NOVPUB
Chapter 746: Chapter 736: I’m Going to Join the Army
Having left Li Hongjun’s house, Sun Chengbin immediately wrote a letter and mailed it back to his hometown that afternoon.
A week later, when the Sun Family received Sun Chengbin’s letter, Li Xianghe was so thrilled that she jumped three feet high at the news; she could finally hold her head high with pride.
"Hahaha, Chengbin finally can bring his family with the military." Li Xianghe was overjoyed, dancing with excitement upon learning this news at her mother-in-law’s house.
Mother Sun frowned at her off-key daughter-in-law, "Don’t get too excited yet, have you thought about how you’re going to handle things here if you leave to join the military? To be honest, Mother Sun didn’t want her daughter-in-law to follow the military; given her daughter-in-law’s stingy nature, her son’s salary would definitely end up in her hands, and the amount they’d receive as parents would surely decrease. How would the large household manage then?
"What’s this, Chengbin has sent a letter asking me to join him, and you still want to stop me?" Now, anyone who tried to prevent her from becoming a general’s wife would face her wrath.
"How can you talk like that? No matter where you go, we are your in-laws." Father Sun scolded her with a stern face.
Li Xianghe pouted her lips, as if she didn’t know their true motives. These two had seen Hongjun on the brink of success and didn’t want to let go.
"In any case, I don’t care. Chengbin has asked me to join him, and no one can stop me." She was determined to leave; she had waited so many years for this day, and she was finally about to leave this wretched place for the city, to be considered a city person herself. Nothing could keep her from going.
"It’s not that we’re stopping you, but with all these matters to deal with at home, you can’t just abandon everything. What about the house? Who will work the fields?" In truth, Li Xianghe herself never worked the fields, always too lazy, gossiping from house to house. But this was not the time to talk about that; they had to find a way to keep her there. "In my opinion, Chengbin really wants Niuniu to go and get medical attention. Since you can’t leave, let your elder sister go with Niuniu."
Mother Sun’s suggestion about the elder sister referred to Sun Chengbin’s older sister, who was already married but close with Mother Sun, and often came back to meddle in the Sun family affairs.
Li Xianghe’s eyes widened in disbelief. These people actually wanted to rob her of the chance to go to the city; they must be dreaming.
"Nonsense! You want that dead woman to take my daughter to Chengbin? Over my dead body. Let me tell you, I am Sun Chengbin’s wife, only I am qualified to join the military and become a city person, none of you can steal that from me." After saying that, she snatched the letter, cradling it in her arms, and stormed out.
"Oh, this is maddening! What kind of daughter-in-law is this? She’s like a debt collector sent to torment me to death." Mother Sun clutched her chest, moaning in distress. "This won’t do, I must send a telegram to Chengbin, have him decide whether it’s this woman or his elder sister who should go."
At this moment, Li Xianghe rushed back inside, just in time to hear her mother-in-law’s last sentence, and started shouting furiously, "You old witch, in other families, they wish for their daughters-in-law and sons to live together happily and have children, but you, you’re always hoping that your daughter-in-law won’t see her own husband. What is your intention?"
"Bah, you shameless hussy, not seeing a man for one day makes you restless. I’m telling you, you are a daughter-in-law of the Sun family, and you are not allowed to go anywhere; you must stay to take care of your in-laws," Mother Sun stood her ground fiercely.
"You must be dreaming." Li Xianghe stepped forward, pushing her mother-in-law, who stumbled. She then scooped up Niuniu, who had been sitting on the kang. After dashing out previously, she had realized she had left her daughter behind and ran back to get her.
In the past, she might have been indifferent, but had they not seen what Sun Chengbin wrote in his letter, asking her to bring Niuniu along? Niuniu was now her amulet.
Li Xianghe didn’t dare to wait for a moment longer with Niuniu in her arms, running as fast as she could toward her maternal home, for fear that the in-laws would come to snatch the child. 𝓃𝓸𝓿𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝓬ℴ𝓶
Li Xianghe, gasping for breath with her child in her arms, ran to the old house, where old man Li was nowhere to be found. However, the Zheng Family’s mother and daughter across the street heard the commotion and came out to take a look.
As soon as they spotted the younger sister-in-law returning, Zheng Guilin didn’t show her any kindness and disdainfully said, "Oh, I was wondering who it could be. Here in the middle of the day, it turns out the younger sister-in-law has come back to freeload food and drink again."
"Nonsense, this is my parents’ house. I can come back whenever I want. How does an outsider like you have any say in the matter?"
Ever since the mother and daughter from the Zheng Family had moved in, every encounter between the two parties involved a clash of words.
"Hmph, what a joke. This house belongs to my man. If I, his wife, am an outsider, then who counts as the insider? You’re the water that’s been thrown away, have some shame," Zheng Guilin had changed from how she was before. There’s a saying, "Fall into a ditch, and you’ll gain wisdom." Zheng Guilin, who was originally soft and always liked to listen to others, had grown a lot through the tribulations of her year in prison. Now, she didn’t lose out at all when it came to verbal sparring with Li Xianghe, the younger sister-in-law.
Li Xianghe had wanted to retort, but remembering the letter in her pocket, she tilted her head up proudly and said with a laugh, "Hmph, you’d want me to come back in the future, but I wouldn’t. You probably don’t know yet, but my man has been transferred to Z Province to be a regimental commander. He’s already written to me asking me to join him. Do you understand what that means? It means I’m going to be a city person soon. I wouldn’t bother entering your shabby place," she said, and then turned her head disdainfully, looking at the two shabby rooms.
After hearing her, Zheng Guilin looked the younger sister-in-law up and down. To be honest, she found it hard to believe, but she also felt that the little sister-in-law couldn’t make up such a ridiculous lie.
"Hmph, I won’t stoop to your level," said Li Xianghe, seeing that she had nothing to say. With the triumph of a victorious hen, she strode head-held-high into her father’s room. "Dad, I’m back. You have to help me this time, no matter what."
But there was no one in the room.
"Where’s my dad?" Li Xianghe turned and asked.
"What do you think?" Zheng Guilin flipped her hair, replying with a pointed question.
After asking, Li Xianghe immediately thought of where her father might be and cursed through gritted teeth, "Shameless, at his age and still reeking of lust, a few years ago he would be the kind to be dragged out for hanging up worn-out shoes." Make no mistake, she wasn’t cursing old man Li, but the Xue Family’s mother who had come to help.
"Hmph, it takes two to clap. If there weren’t those buzzing flies, a stinking egg wouldn’t be able to act up no matter how it wanted to," said Zheng Guilin, who saw clearly. Her own father-in-law looked honest enough, but even he couldn’t resist being coaxed by others. It hadn’t been many days, and he’d already left home, following that woman around.
"No, I have to go teach that shameless wench a lesson," fumed Li Xianghe, as she threw her child onto the kang and turned to run outside.
Leaning on the door frame, Zheng Guilin watched her run off and sneeringly said to her mother who had just come out, "Just watch, it’s a dog-eat-dog situation, none of them are good."
Zheng Guilin’s mother, who looked much older than two years ago, with gloomy eyes, told her daughter, "Enough, don’t bother with their mess, hurry up and cook."
