Chapter 14

The two of them finished work early today, so Feng Yanwen came home quite early.

Over the past few days, Feng Yanwen had tidied up the courtyard and, together with the three children, turned over all the soil in the yard. Ever since the watermelon tactic, the three children had been especially obedient. Even the second child, who had always been known for his laziness, had been running back and forth helping out. They had planted green onions and Chinese chives over the past few days, and also sowed some water spinach.

Looking at this small vegetable plot, Feng Yanwen felt deeply satisfied.

Ever since marrying into the city, it had been many years since she had lived such a spacious and free life.

Over the years, everyone envied those who managed to move into the city, but only she knew how hard it had been. The Xu family had ten people. With so many mouths to feed and so much chatter, Granny Xue kept a firm hold on her sons and didn’t allow them to divide up the family. In addition to handing over part of their income to the family fund, each of the sons also kept their own little ledger.

Back then, Feng Yanwen had a job too, and she had one of those little ledgers as well.

But later she lost her job, and Xu Jiefang became unwilling to give her money. In recent years, even buying sanitary products meant she had to hold out her palm and ask her man for money. If she said the wrong thing, Xu Jiefang would lash out with harsh words. The fact that she couldn’t have children had always been a hurdle between them that they could never get past.

What could Feng Yanwen do? It wasn’t like she had never brought up divorce, but Xu Jiefang had some strange reaction—every time she mentioned it, he would jump three feet in the air, as if she were threatening to dig up his ancestors’ graves. To be honest, Feng Yanwen really didn’t care to keep living with him anymore.

Out of the ten people in the Xu family, the only ones who truly did housework were her and Xu Meng.

The old lady had become the mother-in-law, so naturally she didn’t have to do any work.

The others all had jobs, which gave them status and privilege, so of course they didn’t do any work either. Xu Dawei was the eldest grandson, and studying was his primary duty—he certainly didn’t lift a finger. As for Xu Jia, she wouldn’t even fetch her own glass of water, let alone do chores. Could she possibly do any work?

Only Feng Yanwen took care of everything at home, busy inside and out. She did the laundry, cooked the meals—she didn’t skip a single task. With so many people in the household, every time they made dumplings, just kneading the dough alone meant working through an entire large basin. Don’t expect anyone else to lend a hand. When it came time to eat, all they did was complain about how slow she was. And even with that, they were still not satisfied. They resented Feng Yanwen for not earning money, and blamed her for being a “freeloader” at home.

As if the housework didn’t count as work. As if a housewife wasn’t even a person.

Now that Feng Yanwen had her own income, the thought of going back to that life never even crossed her mind.

The second child saw Xu Meng hurrying into the house and called out, “Sister.” When Xu Meng ignored him, he gave a snort and tattled to Feng Yanwen, “Auntie, Sister’s not even talking to me.”

Feng Yanwen was busy, her hands and feet both covered in mud. She glanced at Xu Meng’s back. Seeing that the girl had come home, she didn’t say much. Kids that age weren’t like when they were small—if you tried to manage everything, they’d just get annoyed. So she simply told the second child, “Why are you always tattling on your sister?”

The second child snorted again but helped Feng Yanwen carry over the watering can.

The seeds had already been sown in the vegetable plot, and they had also found a large wooden barrel to store water. Another smaller bucket was set aside for peeing.

The second child was overjoyed. “Then we won’t have to go to the public toilet to pee anymore.”

Feng Yanwen told them to save their face-washing water too. Face-washing water was relatively clean and could be stored in the bucket to water the vegetable plot during times without water.

By the time she went inside, Xu Meng was already lying on the bed.

Feng Yanwen found it odd and pulled the curtain aside.

Xu Meng was sitting at the head of the bed reading. She hadn’t expected her mother to come in suddenly and was startled, which caused the injury on her wrist to be exposed. Her skin was fair, and the bruising around the wound had already surfaced, looking especially glaring and severe.

“What happened to you?” Feng Yanwen came over.

She happened to touch Xu Meng’s calf, and Xu Meng let out a sharp hiss of pain.

Quick with her hands, Feng Yanwen pulled up the pant leg and saw large patches of bruising. The calf and knee, areas with less soft tissue, bruise easily not long after being bumped.

“I just fell.”

“You think I’m stupid? What really happened? Did you run into some thug?”

Xu Meng decided to just tell the truth. “I ran into Xu Jiefang on the way.”

