Chapter 190

The series of blows finally broke the once-strong Grandma Wang, leaving her bedridden with a sudden and severe illness.

“Grandma Wang is getting on in years and absolutely cannot endure such shocks. It was caught in time today. Otherwise, she could have had a stroke. You must be careful,” Doctor Ma warned Wang Yuan’er and the others, his brow furrowed. “At her age, keeping a calm and peaceful mind is crucial. Extreme anger or distress will only harm her further. Such emotional upheavals are detrimental to recovery. I’ll prescribe some medicine for now, but she needs rest and care.”

“Thank you for coming all this way, Doctor,” Grandpa Wang said shakily.

Doctor Ma sighed, understanding the family’s plight, and offered reassurance, “You too, sir—try to keep a positive outlook. No obstacle can’t be overcome.”

These words nearly brought Grandpa Wang to tears as he nodded in agreement.

Wang Yuan’er escorted Doctor Ma out of the courtyard, paid the consultation fee, and sent Wang Qing’er to fetch the prescribed medicine for preparation.

After receiving acupuncture treatment, Grandma Wang slowly regained consciousness. Seeing the people gathered in the room, she grew anxious and struggled to sit up, prompting Wang Chun’er to quickly support her.

“Er Lang, how is Er Lang? What’s happened to him?” Grandma Wang asked with a worried look at Grandpa Wang.

“He’s doing alright. But what about you? How could you just collapse like that?” Grandpa Wang consoled her briefly, then sat down at the end of the bed and said, “This situation is already exhausting enough. If anything happens to you, it’ll just add chaos on top of chaos.”

Grandma Wang pressed her lips together and said, “Those officers barged in and ransacked everything, saying they were looking for the silver Er Lang embezzled. I gave them everything, but they kept searching, and that’s when I got so anxious that I collapsed…”

“Second Uncle admitted to taking only one hundred taels of silver,” Wang Yuan’er said as she pulled over a stool and sat down.

“Did he say where he hid it? If not for this incident, we wouldn’t have even known!” Madam Zhang still couldn’t let go of the fact that Wang Er had secretly hidden the silver.

Wang Yuan’er almost wanted to crack open Madam Zhang’s head to see what was inside. How could she be so out of touch with reality?

“I think Second Uncle hid it well. If Second Aunt had known about it, who knows how much of it would’ve been left. At least now, since not a single tael was used, the punishment will be lighter!” Wang Yuan’er retorted sharply.

“What do you mean by that?” Madam Zhang glared at her.

“Keep your mouth shut!” Grandpa Wang suddenly threw his tobacco pipe at Madam Zhang’s feet.

His unexpected outburst shocked everyone in the room.

In most households, it’s the mother-in-law who disciplines the daughter-in-law. Rarely does the father-in-law directly step in, even if he has grievances—he would usually relay them through his wife. Yet today, Grandpa Wang bypassed Grandma Wang entirely, choosing to reprimand Madam Zhang himself. This was a blatant affront to Madam Zhang’s dignity!

Madam Zhang’s face turned crimson. Her hands and feet were awkwardly positioned, unable to find a place to settle. Her unease was palpable, and she didn’t dare breathe too heavily.

Wang Yuan’er silently applauded, thinking to herself: Serves her right.

“Old man?” Grandma Wang looked at him in surprise. Since both daughters-in-law had joined the family, he had never caused trouble for either of them. What had gotten into him today?

Grandpa Wang’s expression was as dark as storm clouds. Staring coldly at Madam Zhang, he said, “At this time, you’re still less clear-headed than the younger generation. All you know is how to create noise and quarrels. If you don’t want to stay in the Wang family, notify your relatives and have them come and take you away.”

This was nearly tantamount to outright suggesting divorce!

Madam Zhang’s face turned ghostly pale, and she fell to her knees with a thud, stammering, “Father, what—what did I do wrong?”

Grandpa Wang snorted, reaching for his tobacco pipe, only to realize he had thrown it earlier.

