Chapter 53 [V] From now on, they'll be brothers-in-law.
Ever since that incident, when Yue Shi learned that her son-in-law was very unwilling to clean up the messes left for her family of three, she became much more cautious in her actions.
The Yue family was actually being quite cautious in carrying out this plan.
She never expected that even after all her roundabout schemes, the second aunt would still be able to collude with Hou Er, and the two of them would end up doing this in front of their own house.
Since the matter had already been exposed, she originally thought that at most she would just get a few scoldings and have her reputation ruined. But she seriously underestimated her stepmother; that heartless woman actually brought up her son-in-law, Han Yuelai, again.
Madam Yue cared a lot about her son-in-law Han Yue's attitude, after all, her daughter and son would have to rely on Han Yue to make a living in the future.
If you anger him, it will be your daughter and son who suffer.
So when the second wife was cursing and blaming her before, Yue Shi could still tolerate it. But now, seeing her throw a bucket of dirty water directly at her son-in-law Han Yue's head, Yue Shi was no longer calm.
With a creak, the black lacquered wooden door opened amidst a commotion.
Standing at the door, Yue was already so anxious that tears streamed down her face. She then resorted to her usual trick, feigning a weak and innocent appearance.
“Second Aunt, you are already living such a good life, why do you still come to our house to kick us when we are down? And you even mentioned your brother-in-law... You know very well that your brother-in-law is a scholar who cares most about his reputation, why do you deliberately harm him?” Then, she looked at the crowd of onlookers and cried, “Everyone says that being a stepmother is difficult, I really don’t know what I should do as a stepmother to make her happy.”
“I did say those things that day, but I didn’t mean to provoke anyone. My second aunt is doing well now, and I heard that she can now hire someone for several taels of silver, which makes me very happy. I also care about my reputation and want to show off in front of the neighbors, so I said those few extra words.”
“I never imagined that a few casual words with Sister Jiang would cause such a commotion. But no matter what, this matter was indeed caused by me, young master, I apologize to you.” As she spoke, she wrung out her handkerchief and bowed to Hou Er. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that the lady I was talking about was your wife. I also didn’t know that you would go home and quarrel with your wife over this, even damaging your relationship… I… I didn’t mean it.”
After Yue's display of weakness, including crying and apologizing, Hou Er was at a loss for what to do.
Yue Shi was used to this, and Li Yan was no longer surprised.
“Aunt, you used to call my mother your sister, but as soon as my mother passed away, you became my stepmother. Could it be that you also pretended to be weak and vulnerable in front of my father to gain sympathy, and that's how you became my stepmother?” Li Yan knew that she was not easy to deal with, otherwise, she wouldn't have bullied the original Li family member so badly in that book.
In the book, Li Shi's ending is extremely tragic. As a contrast to her stepsister Li Jiaojiao, she is abandoned by everyone and is utterly useless. In the end, after Li Jiaojiao goes to the capital with Han Yue, she naturally disappears from the story.
But in the last description of her in the book, she is described as a beggar who has become a beggar on the street.
What good can come of a woman who is ugly and has a withdrawn personality becoming a beggar?
Although her fate was never explicitly stated, Li Yan could roughly guess what it would be like.
She was once the apple of her parents' eye. Although she wasn't extremely wealthy, she was born into a well-off family and never had to worry about food or drink.
But because he lost his mother, he also lost his father's protection and ended up in a miserable state.
The culprit behind all this, besides the inaction of the biological father Li Shangping, was the mischief secretly orchestrated by the stepmother Yue.
Originally, Li Yan thought that she had already targeted them and taught them a lesson. Moreover, now that the original owner's obsession with this body was gone, and her resentment had dissipated, she guessed that he had calmed down and ascended to paradise. In that case, from now on, they should each live their own lives and not interfere with each other.
Unexpectedly, this stepmother never considered that everyone could live together peacefully.
All his thoughts and energy were devoted to this kind of thing.
Li Yan is not someone to be trifled with. If someone comes to her and defecates or urinates on her head, she can't possibly remain completely unresponsive.
So Li Yan brought up her past grievances, bringing up all the despicable things she had done in the past.
“If you’re not afraid of making a big scene and implicating your son-in-law, then let’s go to court right now. The case you filed a few months ago, where you hired someone to poison the drinks I sell, is still at the county office. It’s only been a short time, and you’ve already forgotten? You have quite a short memory.”
