Tang Wenya sat on the living room sofa, covered in dirt and grime, her suitcase stained with mud, without saying a word.

"Say something! What's wrong?" Jiang Yumei paced anxiously, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Why are you back in the middle of the night?"

"Oh dear, she just got back. Don't ask her anything. Let her go wash up first." Xu Jianguo could tell at a glance that something bad must have happened, otherwise Tang Wenya wouldn't be like this.

"Where is Ting Shen?" Jiang Yumei asked again.

“Of course he went home. With his parents taking care of him, how could he be more miserable than me?” Tang Wenya got impatient with the question and stood up abruptly. “I’m tired, I’m going to sleep.”

Jiang Yumei looked at the luggage on the ground, her feelings were very complicated.

Xu Jianguo tactfully took his quilt and went to the next room, giving up the large bed. He felt embarrassed to sleep on Tang Wenya's lower bunk, so he climbed onto the upper bunk.

Lying on Xu Qingning's old bed, Xu Jianguo felt increasingly guilty. The room was small and couldn't fit two beds, so when Tang Wenya came, he changed it to a bunk bed, since neither of the sisters wanted to sleep on the top bunk.

Tang Wenya said she was afraid of heights, scared, and worried about falling. She even went to Jiang Yumei to cry and complain that Xu Qingning was bullying her.

Xu Qingning also said she didn't want to sleep on the top bunk, saying she was also scared.

To avoid further trouble, he insisted that Xu Qingning move to the upper bunk, saying that Tang Wenya had just arrived and should give way to her older sister.

Xu Qingning cried and said that he was biased, saying that her original comfortable bed had been replaced with a bunk bed, and she had to climb up and down it. Why should she be the one to do that?

At the time, he felt that Xu Qingning was immature and didn't know how to consider his feelings. He even yelled at her, saying that if she didn't live on the top bunk, he would make her get out of the house.

Looking back now, he was wrong.

He should have corrected his attitude from the beginning and let the two sisters take turns sleeping in the top bunk, instead of constantly scolding Xu Qingning.

After washing up and changing her clothes, Tang Wenya lay on the clean, soft bed, still not speaking. She was unwilling to mention anything about Nanping Township.

"Mom went to Xiao Tingshen's house yesterday afternoon to ask about you. Your mother-in-law gave us a sarcastic remark, saying that if we were really worried, we should take time off to visit you." Jiang Yumei chattered on and on about what had happened in the past few days to Tang Wenya. "Mom is so worried about you, she can't sleep at night..."

"She's right. If you're worried about me, why don't you go see me?" Tang Wenya's lips curled into a cold, sarcastic smile. "Nanping Township is at most three hours from Jiaodong City. Xiao Tingshen can go, but you can't?"

She finally understood.

Even your own mother can't be relied upon.

"I thought Ting Shen would bring you back the next day, so I didn't go with him." Jiang Yumei quickly explained when Tang Wenya complained. "If I had known you would take so long to come back, I would have gone earlier. Wenya, tell Mom what happened?"

“Xiao Tingshen was accidentally injured, and we originally planned to come back after he recovered.” Tang Wenya then revealed the truth. She sighed, “Who knew that his father sent people to find us and bring us back. The reason we chose to come back at night was that we didn’t want to disturb the villagers.”

"Ting Shen is injured? Is it serious?" Jiang Yumei was even more surprised. How could he be injured out of nowhere?

"It's nothing serious, just a minor injury." Tang Wenya didn't want to talk about it and turned over. "Mom, don't ask anymore, I'm tired, let's talk about it tomorrow!"

The next morning, while eating breakfast, Liu Yuzhen noticed the scar on Xiao Tingshen's forehead and was both angry and distressed: "How did you get this?"

She was already asleep when Xiao Tingshen came back yesterday.

After exchanging a few words through the door, he told Xiao Tingshen to go and rest.

"Mom, I bumped into it by accident, it's nothing." Xiao Tingshen looked a bit haggard. In just seven days, he had lost a lot of weight. He grabbed a meat bun and stuffed it into his mouth. He hadn't eaten a single piece of meat in seven days.