Wang Yuan’er picked it up and handed it back to him. Then, she addressed Madam Zhang, “Second Aunt, perhaps you don’t realize—everything happening to Second Uncle today is entirely thanks to you. No, it’s thanks to your brother!”

Madam Zhang froze in shock.

“What do you mean by this? Yuan’er, explain clearly!” Grandma Wang, however, picked up on the implication immediately.

Wang Yuan’er recounted the entire story as told by Wang Er. In the end, she added, “Who knows what intentions Zhang Dapeng had or how many benefits he accepted? Now look—Second Uncle is in prison, but where’s Zhang Dapeng?”

What? Wang Er ended up in prison because of Zhang Dapeng?

Madam Zhang sat stunned before suddenly collapsing onto the ground. Grandma Wang let out a piercing shriek and rushed at Madam Zhang with alarming speed. “You troublemaking curse! Your Zhang family is determined to ruin my peace in old age! You wretched pest!”

Grandma Wang slapped and hit Madam Zhang, her hands tangling in Madam Zhang’s hair, leaving her disheveled like a madwoman.

“Grandma, please calm down! Doctor Ma warned that you mustn’t get too angry,” Wang Chun’er quickly tried to intervene.

“Get out! Go back to your Zhang family!” Grandma Wang, held back by her granddaughters, cursing and pointing at Madam Zhang.

Madam Zhang muttered, “That’s impossible. It can’t be true.”

“If Second Aunt wants Second Uncle to return safely, you’d better go and find Zhang Dapeng and demand a full explanation of who he brought into this mess!” Wang Yuan’er said emotionlessly.

“Zhang Dapeng! I’ll go find him!” Madam Zhang suddenly scrambled up from the ground and dashed out the door.

Grandma Wang wailed bitterly, “What a misfortune!”

Wang Yuan’er sighed. While Zhang Dapeng had certainly provided the temptation, Wang Er’s own greed was also to blame. If he had been steadfast, this situation wouldn’t have arisen.

“Yuan’er, what should we do now?” Grandpa Wang asked after finishing a pipe of tobacco, looking at her for guidance.

“Let’s see what Second Aunt has to say when she comes back,” Wang Yuan’er replied after pursing her lips. She figured it wouldn’t hurt for Madam Zhang to cause a scene at her family’s house. Once the grievances were aired, their relationship might deteriorate, leading to less contact and fewer entanglements in the future. Besides, Zhang Dapeng was the main culprit in this mess. There was no way he should get off scot-free while Wang Er bore the consequences.

The Wang family was already caught in the turmoil—it was time to stir things up on their end too.

Madam Zhang, on her way to confront her elder brother, took her eldest son, Fuquan, along, fearing she might face setbacks on her own. Together, the mother and son stormed over to the Zhang family home.

By this time, the Zhang household was already in chaos. The officers had visited earlier, specifically looking for Zhang Dapeng, but he was nowhere to be found and seemed to have disappeared entirely.

The Zhang family was in disarray when Madam Zhang arrived, but she didn’t care. A married daughter belongs to her husband’s family; having joined the Wang family, she was Madam Wang Zhang, and it would be the Wang family descendants who would carry her banner and take care of her future memorials.

“Zhang Dapeng, you wretched scoundrel, come out here!” Madam Zhang shouted as soon as she entered the house, yelling his name and cursing loudly.

Madam Zhou, who had rushed home from the Tang family after hearing that officers had come to arrest someone, entered just in time to hear Madam Zhang’s unpleasant shouting. The harshness of the insults ignited her anger instantly.

“Zhang Cuizhi, if you want to throw a tantrum, go back to your Wang family! What do you think this place is?” Madam Zhou wasn’t one to back down and immediately retorted, hands on her hips.

“Oh, so you finally show up! It’s all because of you, you scheming woman—you must have encouraged my brother to commit those heinous acts, leading my Wang Er astray. You’re nothing but trouble!” Madam Zhang glared at her. “Where’s Zhang Dapeng? Bring him out! I want to see if his conscience has been eaten by dogs, causing him to harm his own sister like this.”

