Chapter 36

The moment Old Lady Wu saw her youngest daughter, her mood brightened considerably, and she deliberately shouted as if in a huff.

"Oh, Guizhi, you're finally back! I've missed you so much. Where's your husband? Didn't his work unit give him time off?"

Old Lady Wu intentionally emphasized the words "work unit," for in those days, everyone wanted a stable job, especially envied by those from the countryside.

Especially since her son-in-law wasn't just any ordinary worker doing dirty and tiring jobs; he worked at a hydrological station, sitting in an office drinking tea and reading newspapers every day, earning thirty yuan a month as a cadre!

Tang Guizhi is only a few years older than Yang Zhaodi, and both of them got married around the same time.

Tang Guizhi got married half a year later than Yang Zhaodi. At the time, Xu Taian's family had sent a sewing machine as part of the dowry, and on the wedding day, he came to pick her up on a bicycle.

Although the sewing machine was eventually taken away as part of the dowry, it still made the Tang family quite prestigious in the village for a long time.

In the countryside, who could afford a dowry that included a sewing machine worth over a hundred yuan?

Not only was it expensive, but without a ration ticket, you couldn't buy one even if you had the money.

Whenever the supply store in town received a sewing machine, there would be a rush of people trying to get their hands on it.

Compared to Yang Zhaodi, this was a stark contrast.

The Zhu family was an ordinary farming household, even poorer than most. On the wedding day, the clothes worn were patched.

The ten-yuan dowry was cobbled together with great difficulty.

The Zhu family wasn't large either; Zhu Yushan had only one sister who was already married.

In the countryside, this was considered a sign of bad luck. If they were bullied, there was no one at home to fight back, making them only slightly better off than those without sons.

On the wedding day, there wasn't even a donkey cart; they simply walked back home together, which was quite pitiful.

When Old Lady Wu saw the situation at the Zhu family, she almost burst out laughing.

Her usually quiet eldest son had actually stood up to her for Yang Zhaodi, thinking he had found a good match, but it turned out to be this?

Old Lady Wu always suspected that the eldest son had hidden some of the dowry money. Otherwise, how could he have agreed to marry his daughter off to such a poor family?

The man she introduced was a widower with three children, but his financial situation was much better than the Zhu family's, offering a higher dowry without having to cobble it together.

But she had no evidence, and despite several attempts to pressure him, nothing came of it. The eldest son stayed locked in his room, making it impossible to search.

Feeling resentful but helpless, Old Lady Wu had to let it go.

What Old Lady Wu didn't expect was that instead of blaming her stepfather and biological mother, Yang Zhaodi's relationship with them had actually improved.

Taking advantage of living close to her parents' home, she often visited, and mother and daughter laughed and chatted.

Each time she returned, the eldest son's face would visibly brighten, not as gloomy as usual.

In that moment, Old Lady Wu thought about many things, not noticing her daughter's unusual appearance.

Seeing this, Tang Guizhi felt even more aggrieved. "Mom, I can't take it anymore!"

Old Lady Wu, who had been lost in thought, suddenly snapped to attention upon hearing these words.

"What, what do you mean?"

Tang Guizhi began to sob: "Mom, Xu Taian is no good. I can't take it anymore."

Old Lady Wu's face darkened immediately, and she spat:

"Pah, pah, pah, what nonsense are you talking about?!"

Tang Guizhi removed her hands from her face, revealing a bruised cheek and a bloodshot eye, with a cut on her lip.

Her once pretty face was now a gruesome sight.

Compared to her other side, which was relatively unharmed, the contrast was even more shocking.

Tang Guizhi could marry into a family with a steady job in town not only because of Tang Jianguo but also because she was naturally beautiful.

Though her skin wasn't particularly fair due to her laborious upbringing, it was a healthy wheat color, and her round face was endearing. People said such a face brought good fortune.

Despite being a girl, she was the youngest child and had a significant age gap with her older brothers, so she lived a relatively comfortable life at home.

She grew tall and strong, and many elderly women secretly remarked that she looked like someone who could bear sons.

When Tang Guizhi reached marriageable age, the Tang family's doorstep was nearly worn down by suitors.

