Chapter 11: The Younger Son Got Beaten

“You… you…” Liu Dani’s lips trembled slightly, her teeth grinding audibly — she wished she could tear Zhang Xiulian to pieces.

What made her angry wasn’t just that Zhang Xiulian dared to talk back and scold her — it was that the usual ways she used to control her suddenly stopped working.

In the past, Liu Dani had complete control over Zhang Xiulian.

Whenever she felt unwell, she would just groan a few times in front of her daughter-in-law, and Zhang Xiulian would immediately rush to take her to the clinic.

But then behind her back, Liu Dani would speak ill of her:

“My daughter-in-law is so wasteful. Look at me — it’s just a minor illness, and she insists on dragging me to the clinic. Do you think medicine and injections are free? Whoever marries her is cursed for eight lifetimes.”

Every time Zhao Debao hit Zhang Xiulian, Liu Dani would pretend to be furious, holding her daughter-in-law’s hand and scolding her own son:

“You damned brat! If you dare hit your wife again, I’ll break your legs!”

But then behind closed doors, she’d grit her teeth and tell her son:

“A woman needs to be beaten! Three days without a beating and she’ll turn the house upside down. You need to discipline her hard!”

In her past life, Zhang Xiulian didn’t realize until her mother-in-law passed away that the old woman had two completely different faces.

Now, living this life over again, she had finally figured it out.

Back then, when her mother-in-law once said,

“I’ll treat you like my own daughter,”
Zhang Xiulian had taken it to heart — and had really treated her mother-in-law like her own mother.

She had been genuinely filial.

Even when scolded, she thought it was because her mother-in-law saw her as family and didn’t hold back.

Looking back now on all the foolish things she had done, Zhang Xiulian curled her lips and let out a long sigh, showing a bitter smile full of meaning.

A mother-in-law is still a mother-in-law — no matter how well the daughter-in-law behaves, she will never compare to her own son.

So don’t offer up sincerity to someone who only gives you fake affection.

Zhang Xiulian sat on her eldest daughter’s bed and carefully folded the new dress she had bought for her, placing it neatly at the head of the bed.

After leaving the department store, she had also gone to a few other shops and picked out new clothes for both herself and her younger daughter.

For the little one, she bought a blue suspender dress with an adorable embroidered teddy bear on the front. The bear’s round little body was charming and lovable — just like her daughter.

While buying it, Zhang Xiulian could already imagine how beautiful her daughter would look in it — even prettier than the child stars on TV.

For herself, she bought a trendy outfit in a mature and steady gray.

After changing into the new clothes, Zhang Xiulian looked at herself in her daughter’s small mirror, adjusting her hair.

In the mirror, she looked almost like—

She looked several years younger.

Clothes make the man, horses need their saddles—she decided she would also take better care of herself from now on, even though she was almost 50. Compared to the years ahead, every day now was still young.

Facing the mirror, Zhang Xiulian touched the skin on her face; her fingers felt its rough texture.

Next time she went to town, she would buy some snow cream and make herself and her two daughters look nice.

Just then, the front door suddenly slammed open with a clang—it was kicked open from outside.

The youngest daughter, Zhao Pingping’s crying immediately pierced Zhang Xiulian’s ears.

She quickly changed clothes, hurriedly put on her shoes, and ran out.

“Cry, cry, cry! You little thief, how dare you cry! You stole my dictionary and still won’t admit it! Give me back the dictionary right now, or don’t blame me for being ruthless!” Zhao Guang grabbed his sister Zhao Pingping’s schoolbag with both hands, trying to snatch the dictionary.

“I’m not a thief! Mom gave me money to buy the dictionary. I really didn’t steal your things!”

“You still won’t admit it, huh?”

Zhao Guang was panting heavily, sweat beads the size of soybeans sliding down his chubby cheeks. His chest and back were drenched.

“I didn’t do it. Why would I admit it?”

Zhao Pingping tightly hugged her schoolbag to her chest; her knuckles turned white, and her palms were soaked with sweat.

Oh my, the poor kid who used to burst into tears at a single scolding suddenly became so tough today.

She even dared to talk back?

Zhao Guang’s face darkened. He raised his thick, fat-filled right hand high.

Smack!

It landed hard on Zhao Pingping’s face.

On her fair, delicate face instantly appeared a swollen red handprint the size of a mountain.

The sharp pain made tears burst from Zhao Pingping’s eyes like broken beads, falling nonstop.

She immediately covered her burning cheek and ran to her room.

At the doorway, she bumped right into her mother, Zhang Xiulian.

Zhang Xiulian immediately saw her daughter’s swollen cheek and anxiously grabbed her shoulder, shouting, “Who hit you? Mom’s going to find him!” Her tone was full of worry and pain.

Before Zhao Pingping could answer, Zhao Guang also ran over from behind.

Looking up at his mother, Zhao Guang’s chubby face showed a hint of surprise. Pointing a finger, he angrily said, “Mom, Zhao Pingping stole my new Xinhua dictionary and won’t admit it! She’s a thief!”

Zhang Xiulian’s expression changed slightly, instantly understanding.

Just now, it was Zhao Guang who hit Pingping.

At this moment, Zhao Guang stood with his hands on his hips, his schoolbag slanted awkwardly on his back, wearing a smug face as if waiting to watch a show. His chubby face glowed with an oily red shine.

Smack. Smack.

Without moving her upper body, Zhang Xiulian swung her right hand left and right, slapping Zhao Guang twice in quick succession.

“Ow, ow, that hurts so much!”

Zhao Guang covered his face with both hands, crying out in pain while wildly stamping his feet like a spinning top out of control.

“Mom, why are you hitting me? It was clearly her who stole my stuff.”

Zhao Guang cried but still questioned Zhang Xiulian.

“Why should I hit you? Forget who’s at fault — just for shouting your sister’s name around, you deserve to be hit. Do you even have the right to call her ‘Zhao Pingping’?”

“Besides, you casually hit your sister. Don’t you think you should be punished?”

Zhang Xiulian glared angrily and pointed at Zhao Guang as she scolded him.

Pingping looked confused: Uh, he’s always called me that.

Zhao Guang wiped his tears and kept mumbling, “But shouldn’t she be punished for stealing?”

“Still not convinced? You say your sister stole your dictionary — what evidence do you have?”

“The evidence is you only bought me one dictionary, not one for her. Now my dictionary is missing, and there’s an extra dictionary in her schoolbag. If she didn’t steal it, then who did?”

Zhao Guang looked very confident, as if he had witnessed everything with his own eyes.

Feeling wronged, Pingping loudly retorted again, “I didn’t steal it! Mom really bought this for me.”

“Mom, see? She’s lying to you right in front of you! You should beat her to death!” Zhao Guang shouted excitedly.

This time, he finally thought he had the upper hand.

Zhang Xiulian rubbed her brows in exasperation, looked at him sincerely, and said word by word, “Her dictionary wasn’t stolen. I bought it new for her. What else do you have to say?”

Whenever Zhang Xiulian saw her little son Zhao Guang acting so annoying now, she couldn’t help but think of the trouble he caused her in the past life.

After her mother-in-law and husband died last life, she still had some retirement money left.

But the useless Zhao Guang always caused trouble everywhere. When he grew up, he insisted on learning to drive and becoming a driver.

The first time he drove for someone, he hit a person.

Zhang Xiulian cried and knelt in front of the victim’s family begging for forgiveness.

She paid over 10,000 yuan in compensation before they stopped pursuing the matter.

But Zhao Guang’s behavior after that was shocking.