Chapter 36

When Mrs. Wu saw her little daughter, her mood suddenly became good and she shouted loudly on purpose as if she was angry.

"Oh, Guizhi, you're finally back. I missed you so much. Why didn't your son-in-law come? Did your company not give you a holiday?"

Old Mrs. Wu deliberately shouted the word "unit" particularly loudly. Nowadays, who doesn't want to eat government food? For the country people, it is even more enviable.

Especially since my son-in-law is not the kind of worker who does dirty and tiring work. He works at a hydrological station. He sits in the office every day, drinking tea and reading newspapers, and he gets a salary of 30 yuan a month!

Tang Guizhi was only a few years older than Yang Zhaodi, and they got married one after the other.

Tang Guizhi got married half a year later than Yang Zhaodi. When her son-in-law Xu Taian's family proposed marriage, they sent a sewing loom as a gift, and they also came to pick up the bride on a bicycle on the wedding day.

Although the sewing loom was eventually taken away as a dowry, it made the Tang family famous in the brigade for a long time.

In the countryside, who's dowry could be a sewing machine worth hundreds of dollars?

Not to mention that it's expensive, you can't buy it even if you have money without a ticket.

Whenever a sewing machine appeared in the town's supply and marketing cooperative, countless people would rush to grab it.

Compared to Yang Zhaodi, that's really miserable.

Zhu Yushan's family was an ordinary farmer's family, even poorer than ordinary families. The clothes he wore on the wedding day were all patched.

The ten yuan betrothal money was all scraped together.

The Zhu family was not a large family. Zhu Yushan only had one older sister who was already married.

In the countryside, this is a sign of being unlucky. If you are bullied, there is no one at home who wants to fight back. You are only slightly better than those who have no sons.

When they went to pick up the bride, there was no bicycle, not even a donkey cart, so the two of them just walked home together, it was so bumpy.

When Old Mrs. Wu saw the Zhu family's situation, she almost laughed to death.

The eldest son, who had remained silent all this time, actually contradicted and opposed Yang Zhaodi for her. He thought he could find a good family, but this is the result?

Old Mrs. Wu had always suspected that the elders had hidden part of the betrothal money, otherwise why would they agree to let their daughter marry such a poor family.

Although the man she introduced was a widower with three children, his family was much better off than the Zhu family. At least he could give more dowry and didn't have to scrape together money from everywhere.

But she had no evidence, and knocked on the door several times but to no avail. The boss was in the house all day, so she couldn't go in and search.

Old Mrs. Wu was unwilling to give in, but she had no choice but to give up.

What Old Lady Wu didn't expect was that she originally thought Yang Zhaodi would blame her stepfather and biological mother, especially when she saw that Tang Guizhi married so well. Even if they didn't quarrel, their relationship would probably not be as good as before.

Unexpectedly, some people are just mean, not only do they have no resentment, but the relationship becomes even better.

Relying on the proximity to her mother's home, she often runs back, and the mother and daughter always talk and laugh.

Every time he came back, the boss's face looked much better and not as gloomy as usual.

At that moment, Mrs. Wu was thinking about many random things and did not notice her daughter's strange behavior.

Tang Guizhi felt even more aggrieved when she saw this, "Mom, I can't live like this anymore!"

Old Mrs. Wu was distracted at first, but when she heard these words, she was suddenly startled.

"What, what the hell?"

Tang Guizhi burst into tears: "Mom, Xu Taian is a worthless person. I can't live like this anymore."

Mrs. Wu's face suddenly darkened and she spat:

"Pah, pah, pah, what nonsense are you talking about? Is this something you can just say?"

Tang Guizhi took her hands off her face, and saw that her not-so-fair face was badly bruised, one of her eyes was bloodshot, and there was a cut at the corner of her mouth.

The originally beautiful face turned into a horrible sight.

Compared to the relatively good face on the other side, the contrast is really too terrible.

The reason why Tang Guizhi was able to marry a man with a job in the town was not only because of Tang Jianguo, but also because she was very beautiful.

Although her skin is not very fair due to working since she was young, it is a very healthy wheat color and her face is round and very cute. As they say, people with such looks are blessed.

Although she is a girl, she is the youngest in the family and has a big age gap with her older brothers, so she lives a relatively good life at home.

As a result, he was tall and strong, and many of his unmarried wives secretly said that he had a body that showed he could give birth to a son.

By the time Tang Guizhi reached the age to discuss marriage, the threshold of the Tang family was almost broken down.

The reason why she got married relatively late was because Mrs. Wu was very picky and always felt that this was not satisfactory and that was not qualified, so she waited until she was in her twenties to get married.

