The atmosphere froze instantly. Shu Jianyang opened his mouth, "You found out?"
"I wasn't sure before, but now I'm sure." Shu Yan wasn't angry. Even if Shu Jianyang had gone to Li Jiaojiao, she wouldn't have been angry. After all, it was Shu Jianyang's freedom to choose who he wanted to be with; he would just definitely reduce contact with her in the future.
“Although Miaomiao is Li Jiaojiao’s cousin, they are completely different.” Shu Jianyang stammered as he explained, “When I first met Miaomiao… I really didn’t know about her relationship with Li Jiaojiao. Later… after we started dating and got to know each other better, I found out that she was Li Jiaojiao’s cousin.”
At first, Shu Jianyang really didn't know that Li Miaomiao was Li Jiaojiao's cousin, as the two had such different temperaments and personalities.
Speaking of Li Miaomiao, we must mention her father. He and Li Jiaojiao's father are brothers. Li Jiaojiao's father is the eldest, and everyone in the village calls him Li Da (Big Li). Li Miaomiao's father is the second eldest, so everyone calls him Li Er (Second Li). Li Er is smarter than Li Da. He was admitted to a teachers' college and stayed in the city to become a teacher. He also married a city girl, which can be considered a great leap forward in life.
In those days, it wasn't easy for a rural family to support a student. In order to allow Li Er to go to school, Li Da didn't get married until he was 26. In the countryside, 26 was really old. So after Li Er started working, he tried his best to help his older brother who had sacrificed so much for him.
It's one thing for Li Da to send money and things back home every month, but Li Er also paid for the construction of Li Da's new house. Because of this, Li Er's wife has argued with him a lot.
It's right to repay kindness, but that doesn't mean you should neglect your own family.
Li Jiaojiao was able to go to university thanks to Li Er's support. When she was studying in Xicheng, she lived in Li Miaomiao's house, and Li Er treated her much better than his own daughter.
One time, something went missing from the house. It was Li Er's favorite painting and calligraphy. Li Jiaojiao falsely accused Li Miaomiao of stealing it. There was nothing wrong with that, but Li Er, as a father, believed her without even listening to his daughter's explanation. When Li Miaomiao shouted that Li Jiaojiao had stolen it, Li Er slapped her.
Li Er's wife finally snapped. She rushed over and slapped Li Jiaojiao first, then turned around and slapped Li Er, who was about to curse her. Before he could react, she immediately brought up divorce.
Li Miaomiao's mother's family was quite well-off in Xicheng, far superior to Li Er, who had no connections. She successfully divorced him and even got the house and custody of Li Miaomiao.
Therefore, Li Miaomiao hated Li Jiaojiao even more than Shu Yan. When she accidentally discovered that Li Jiaojiao had become a mistress, she also prepared to collect evidence to ruin Li Jiaojiao's reputation, but Shu Yan beat her to it.
Shu Yan listened to the whole story and was somewhat puzzled. In the original novel, Li Jiaojiao did indeed have an uncle, but no cousin appeared. Had something happened in between?
"Is she with her mother now?"
“Yes, didn’t you notice? Yesterday, Miao Miao’s grandparents and her father came over, but no other relatives were invited, especially her second uncle’s family.”
Because Li Jiaojiao caused Li Er's divorce, Li Da almost beat her to death. If she hadn't been admitted to university, she probably would have been forced to stay at home and marry someone else.
Later, when those photos of Li Jiaojiao were released, the entire Li family was too ashamed to show their faces. Li Da and his wife took their son to work in another city, and no one knew where they went. So they didn't know about Li Miaomiao's wedding this time. Even if they did know, Li Miaomiao's mother would not have allowed them to come.
Yesterday's banquet was divided into two sides: the left side for the bride's relatives and the right side for the groom's relatives. Many of Li Miaomiao's relatives came, but Shu Yan didn't recognize any of them. It now seemed they were all relatives from her mother's side.
After understanding what had happened, Shu Yan said, "Third Brother, I'm really not angry. I just want to know that no matter who Third Sister-in-law is or what kind of person she is, it won't affect our relationship."
She wasn't that petty. She had thought it through before she came. If Li Miaomiao and Li Jiaojiao were close, she would avoid contact with them as much as possible. If Li Miaomiao was a person with sound values and a reasonable attitude, she would interact with them more often.
"I'm glad you don't mind." Shu Jianyang truly regarded Shu Yan as his own younger sister, and of course he hoped that she and his wife could get along well.
Once you get to the bottom of it, it's really not a big deal. The four of us even had lunch together at noon.
"Our fate..." Li Miaomiao smiled bitterly, "I really didn't expect Jianyang to be your cousin."
"You are you, and Li Jiaojiao is Li Jiaojiao. What does it matter?" Shu Yan said with a smile.
The two of them could be considered to have a common enemy, at least that's what Li Miaomiao thought, so she told Shu Yan a lot about Li Jiaojiao.
"It's karma. She had a miscarriage and heavy bleeding last time, which damaged her uterus. The doctor said it would be difficult for her to get pregnant again, so she went to various traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to treat it. I heard that she drinks bitter soup every day now, and her face has turned yellow from it," Li Miaomiao said gloatingly.
"Where are they now?" Shu Yan regretted asking as soon as she finished. "Never mind, it's none of my business what happens to them."
“Indeed, Heaven is watching what people do. It’s not that there’s no retribution, it’s just that the time hasn’t come yet.” Li Miaomiao glanced at Fang Zeyu and stopped discussing Shu Yan’s ex-husband and Li Jiaojiao.
