Since Zhao Aiye returned to her parents' home on the second day of the Lunar New Year, she has taken Shen Xiaojuan with her and has never returned to the Shen family again. His mother's family had a conflict with Old Lady Shen when they were slaughtering the New Year pig, so they were holding their breath and urging him to stay for a few more days.
Zhao Ai Ye was also angry! The Shen family has a fight between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. Old Mother Shen can't do anything to Li Jiaofeng, so she can only vent her anger on him and Shen Xiaojuan. Why should he suffer this in vain? It’s not like he hasn’t had a son yet! Not only did she give birth, but she was also able to stand and grow up safely into her teens. However, it is not certain whether the baby in Li Jiaofeng's belly is pregnant or not!
Li Jiaofeng is pregnant and is protected by Shen Zhigao. Although her husband also wanted to protect him, firstly, Shen Zhiwei was a coward, and secondly, Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen favored their eldest uncle. Even if Shen Zhiwei wanted to protect him, it would be of no use. Instead, the couple would have to suffer together. After this happened so many times, Zhao Aiye began to feel resentful. Is he a despicable person? Why should he allow himself to be bullied?
After returning to her parents' home, Zhao Ai Ye realized that life could be so comfortable! After leaving the old Shen family, Zhao Ai Ye felt that it was no wonder that Shen Qing and Miao were getting better and better. Life was so wonderful without a mother-in-law around! Although I do have to work at my mother's house, at first, my parents are my own parents, so even if I do something wrong, they won't scold me like Mother Shen did. Secondly, married daughters and brothers are the most favored guests in the family, and their sisters-in-law and younger brothers and sisters will share some of the work and leave the easiest ones to them.
Unlike in the old Shen family, ever since Shen Qing and his mother left, the hardest and most tiring work has been thrown on him!
A few days ago, during the spring plowing season, all the Zhao family members went to the fields, and Zhao Ai Ye only had to cook at home. If he still stayed in Old Shen's family, given the situation this year, he would be forced to go to the fields!
However, although his life was extremely comfortable, he never thought about divorcing Shen Zhiwei. On the one hand, it was because he and Shen Zhiwei had a very good relationship, although Shen Zhiwei was quite cowardly and became a mute person when facing his parents, not daring to say a word. But when they returned to their room, Shen Zhiwei turned out to be a rare caring person.
She loved him and was considerate of him. She never despised him for being a boy and difficult to raise since they got married. After he gave birth to Shen Zhuang, she took even better care of him. If there was anything delicious, she would secretly save it for him and would also help him with work. After the divorce, Zhao Aiye knew it would be difficult to find a man like her again.
On the other hand, Zhao Aiye also understood that it was precisely because he did not divorce that he could live so comfortably in his parents' home. If they really get divorced, which family would allow a divorced man to return to his parents' home to live? His sister-in-law and his brothers and sisters-in-law should change their attitude, and his parents should immediately arrange a new marriage for him!
It would be worse than it is now. As time went by, Zhao Ai Ye even felt that Miao and Shen Qing were not that smart. Since Miao had two such good brothers, why didn't she just go back to her parents' home like herself? Why did she have to work like a slave in old Shen's family in the first place?
He has been living in his mother's house for a few months now. Doesn't the Shen family have any way to deal with him?
Still a coward!
Zhao Ai Ye was very proud and thought he had turned the tables. But I didn’t expect that after a few months of good times, they would come to an end today.
After lunch, Shen Xiaojuan said she wanted to go to the mountains with her sisters to dig wild vegetables and pick locust flowers. This was something the girls and boys in the village often did, so Zhao Aiye didn't think much about it. When it was dinner time and Shen Xiaojuan hadn't come back yet, she just thought the kids were playing around. It was a man who was somewhat friendly with him who came to the door and said, "Ai Ye, go and have a look! Your mother-in-law wants to sell Xiao Juan to get money to treat the boy born by Li Jiaofeng. The human traffickers have come to the village! If you don't stop them, the child will be taken away by the human traffickers!"
Zhao Aiye was so scared that the spoon fell into the pot, splashing soup all over him.
He hurried to the village entrance, and the Zhao family naturally followed him after receiving the news. But this time, it’s useless to say anything, because Old Lady Shen is determined to sell Shen Xiaojuan!
One reason is that Shen Qiang is sick again. This time, their family really couldn't borrow any money, and asking their daughter who was married to the county town for a loan was useless. But illness waits for no one. If Shen Xiaojuan is not sold, the family’s land will have to be sold. How important is Shen Xiaojuan?
She's just a girl, but she'll be married off in a few years!
Secondly, Zhao Aiye has taken Shen Xiaojuan back to her parents' home for several months! And there was no sign of her coming back on her own initiative. Shen Xiaojuan went up the mountain every day to pick this and that, all working for the Zhao family! If your own children don’t work for your family and just give away their wealth to other families, you might as well sell them!
"I'm her grandmother, so it's only natural for me to sell her off. Even if I have to file a complaint with the government, I can still sell her off!" Old Lady Shen pinched her waist and cursed at Zhao Aiye and the Zhao family. She finally got the chance to vent her anger: "Don't even mention selling a little girl. Your Zhao Aiye has already been hired by our family. She is a member of our Shen family. Even if I sell her off, it's only natural!"
"Your Zhao family accepted the betrothal gift from my family and sent her back to work. Now you want to monopolize my granddaughter to work for your family? Is there anyone as unruly as your Zhao family? Everyone is watching. Who dares to marry a boy or girl from the Zhao family? She stays at her parents' home for several months. What's the difference between being married and not being married?"
