Chapter 24 – Past Life: Lady Song Cleverly Tames the Shrew

“Mom, please eat something,” He Chengze carefully held a bowl of porridge brought over from the neighbors, calling out gently to his mother.

It had already been two days. Ever since they received news of He Yanxin’s death, Lady Song had remained dazed and motionless, her eyes unfocused, not drinking a single drop of water.

Even upon hearing her son’s voice, she merely blinked.

For the past two days, all their meals had been brought over by the neighbor, Madam Li. Though it was only some thin porridge, at least the two children hadn’t gone hungry.

But don’t assume Madam Li was acting out of kindness—she wasn’t feeding them out of goodwill. It was simply because the eighty jin of compensation grain from He Yanxin’s death had been seized by her family.

And now, no one could hold the couple accountable for this.

Granny Ge had suffered a stroke after waking up that day. She was paralyzed in bed, unable to speak or move, only able to weep uncontrollably, as if she would cry herself blind.

Old Man Wu’s condition was somewhat better. Though he couldn’t speak that day, he slowly began to recover, though now he could only speak one word at a time.

Madam Chen had fallen ill, lying in bed crying every day.

The eldest branch of the family had only two children and couldn’t challenge the authority of their elders.

As a result, Second Brother Wu and his wife had become the de facto heads of the Wu family, doing whatever they pleased.

They hadn’t intended to care for their neighbors at all. However, that day, in front of other villagers, Third Brother Wu had publicly asked the couple to look after Lady Song and her children before he left.

In times like these, reputation still mattered. They feared being criticized behind their backs, so they reluctantly sent food to the eldest branch’s family each day—though now the eldest was already gone.

They had their daughter, Wu Xiaoniang, cook porridge for Lady Song and her two sons and brought them the leftovers.

On the first day, Madam Li personally brought the food into the room and immediately started mocking Lady Song.

“So what if you married a good husband? He still died young, didn’t he?”

No matter what she said, Lady Song didn’t respond. Enraged, Madam Li dumped the porridge onto the bed.

“Lick it up if you want! Hmph! Let’s see how proud you can be now!” she scoffed, then strutted out, ignoring the two children.

Truthfully, Madam Li had been jealous of Lady Song from the very first time she laid eyes on her.

At first, it was because Lady Song was beautiful and delicate—completely different from the rough village girls. During her time living with the Wu family, she ate well every day.

Later, after Lady Song married He Yanxin, not only did her husband adore her, but even her mother-in-law liked her.

In contrast, Madam Li had schemed extensively to win over Wu Erfan, but still failed to earn her mother-in-law’s approval.

Why should Lady Song have it all so easily?

But now, she’d finally fallen—and Madam Li could trample her as she pleased.

That evening, she came again. Yet no matter how vicious her words were, Lady Song remained expressionless.

Perhaps finding it boring, Madam Li didn’t bother entering the next day. She simply called out from the door for He Chengze to come take the food.

She didn’t care whether a child not yet five years old could carry it. She just set the bowl down and left. If not for appearances’ sake, she wouldn’t have sent it at all.

Fortunately, they always delivered the food after eating themselves, so the porridge was no longer hot. Though the bowl was nearly as big as He Chengze’s head, he carried it carefully and had never spilled any.

Seeing his mother still unresponsive, the eldest son finally cried for the first time in two days. He climbed onto the bed and hugged her.

“Mommy, Second Aunt pinched me. It hurt so much… Wuwuwu…” He felt like he couldn’t take it anymore.

The little boy didn’t fully understand what had happened. He only knew that his father wasn’t coming back. And now, even his mother had changed.

He was scared, but he had to be strong for his younger brother.

The younger one started crying pitifully too.

Hearing the children’s sobs, Lady Song trembled slightly. She raised her arms and embraced them both. Then, she couldn’t hold back anymore and began to weep.

“My precious babies!”