Feng Yanwen said, “Then why didn’t you say anything just now?”

That whole family was no good. Going head-to-head with them—what good could come of it?

Every time it ended with Xu Jiefang beating her even more viciously.

Xu Meng simply took out the medicine and applied it on herself, speaking carelessly, “He already got beaten up. And look, it’s really nothing. It just hurt a bit at the time, it didn’t even break the skin. You don’t need to go looking for him anymore either.”

She told Feng Yanwen about Granny Xue falling and being hospitalized.

Feng Yanwen looked at the bruises on her child and felt a stinging ache rise in her eyes.

“I’m not going back. Why would I go back? I’d rather die than go back.”

—

Ever since Feng Yanwen left, life in the Xu family hadn’t been as smooth as before.

Granny Xu was still in the hospital getting IV drips and needed someone to care for her every day. The responsibility had to rotate among the three sons.

Originally, it was agreed that each family would take turns. But aside from Xu Jiefang, both the eldest and second sons and their wives were dual-income workers. Taking care of the elderly meant they had to take time off from their units.

Logically speaking, Xu Dawei and Xu Jia were both on summer break, and as adults, they were perfectly capable of caring for their grandmother. But who could command those two living Buddhas^[1]“Living Buddha” (活佛) is used here sarcastically. In Chinese, calling someone a “living Buddha” can imply that they are treated with excessive reverence or made out to be untouchable—too … Continue reading? Never mind that Xu Dawei was unwilling to do any of the dirty or tiresome caretaking tasks—even Xu Jia pinched her nose and ran out of the hospital room the moment she saw the old lady, acting like just laying eyes on her was too disgusting to bear.

Finally, when Granny Xue’s condition had stabilized a bit, the whole family gathered to discuss the matter.

Granny Xue delivered the opening speech. Aside from recounting the hardships of raising sons, she also spoke at length about how she had once struggled to survive between her in-laws and her husband. By the end, she was even complaining about her long-deceased husband—all in an effort to emphasize the unique and irreplaceable status of an old mother within the family, attempting to reinforce her sons’ sense of filial duty. On the other hand, she stressed that although she was now old, sick, and disabled, she remained the core of the household.

Of course, she made no mention of how she had practically assumed the life of a grand matron by her forties after her daughters-in-law married into the family, nor did she acknowledge how she had exploited her daughters-in-law’s labor once she became the mother-in-law.

Otherwise, how could someone as mild-tempered as Feng Yanwen have finally reached her breaking point?

Her rambling made Wang Meili furrow her brows repeatedly.

Li Xiuzhi, one of the Eight Key Workers, interrupted the old lady with an official tone. “Third Brother, you need to figure out a way to get your wife back as soon as possible. She’s been out for so long and still hasn’t returned. If people see that, they’ll start talking. And besides, she’s too delicate. She’s the only one in the family who doesn’t earn money, and when the household chores fall to her, she’s not happy about it. What’s there for her to be unhappy about? Is she planning to come back or not? Don’t wait until the old lady gets sick and she runs off, only to come trotting back cheerfully once she’s better. When that time comes, I won’t be welcoming her back.”

Li Xiuzhi had always carried herself with the most authority in the family.

There was no helping it—after all, she was one of the “Eight Key Workers” and had given birth to the family’s only son.

She was used to being proud, and never regarded Feng Yanwen with any respect.

Xu Jiefang had remained silent the entire time, not mentioning that he had run into Xu Meng the day before. But deep down, he had a vague feeling that Feng Yanwen and her daughter were living quite well now, and clearly had no intention of coming back. Besides, he didn’t even know where they were living now. Perhaps he shouldn’t have hit her yesterday. Maybe he should have just spoken properly.

The eldest son, sat there troubled, lit a cigarette, and took a few deep drags before finally lifting his head to look at Xu Jiefang.

Xu Jiefang felt aggrieved too. During this time, he had been taking care of himself. None of his sisters-in-law had offered to help wash his clothes. Back when Feng Yanwen was still at home, she had done plenty of those chores for them. He wasn’t unaware of that, but because he didn’t have any biological children, he always felt inferior to the others. He believed Feng Yanwen should just endure it too—after all, she hadn’t given birth to any children, had she?

As for Xu Meng, she was even more in the wrong. She had been adopted, so she should have known her place.

Doing chores was her duty, something that was only right and proper.