In this era, parents have absolute power over their children and grandchildren. If you want to drown a person after he is born, you can do it at will, let alone sell him? On the contrary, if children disobeyed their parents, they could file a complaint with the government and face possible punishment of exile or death at the very least.
Even Shen Qing, if he had not followed his biological mother away on the pretext of Miao and Shen Zhigao's divorce, at least he had the advantage of mourning, and it would not have been so easy for him to get rid of the old Shen family.
The Zhao family was so angry at Old Lady Shen that they couldn't breathe, but they couldn't snatch Shen Xiaojuan away. After all, Shen Xiaojuan's last name is Shen! The Zhao family was not afraid of the old shrew, Mrs. Shen, but they were worried that the villagers would really think that the Zhao family was not doing things properly and that it would affect the marriages of other girls and boys in the family.
There were also those who were on good terms with the Zhao family, or simply disliked Old Lady Shen, and they chimed in: "It's not that biased. Shen Zhuang is the son of the eldest family, and Xiao Juan is the daughter of the second family. Selling the daughter of the second family to treat the son of the eldest family is too heartbreaking."
But Old Lady Shen spat back, "What do you mean by 'second family of the eldest family'? I'm not dead yet, and my family hasn't split up. They're all my grandchildren, I can sell whomever I want! You're pretending to be a nobody and making sarcastic remarks here. When your eldest son was looking for a wife more than ten years ago, didn't you sell your little girl to the idiot from Xiahe Village as a child bride? Why don't you admit that you're biased? You're just pretending to be so arrogant!"
The man who had spoken earlier blushed immediately: "What nonsense are you talking about? Our family is a normal marriage, and we still have a relationship now. It's not the same as you selling her to a trafficker!"
"It doesn't matter who you sell it to. We are all from the same village, we all know each other!" Old Lady Shen sneered.
Whenever someone dared to criticize her, Old Lady Shen would retort like this. After a few times, no one dared to join in. What Old Lady Shen said was right. We were all from the same village, so if something happened in one family, no one could hide it from anyone. Over the past thirty years or so, there were many families who had sold or abandoned their children, and even if Old Lady Shen wasn't around, it would have been possible to get married to her. There's no need to get your own family involved just to say a few words for Zhao Ai Ye.
Zhao Ai Ye no longer had any intention of competing with Old Lady Shen. Shen Xiaojuan was held in the hands of the gangster and his thugs, crying heartbreakingly, and every cry pierced the heart of this mother. He collapsed on the ground, hugged Old Lady Shen's legs and begged desperately, but in return, Old Lady Shen humiliated him with a refreshing tone: "You know to kneel down and beg me now? Aren't you very capable?"
"Do you really think I can't deal with you? You're so arrogant!"
Zhao Aiye kowtowed so much that his forehead was bruised and purple. Shen Zhiwei also knelt beside him, his face half showing pain, half confusion and numbness.
But in the end, Mrs. Shen did not give in and say she would not sell Shen Xiaojuan. Shen Qiang's illness required medication, so whether to sell Shen Xiaojuan or not was actually not up to her. But seeing Zhao Aiye's painful expression, Old Lady Shen felt particularly happy and relieved. She waited for a long while until she had seen enough of Zhao Aiye's pleading look before she went to pay the human trafficker.
"In the end, Shen Xiaojuan was taken away and sold for eight taels of silver, which was more than the betrothal money she got from marrying her off, and it also saved several years of rice. Zhao Ai Ye fainted on the spot. The old woman in the Shen family is really good at doing business." Second Aunt Lian kept her word and came to tell Shen Qing about the situation after the show. She went there to watch the fun, but after watching it she felt very upset and not at all comfortable. "Chen Xiaojuan was well taken care of by Zhao Aiye, and she is at the right age to work, so she can be sold at such a good price."
"I usually hate Zhao Ai Ye. But seeing his look just now, I felt pity for him. His crying made my heart break." Second Aunt Lian sighed at the end.
Shen Qing remained silent after hearing this. He thought of the two little girls, Agate and Jade, who were bought at home and were also the same age as Shen Xiaojuan. He also thought about himself. He knew that Old Lady Shen had originally planned to sell him to the mountains to be someone's husband.
Emotionally speaking, after Shen Qing heard such a thing, even if it was not Shen Xiaojuan, but a strange little girl, he would feel a little uncomfortable. But it was Shen Xiaojuan. When he was in the old Shen's house, Zhao Aiye also bullied him and Miao a lot. He replaced Shen Qing's thick quilt with a thin quilt that was filled with heavy cotton, and made Miao wash clothes with cold water in the middle of winter. But now Zhao Aiye has changed his situation and has become the one being bullied.
Shen Xiaojuan and Shen Zhuang are also two vested interests. They have often verbally provoked Shen Qing and her son in the past and enjoyed what they got from Zhao Aiye's oppression.
Shen Qing remembered a sentence he read in a book: Repay evil with kindness, how to repay kindness?
Shen Qing has always been a person who remembers both favors and grudges. He opened a workshop and helped his fellow villagers. Not only was it beneficial to himself, but many people in the village also helped him. When he was still young and not strong enough, he was given some food so that he could get through the difficult time.
Even if it's just two cucumbers and half a steamed bun.
The book says that a drop of water should be repaid with a spring. Shen Qing is willing to repay favors, remember all the favors, and is willing to magnify them. But he will also not forget the hatred and pain. If he is tolerant towards those he has hatred for, wouldn't that be betraying himself who once suffered?
He is not a saint.
Fortunately, Second Aunt Lian did not say more about Shen Xiaojuan, but turned to talk about other things: "It was also because of what happened today that I learned that the old woman of the Shen family did this more than once or twice. Do you know how my mother-in-law and the old woman of the Shen family became enemies?"
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