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Chapter 392: Chapter 392: Both the sister-in-law and the daughter-in-law have to go berserk.
Facing her younger daughter-in-law’s accusation, Lin Fengying softened her previously cold demeanor towards Tong Yao. With reddened eyes, she spoke softly, "I was confused for a moment, and this is indeed all my fault, Lijuan. As long as you feel better, you can say whatever you want to me. I will not retaliate."
With a tear streaking down her face, she continued, "I shouldn’t have been superstitious, thinking that letting Xiaochen and Yaoyao spend time with Yuanyuan would bring them good luck to have their own child. Xiaochen was right, whether or not to have a child is their decision and I shouldn’t have interfered so much. You are all grown up now, with your own lives, and it was wrong of me to meddle."
It must be said, Lin Fengying’s words of admitting fault were very cunning.
On one hand, she was admitting her mistake leaving Zhang Lijuan nowhere to vent her anger. On the other hand, she painted herself as having made these mistakes out of consideration for her eldest son. She even managed to suggest that Si Chen was ungrateful, despite everything she had done for his benefit.
If Zhang Lijuan continued arguing, it would seem like she wasn’t considering her brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s feelings.
However, how could she just let it slide when her child was taken away secretly? She couldn’t stay silent!
"Mom, even if you did this for Chen and Yao, couldn’t you have said something to us? Why sneak around and take the child away? Boyi and I were worried sick, do you realize that? Also, Chen is a doctor himself. Why are you worrying about all these pointless things? If there really was something wrong with their health, wouldn’t they know to seek medical help themselves? They live in a big city and are hardly short of money, so is there any doctor they couldn’t find? The time when you sent those weird remedies, didn’t I tell you off? Can those haphazard things even be consumed? You’re not afraid they might be poisonous?"
As angry as Zhang Lijuan was, she didn’t hold back her words. Every word she said felt like a knife thrusting into Lin Fengying. If it weren’t for satisfactory family conditions and Si Boyi’s presence to calm her down, she would’ve slapped Lin Fengying in the face by now.
She’s nowhere to be seen when it comes to taking care of the child, but has absolutely no issue secretly taking the child away. 𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝒎
No mother-in-law in the surrounding villages acted as bizarrely as her. She had a good life, but had to create all this unnecessary drama.
Lin Fengying couldn’t raise her head after being verbally attacked by Zhang Lijuan. She glanced at her younger son, saw he didn’t utter a word in her defense, and felt a bitterness akin to swallowing a bitter pill. Even if she was in the wrong, how could her own son let her be insulted?
Feeling aggrieved, Lin Fengying’s tone changed, "If anything happens to the child or Yao Yao, I will take full responsibility."
Zhang Lijuan instinctively retorted, "Can your life compare to my son’s?"
Lin Fengying had already lived for several decades. Her son...he was so young!
"Lijuan." Si Boyi felt his wife’s words were a bit too harsh and admonished her.
Zhang Lijuan realized she went too far with her words, so she huffed and stopped speaking. However, Lin Fengying wouldn’t let go of the topic, "Right, my life is worthless, I can’t compare to Yuanyuan. I should’ve died along with Xiaochen’s father back then. Then I wouldn’t be a nuisance to you all. I shouldn’t have lived until now."
When Si Boyi heard these words, thinking back to those hard years, he softened, "Mom, why are you saying this? Lijuan was just worried about Yuanyuan, she lost her cool. Let’s drop this issue, nobody should mention it again."
They were all family. Continued disagreement would do no good. Regardless of whether his wife or his mother won, he would still feel terrible.
"What did I say? Is it wrong for me to admit that my life is worthless?" Lin Fengying whimpered, "You’re just like your brother. You can’t bear it if I say half a word, can you? You brothers might as well find a needle and thread and sew my mouth shut. Then I won’t speak and annoy anyone."
Zhang Lijuan said so much, but her son didn’t speak a word in her defense. Now, the moment she retorts, her son starts to protect his wife. She had tirelessly raised two sons, only to find that neither of them cared for her.
The more Lin Fengying thought about it, the more wronged she felt. She sat on the stool and started crying silently. Si Boyi had a headache and had no idea what to do. He sat down quietly to the side.
Zhang Lijuan was angry and naturally wouldn’t apologize. Tong Yao was too lazy to play peacemaker. The atmosphere in the room was tense until a knock echoed from outside.
Tong Yao opened the door to find Si Weimin and Si Xiaohui standing outside, looking like they had come for a fight. Upon hearing Lin Fengying’s crying, Si Xiaohui directly shoved Tong Yao out of the way and rushed to Lin Fengying’s side, asking,
"Mom, did Tong Yao bully you?"
Si Weimin also followed in, the already small living room immediately feeling cramped. Seeing Lin Fengying with her eyes swollen from crying, he frowned at Si Boyi, "What happened?"
Si Boyi was genuinely pleased when he first learned that his uncle was still alive and living in Kyoto. However, since his mother came to Kyoto because of his uncle, he couldn’t help revisiting some unpleasant memories from his childhood every now and then. Added to this were things he heard from Tong Yao, which made him view his uncle with a critical eye.
Especially considering how much his uncle favored and resembled Xiaohui, Si Weimin wasn’t naive. He had suspicions about certain things but chose not to believe them. Hence he began to resent his uncle, not wanting his mother to interact with him.
Now, seeing his uncle stride into the house as if preparing for a battle, Si Boyi was even less pleased. With a scowl on his face, he retorted, "Why are you here?"
Unexpectedly, as soon as these words exited his mouth, Lin Fengying immediately stopped crying and answered, "I asked your uncle and Xiaohui to come over this morning."
Tong Yao chuckled bitterly. While Lin Fengying didn’t utter a word when Si Xiaohui asked her earlier, now she was answering quite enthusiastically.
With a stern face, Si Boyi said, "Our family matters are none of their business. Why did you call them over?"
Before Lin Fengying could answer, Si Xiaohui burst out, "If uncle and I hadn’t come, mother would’ve been bullied to the point of breaking down by the three of you! Second brother, when did you become so heartless? Mom went through difficulties to raise us. She never had a day’s respite. If you can’t bring yourself to care for her, why would you team up with outsiders to harm her?"
In Si Xiaohui’s eyes, they were the ones bound by blood, and Tong Yao and Zhang Lijuan were outsiders.
The eldest brother took Tong Yao’s side while the second brother sided with Zhang Lijuan. They were behaving like they’d forgotten about their mother after getting married. They were devoid of any conscience.
"This is not your place to speak. Shut your mouth."
Si Boyi glared at Si Xiaohui, who had been a source of anger since she eloped with Song Yu. Just as he was starting to calm down, she demanded a divorce, ruining the family image that his elder brother had painstakingly built. Now, she was causing a commotion and had the audacity to call his wife and sister-in-law outsiders.
Si Boyi knew if he didn’t speak up now, his sister-in-law and wife would be outraged.
Originally ready to speak up, Tong Yao relaxed after hearing Si Boyi’s words. Having a sensible uncle around, she decided to wait and see how things played out.