Not being able to have children had already left him feeling frustrated. Now his wife had run off too, and who knew what people outside were saying about him. Just thinking about it made Xu Jiefang feel miserable. After being stared at by his eldest and second brothers for quite some time, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

“I’ll tell her to come back and take care of Mom.”

Granny Xue, lying in bed, suddenly seemed like she’d been injected with chicken blood. Her voice shot up sharply. “Pah, if she wants to come back, it won’t be that easy. She’ll have to kneel and kowtow to me to apologize first.”

Wang Meili couldn’t hold back anymore. “Mom, if you’re planning to make Jiefang switch wives, then go ahead and keep being stubborn with her. But I’ve had enough. If you’re trying to drive us to our graves, just say it. Work at the unit is already a mess, and there’s so much to do at home. Do you really think we sit around all day doing nothing?”

Granny Xue was so angry she could only groan.

Some people, when they got old, would at least admit it and mellow out—but not her.

No pension, no longer able to take care of herself, yet she could still strut around acting high and mighty, pressing down on her daughters-in-law so hard they couldn’t even breathe. Even while sick and needing her children and grandchildren to wait on her, she still gave orders with that same overbearing tone. No one knew where she got that sense of entitlement.

“You tell her, as long as she behaves herself, Xu Meng can go ahead and study if she wants to.” Granny Xue finally backed down for once. “But I’ll say the unpleasant part upfront. If she dares throw another tantrum like this, she can go wherever she pleases. From now on, she has to listen, and there need to be rules in this household. If I say something on the table isn’t for eating, the two of them aren’t allowed to touch it.”

Calling Feng Yanwen back was to make her serve others, not to let her enjoy any comfort.

She still wanted to boss people around for the rest of her life—how could they stop obeying this early?

Wang Meili let out a sneer. “With grades like hers, studying another year is just a waste of money. Her scores aren’t even half as good as our Jia Jia’s. Thick-headed as a wooden block. She didn’t inherit a single bit of cleverness from her parents.”

Tuition cost several hundred yuan a year, after all.

“If she’s so unwilling to give up, then let her take the exam. At least that way she won’t resent us for the rest of her life. She thinks getting into college is so easy, like anyone can get in. If you ask me, it’s Third Brother’s wife who spoiled her. She (Feng Yanwen) just happened to get lucky and got into college. Honestly, if we had looked at the books a bit earlier back then, maybe we would’ve gotten in too!”

Back then, she had always looked down on Feng Yanwen as some little village girl, yet it was Feng Yanwen who ended up getting into college.

Usually, Xu Jia’s presence in the household was so overwhelming that by comparison, Xu Meng seemed ordinary and unremarkable. No one had expected Xu Meng to actually get into college. From Granny Xue’s perspective, she might as well let her study for a year—after she graduated, she could get a job, and in a few more years, she could get married. Whether it was her future salary or her bride price, it would all contribute to the family. Raising her all this time only to have her run off now—that would be a real loss.

As for Feng Yanwen, the family had already tolerated the fact that she couldn’t have children. At least she was good at housework—she was still useful.

But Xu Jiefang didn’t feel quite so optimistic. Judging by that girl’s attitude, it seemed like they were living quite well outside. Would they really be willing to come back and submit to the old woman’s “management”?

“But I don’t know where she’s living now,” Xu Jiefang said a bit guiltily.

“I do,” Wang Meili replied. “I asked around a long time ago.”

These past few days, she had been hoping Feng Yanwen would hurry up and return, so she had gotten someone to ask around. The area wasn’t that big, and it didn’t take long for her to find out. With an air of mystery, she continued, “Do you all know where they’re living now?”

Granny Xue dismissed it without concern. “Where else could she be? Maybe she’s found herself some other man.”

The moment those words came out, the room fell silent for a second.

The eldest and the second sons, both glanced at Xu Jiefang with sympathetic eyes.

It had to be admitted—Feng Yanwen was quite good-looking. Otherwise, Xu Jiefang wouldn’t have taken one look at her back then and insisted on marrying her into the city. Over the years, Li Xiuzhi had put on weight, Wang Meili had grown haggard, but only Feng Yanwen, who never had children, had maintained her youthful figure. If someone said she was only in her early thirties, people would believe it.

If it weren’t for the reputation of being infertile, a woman like Feng Yanwen—even after a divorce—could easily find someone better.

But as for Xu Jiefang, trying to find someone with a better temperament and appearance than Feng Yanwen? That would be a tall order.