CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 048 ARE YOU A NEW BRIDE TOO?

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"Mum, what’s happened?"

Xie Jingchen had just sent back the furthest table and chair when he saw his younger sister and four younger siblings standing outside the kitchen, all looking stunned. His younger sister appeared particularly anxious, while the four younger siblings seemed to be clutching their bellies and watching the commotion as if it were a joke, which displeased him.

Striding past them, he saw his mother protecting his young wife, pointing at the fifth younger sister and berating her furiously:

"You lazy good-for-nothing, troublemaker, and home-wrecker, you still have the face to mock Ni for not being pure? She is far more decent than you, having entered the Old Xie Family as a spotless bride, unlike some shameless person who sneaked in pregnant!"

Hearing this, Xie Jingchen’s face turned as black as ink. After calling out to his mother, he looked at his young wife who was lowering her head, not knowing what to do, and then glared at the fifth younger sister trembling in fear. A flash of anger passed through his eyes. He took several deep breaths to calm himself before sternly saying to Mrs. Xie with a grim face:

"Mother, let the fifth brother handle this. I will take Ni back to our bridal room first."

"Eh... go ahead!"

Zhou Xiuhua didn’t expect her third son to come back so soon, nor did she expect him to overhear her rants, which made her feel embarrassed and humiliated. After all, she had taken a liking to Xie Jingyang’s wife initially, but only after the betrothal did she realize she had been deceived.

But this young woman was also ruthless. She directly seduced Xiao Wu into sharing a bed with her and got pregnant, forcing Zhou Xiuhua to swallow this bitter loss all by herself.

Wang Xiaocui, upon hearing her uncle’s words, wanted to say something, but was too frightened by his fierce look and shrank into a corner, skulking behind Zhou Xiuhua. At that moment, all she could think about was the fear of Xiao Wu finding out what she had just said, and that they might as well not be together anymore.

After Xie Jingchen took Zhang Shanni away, she tearfully clutched at her mother-in-law’s hem and weakly pleaded, "Mum, mum, please don’t tell fifth brother, I won’t dare to do it again!"

Her own husband, Xie Jingyang, greatly admired his third brother. Knowing that she, Wang Xiaocui, had dared ’slander’ her third sister-in-law, he would undoubtedly be angry with her!

Ever since her husband went to university, Wang Xiaocui had been feeling insecure. On one hand, she was pleased that her husband had become successful, but on the other, she feared he might follow those other college students and leave his rough-and-rugged wife once he had a promising future.

That’s why Wang Xiaocui used visiting her parents as a pretext to actually follow her husband to the county town university, renting a small room to sweetly live out their days together.

Thanks to the financial support from her older brother in her family business, she never lacked money, and being well-fed, she was even more so as her younger sister married in the county town would often send goodies to their rented place, making them live a truly sweet life.

"I can’t help you with this. Even if I speak up now, the worst Mao Dan will do is get mad at you for a moment, but if your third uncle gets involved, you better be prepared to be sent back to your parents’ home! Wang Xiaocui, don’t think you can be fearless just because your parents are wealthy!"

Zhou Xiuhua turned her head away coldly, flinging off the hand that was tugging at her clothes while she responded calmly with a humph.

She felt it was necessary to give the fifth son’s wife a profound lesson, otherwise, if she continued her ways, wouldn’t it be Zhou Xiuhua who suffered in the end? She was not worried about her fifth son, but she was pained for her grandchildren, with a mother of such doubtful character, the future for Xiao Si and Xiaoqi would be hard.

"Mom, Mom~~" Wang Xiaocui wanted to say something else, but then she saw Xie Jingyang coming back.

When Xie Jingyang brought the empty bowl into the kitchen and saw his younger sister greeting him with a cold hum on her small face, he was puzzled. Seeing the mocking look in his sister-in-law’s eyes, he frowned and entered the kitchen.

He immediately saw his wife, with red-rimmed eyes, following his mother and crying as if she was the one who had been wronged, which inexplicably made him feel frustrated.

"Mom, what happened? Did Xiao Si’s mother anger you again?" Xie Jingyang glared fiercely at his wife, and seeing her fearfully shrinking her shoulders, he became even more convinced that she had done something stupid to upset his mother.

At this moment, he was unaware that his youthful blunder had become known to his younger sister and sister-in-law. After tonight, the entire Xie family, young and old, would know and he would struggle to lift his head high for a long time.

"If she angered me, I wouldn’t even bother with her!"

Zhou Xiuhua gestured for him to wait a moment and then shouted at the two daughters-in-law, who were gossiping together:

"You two, apart from standing around like a block of wood, can’t you find something useful to do? Or do I need to call Tie Dan and Xiong Dan back and have a word with them too?

And another thing, some issues should stay within the family, and I don’t mind that. But if you go spreading them around to others, don’t blame me for being unkind to you!"

"No need, we won’t blabber! Mother, I’ll go collect firewood [sweep the courtyard] right away!" The sisters-in-law, hearing their mother-in-law’s about-to-explode anger, shook their heads and chimed in unison, quickly making their exit without looking back.

"Mom, I’ll go tidy up the main room!" Xie Jingzi, upon catching a dagger-like glare from her mother, hastily ducked her head in reply, scurrying away like smoke. After all, it was her slip of the tongue that had caused this entire mess; now she felt very uncomfortable about it too.