Xiao Yaodong came out of the study and frowned when he saw the injury on Xiao Tingshen's forehead: "Eat first, we can talk slowly after we eat."

"It really was an accident." Xiao Tingshen ate three steamed buns in a row and then started drinking porridge.

The steamed buns smell especially good today.

Plain congee is also especially delicious.

"Why did you take so long to come back?" Liu Yuzhen was very puzzled. Her son was used to a life of luxury, and she was surprised that he had spent so long with Tang Wenya in the countryside.

“Mom, things aren’t as simple as you think. How can someone go to the countryside on the first day and return to the city on the second? Even getting a marriage certificate requires an approval process.” Xiao Tingshen looked down at his disheveled face reflected in the porridge bowl and pondered, “You don’t need to worry about me. I’m staying home today to study and I’m not going anywhere.”

"So, did you and Tang Wenya get your marriage certificate?" Liu Yuzhen looked at him suspiciously.

A wise child is better than his mother.

She felt something was wrong with her son. If the injury on his forehead was really from an accident, he wouldn't be trying to hide it.

“I got it. I went to Nanping Township just to get the marriage certificate with her!” Xiao Tingshen continued drinking his porridge, without any joy in his eyes.

Xiao Yaodong also noticed that Xiao Tingshen was acting strangely, but he didn't ask any further questions. After finishing his meal, he went to his workplace and called his driver, Liu Qiang, in: "Xiao Liu, when you went to Nanping Township to pick up Tingshen, was there anything unusual?"

“When I arrived, Ting Shen was reading inside, and Tang Wenya was working in the fields. There was nothing unusual about her.” Liu Qiang thought for a moment and then added, “She was supposed to be back in the afternoon, but Tang Wenya said she had a meeting tonight and needed to get some signatures from the educated youth office before she could come back. So we waited for her, which is why we were late.”

"What happened to the injury on Ting Shen's forehead?" Xiao Yaodong asked again. Liu Qiang scratched his head and said, "I asked Ting Shen, and he said he bumped into it by accident."

"I understand." Xiao Yaodong nodded and smiled. "Thank you for your hard work. Come over for dinner another day."

"It's no trouble at all, it's my duty." Liu Qiang left the office with a smile.

He felt that Xiao Tingshen's injuries didn't look like they were from a fall, but rather like he had been beaten up.

But this was just speculation, and he couldn't say much in front of Xiao Yaodong.

The new kang (heated brick bed) was only considered complete after three days of airing out. Yang Yuelan moved it back that same day and began tidying up the house.

Wang Cuifen, who lives next door, knows that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are busy with the new kang (heated brick bed) these days. She comes over every day to look around and even leads a group of old ladies to visit their new kang.

Xu Qingning has been married for almost a month and has mostly stayed at home. She hasn't gone out much and has never visited her neighbors. Apart from meeting Wang Cuifen a few times, she doesn't know any other elderly ladies.

It was obvious that the old ladies recognized her.

During the two days Yang Yuexiang was there, they all knew what Xu Qingning had done and said at home, including the fact that she made her mother-in-law eat leftovers.

As soon as she entered, the old ladies began to scrutinize her, staring intently at her belly and whispering among themselves.

This young wife is pretty, but she's too immoral. She slept with men before marriage and only married into the family after getting pregnant.

The important thing is that even after getting married, she didn't settle down. She was seen having intimate relationships with other men, and Wang Cuifen saw it all.

Xu Qingning felt uncomfortable being stared at by the old ladies, so she turned around and went back to her room.

It's fine to visit each other's homes and chat about everyday things.

If you gossip about your wife, she won't be so polite.

Yang Yuelan hadn't expected Wang Cuifen to bring so many old ladies to see her new kang (heated brick bed). She warmly invited them to sit on the kang and even served them roasted pumpkin seeds.

Apart from Wang Cuifen, Yang Yuelan did not know any other elderly women.

"Have you heard? Xiao Tingshen went to the countryside to bring his wife back." Wang Cuifen said, cracking pumpkin seeds and spitting them out. "I saw a wound on his forehead. He was probably beaten up in the countryside."