“Yes, Mother, I misunderstood before. You’ve been so good to us, it was our fault. Please don’t leave, stay at home and let Jinwang and me take good care of you.”
Zhao was a clever woman. When she saw that the villagers had grown disgusted with her family, she became frightened and quickly came up with this idea: keep the old lady here first, and then the old woman would have to live at her mercy in private. Zhao was making her calculations very quickly.
Unfortunately, the mother-in-law standing in front of her this time was no longer the previous Li Shi, but Li Lanfang, a senior female professor with a high professional title in a top-tier hospital who had traveled from modern times. This old lady was now extremely shrewd.
“I’ve seen through you two. Before, I could take care of your children and work in the fields, and you called me ‘Mother.’ But this time, I was unconscious for two or three days, and you wouldn’t even give me a bowl of water. I’ve finally realized that you don’t treat me like your mother at all. After thinking it over, I think the eldest son’s wife is the best. I told my eldest son to divorce her before, but she didn’t hold a grudge. She even brought me food and saved my life. I was blind before. From now on, I’ll live well with my eldest son and his wife. Don’t worry about this useless old woman anymore. I can’t work anymore!”
The old lady coughed twice and continued.
"The magistrate is here today, and all the respected elders in the village are here to witness for this old woman. From now on, I will live with my eldest son's family and will not rely on my second son and his wife for my old age. I only ask that you, my second son, have a conscience and return the money your father left to this widowed old woman. Otherwise, I will risk my life to go to the county government and sue you to the death."
Li's last sentence was forceful and clear, and Liang Shuyan, standing to the side, had tears in her eyes. This old lady was just like her own mother; she was still so strong-willed.
Finally, under the watchful eyes of the village head and everyone else, Jin Wang and his wife had no choice but to admit defeat. Regret was useless, because their mother simply ignored them.
Finally, Zhao had no choice but to go back into the house and get some loose silver, less than an ounce, which she handed to the village head: "Village head, please help me take a look. This is all the silver we have. Can you persuade my mother? My mother wasn't like this before. I don't know what's wrong with her today?"
Li remembered that there were more than twenty taels of silver involved, so she immediately refused to accept it.
Liang Shuyan didn't want to waste any more time. She needed to quickly take her elderly mother home. She stepped forward and told the village head, "Second son's wife, when our father passed away, we had over thirty taels of silver saved up. Mother took it all with her to your house. It's only been three years since Father left. Even if we use two taels a year, you still have thirty taels of silver. I won't ask for more today. Give Mother ten taels of silver as her personal savings, and forget about the rest. If you can't come up with that amount of silver, then follow Mother-in-law's wishes and go to the authorities! From now on, I'll bring my mother-in-law to our house!"
Finally, seeing Liang Shuyan and Li's forceful attitude, Zhao cried and begged for another five taels of silver, claiming that they had used the rest of the money to arrange a marriage for their son, but they were still short five taels. At the request of the village head and the villagers, Jin Wang and his wife, with dark faces, wrote an IOU and pressed their fingerprints on it. The village head then handed the IOU to Liang Shuyan.
“Alright, in that case, Aunt Dashan, you should take good care of your mother-in-law from now on! After what you’ve been through, Sister Li knows that you and the eldest son are good people.”
In the original owner's memory, her relationship with her mother-in-law was terrible. Today, she actually acted like a dutiful daughter-in-law in front of everyone. How could people not be suspicious?
What's even more unbelievable is that the original owner's mother-in-law seems to have become a completely different person. Not only has her personality become gentler, but she has also become decisive and ruthless in her actions. For example, she showed no favoritism towards the second son's family today.
Liang Shuyan nodded, promising to take care of the old lady Li in her old age, unlike the second son and his wife.
Finally, under the fierce glares of Jin Wang and his wife, she and her daughter-in-law Liu quickly packed the old lady's belongings. Then, her eldest daughter-in-law also came to help. The three women walked towards their dilapidated courtyard in the twilight.
The sky over Guoshantun was a clear, deep blue, with only one or two birds occasionally flying by. Villagers who had heard about the family's grand division of property saw Liang Shuyan supporting her mother-in-law from afar, as if watching something extraordinary.
"Is this widow really good to her mother-in-law?"
"How could that be? The old lady is biased towards the second son's family, and Widow Jin is no pushover either. I bet she got the old lady's inheritance!"
Liang Shuyan led her people back to her home, and as soon as they reached the fence, they saw her eldest son.
When Jin Dashan saw this, he opened his mouth wide in surprise: "Mom, Grandma, what brings you to our house?"
Liang Shuyan glanced at Jin Dashan in front of her. This guy had gone out to do odd jobs before, why did he suddenly come back? She subconsciously glared at him: "What's wrong? Your grandma will be living in our house from now on, do you have a problem with that?"
"Mother, that's not what I meant..."
Liu had been running back and forth quickly, and had probably told them everything about the old lady's visit. Right now, the two sisters-in-law were busy cooking in the kitchen.
Jin Erniu was chopping wood in the yard with an axe in his hand. When he saw Liang Shuyan return, he quickly threw down the axe and lifted the curtain.
Jin Sanwang, who was as thin as a monkey, rubbed his hands and hopped over: "Grandma, you're here. You're not leaving this time, are you? What can I say? My mother isn't a bad person, it's just that she has a sharp tongue."
As Jin Sanwang was speaking, he bumped into Liang Shuyan, whose eyes were fixed on him: "Go, get some hot water for your grandma!"
Jin Niu Niu also came over. She didn't care about anything else. She took off her shoes, combed her hair into two pigtails, wore a cotton-padded jacket with small red flowers, and had a pair of rosy cheeks.
"Mommy, Niu Niu is hungry!"
Liang Shuyan examined the little girl in front of her and immediately thought of Jin Niu Niu, the beloved daughter of the original owner. Sure enough, the little girl looked very cute. She was the family's darling, and no one dared to offend her. If anyone did, she would throw a tantrum and cry endlessly until she got the better of the girl.
"Go check on your sister-in-law, is dinner ready?"
She was fairly obedient. Jin Niu Niu put on her shoes, turned them upside down, and then stumbled and ran out the door.
Liang Shuyan cleaned the kang (a heated brick bed) and helped Li Shi, who was barely holding on after presiding over the division of the family property, lie down. Then Liang Shuyan felt Li Shi grab her hand and call out, "My Yanyan!"
Liang Shuyan burst into tears immediately; her mother had indeed transmigrated with her.
Half an hour later, the mother and daughter finally finished exchanging information. The original owner of this body, Li, was probably really scared to death. Her mother had just transmigrated, and although they were not biological mother and daughter, she was now acting as her mother-in-law.
Liang Shuyan was a little worried that her mother wouldn't be able to adapt, but she didn't expect that Li Lanfang was more open-minded than her.
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