CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 49: WANT TO DEVOUR QIN DAZHUANG

"But she is my mother-in-law, your brother-in-law’s mom. What can I do about her? Should I tear faces and argue with her in public, causing a scene? Wouldn’t that make us a laughingstock?"

Jiang Xin felt troubled.

She feared being laughed at by others the most.

"If you’re afraid of being laughed at, then you and your daughter deserve to suffer. So why did you come back? If you think your reputation is more important than your daughter, then just stay with your mother-in-law with your child."

Jiang Xiaoxiao’s words were harsher, each one like a knife stabbing Jiang Xin’s heart.

That’s right, she cared too much about face.

At home, as long as her mother-in-law and aunt stirred things up, she would immediately compromise, just out of fear of others’ laughter and of being called unfilial.

In the eyes of outsiders, she seemed like a filial and kind daughter-in-law, but when it came down to it, the suffering and tears she endured were known only to her.

"Little sister! How can you treat me like this! I..."

Jiang Xin felt miserable.

The child, perhaps sensing the mother’s sadness, cried harder, maybe out of hunger.

Jiang Xiaoxiao sighed.

What else could she do?

Could she change her sister’s nature all at once?

"Alright, stop crying. Others say that a mother becomes stronger for her child. In such a situation, you must consider whether stepping back is for yourself or for your daughter’s future life.

If you keep yielding and your mother-in-law keeps pressing, today you can’t take good care of your confinement, the child can’t grow well, and if the child becomes weak and frequently ill, you will need to care for the child and visit the doctor. At that time, your mother-in-law will probably have more to say. Then what will you do? Will you have to endure it every time?"

Actually, this was Jiang Xin’s life in her previous life.

Jiang Xin was speechless.

Jiang Xiaoxiao turned and went out.

The child cried like this; she went to buy formula.

She couldn’t just watch the child keep crying here.

Mother Qin continued to prattle on.

"In-law, it’s not that I don’t let Jiang Xin stay at your house, but we also have to consider what the neighbors will say. Wouldn’t they point fingers and say our Qin family treats your daughter poorly? How will the couple live there?

People would say Dazhuang treats his wife poorly. My son won’t have a place to justify himself. If you really let Jiang Xin stay here, we don’t mind, but will Jiang Xin return in the future? Because of this, the couple might leave a knot in their hearts."

"Aunt, you mean if my second sister stays at her mother’s home today, then my brother-in-law will abandon her, right?"

Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn’t help it. This Mother Qin was adept at playing both sides; her words seemed harmless, but Jiang Xiaoxiao wasn’t foolish enough to miss the underlying meaning.

"Xiao Xiao, how can you talk like that? What do you mean your brother-in-law will abandon your second sister? It’s clearly your second sister who abandoned your brother-in-law. Your second sister disregarded our family’s reputation and just took the child back to her parents’ house. Am I, as a mother-in-law, not allowed to say anything? Besides, which daughter-in-law goes back to her mother’s house during confinement?"

Mother Qin spoke arrogantly, thinking she was in the right.

Qin Dazhuang said humbly, "Mom! It’s not as serious as you say. Jiang Xin and the child need care. You’re never home, and we don’t complain, but look at them—just a week out of the hospital, and they look so thin."

He really couldn’t bear to bring his wife back when she couldn’t even have a hot meal at home.

He’s a man; he can’t just not go to work, and with his wife already in confinement, if he also doesn’t work, how will they survive?

"What kind of words are these? Are you blaming your mother? What could I do? Your wife doesn’t eat this or that. I can’t revolve around your wife every day; your brother has two kids that I need to look after too. Do you think it was easy raising you and your brother all these years? And now you blame me. People say a man forgets his mother after marrying a wife. Looks like it’s true with you!"

Mother Qin’s voice suddenly rose to an octave higher.

"Aunt, which mother-in-law doesn’t take care of the daughter-in-law during her confinement? If you really don’t take care, then just don’t. No one is begging you to.

But instead, you go out and boast to others about how hard you work to take care of your daughter-in-law in confinement, while in reality, you don’t do anything. Even the baby’s diapers, my sister, who’s still recovering, has to wash. You yourself were a daughter-in-law once. Did your mother-in-law treat you like this? From what I remember, the Qin family has always had a good family reputation.

You used to brag about how your mother-in-law took such good care of you during confinement and left you the family property in the end, like you were mother and daughter.

Was that all fake?"

Jiang Xiaoxiao didn’t leave any face.

This Mother Qin had bragged about inheriting property by treating her mother-in-law like her mother, as if she was treated like her real daughter, doing nothing during confinement.

Mother Qin was speechless.

What could she say?

Say her relationship with her mother-in-law wasn’t as others believed?

That would be slapping her own face.

"Of course, I treat Jiang Xin like my own daughter. I didn’t make her wash the diapers; she went to wash them herself, ask your sister if you don’t believe."

Mother Qin clumsily defended herself.

Jiang Xiaoxiao sneered, "Sure! You didn’t make her wash, you just didn’t wash yourself, and the baby’s diapers were running out. Wait for you? I bet our niece’s bottom would be sore by then. Enough with the nonsense, starving your daughter-in-law and granddaughter to skin and bones. The Qin family is indeed kind and gracious.

I admire that. I’ll go to Uncle Qin’s workplace tomorrow to see if Uncle Qin and Aunt Qin do the same.

Isn’t it you who said Uncle Qin’s family was so poor that we have to support them, borrowing twenty yuan a month from my sister and brother-in-law when they earn just over fifty a month? You take twenty and sometimes even take grain and vegetables. I really want to know what kind of rule is it that says a brother’s family should support an uncle’s household!"

She ruthlessly exposed everything.

The facade was stripped away.

Qin Dazhuang’s face turned red.

He quietly blamed Jiang Xin for telling her younger sister everything.

This really left no face for his mother.

Mother Qin also looked aggrieved.

Staring daggers at Qin Dazhuang.

As if wanting to eat him alive.