Chapter 44: Zhou Shufen is Back?

Li Yurong angrily said, “Stop flattering yourself. He’s only three months old, and you left; he doesn’t even know what a mother is. Do you think you’re someone worthy of teaching him? Why doesn’t he recognize you? Don’t you have any self-awareness?”

“No matter what, I am Jianguo’s mother; you can’t treat me like this.”

“What do you want then?” Li Yurong asked.

Zhou Shufen replied, “I am your Zhang family’s daughter-in-law, so I naturally want to stay. Mom, please transfer my household registration back, and I’ll stay in the Zhang family to take care of Jianguo.”

“Pfft, dream on.”

Li Yurong was older but not foolish; she knew exactly what Zhou Shufen was up to.

Not to mention the ethical issues, what could someone like her possibly compare to Weiwei?

“Heartless person, you ran off with money when the child was only three months old. Why do you think we can forgive you? Go, go, go! Get out of here right now.”

Li Yurong put down Zhang Jianguo and personally pushed her.

Zhou Shufen was unwilling to leave and clung tightly to the door.

Zhang Tingyuan rolled up his sleeves, ready to help, but Lin Bingwei quickly stopped him.

“Weiwei, let me help Mom.”

“You keep an eye on Jianguo; I’ll go.”

He couldn’t go; what if Zhou Shufen, this shameless woman, accused him of something if he laid a hand on her?

Lin Bingwei went to help, and together with Li Yurong, they threw Zhou Shufen out, pushing her directly into the sweet potato ditch below the embankment.

That was the same place where Bihua and the others had fallen last time.

Zhou Shufen crawled up from the dirt ditch in a sorry state, crying out, “This is terrible! Someone’s going to die!”

Her scream attracted villagers to come and watch the commotion.

“Isn’t that the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zhang family?”

“Yeah, the one who left her three-month-old child to run off with money.”

Hearing everyone’s discussions, Zhou Shufen felt a bit embarrassed, but she had anticipated such things would happen before she came, so even if they laughed at her, she endured it.

“Zhou Shufen, why are you back again?” someone asked her.

With tears streaming down her face, Zhou Shufen said, “I know I did wrong back then. I left right after Tingyi passed away, and I didn’t even nurse my three-month-old baby. I truly feel sorry for them; I know I was wrong. I just want to make up for my past mistakes. I don’t want anything else; I just want to go out and earn a lot of money, and then I’ll stay in the Zhang family to raise Jianguo.”

At that moment, a middle-aged woman came forward to help her up and said, “Oh, it’s good that you can think this way. When your Tingyi passed away, I thought the same thing. Now that you have a son, what does it matter whether you remarry or not? Just stay at home and raise Jianguo with your in-laws; that would be great. But you chose to leave. Now you’re back and have come to your senses; you can live a good life with your in-laws.”

Hearing her words, Zhou Shufen felt happy and hurriedly said, “Aunt Liu, thank you! That’s exactly what I think.”

This was Zhangjia Village, where ninety percent of the families had the surname Zhang.

Aunt Liu was related to Zhang Tingyuan’s family, but they had distanced themselves over five generations. However, according to the generational hierarchy, they should still call her Aunt Liu.

She really took herself seriously, turning around with a smile to Li Yurong and saying, “Sister-in-law, look, your eldest daughter-in-law is back, and your Tingyuan is married too. It’s wonderful for your family to have a good life together.”

In this branch of the family, Zhang Yuanxiu was the eldest son, so people younger than him in the village called Li Yurong “Sister-in-law.”

Of course, there were more than just those two who called each other brother and sister-in-law.

In short, in a village with a single surname, the naming conventions were quite mixed up; there were many older people with younger generations, and there were even eighty-year-old men who should be called “little grandfather” by eight-year-old boys.

Li Yurong was not grateful and replied coldly, “Sorry, but we don’t have an eldest daughter-in-law. Our eldest son is dead, and Zhou Shufen ran away. We transferred her household registration back to her family. Jianguo, your sixth aunt, you’d better not say such things in the future.”

Aunt Liu’s smile froze.

Li Yurong then said to Zhou Shufen, “Zhou Shufen, hurry up and leave. We can’t afford a daughter-in-law like you, and Jianguo can’t afford a mother like you either.”

She hated Zhou Shufen deeply. Her departure didn’t just leave her grandson hungry; it had caused him to be mocked for years. From initially wanting to play with other children to later refusing to go out, it was all because of Zhou Shufen’s actions.

If the younger daughter-in-law hadn’t discovered the problem after marrying in, Jianguo might have ended up mute.

How could she possibly allow someone like that to return to the Zhang family and live there?

No way.

“Mom, I truly know I was wrong. Let me in, and we can live together as a family, okay? Jianguo needs a mother too.”

“Pfft, he needed you when you ran away. Now that he doesn’t need you, stop using Jianguo as an excuse. Hurry up and get lost.”

Zhou Shufen, feeling stubborn, said, “If you don’t let me in, then I won’t leave. I’ll just wait here until you let me in.”

After saying that, she stood her ground as if she had taken root and refused to move.

Li Yurong felt helpless and said to Lin Bingwei, “Let’s go back. If she wants to stand there, let her. She can forget about coming through this door.”

As she spoke, she pulled Lin Bingwei back.

Aunt Liu interjected, “Sister-in-law, you’re being too harsh. Didn’t Shufen say she knows she was wrong? You should give her a chance to change. It’s pitiful for a child without a mother. For Jianguo’s sake, can’t you forgive her just this once? Isn’t there an old saying about recognizing one’s mistakes and being able to change? I think Shufen is quite good.”

Li Yurong stopped and looked down at Aunt Liu from the embankment, saying, “You think she’s good? Then you can take her to your home.”

Aunt Liu replied, “Hey, how can you say that? What would it mean for me to take her to my house?”

Li Yurong directly closed the courtyard door, locked it, and even took a shovel to brace against the door, refusing to let Zhou Shufen in.

Zhang Tingyuan brought Zhang Jianguo over, saying, “Mom, this woman intends to stay at our house. I’ll take Jianguo and go out to handle her.”

“Enough, you stay right there.”

Zhang Tingyuan stopped again, saying, “Mom.”

Li Yurong, with a serious expression, said, “Tingyuan, you’re leaving tomorrow. Don’t get involved in this matter.”

Zhang Tingyuan replied, “It’s precisely because I’m leaving tomorrow that I want to settle this today. Otherwise, what will you do when I’m gone?”

“What do you mean, what will we do? Are we afraid of her?”

“I…”

“Enough, I understand what you mean, but you can’t get involved.”

Zhang Tingyuan felt frustrated.

At that moment, Lin Bingwei also said, “Mom is right; you can’t get involved. I see Zhou Shufen is targeting you. If you try to take her away, I dare say that as soon as you touch her, she’ll latch onto you.”

“I’m not that easily attached.” “That’s not up to you. If you want to get involved with her, then don’t come back,” Lin Bingwei said angrily.