After mother and sons cried bitterly in each other’s arms, Lady Song finally pulled herself together. She carefully asked He Chengze where he had been pinched, then kissed the bruised spot with heartache.

She comforted the two children, then got up to tidy the room and clean herself up.

“Oh? Not playing dead anymore?” Madam Li sneered when she saw Lady Song coming out. She slammed the bowl into her hands.

Lowering her voice so no one else would hear, she added, “I put something good in there today—my spit. Like it? You better enjoy it.”

Lady Song’s eyelids fluttered slightly. She suppressed the urge to smash the bowl over Madam Li’s head.

If she spit in it today, what about yesterday? And the day before? Even if she hadn’t eaten it, the children had!

And her eldest—such a sweet, well-behaved little boy—how could anyone bear to pinch him?

How could someone be so malicious and disgusting? A person shouldn’t—at the very least, shouldn’t be like that.

Lady Song closed her eyes and opened them again.

No, she couldn’t fall out with Madam Li just yet. She was alone, with only her two children—powerless and vulnerable.

“I actually came out today just to speak with you about this,” she said sweetly. “My health has recovered now, so you don’t need to bring ‘meals’ anymore.”

Lady Song flashed a radiant smile, deliberately emphasizing the word “meals.”

She knew exactly what Madam Li hated most—this kind of demeanor. Previously, Lady Song had toned down her soft, Southern femininity to fit in, but now…

Didn’t she hate it? Then Lady Song would drive her mad with it.

“Truly, you’ve worked so hard these days.” (Spit! Let her think she’s my maid—she’s been serving me!)

“Look at your waistline, oh my~ you’ve ‘slimmed down’! You should eat more and nourish yourself!” Lady Song pointed to Madam Li’s barrel-like waist and told a bold-faced lie.

Since coming to Anshan Village, she hadn’t spoken this delicately in a long time. But now, she adopted the catty wordplay often used by the Southern ladies she once knew.

“I shouldn’t trouble you anymore. How about you just return the compensation grain that belonged to my Yanxin?” she added, bowing her head slightly and dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

Since they had been standing at the doorway for a while, two gossip-loving women from the village approached from behind.

Madam Li couldn’t fully understand Lady Song’s elegant speech, but she could tell by her posture—this kind of delicate grace she hated most. It made her feel small.

Infuriated, she snapped.

“Pah!” She spat and tried to grab the bowl back.

“What do you mean, your grain? You shameless little tramp! I can’t stand your… your phony pretentious act!”

That last phrase—“phony pretentious” (惺惺作态)—was something she had learned from two women quarreling in town. She didn’t know exactly what it meant but interpreted it as: “A star trying to act like the sun—disgustingly fake.”

She then slapped the bowl from Lady Song’s hands, and Lady Song stumbled back in surprise, collapsing against her own doorway.

“Second Sister-in-law, even if you won’t return the grain, you didn’t have to hit me…”

Tears streamed down her face as she turned around. Dressed in a white mourning robe with a white cloth tied around her forehead, she looked genuinely pitiful.

Madam Li, seeing her like this, became even more furious and envious. She rolled up her sleeves, about to strike her.

“Wu Er’s wife, that’s enough!” The onlookers who had been silently watching stepped forward to stop her.

Under normal circumstances, they would’ve enjoyed the drama. But Lady Song had just lost her husband—there was a line even gossipers wouldn’t cross.

But Madam Li was too angry to listen, cursing and shouting about tearing out Lady Song’s mouth.

Then, Lady Song did something she never would have before: she sat on the ground, crying and wailing, completely disregarding her image.

All the noise drew a crowd.

When everyone saw the scene, it was obvious—Madam Li was bullying the widow of the He family.

The two women who had arrived earlier immediately gossiped about everything they had witnessed, exaggerating it to fuel their own sense of satisfaction.

They even claimed that Madam Li had slapped Lady Song so hard she collapsed against the door and couldn’t get up.

No one noticed that at that moment, Lady Song’s sobs paused for just a second.

(End of Chapter)