The reason for her late marriage was Old Lady Wu's pickiness, always finding something wrong with each suitor, delaying her marriage until she was in her early twenties.

Old Lady Wu felt that none of them were worthy of her well-raised daughter until she met Xu Taian, whom she finally approved.

Now, seeing her usually beautiful daughter beaten up like this, Old Lady Wu was shocked.

Upon closer inspection, Tang Guizhi had noticeably lost weight.

"What, what happened? Who hurt you?"

Tang Guizhi's eyes welled up with tears: "It's all because of the good son-in-law you picked for me."

"Taisan? That can't be true, can it?" Old Lady Wu was incredulous.

"Who else could it be, Mom? I can't take it anymore. This isn't the first time he's hit me. If I stay with him, he'll kill me."

Tang Guizhi could no longer hold back her tears, and Old Lady Wu was startled. She looked around and saw that there was no one nearby, so she secretly sighed in relief.

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

"You foolish girl, you don't know how to behave in public! What if others hear about this!"

"If they hear it, they should hear it. Xu Taian is acting like an animal; everyone should know about it."

"Oh my goodness, my dear, if that happens, how will you live your life?"

"Mom, I've already said it, I can't go on living like this anymore."

Tang Guizhi covered her painful face and sobbed uncontrollably.

Seeing her like this, Old Lady Wu frowned: "Don't make such a big deal out of it. It must be because you started being unreasonable again, which led to the beating."

"Mom! I'm already beaten like this, why are you still blaming me? My face is just the beginning; my body is even worse. If it weren't for the thick winter clothes, my bones would have been broken!"

Tang Guizhi could no longer contain her anger and shouted. She never expected that coming home would bring no support but rather a scolding from her own mother.

Old Lady Wu was also displeased at this and slammed the table:

"What do you want me to do? Ask your brother to beat him back? How will you live then? Don't talk nonsense. If you really decide to stop living, what about your future and our family's reputation?

And what about your two children? Are you willing to abandon them and let them call another woman 'Mom'? They are sons; the Xu family won't let you take them away.

Given Xu Taian's conditions, he can easily find another young wife even with two children. As for you, a divorced woman at your age, you'll end up with some old man!"

Old Lady Wu berated Tang Guizhi fiercely, her anger rising, and she forgot to lower her voice.

Tang Guizhi was scolded harshly and felt even more wronged. All she could do was cry.

Seeing that she had stopped arguing, Old Lady Wu softened her tone:

"Don't say such nonsense anymore. If others hear it, they'll only laugh at you. Go ask around the village; how many married women aren't beaten by their husbands? Why are you so sensitive that you ran back to your parents' house?"

Tang Guizhi cried even harder. Her father had passed away shortly after she was born, so she never saw how her parents interacted.

Her eldest brother married late and got along well with his wife, becoming much livelier after marriage.

But he was disabled, and his wife was a second-timer, so it wasn't clear if normal couples behaved like that.

She used to think that since she and her husband were healthy and he had good conditions, their marriage wouldn't be worse than her eldest brother's.

As for Third Brother and his wife, although they sometimes fought fiercely, Tang Guizhi thought it was because Third Sister-in-Law was too harsh and deserved to be disciplined.

She never expected that when it came to her turn, she would realize how naive she had been.

Her husband was the only son in the family and listened only to his mother.

Tang Guizhi's mother-in-law was always dissatisfied with her being a country girl.

If not for her giving birth to two grandsons for the Xu family, who knows what kind of life she would have had.

Even so, her life was not easy, constantly criticized and reprimanded. When she complained to her husband, she received nothing but scolding for disrespecting her elders.

Before marriage, she knew that the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was often tense.

She had seen her own mother and Third Sister-in-Law's subtle conflicts, but she didn't feel the pain until it happened to her.

At home, she sided with her mother, so she couldn't understand the hardships of being a daughter-in-law and thought Third Sister-in-Law was just difficult and needed to be tamed.

Only after getting married did she realize how hard it was to be someone else's daughter-in-law.

Everyone said she had gotten a great deal, a country girl marrying such an excellent man, leaving her with nowhere to vent her sorrows.

If you complain, others will say you're ungrateful; many girls wish to marry a man with such conditions but can't.