“Bah!” Madam Zhou spat at her feet and said, “What kind of person is your Wang Er? You’ve slept beside him for years and still don’t know? Now that he’s in trouble, you’re blaming others? You might as well change your surname to ‘Blame’!”

“If it weren’t for my brother bringing in some shady scoundrel, would my Wang Er be suffering? Zhang Dapeng is the main culprit—bring him out!” Unable to find him, Madam Zhang let her temper flare and began smashing things nearby.

Crash!

Porcelain and other items shattered across the floor.:

Seeing this, Fuquan joined in the smashing spree. His eyes darted around, and he even rushed into Madam Zhou’s room, breaking things while slyly pocketing items.

“Fuquan, what are you doing!” Madam Zhou’s youngest son shouted upon seeing this. “Mom, Fuquan is stealing our stuff!”

“Well, well, the older one’s a thief, and the younger one’s a thief too! Rotten pot, rotten lid—I’ll beat you to death, you little brat!” Madam Zhou charged at him.

“Don’t you dare!” Madam Zhang yelled, chasing after her, and the two women ended up in a full-blown brawl.

The two women clawed and scratched at each other, leaving marks on their faces, while Fuquan and Liangge also started fighting, both ending up with bruises.

The Zhang household descended into utter chaos.

Madam Zhang’s mother, Grandma Zhang, was helped out of the house. She had fainted earlier from the commotion, and upon waking to see the pandemonium, she trembled with rage.

“Stop it! All of you, stop it right now!” Grandma Zhang roared. “Fighting amongst ourselves—what’s the point? Do you think this looks good? Stop it, Cuizhi, eldest daughter-in-law!”

Zhang Cuizhi, unable to dodge in time, received another scratch on her face. She collapsed to the ground, wailing, “Mother, my brother and his family are so cruel! They’re forcing me to my death!”

“What’s the point of all this chaos? Why are you making such a scene? Can’t you just talk things out properly?” Grandma Zhang was furious, almost bursting with rage.

“Mother! Ask Big Brother where he found that person to connect him to Wang Er. And now look—Wang Er is in prison! Mother, if something happens to Wang Er, how are we, the women of the family, supposed to survive? Isn’t Big Brother forcing us to our deaths?” Madam Zhang slapped her thighs angrily as she spoke.

Grandma Zhang’s forehead throbbed as veins bulged. She was already aware of her son-in-law’s predicament and had planned to question it herself, but then the officers showed up at the house, explicitly naming her eldest son as a suspect and indicating he was involved in the matter with her son-in-law!

Grandma Zhang felt an overwhelming sense of despair, as though her peaceful old age was coming to an abrupt and bitter end.

“Without evidence, how can you claim this was Dapeng’s doing? Isn’t it possible that Wang Er is just making false accusations and wrongly blaming someone innocent?” Madam Zhou couldn’t help but defend her husband, saying, “If you look deeper, your big brother was simply acting as a middleman—hoping to bring benefits to the family. Who could have predicted it would turn out this way? Your big brother was kept in the dark, too!”

“Bah! Easy for you to talk when you’re not the one suffering!” Madam Zhang’s eyes widened in rage at Madam Zhou’s words, looking ready to fight her to the death.

“Enough!” Grandma Zhang said, massaging her temples in frustration. “Cuizhi, stop causing a scene. We need to find your elder brother to figure out what’s really going on. And you, eldest daughter-in-law, say less—do you truly have no idea where he is?”

“How would I know?” Madam Zhou replied, her face drooping. “Even the Tang family master said they haven’t seen him today.”

Suddenly, a thought struck her. Her face turned ashen as she exclaimed, “Mother, could something have happened to him?”

Grandma Zhang’s heart skipped a beat, and her face paled as well. If something had indeed happened, what could they possibly do?