Old Mrs. Wu felt that those people were not worthy of giving birth to such a beautiful daughter, until she met Xu Taian, she finally agreed.

Old Mrs. Wu was shocked to see her beautiful daughter beaten into this state.

Looking at her more closely, Tang Guizhi had obviously lost a lot of weight.

"Hey, what's going on? Who bullied you?"

Tang Guizhi's eyes turned red with grievance: "It's because you picked a good son-in-law for me."

"Tai'an? That's not enough?" Old Mrs. Wu was incredulous.

"If not him, who else could it be, Mom? I just can't live like this anymore. This isn't the first time he's hit me. If I continue to live with him, he's going to beat me to death."

Tang Guizhi could no longer hold back her tears. Old Mrs. Wu was startled, and when she looked around and saw that no one was around, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

She quickly pulled Tang Guizhi back into the house, not daring to let anyone hear her.

"You little bitch, you don't even know how to behave yourself outside. What if someone hears you?"

"If you heard it, then you heard it. Xu Taian dared to be such a beast, and he should let everyone know."

"Oh my goodness, my ancestors, if that were the case, how would you survive?"

"Mom, I've already told you, I don't want to live like this anymore. I can't live like this anymore."

Tang Guizhi covered her painful face and burst into tears.

Seeing her like this, Old Lady Wu couldn't help but frown: "Don't make a fuss about it. You must have been being willful again, so you got beaten."

"Mom! I've been beaten like this, how can you still blame me? My face is fine, and my body is even more terrible. If I hadn't been wearing thick clothes in such a winter, my bones would have been broken!"

Tang Guizhi couldn't hold back any longer and started yelling. She never thought that when she returned home, not only did she not get any support, but she was also scolded by her own mother.

Old Mrs. Wu was also unhappy when she saw this, and she also slammed the table:

"So what? You want me to ask your brother to fight back? How can you live like this? Don't say those angry words to me. If you are really so cruel, how can you live as a human being in the future? How can our family live as human beings?

And your two children, as a mother, are you willing to just ignore them and let them call another woman mother? They are two sons, and the Xu family will definitely not let you take them back.

According to Xu Taian's conditions, even if he divorces you and takes the two children with him, he can still find a grown-up girl to raise. What about you? A divorced woman, not young anymore, can only marry an old man!"

Old Mrs. Wu pointed at Tang Guizhi and started cursing. She was so angry that she even forgot to lower her voice.

Tang Guizhi was scolded so badly that she felt aggrieved. She didn't know what to do except cry.

Seeing that she was no longer stiff-necked and talking nonsense, Old Lady Wu finally calmed down:

"Don't say this kind of nonsense anymore. It will only make people laugh at you. Go ask around in the village and see how many married women are not beaten by their men. How come you are so angry that you ran straight back to your parents' home?"

Tang Guizhi cried even more sadly. Her father died shortly after she was born, and she had never seen how her parents got along with each other.

My eldest brother got married relatively late, but he gets along very well with his eldest sister-in-law. After the marriage, he has obviously become a lot more lively.

But he is disabled and his sister-in-law is remarried, so it is hard to say whether this is the case for normal couples.

She used to think that she and her partner were in good health, and the other party was in good condition, so they would be no worse than her older brother and his wife, right?

As for the third brother and his wife, they were indeed a bit fierce at times, but Tang Guizhi felt that the third sister-in-law was a bad person and too mean, and she deserved to be punished.

I didn't expect that when it was my turn, I realized how naive I was before.

My husband is the only son in the family and only listens to his mother.

Tang Guizhi's mother-in-law has always been dissatisfied with the fact that she is a country girl.

If she hadn't been pregnant and given birth to two boys for the Xu family, who knows what life would have been like.

But even so, her life was not easy. She was always criticized. Sometimes she complained to her husband, but not only did she not get support, she was also scolded and accused of disrespecting her elders.

Before I got married, I knew that the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was always like a thorn in the side.

It's not like she hasn't seen the undercurrents between her own mother and her third sister-in-law, but she doesn't feel the pain unless it happens to her.

At home, she stands on her mother's side, so she doesn't feel the difficulties of being a daughter-in-law. She also thinks that her third sister-in-law is a stubborn person and needs to temper her temper.

But when I got married, I realized how difficult it is to be someone's daughter-in-law.

But everyone said that she got a great deal. A country girl could actually marry such an outstanding man. She really had no place to vent her grievances.

If you tell others, they will just say that you are ungrateful. How many girls want to marry a husband with such conditions but can't do it.

Is your mother-in-law not nice to you?