Zhou Xiuhua, seeing all the idlers gone, turned back only to see her youngest daughter-in-law with tears streaming down her face like a Little White Flower, tailing Mao Dan. Her heart grew even angrier. Clutching at her chest with one hand and pointing at her with the other, she scolded fiercely:

"Shut your mouth! It’s a day of joy, and here you are wailing and sobbing - what kind of image is that?! As a member of the fifth family, how are you fulfilling your sister-in-law duty, huh? I just asked you to straighten up the kitchen and you’ve caused such commotion?

Ha, think you’ve got such a thick face that you can just sit there watching your Third Sister-in-law busy herself? She’s the new bride, are you also a new bride? Or are you just standing here like a blockhead, waiting to be scolded?"

"Mother~~" Wang Xiaocui, shrinking her shoulders as if to say something after being scolded, grew even more frightened under the stern gaze of Xie Jingyang, but she still dared not move; she was afraid that once she left, her mother-in-law would complain to her husband.

Though Mrs. Xie was scolding harshly now, she hadn’t yet touched the heart of the matter, so deep down Wang Xiaocui was somewhat hoping that her mother-in-law would let her off the hook. Her eyes turned softer and more pleading when she looked at her own man.

Seeing her acting like such a delicate Little White Flower, Zhou Xiuhua had only intended to give her a piece of her mind for her to remember, that’s all.

But who would have thought that this woman of the fifth family would dare to make suggestive eyes at her son right in front of her? This made her clutching chest twitch, and now, seething with rage, she relayed the entire backstory and her recent behavior, as well as other trifling matters directly to the fifth Xie in front of Wang Xiaocui’s pale face.

The more Xie Jingyang listened, the angrier he got. Seeing his wife shrinking in the corner, he wanted to ball his fists and give her a good beating if only he didn’t consider himself an educated man!

"Anyway, your Third Sister-in-law is someone our family brought in after all. Is this how you behave as a younger sister-in-law? Ah, and then you said you were going back to your mother’s home, I didn’t say anything, but Xiao Si and Xiaoqi are still so young! You completely abandoned them at home, throwing off all care and running off. Gone for days on end, not even returning once in half a month. Is this how you act as a mother?" Zhou Xiuhua slapped her thigh, taking Little Wuer by the hand to air her grievances:

"Mao Dan, it’s not that I like scolding you all, but you spouses - one off to university, the other just straight back to her mother’s home, neglecting everything here and leaving the two little ones behind, wild and uncared for like stray weeds! Do you even want these children?"

Wang Xiaocui, now even more afraid as she saw her husband’s face turning livid, hastily lowered her head. Previously, she had told him while living in the county town that the kids were staying at her mother’s place!

Absolutely wouldn’t trouble his mom, she said!

She was scared. Her husband was on the verge of making something of himself, and he had always heeded his mother’s words. In a fit of anger, he might just decide to divorce her!

And with fear comes the feared.

"Wang Xiaocui, I, Xie Jingyang, can’t afford to keep you. Go pack your things. Tomorrow I’ll go with you to town, and we can file for divorce on the way!" Xie Jingyang gritted his teeth and said coldly.

Xie Jingyang was truly angry. Ever since his mom gave birth to his little sister, her health had been failing. If not for his Third Brother being in the military and had some connections to procure nourishing medicine, she would have collapsed long ago!

Even the little sister understood to help out with household chores during her sisters-in-law’s labor.

But this woman? Not only had she run off to her maternal home without a word, but she also had the audacity to leave both children behind for her mother to care for! The household chores were already plentiful, and these days, due to the health decline of Boss’s mother-in-law, he devoted himself to attending to his wife’s family.

It was difficult to speak to the fourth sister-in-law since she was pregnant and of little use at home, being already seven months along. The household affairs were not suitable for her to handle. The only one who could truly help Mom was her, but not only did she not stay at home to assist, she even deceived him, claiming that the kids were being looked after by her own elder sister at her maternal home?!

He was an utter fool to have believed her lie! If not for his mom being so upset right now and telling him everything, he would still be kept in the dark!

"No! I won’t divorce!" Wang Xiaocui, frightened and anxious, a tightness lodged in her chest, suddenly fainted.

It should be known that, in this era, divorce was a huge disgrace. No matter how progressive the times became or how fashionable the people were, that applied to the towns. In the countryside, unless it absolutely couldn’t be helped, nobody would entertain the thought of divorce!

Since the Old Xie Family’s fifth son was a university student, before he went off to school, he had followed Wang Xiaocui to the civil affairs bureau to get the marriage certificate, which is why divorce was a possibility now.

In Qingfeng Village, the Old Xie Family was considered the most progressive. Thanks to two educated members of the family, the third and fifth sons, every marriage in the family was legally registered with marriage certificates, even though Eldest Xie and Xie Family’s parents only hosted wedding banquets initially, they too formally acquired the marriage certificates afterwards under Xie Jingchen’s influence.

In the rural areas of the seventies and eighties, this was quite cultured.

One must know, in the village today, many still simply host a wedding banquet and that’s it - very few actually go through with obtaining a marriage certificate.