Chapter 47: Lin Bingwei Gives Them a Free Spring Wash with Dirty Water

They never said she couldn’t see her child—just that she wasn’t allowed to return to the Zhang family home.

“Shufen, you must have misunderstood your mother-in-law. She never said you couldn’t see Jianguo.”

“Exactly! What you said yesterday was wrong.”

Zhou Shufen felt a little guilty—just a little.

She said, “Meeting my own child outside, what kind of nonsense is that? I’m the daughter-in-law of this family. Just because my husband died, you can’t kick me out, right?”

Aunt Liu from the Zhang family spoke up for her, “That’s right, that’s right! Sister-in-law, you can’t just kick her out just because Tingyi is gone.”

Li Yurong was furious. “Liu, do you even listen to yourself? Who kicked her out? She stole money and abandoned a three-month-old baby!”

“There was a reason for that,” Aunt Liu said, repeating the excuse Zhou Shufen had given yesterday, emphasizing how difficult it was for Zhou Shufen to get money from Li Yurong. Li Yurong was so enraged she nearly passed out.

“Is that what you’ve been telling people?” She was trembling with anger, pointing at Zhou Shufen. “Say it again, in front of everyone—when have I ever withheld money from you?”

Zhou Shufen couldn’t find the words to respond.

Li Yurong continued, “The day you stole money, didn’t I give you six hundred yuan? I told you to save five hundred and use the remaining hundred for yourself. A full hundred! Do you know how many days your father-in-law has to play music at funerals to earn that back? Tell me, which mother-in-law is this generous?”

With that, the crowd fell silent.

Giving a daughter-in-law spending money—one hundred yuan at a time—what more could she ask for?

Especially those who had suffered under stingy mothers-in-law—they had been married for decades and had never gotten a hundred yuan to spend freely.

What kind of mother-in-law was this? If she was still being accused of being cruel, that was just nonsense.

Everyone started criticizing Zhou Shufen, and even Aunt Liu, who had been defending her, was at a loss for words. She had no choice but to tug Zhou Shufen’s sleeve and whisper, “Hurry and apologize to your mother-in-law. Admit you were wrong.”

Zhou Shufen suddenly understood and quickly apologized, but she kept using the same excuse. “Mom, I was too scared when Tingyi passed away. That’s why I made a mistake. Please, just see me as a foolish young woman and forgive me this one time. I really know I was wrong.”

As she spoke, she even knelt down in front of Li Yurong.

Li Yurong wasn’t naturally hot-tempered. Seeing this, she was both furious and distressed.

No matter what, she wouldn’t let Zhou Shufen back into the house, but she didn’t know how to deal with the situation.

At that moment, someone who enjoyed stirring up trouble chimed in, “No matter what, she’s Jianguo’s mother. She already said she did it to earn money, and now she knows she was wrong. Don’t be so heartless.”

Li Yurong glared at the person speaking. “If you’re so sympathetic, why don’t you take her home with you? Sorry, but I hold grudges. Call me heartless if you want. Her household registration is no longer here, and I won’t let her step foot into my house again.”

Then, she looked down at Zhou Shufen, who was still kneeling on the ground. “Get lost. Did you hear me?”

“I won’t leave unless you forgive me and let me come home.”

“Ha! This isn’t your home anymore. Your household registration is with your mother!” Li Yurong was fuming. “Kneel all you want. I don’t care, but you’re not getting in.”

Li Yurong stormed back inside, picking up a laundry stick, but in the end, she didn’t hit anyone.

Lin Bingwei knew that her mother-in-law, Li Yurong, had been raised in a scholarly family and had received a proper lady’s education. She was an old-fashioned woman from the previous generation.

Faced with someone this shameless, she couldn’t outargue them, nor did she dare to resort to violence. She was only making herself angrier.

Lin Bingwei took Zhang Jianguo’s hand and comforted her. “Mom, don’t get mad. If she wants to kneel, let her kneel. Let’s see how long she can keep it up.”

Li Yurong huffed, “She’s absolutely shameless! Blocking the door like this, how does that look? Ugh! She’s going to drive me to an early grave.”

Seeing how angry she was, Lin Bingwei felt a little bad. She sent Li Yurong and Zhang Jianguo inside, then quickly finished washing the laundry. She opened the courtyard gate and directly dumped the dirty water outside.

A loud shriek rang out.

Zhou Shufen, who was kneeling on the ground, got soaked from head to toe—getting a free springtime bath.

It was still chilly in early spring, and she was instantly frozen to the bone, shivering and unable to say a word.

Several others standing nearby also got splashed.

Especially Aunt Liu—her pants were soaked halfway up.

After a burst of screams, she started cursing furiously.

“Lin Bingwei, where the hell are you throwing that water?!”

“I’m throwing it outside my own house. Is that a problem?”

“Are you blind? Didn’t you see the people standing there?”

Lin Bingwei sneered. “Oh, I saw them. I did it on purpose. If you know what’s good for you, get lost now. Otherwise, next time, it won’t be laundry water—it’ll be sewage.”

With that, she slammed the door shut.

Since everyone had already seen her kick Bihua into the sweet potato ditch before, most people believed she was fully capable of following through on her threat.

Not wanting to get doused in sewage, they cursed a few times but quickly left.

Zhou Shufen kept crying and cursing at the door, feeling utterly wronged. “Aunt Liu, what kind of wife did Tingyuan marry? She’s just a shrew!”

But Aunt Liu, shivering from her wet pants, tugged at her. “Let’s go home and change first. Getting sick isn’t worth it—we’ll deal with this later.”

People were poor, and in those times, no one wanted to waste money on medical bills—it was seen as throwing money away.

After a few more curses, Aunt Liu pulled Zhou Shufen away.

The remaining onlookers, seeing that the main characters had left, also dispersed.

After a while, Li Yurong cautiously peeked out the door. Seeing that everyone was gone, she finally relaxed.

“Weiwei, they really left.”

Lin Bingwei said, “With people like that, reasoning won’t work. You have to use a bit of their own tactics against them.”

Li Yurong nodded repeatedly.

At the same time, she looked worriedly at Zhang Jianguo, who was sitting nearby reading a book. She sighed and said to Lin Bingwei, “Weiwei, when Jianguo grows up and understands things better, do you think he’ll hate us for treating his mother like this?”

Lin Bingwei took it lightly. She said, “The future is unpredictable. Even children raised with love and care sometimes resent their parents. What’s more, we’re just his grandparents and uncle and aunt. Let’s not worry about the future—let’s just do what we believe is right for now.”

Li Yurong agreed wholeheartedly, thinking to herself that, despite all her years of education, she still couldn’t compare to her daughter-in-law, who had only studied up to third grade.

“You’re right. No one knows what the future holds. As long as we have a clear conscience now, that’s all that matters.”

Just then, Zhang Jianguo looked up from his book and suddenly said, “Auntie, can you be my mom?”

Both Li Yurong and Lin Bingwei were stunned.

Li Yurong asked, “Jianguo, what did you just say?”