Burglary! A substantial amount!

These two key points made Xia Xiaolan breathe a sigh of relief. How could Zhang Erlai dare to commit crimes at such a time – he was truly seeking his destruction? Xia Xiaolan wasn’t worried about him trying to drag her down with false accusations anymore. Why would Zhang Erlai want to make his charges even heavier?

This news brought joy to the entire family.

Especially Liu Fen, usually a compliant person accustomed to accepting her fate, who hoped Zhang Erlai would receive the death penalty. Even if he didn’t die, imprisoning him for ten or twenty years would mean that gradually, people would stop bringing up Xia Xiaolan’s reputation.

“The police did well in arresting him! All these bad people should be arrested!”

Liu Fen wiped tears as she spoke. How could Xia Xiaolan have been interested in Zhang Erlai, a good-for-nothing approaching thirty who couldn’t even find a wife? The former Xia Xiaolan might have been delicate and competitive, but she had high standards! Unfortunately, only Liu Fen in the Xia family believed her daughter. Others didn’t stand up for “Xia Xiaolan,” instead thinking she had tarnished the Xia family’s reputation with her loose behavior.

Li Fengmei privately consoled her sister-in-law:

“The Xia family will regret this someday. I can see Xiaolan has potential. Does not attending university automatically make her inferior to her cousin? The Xia family’s excessive favoritism of Xia Ziyu is what pushed Xiaolan to the edge.”

Liu Fen was straightforward, but Li Fengmei was somewhat calculating – how else could Liu Yong, once directionless, become more sensible after marrying her?

People said Xia Xiaolan seduced her future brother-in-law, but in Li Fengmei’s opinion, between Xia Xiaolan and Xia Ziyu, men would prefer Xia Xiaolan. It takes two to tango – if Xia Xiaolan hadn’t felt her cousin had stolen her man, she wouldn’t have made such a big scene.

Sisters fighting over a man wasn’t uncommon in the countryside – everyone wanted a good match.

The difference was that the Xia family, instead of treating both sides equally, completely favored Xia Ziyu… That was the power of being a Golden Phoenix University student. Li Fengmei also believed the Xia family would come eventually, so she constantly prepared Liu Fen mentally for when Xia Dajun arrived.

“If you don’t stand up for Xiaolan, the Xia family will bully her even more!”

Li Fengmei hadn’t particularly liked her sister-in-law Liu Fen before. Though called sister-in-law, Liu Fen was about her age. Liu Yong had married in his thirties, and Li Fengmei was his second wife. By then, Liu Fen was already married, so the two women hadn’t interacted much and had little emotional connection. Liu Yong had secretly helped Liu Fen before, and while everyone struggled financially, Li Fengmei hadn’t voiced complaints but was unhappy inside.

Since Liu Fen was dull and didn’t know how to please her sister-in-law, and had a daughter who held her head too high, there was no way Li Fengmei would have liked the mother-daughter pair.

She only maintained appearances by meeting twice a year out of respect for Liu Yong.

When Liu Yong suddenly brought his sister and niece back from the Xia family, Li Fengmei had objections but kept quiet to avoid marital discord.

Of course, it helped that Liu Yong had been earning well recently. He’d been traveling frequently over the past six months, giving Li Fengmei considerable money. With the family’s improved finances, they could afford to feed two more people. If they had been truly destitute, even at the risk of affecting their marriage, Li Fengmei would have found ways to drive out the mother-daughter pair, if not through outright confrontation.

Besides, Xia Xiaolan and her mother weren’t freeloading.

Liu Fen took on many household chores, and Xia Xiaolan was even more generous, earning money through her business acumen and willing to spend it at home.

Within less than half a month of moving in, Li Fengmei finally began treating them as family. As a family, she shared some heartfelt words. Li Fengmei knew Xia Xiaolan was ambitious and wouldn’t live with her uncle forever. At her current rate of earning, if not settling in Shangdu City, she could likely afford a house in the county.

The only hindrance was Liu Fen.

Everyone worried about Liu Fen’s soft heart – if Xia Dajun came and Liu Fen returned to the Xia family to continue her life of silent suffering, then no matter how capable Xia Xiaolan was, the Xia family would have leverage over her… Li Fengmei had witnessed Xia Xiaolan’s filial piety toward Liu Fen. How could they expect a daughter who wasn’t filial to her mother to be good to her uncle?

Li Fengmei’s words made Liu Fen nod while washing dishes.

The mother and daughter’s life in the Xia family – despite having many people and much land, they shouldn’t have gone hungry. But Old Mrs. Xia used filial piety to prevent her three sons from dividing the household, controlling all crop yields herself and deciding how to distribute the remaining grain after paying government quotas.

The Xia family had 12 members, but only four were truly capable of labor!

Old Mrs. Xia, a widow who raised three sons, didn’t work in the fields. The eldest, Xia Changzheng, had a son and daughter – the daughter being Xia Ziyu, who spent most of the year studying in the county. After entering high school, she was considered a promising student, and Old Mrs. Xia wouldn’t let her precious granddaughter work, fearing it would affect her studies. With Old Mrs. Xia’s approval, Xia Changzheng’s wife Zhang Cui went to the county to care for Xia Ziyu. Their young son, only 10, wasn’t old enough to work.

The third son, Xia Hongbin, had three children. His eldest daughter Xia Hongxia, 17, quit after junior high and stayed home cooking and feeding chickens with her mother Wang Jingui, avoiding heavy work. Xia Hongxia’s two brothers were young – the elder hadn’t finished elementary school, and the younger was Tao Tao’s age. What labor could they provide?

Only Liu Fen’s family, with both her and Xia Dajun being the main laborers, saw Liu Fen working as hard as any man, taking on all heavy tasks. Despite having two workers, they received the least when Old Mrs. Xia distributed anything. When Xia Ziyu got into university, Old Mrs. Xia rushed to gather living expenses from the three families, openly saying Liu Fen’s family had fewer members, less burden, and no sons to establish, so Xia Dajun should contribute more – and he truly did, emptying their savings to contribute 300 yuan.

The field’s harvest went to the government; this money came from Xia Dajun’s odd jobs.

As Liu Fen thought about this, her eyes reddened.

Just because Xia Ziyu was going to university, did her daughter not need to marry? With their savings depleted, they couldn’t even afford new bedding, washbasins, or kettles – how could they arrange a good marriage? Liu Fen hadn’t dared think about these issues before, due to years of learned submission.

After Li Fengmei’s constant guidance, Liu Fen realized it wasn’t worth it.

Xia Ziyu had parents; for her studies in Beijing, Xia Changzheng only contributed over 100 yuan, and Xia Hongbin merely gave a token of 100 yuan. Why should she return with Xia Dajun to continue slaving for the Xia family, using their hard-earned money to support someone else’s daughter, while her daughter lay dying in bed with no money for treatment?

Liu Fen wiped her tears with the back of her hand:

“Sister-in-law, I won’t return to the Xia family.”