Chief Xie was truly angry.
He had never seen such a brainless person.
He could understand if she wanted to bring money home, and he could also accept her wanting to receive filial piety from her daughter.
But why can't you say this in private? Why say it in front of her mother-in-law?
This is blatant disregard for the Huang family!
No wonder the Huang family was so angry. If his daughter-in-law's family dared to do that, he would have led his men to smash it up.
This is outrageous!
Old Mrs. Xie flinched at the sight of Clan Chief Xie, then retorted indignantly, "I raised my daughter to adulthood, and I can't even accept some filial piety? There's no such logic in the world."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Nuan couldn't help but push Xie Shi, who was next to her, closer. "Grandma, look at my daughter-in-law now, and think about what she used to be like. Do you think you have the face to be filial to her?"
She was even less willing to give shame to others.
“When my daughter-in-law first married into the Huang family, she was so thin she was unrecognizable. Her whole body weighed less than a basket. You raised her like this? Did you feed her grass?”
"Your Xie family owns houses and land, and you yourself are quite plump, so why is my daughter-in-law as thin as a stick? Don't you have any self-awareness?"
"I'm giving you face by not saying anything, but you insist on being shameless. You want to show filial piety, huh? Fine, first return the money the Huang family spent on her health care over the years. You almost ruined my daughter-in-law's life. The Huang family spent nearly a hundred taels to recover. We're already being lenient by not holding you accountable, and you still want to show filial piety!"
As she spoke, Jiang Nuan turned her head and asked, "Chief Xie, do you agree with this?"
Chief Xie stammered, unable to answer, "This, this..."
What could he say?
If we say yes, wouldn't that be admitting that the Xie family mistreated their children?
If not, would the Huang family let it go?
"I don't care, you just have to give me money as a token of respect." Old Mrs. Xie simply resorted to shamelessness.
She is her biological mother, and it is only natural for her daughter to be filial to her. She is not afraid even if the matter goes to the authorities.
“No matter what,” Xie Laoda chimed in, “without the Xie family, there would be no Yaoni. Regardless of whether it was the debt of giving birth to her or the debt of raising her, she should be filial to her parents.”
"In what way has my daughter-in-law failed to show filial piety?" Jiang Nuan's whole body turned cold. "If I remember correctly, she comes to deliver gifts every year for the festival. Have you all lost your minds and forgotten, or are you deliberately trying to be shameless?"
“Or,” Jiang Nuan turned to the Xie clan chief, “is it your Xie family’s custom that daughters don’t give gifts during festivals as filial piety? Only giving a large sum of money counts?”
“Of course not,” Chief Xie immediately denied. “A married daughter is like water spilled from a cup. Giving her some money is a token of our appreciation, but it’s also understandable if we don’t.”
That was a very skillful way of putting it.
They neither offended Jiang Nuan nor said that it was wrong for Old Lady Xie to be filial.
Jiang Nuan looked at him with a half-smile, "What gave you the wrong impression that my daughter-in-law is rich?"
“The clothes you’re wearing and the things you’re wearing on your heads,” Chief Xie said instinctively, “you’re clearly not short of money.”
“But all of these belong to the Huang family,” Jiang Nuan raised her eyebrows. “If I remember correctly, the Xie family didn’t prepare any dowry back then.”
After a pause, Jiang Nuan asked with a half-smile, "Clan Chief Xie, is it customary in your Xie family to use your husband's family's money to support your wife's family?"
“No,” Chief Xie felt as if his face had been stripped off, “It was a slip of the tongue, I misspoke just now.”
Feeling humiliated, Clan Chief Xie couldn't help but take his anger out on Xie the eldest, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and return the silver. You've disgraced the Huang family. Don't you have any shame?"
It's all these people's fault for making me lose face so badly.
If word gets out, countless people will think the Xie family is eyeing their in-laws' property.
If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have been blinded by a few taels of silver.
"I won't pay it back," Old Mrs. Xie said, spreading her arms to block Xie Laoda's way. "I'm not paying it back today, so what are you going to do about it?"
As he spoke, his scarlet eyes met those of Clan Chief Xie. "If Clan Chief continues to pressure me, I'll smash my head against the wall and die in the courtyard. If I'm forced to commit suicide before my old man is even buried, what will the world think of you?"
Chief Xie felt completely overwhelmed and increasingly felt that he shouldn't have come here.
Upon seeing this, Xie immediately knelt down, "Mother, it's all my fault for being useless and causing the Huang family to suffer humiliation. Please divorce me, then I won't have to endure this abuse anymore."
Jiang Nuan kept a straight face and didn't speak, her eyebrows lowered, as if she was really considering the feasibility.
"You brat," Old Madam Xie said anxiously, "What nonsense are you talking about? The Xie family has no place for you. You should never go back to the Xie family, even if you die, and you should never be divorced."
She can act shamelessly because she knows the clan can't do anything about it.
She wants her daughter's money, and even if she's shameless, no one can say anything about it.
But if he causes his daughter to be divorced, the entire Xie family will not let him off the hook.
“Yaoni,” Chief Xie panicked, “Don’t be impulsive. Your mother’s unreliability has nothing to do with you. You are a good child and should not be divorced.”
He had just said that the Xie family hadn't had a daughter divorced in over a hundred years, and then he gave him such a big surprise. His face...it hurts.
“I’m not a good daughter-in-law, Mother. Divorce me so as not to bring shame to the Huang family.”
But you will bring shame to the Xie family!
Chief Xie felt like he was about to explode with anger.
Immediately, with a dark face, he said to Boss Xie, "They're about to divorce your sister, why don't you hurry up and return the money? Have you never seen money before? Why don't you just die on a mountain of silver?"
“That would require finding a mountain of silver,” Xie Laoda clutched the silver tightly. “If the Huang family wants to break off the marriage, so be it. I will not return the silver.”
Just kidding. It only costs two taels of silver to marry a wife. Five taels of silver is just enough for the two boys in the family to get married. How could we possibly give it away?
"You insolent fool, do you even know what you're doing?" Chief Xie jumped up and down in anger. "What are the unmarried girls in the village supposed to do with this?"
"What does this have to do with me?" Xie Laoda said innocently. "My family doesn't have any girls waiting to be married."
“In-law,” Chief Xie looked at Jiang Nuan with a troubled expression, “what do you think we should do about this?”
“Clan Chief Xie,” Huang Xiaosan couldn’t help but say, “that’s not very kind of you. Why are you asking my mother about your Xie family’s affairs? Do you think our Huang family is easy to bully?”
After speaking, he deliberately stepped aside to let the dozen or so people behind him step forward.
The atmosphere immediately froze.
An invisible smoke of gunpowder filled the entire courtyard.
Doctor Gu sat on a rock to the side, leisurely watching the play.
He was a man of the world, familiar with all sorts of shady dealings, but he never imagined that the farmers' feuds could be so dramatic, even more so than those in operas.
The two sides are locked in a stalemate over a mere five taels of silver.
Are these people blind? The hair ornaments worn by Madam Jiang are worth more than five taels. If she were to befriend her honestly, she could easily give her ten or a hundred taels.
They were related by marriage, and had such a privileged position, yet this family ruined it all. I wonder if they will regret it later.
The second son's wife was also cunning; she managed to find an opportunity to get rid of this family so quickly.
Dr. Gu glanced sympathetically at the Xie family and continued to observe with an air of nonchalance.
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