Not involving Li Jiaojiao, Li Miaomiao is a very gentle person, and Shu Yan feels quite comfortable being with her.
Shu Jianyang is an impatient and easily angered person, so he should find a gentle person like him to counteract him.
After they had finished eating, Shu Yan said goodbye to them. "I have a lot of things to do in Nancheng, so I'll be back tomorrow. If anything comes up, just call me."
"You haven't been back for a long time. Why don't you stay in Xicheng and have some more fun?" Li Miaomiao also felt very comfortable talking to Shu Yan.
"No, I'm mainly worried about the two kids. I don't know if they've been behaving well at home these past few days."
When the topic of children came up, neither Shu Jianyang nor Li Miaomiao wanted to persuade them to stay.
"You too, you should have brought the child back with you. If you're worried about the Ye family causing trouble, that's why your third brother is here! If they dare to come looking for you, I'll make sure they come in upright and leave horizontally," Shu Jianyang snorted.
"It's not that I'm afraid they'll cause me trouble. One reason is that it's inconvenient to have the children with me, and the other is that the children have to go to school, and it's not easy for them to ask for leave from their current schools." Shu Yan is not afraid of the Ye family now, but she mainly finds them troublesome.
Back at the hotel, he found Shu Youfu and Lin Zixiang waiting for him in the lobby.
"Yan Yan is back?" Lin Zixiang came up to her with great enthusiasm, smiling and saying, "We're going back this afternoon. It's rare for you to come back, why don't you come with us?"
"I have a lot of things to do there, so I won't be going back," Shu Yan said directly.
There are too many things to do if she goes back. She didn't go back for the New Year, and now that she's going back, she has to visit so many relatives. Then everyone will definitely pull her aside and say things like, "If only she had become more beautiful soon, Ye Zhiqiang wouldn't have gotten a divorce."
They'll also ask her where she is now and what she does. If she says she's in business, they'll ask how well it's going. If she says it's going well, they'll definitely ask what kind of business she's in and try to get her to help out her siblings. If she says it's going badly, they'll lament how difficult it is to do business, and then spread rumors that Shu Yan has squandered all her money.
"Really not going back? I raised chickens and ducks, and I won't give them to anyone else, I'll save them for you to eat. This time when you go back, Mom will stew an old hen for you every day, isn't that your favorite chicken soup?" Lin Zixiang tried to take Shu Yan's hand to talk, but Shu Yan avoided her.
As for what she loved to eat, in her memory, the original owner had only drunk the chicken soup she made twice: once at her wedding and once when she came to borrow money from her. The original owner was so moved that she not only gave all her private savings to Lin Zixiang, but also gave Lin Zixiang the gold bracelet that Ye Zhiqiang had bought for her.
"Let's go later, I have a lot of things to do." Shu Yan glanced at the gold bracelet on Lin Zixiang's wrist, the one that the original owner had given her.
They really didn't care about the original owner's feelings at all, and didn't even think about going to a jewelry store to change the style. They just wore it so casually.
Seeing that they were dawdling and didn't want to leave, Shu Yan understood what they meant. She took out 200 yuan from her wallet and stuffed it into Lin Zixiang's hand. "I'm not going back. You and Dad go buy some supplements to eat. I'll come back when I have time."
Having received the money, the two finally left satisfied.
Shu Yan was going back to her hometown and was sure to bring back some local specialties for her friends in Nancheng, so she asked Fang Zeyu to go and buy some.
As soon as I stepped out of the hotel, I saw a dark-skinned, thin woman constantly looking towards the hotel.
Shu Yan knew this woman; or rather, the only warmth in the original owner's memories came from this woman.
"Second Sister."
The visitor was Shu Yan's older sister, the second girl in the third generation, so Shu Yan called her Second Sister.
“Yan… Yan Yan…” Shu Li was startled. She turned her head and saw Shu Yan. She was stunned for a moment. “You’ve lost weight and become fairer. You look even more beautiful than when you got married.”
This was the only person who didn't doubt Shu Yan after she returned to Xicheng, because only she remembered Shu Yan's facial features.
"Second sister, why didn't you come to Third Brother's wedding yesterday? I asked Mom about you, and she said you're pregnant and can't travel by car. You..." Shu Yan glanced at her belly.
Shuli's tears fell instantly. "Yan Yan, please... save me and my child..."
"Tell me what happened," Shu Yan said, quickly leading her to the hotel room.
Like Shu Yan, Shu Li was sold by her family to raise money for her son's wedding. Her husband's family lived in the town, but they went to the countryside to find her because one of her eyes had been blinded.
Shuli, who was sold to her husband's family, was already insecure. She always ate the least and worked the most. She finally got pregnant, but the pregnancy was ruined by exhaustion. Her husband's family not only didn't understand, but also thought that Shuli was incompetent, so they treated her even worse.
In the third year of her marriage, she finally became pregnant again. Her in-laws finally calmed down and started feeding her chicken and duck. She gave birth to a big, healthy girl. As you can imagine, she went back to work before even finishing her postpartum confinement. For her second pregnancy, she looked the same as with her first. Her mother-in-law stopped feeding her and kept pushing her to work herself to death, trying to kill the baby. But this time, the baby was strong and survived, but it was a small, thin boy. The old lady was filled with regret. The child hadn't been well cared for in the womb and was sickly from a young age. Fearing he wouldn't survive, the old lady pressured Shuli to have another child.
“I can’t have any more children. If I have another one, and it’s a son, they definitely won’t treat Ping An’s illness.”
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