She added, "Save your pretense for dealing with my father at night, don't put on this show in front of me." Then, looking at her many neighbors, she continued, "My mother-in-law is truly cunning, but unfortunately, her cleverness backfired. She thought she had some shrewdness, forgetting that justice and morality exist. When my mother was alive, she and my mother were like sisters. When my mother-in-law died, she was a widow, and my mother took pity on her and took her in. After my mother passed away, she directly took her place, not only marrying my father but also appropriating my mother's dowry."
"A little over a year after she married my father and gave birth to a son, she could no longer tolerate me and sent me to live in the countryside."
"When my stepsister got married, she had a dowry of ten miles of red bridal procession. When I got married, I was given just two sets of old clothes. They married up to Han Yue, where did they get the money? They just used my mother's dowry from back then. I stopped caring about these things a long time ago. A woman works hard from dawn till dusk to make a name for herself, but she is jealous now that my business is doing well, and she is trying to sabotage me again and again."
"I didn't mean to disturb everyone's peace and quiet, but this situation is simply unbearable."
Li Yan's words were sharp, and after she finished speaking, Yue Shi had no way to refute them.
Ms. Yue hesitated for a long time, then remained silent. Meanwhile, the neighbors had already begun pointing and whispering about her.
"Judging from how indignant they are, it must be true. Besides, if there were no evidence, why would they bother making such a fuss?"
Another person said, "Yes, I think the Li family can only cry and try to gain sympathy; they can't come up with anything reasonable or evidence-based. The other family members actually came to our door with people. Besides, if it were just one incident, it could be a coincidence, but so many things happened at once, so it must have been orchestrated."
"Tsk tsk, putting drugs in food... Is this something a human would do? What a vicious mind."
“I know about this; it happened last autumn. Back then, it really did cause a scene at the yamen. So, this lady isn’t lying.”
In an instant, a torrent of discussion and condemnation surged forth.
The momentum that Yue Shi had already lost could never be regained.
Hearing the buzzing noise in her ears, Yue felt dizzy and then collapsed.
[Ding~ Congratulations, host, your beauty score has increased by 10]
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The next morning, Li Yan was busy in the yard when her father, Li Shangping, came looking for her in a menacing manner.
Li Shangping was not only angry that his daughter had bullied her stepmother, but also that she showed no mercy and went straight to his doorstep to make a scene, causing him to lose face.
Nowadays, even neighbors who used to live relatively close to him now take a detour when they see him.
Even without deliberately taking a detour, the intimacy of the past is gone.
I've worked so hard to build this foundation here, enduring all the hardships and toil. But now, my reputation is gone. How am I supposed to get along with my neighbors now?
This time, Li Yan didn't even let him in through the gate. She stood outside the gate and argued with him: "It's your new wife who has harmed me time and time again. If she didn't scheme behind my back and use those dirty tricks to hurt people, would I have come to your house?" Seeing the neighbors gathering around, Li Yan said confidently, "You all remember Ye, the farmhand I hired, right? You all know about how she was beaten by her scoundrel husband a few days ago."
“Her husband is indeed a scoundrel, so I have already helped Ye get a divorce. But the reason she was beaten that time was because my stepmother deliberately said something false in front of Hou Er. My stepmother had bad intentions. Of course, my stepmother probably didn’t originally intend to harm her. The person she wanted to harm was me, but Hou Er didn’t act according to her plan.”
Upon hearing Li Yan's words, Aunt Hua was the first to rush out, blocking Li Shangping's path and scolding him: "You heartless man, you cruel bastard! You married a black-hearted woman, and instead of disciplining her, you come to cause trouble for your own daughter. Let me tell you, don't try to act like your father in front of Yan's mother, you don't deserve it!"
“We neighbors have all seen how hard Yan Niang has suffered. Let me tell you, as long as we’re here, you won’t get away with bullying her!”
Aunt Hua was the first to stand up for Li Yan against Li Shangping. After she spoke out, more neighbors followed suit.
"Yan Niang is a kind and good child. You are blessed but don't know how good you have it. You don't cherish it and even dare to try to be someone else's executioner and bully her. Let me tell you, we will not allow it."
Some spoke politely, while others were rude, bringing over a basin of water.
"If you cause trouble again, I'll throw a bucket of water on you."
Li Shangping was in the wrong and couldn't assert his father's authority, so he could only retreat step by step.