Doesn't every family have a similar situation? A close relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is rare.

Husbands listening to their mothers and not siding with their wives?

Mothers worked hard to raise their sons and are elders, so they deserve some deference. Wives shouldn't be so picky.

Tang Guizhi could only swallow her grievances, but ever since Xu Taian started hitting her, she couldn't bear it anymore.

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

She thought it was a momentary lapse, and he apologized sincerely, saying he was wrong and wouldn't do it again.

For a few days, even her mother-in-law spoke softly to her, so Tang Guizhi didn't take it seriously, thinking it was just a minor marital dispute.

Unexpectedly, it seemed like a switch had been flipped. Every time they had a conflict, Xu Taian resorted to physical violence instead of just verbal abuse or neglect.

At first, it was just slaps or shoves.

Gradually, it escalated to punches and kicks. This morning, if she hadn't run fast, Tang Guizhi feared she would have been beaten to death.

Xu Taian's brutality was terrifying, as if she had killed his entire family.

Thinking about it made Tang Guizhi tremble.

"Mom, I'm really scared. I'm afraid he'll beat me to death."

"Don't talk nonsense. Look around the village; how many men actually kill their wives? If you behave properly, you won't get beaten."

Tang Guizhi's tears fell heavily: "Mom, what else can I do? Today, I just asked when we could visit my parents, and he hit me."

At that moment, Aunt Wang Simiao's voice sounded from outside the house.

"Mom, I just heard some noise. Is it Little Sister who's back?"

Old Lady Wu quickly wiped away Tang Guizhi's tears. "Alright, stop crying. You'll jinx your luck for the year during the New Year!"

"This matter mustn't be known by others; they'll only mock you."

"But..."

Old Lady Wu glared at her. "This is between you and your husband. What happens in bed stays in bed. It's not a big deal. Do you really want everyone to know and laugh at you before you feel better?"

Tang Guizhi lowered her head without a word. Old Lady Wu then replied loudly:

"Yes, Guizhi just got back and was talking to me. You all go about your business and don't worry about us here."

Wang Simiao paused upon hearing this and asked again, "Mom, everything's alright?"

Old Lady Wu winked at Tang Guizhi, as if to say, see what I mean?

Old Lady Wu sternly replied, "What could possibly be wrong? Don't speak ill omens during the New Year!"

Only then did Wang Simiao stop questioning and turned to leave.

Old Lady Wu listened intently until she heard the door close, then sighed in relief.

"See, if you had made a scene, how would you face your sister-in-law in the future? Yang Zhaodi is also back today. Do you want that girl to mock you?"

Tang Guizhi certainly didn't want to be mocked, but she felt so wronged that her tears kept falling.

When Wang Simiao returned inside, everyone's faces were grim.

Old Lady Wu's voice had been loud enough for them to hear from inside, and they had guessed something from the snippets of conversation.

Such matters could be serious or trivial, but since they had heard, they couldn't pretend not to know. Wang Simiao went out to investigate.

"From the old lady's attitude, she doesn't want anyone to know."

Yang Zhaodi refrained from commenting. She wasn't a Tang and hadn't been on good terms with Tang Guizhi. If she intervened, people might think she was mocking them.

Zhu Yushan found it even more awkward to speak up. His position was already delicate, and he needed to avoid any suspicions with Tang Guizhi.

Tang Jianshe looked displeased but felt powerless to do anything.

Unable to hold back, Tang Qingqing asked, "What does Grandma plan to do? Tell Uncle to beat him up? Or let Aunt divorce him?"

With someone leading the way, Zhu Yushan couldn't help but speak up:

"If such a thing happens, the brother should definitely retaliate. Otherwise, it will happen again."

In the village, such incidents were common, and only women from strong families could escape them.

Tang Xingsheng also shouted angrily, "Beat him up!"

Wang Simiao and Yang Zhaodi exchanged a glance, both seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes.

Especially Yang Zhaodi, who had always felt awkward in this family and had been neglected in her own family as well, understood the situation well.

Without even thinking, she knew Old Lady Wu's stance.

"The old lady probably doesn't want to offend the son-in-law's family. This matter will likely depend on Uncle's attitude."