken.
The bystanders also laughed, and even the person who had made the remark laughed, adding, "I heard this expression in the radio dramas."
The Li Family, noticing the topic drifting away, hurriedly brought their attention back: "What do you think, isn’t what her mother-in-law did cold-hearted? I came here today not looking to make trouble, just wanting the Ruan Family to give a clear statement."
"What kind of clear statement?"
"How much money she took out for her eldest son to build his house. I won’t even mention my son-in-law, just the other sons, they should get equal treatment, right?" the Li Family responded.
"That’s fair," they agreed.
"That’s fair," echoed several people, satisfying the Li Family as she watched. She simply wanted to swing public opinion to her side, so that when the commotion started, she’d have people to back her up.
she had forgotten that the Ruanlin Family was no pushover, willing to let her tarnish their name. As she spoke here, someone had already rushed over to report to them, and upon hearing this, Ruanlin’s expression immediately darkened.
To them, Liao Zhaoji was like a single rat’s dropping ruining the entire pot of porridge for the Ruan Family, utterly loathsome.
Ruan Jiandang still had a plaster cast on his leg, which should have kept him in the hospital for two more days, but their small household had run out of money and had been relying on the Ruanlin Family’s funds. He felt uncomfortable about this, and since Ruan Jianguo was constructing a house, he, despite the inconvenience of his injured leg, wanted to help out and so had checked out of the hospital early. After all, his condition wasn’t serious and rested on recuperation.
The intent to divorce Liao Zhaoji was there, even after returning, he didn’t bring it up—not because his heart had softened or he had changed his mind, but because he didn’t want to create a commotion during such a festive time, bringing bad luck to his eldest brother.
Ruanlin shared this sentiment, so she turned a blind eye to whatever Liao Zhaoji did, no matter how displeasing, for the past few days.
Moreover, although divorce was not a rare event nowadays, society still tended to be more critical of divorced women. Ruanlin didn’t want to ruin her prospects of remarrying.
But now that she had given Liao Zhaoji face and she had the audacity to shamelessly act first, no one could blame her for publicly humiliating her in return.