It was only then that she truly realized that the woman before her was no longer the stepmother she once knew. She was now someone's wife, a successful businesswoman, and an employer who hired people to work for her.
In just over half a year, she has undergone such a dramatic change.
Looking closer at her face, it increasingly resembled the appearance of my late wife.
In a daze, he suddenly thought of many things from the past, things from when his wife, Lin Yunniang, was still alive.
One can't help but wonder, if Yunniang hadn't died of illness, what would her life be like now?
Given Yan Niang's current appearance, perhaps she is the one who will marry into the Han family.
That was originally her engagement to Han Yue.
Yunniang went, and Yanniang was really not presentable, but Han Sanlang took a fancy to the eldest aunt... which is why the eldest aunt got the good deal.
In that short moment, many things flashed through Li Shangping's mind.
Finally, losing the will to continue arguing, he silently lowered his head and left.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, your beauty score has increased by 5]
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Two days later, the results of the provincial examination were released.
Li Yan was concerned about Xu Qingshu's grades, but since she didn't feel comfortable checking them herself, she asked Xu Ge'er to do so.
It just so happens that Brother Xu is off today.
Xu Ge'er also admired his uncle Xu and hoped that his uncle could pass the imperial examination and become a scholar. So, after hearing his aunt's words, Xu Ge'er immediately ran out.
As soon as he reached the gate of the county school, he saw that Uncle Xu was already waiting there, and Xu Ge'er immediately waved to him.
"uncle."
Xu Qingshu saw Xu Ge'er at this moment and hurriedly walked over to him.
"How did you end up here?" he asked.
Xu Ge'er is precocious, so he can understand the little things that happen between adults.
“My aunt asked me to come and see him,” Xu Ge’er said earnestly. “My aunt cares about my uncle’s studies, but she’s busy and can’t come herself, so she asked me to come and see him.”
Xu Qingshu's smile was gentler than a spring breeze: "The results haven't been released yet."
As they were talking, someone came out of the county school.
"Make way! Make way!" The people coming out of the county school were holding large sheets of red paper.
Upon seeing that the results had been released, everyone was scrambling to get to the front.
Xu Qingshu, however, pulled Xu Ge'er back to avoid them.
Xu Ge'er asked curiously, "Why doesn't Uncle go to the front to take a look?"
Xu Qingshu said frankly, "The results are out. Whether I passed or failed, the outcome was already decided. Let them see them first, and I'll go see them after they've seen them."
Therefore, Xu Ge'er couldn't help but feel a bit more admiration for his uncle beside him.
“Uncle is very composed,” Xu Ge’er said. “Our teacher said that temperament is often slightly more important than talent. One may not have outstanding talent, but one must never panic in the face of adversity.”
Xu Qingshu affectionately patted his head: "Your teacher taught you quite a lot."
Just then, a familiar face came out of the county school.
Xu Qingshu's eyes met his, and she took the initiative to walk over.
When Han Yue saw him, he walked over to him.
"Congratulations to Brother Xu," Han Yue said directly. "Brother Xu has passed the imperial examination and is now a scholar."
Although Xu Qingshu was somewhat confident about the exam, he was still on tenterhooks until the final results were announced.
So when Xu Qingshu learned from Han Yue that he had passed the imperial examination and become a scholar, he immediately felt a huge weight lifted from his shoulders.
"Thank you for informing me, Brother Han," Xu Qingshu said.
Han Yue had a lot of inside information, so he naturally learned some things about Xu Qingshu and Li Yan from other people.
At this moment, he couldn't help but joke, "Brother Xu, you're too kind." He teased, "In a while, we might even be related by marriage. There's no need to talk about thanks anymore. We should support each other in the future."
If Erniang could really marry Brother Xu, Han Yue would be happy to see it happen.
From his perspective, he didn't care about the infighting among the Li sisters. As for his position, he hoped his wife could get along well with her younger sister.
If my wife's younger sister could also marry a scholar, the two brothers-in-law could support each other in the future, which would be a wonderful thing.
Xu Qingshu understood what he meant, but only smiled and said, "It's still far from certain."
Although both were scholars, Han Yue, having topped the list last year, always felt superior. Therefore, Han Yue's attitude towards Xu Qing did not change now that he had passed the imperial examination.
Anyway, he married the older woman, so according to the age difference, he would have to call her brother-in-law in the future.
So, in front of Xu Qingshu, he put on airs and asked, "What, you don't think much of my sister-in-law?"
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