It's like this in every family. A mother-in-law and daughter-in-law who are as close as family is rare in this world.

Your husband only listens to his mother-in-law and doesn’t stand on your side?

The mother has worked hard to raise her son, and as the elder, she must be partial to and coax the son a little. How can a daughter-in-law be so picky?

Tang Guizhi could only swallow her grievances, but since Xu Taian started beating her, she could no longer swallow it.

At first, she was slapped just because she talked back to her mother-in-law.

I thought he was just impulsive and he apologized to me afterwards, saying sincerely that he was wrong and would not make the same mistake again.

Even her mother-in-law said soft words to her during those days, so Tang Guizhi didn't take it too seriously. Frictions between husband and wife are inevitable, and it was not intentional to accidentally fight.

Unexpectedly, from then on, it was as if a switch was pressed. Whenever a conflict occurred, Xu Taian was no longer satisfied with the previous insults or neglect, but started to resort to violence.

At first it was just a slap in the face or a shove.

It gradually turned into punching and kicking. If she hadn't run fast this morning, Tang Guizhi suspected that she would have been beaten to death.

The force with which Xu Taian beat her was truly horrific, as if she had killed his entire family.

When she thought of this, Tang Guizhi began to tremble.

"Mom, I'm really scared. I'm afraid I'll be beaten to death."

"What nonsense are you talking about? Look at how many men in this village beat their wives to death. If you become more sensible, you won't get beaten in the future."

Tang Guizhi burst into tears: "Mom, what else can I do? I just asked him when I would be back home, and he beat me up."

At this moment, the voice of my aunt Wang Simei was heard outside the house.

"Mom, I just heard some noise, is it my little sister who is back?"

Old Mrs. Wu quickly wiped Tang Guizhi's tears and said, "Alright, stop crying. You want to ruin your luck for this year on New Year's Day!"

"Don't let anyone know about this. It will just make people laugh."

"But……"

Old Mrs. Wu glared at her and said, "This is a matter between you two. It's not a big deal if you quarreled at the beginning of the bed and made up at the end of the bed. Do you have to make a fuss so that everyone knows about it and laughs at you, so that you can feel good?"

Tang Guizhi lowered her head and said nothing, and then Old Lady Wu replied loudly:

"Yes, Guizhi just came back and is talking to me. You guys go and do your own things, don't bother with us."

Wang Simei paused after hearing this and asked, "Mom, are you really okay?"

Old Mrs. Wu made eyes at Tang Guizhi. Look, what did she say?

Old Mrs. Wu said in a deep voice: "What could possibly happen? Why are you saying something unlucky on New Year's Day?"

Wang Simei then said nothing more and turned away.

Old Mrs. Wu tilted her ears to listen to the noise outside, and only when she heard the door close did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"Look, if you make a scene and everyone hears it, how can you raise your head in front of your sister-in-law in the future? Yang Zhaodi is back today, do you want to be laughed at by that girl?"

Tang Guizhi naturally didn't want to be laughed at, but she felt really wronged and her tears kept falling.

When Wang Simei returned to the room, everyone looked unhappy.

Old Mrs. Wu's voice just now was very loud, and they could all hear it in the house. They vaguely guessed something from her words.

This matter could be big or small. Since she had heard it, she could not pretend not to know. So Wang Simei went out to find out what happened.

"It seems like the old lady doesn't want anyone to know."

Yang Zhaodi was in a difficult position to express her opinion. Her last name was not Tang, and her relationship with Tang Guizhi was not very good in the past. If she intervened, people might misunderstand that she was laughing at others.

Zhu Yushan was even more at a loss as to what to say. His identity was even more embarrassing, and he had to avoid suspicion with Tang Guizhi.

Tang Jianshe's expression looked very unhappy, but he was powerless to do anything.

Tang Qingqing couldn't help but ask, "What is grandma going to do? Tell Uncle San to beat him up? Or ask Auntie to get a divorce?"

Someone started talking, and Zhu Yushan couldn't help but speak:

"When something like this happens, you must let your brothers beat him back, or else you will do it again in the future."

There are many such things in the village, and only women with strong families can escape them.

Tang Xingsheng also roared and waved his fist: "Fight back!"

Wang Simei and Yang Zhaodi, who knew this family best, looked at each other and could see the helplessness in each other's eyes.

Especially Yang Zhaodi, she had the most embarrassing status in this family, and she was also not welcomed in the Yang family when she was a child, so she was particularly good at reading people's expressions.

She didn't even need to think about it to know what Mrs. Wu's attitude was.

"I guess the old lady doesn't want to offend her son-in-law's family. I guess this matter still depends on the attitude of the third uncle."