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Chapter 707: 697
By eight o’clock, Li Hongjun and Li Hongxing, the two brothers, had gone to Madame Xue’s house, and Li Xianghe ultimately couldn’t follow them.
As she listened to the slamming and clattering inside the house, Shen Yunfang felt she couldn’t tend to this young sister-in-law. After tidying up the kitchen, she went back to her room, closed the door, and lay down.
Hearing the door closing, Li Xianghe felt even more aggrieved, "Dad, look at my second sister-in-law, what is she implying? I said I wanted to follow my brother for a visit, and she stopped me, making all sorts of excuses. My brother, without distinguishing right from wrong, just listened to her. Now that I’m not going, look at her, comfortably hiding away in her room. She didn’t even consider bringing me some candy or seeds to munch on, to keep me company as we chat. It’s not easy for me to come back home with my child, is this how they show they don’t welcome me?"
Old Man Li glanced at his young daughter, "Stop making such a fuss. Your mother isn’t here right now, just live peacefully and get through these days.
"Dad, you’re always too soft. So what if my mother isn’t here? This is still the Li Family’s home, and I am the Li Family’s daughter. In our house, you’re the one in charge. If you spoke up, who would dare to show their fangs?" Li Xianghe, with an air of self-importance second only to heaven, was just like Qiu Shuping.
Old Man Li, puffing on his hookah, didn’t reply.
"Dad, in my opinion, outsiders are just outsiders, no matter how close they seem. Only your daughter here can share the same heart with you and Mom. Why even bother with strangers coming to our home? Everyone outside says Madame Xue is very nice, but one can never truly know what’s in their hearts. That old woman managed to outlive her two previous husbands and even sent off all her children. Who would believe she doesn’t have scheming ways? How can an honest person like you outmaneuver someone like her? If they deceived you, what would we do? Mom would fight to the death with you when she comes back." Li Xianghe saw this as a great opportunity to sway her father, so she did her utmost to convince him, "Dad, let me take care of you. I am your daughter, and taking care of you is my duty, and you wouldn’t even have to pay me. That way, if there’s any money left from what my second brother gave you, I could even give it back to you in the end." Of course, this was only if there would be any money left.
Old Man Li knew his children’s character very well. His young daughter couldn’t even manage her own life without chaos, so how could he trust her to take good care of him?
"Xianghe, you are now a married woman. If you can live your life well and take good care of Niuniu, that’s enough. Your father doesn’t need you to worry about him." This was his way of refusing her.
Li Xianghe wanted to continue persuading, but Old Man Li didn’t give her the chance. He finished speaking, tapped out his pipe, climbed down from the heated brick bed, and walked outside, "Stay home and keep your second sister-in-law company. I’ll go have a look at the village head."
"Dad, Dad, I haven’t finished talking," Li Xianghe didn’t expect her father to leave her and walk away like that, "Ah, why is everyone like this."
The sound of the door closing was the only response she got.
She looked at Niuniu playing on the brick bed and, feeling angry, gave the child a slap on the back, "Useless thing, you can’t even talk properly. What do I even need you for?"
Taken aback by the sudden attack, Niuniu looked up in confusion. Seeing the fiery eyes of her mother, she flinched, as if to protect herself, slowly moved further away, and then lowered her head to continue playing with her toys.
"Useless thing. Having you was truly a curse for me." Li Xianghe could scold her mute daughter however she wanted; no matter where they were, the daughter was always her scapegoat.
Seeing that her daughter had returned to her own little world, she furrowed her brows, thought for a moment, quickly put on her shoes, climbed down from the brick bed, opened the door, and ran towards the house across the way.
"Second sister-in-law, what are you doing in the room? I’m here; why didn’t you go to the other room to sit for a bit?" She barged in without even knocking on the door.
Shen Yunfang was lying on the kang, drowsy under the covers, when she was startled awake by the intrusion.
"Why are you here?" Shen Yunfang slightly raised her upper body and frowned at her younger sister-in-law who had just walked in.
"What’s wrong with me coming over? Don’t tell me you’re not welcoming me." Li Xianghe, afraid of her own second brother but contemptuous of his wife, spoke with an unintentional air of superiority. "Second sister-in-law, you’re so lazy. My brother doesn’t even say anything to you? In broad daylight, while others are busy with this and that, why are you still lying down asleep here? It’s only because my mom isn’t here, or else, hmph."
Her final two hmphs were full of threatening implications.
Shen Yunfang was angry after hearing her words. Now that she had married into their Li family, did they really think they were so impressive that just anyone could point fingers and make demands of her? It was intolerable how they were indulged.
Hence, she lay back down, yanking the blanket up to cover herself completely, before saying, "Since you put it that way, I might as well lie here a bit longer. Who knows, maybe when your mom comes back, I won’t be able to lie down anymore." At this point, she even refrained from calling Qiu Shuping "Mother."
Li Xianghe failed to catch the undertone and, feeling completely ignored by her second sister-in-law, became very angry. She had come all this way, obviously with something to discuss, yet the other woman had the audacity to lie back down right in front of her. If that wasn’t looking down on her, then what was? So Li Xianghe was infuriated.
"Second sister-in-law, you’re a university graduate. How can you be so impolite? I’ve come to see you, and you just go ahead and lie down again. Do you have any respect for your Li family members at all?" Normally, she wouldn’t dare say such things, but today, with no one else around, she was tempted to bully her second sister-in-law. In her heart, among all the sisters-in-law, the second one had the best temperament and was the kind she could push around.
Shen Yunfang glanced at her sideways, then closed her eyes and said, "You talk about manners, yet how polite is it to enter without knocking? I’m simply treating you as you treated me. Forget it, forget it. You didn’t even finish middle school, so explaining this to you is like playing the lute to a cow. If you have nothing important, then please go to the other room and have a seat. I need to rest."
Standing beside the kang and huffing with annoyance, Li Xianghe didn’t understand the phrase "treating you as you treated me," but she grasped the rest well enough, including the deep disdain in Shen Yunfang’s tone.
"You, you..." She was so choked up with rage that she was lost for words.
"Enough with the ’you, you.’ If there’s nothing else, go watch the kids in the other room. Don’t disturb me." Shen Yunfang turned over, showing her back, an extremely disrespectful gesture.
Li Xianghe stood there, panting heavily, unable to comprehend what had happened today. Not only was the old man untouchable, but this second sister-in-law had also become formidable.
She genuinely wanted to storm off; as a beloved daughter of the Li family, how could she take any disrespect from a daughter-in-law? But then she remembered why she had come, and suppressed the anger boiling inside her. Slowly squeezing a smile on her face, she softened her voice, "Second sister-in-law, what’s this about? Why are you acting like a child throwing a tantrum? I’m saying all this for your own good; you know how my mother is. She doesn’t have a sincere heart for her daughters-in-law, so I just wanted to remind you to stay vigilant as a daughter-in-law of our Li family."
Shen Yunfang nearly burst into laughter upon hearing her words. Li Xianghe was quite something, able to splash such dirty water on her own mother so unscrupulously, all for some unknown purpose. Truly a case of like mother, like daughter.
