Han Ruochen was no longer the same person. She was not going to save the dignity of her mother if she was not going to show her any face. Coming here and hurling insults at her—it was quite fortunate that Han Ruochen was not, in actual fact, a twenty-year-old woman. If not, she would have never been able to handle these insults without breaking down in tears. She cared for her mother so much that Han Ruochen didn't even dare to refute her mother when she asked her to hand Han Ziyan her job.
Even when she knew that Mother Yang might not respect her, Han Ruochen still handed the job to Han Ziyan just because her mother asked her. How did her mother repay her? By spitting on her sincerity!
Now, Han Ruochen had a positive attitude. She didn't care what her mother said to her. As long as she could live a good life and help her siblings walk on the right path, Han Ruochen was willing to ignore these sour words. She had become truly open-minded!
Meng Yunhan, however, turned pale in the face. She glared at Han Ruochen, blaming her silently for speaking too much. Could she not see that Old Madam Han was dissatisfied with her? How dare she bring up the matter of the pork belly?
"Han Ruochen, you—"
"So this is what you have been doing behind my back!" Before Meng Yunhan could say anything more, Old Madam Han picked up the broom that was sitting right behind the front door of her house and smacked Meng Yunhan on the face. She didn't care if the harsh bristles of the broom would scar Meng Yunhan's face.
Old Madam Han was not a strict parent. As long as her children were happy, she wouldn't care what was going on in their lives, but what she could never accept was a spendthrift daughter-in-law who filled the coffers of her parents' house when her own children were suffering!
When Old Madam Han thought of how this woman had filled the bellies of her maternal family members while her own children were starving, she wished she could skin Meng Yunhan alive and hang her on the string to dry like a fish!
"Mother—listen to me, this wretched girl… Ahhh!"
The more Meng Yunhan cursed, the harder Old Madam Han beat her up.
"Wretched girl? How dare you call Ruochen a wretched girl while driving the wealth of my son into your family!"
Han Ziyan was scared silly by Old Madam Han's actions. She wanted to save her mother, but when she saw the bloody scratches on the face of her mother, she didn't dare to make a move. Instead, Han Ziyan turned her gaze to Han Ruochen. With red-rimmed eyes, she scolded Han Ruochen fiercely, "Sister, you are really too much! How can you do this? It's bad enough that you took our family's mantis shrimp away, but you even caused our mother to be misunderstood!"
Han Ruochen sneered. She peeled back her upper lip and stated coldly, "Ziyan, since when did my things become yours? I know that you have some twisted ideas; if not, why would you have an affair with your future brother-in-law, but my things are mine. You cannot have them just because we are from the same family." She crossed her arms and leaned back on the front wall of her grandmother's house. "And when did I lie? It's the truth that I didn't see the pork belly that 'my' father brought home. In fact, I didn't see a lot of things."
Han Ziyan's face turned pale. She quickly looked at the villagers who were staring at her and Meng Yunhan, and her already pale face turned even paler.
She quickly tried to change the tide. "No, that's not what happened. Please believe me, my sister—she has some misunderstandings about me and Brother Jianming."
But no one was willing to believe her. Last night, Aunt Gossip had already flooded the entire island with the news of Han Ziyan having an affair with Yang Jianming, who was betrothed to Han Ruochen. Many villagers condemned Han Ziyan for biting the hand that fed her, but they stayed silent due to Han Yichen. They all had a good impression of Han Yichen, who would sell pork to the villagers at a low price when compared to the town.
Even if Han Ziyan was unscrupulous, she was still his adopted daughter. They couldn't say anything too harsh about her.
But seeing how Han Ziyan still wanted to avoid responsibility, a few village women couldn't help but mutter harshly.
"She is really good. No wonder Ruochen was fooled by her to this degree. Fortunately, she caught them in the act or else who knows how much longer she would have had to suffer?"
"Brother Jianming? Look at how intimately she calls him. It will be a shocker if there is nothing between the two of them."
"Poor Ruochen and her siblings. They are truly suffering with a mother like Meng Yunhan."
"Humph. Meng Yunhan is really something. She kept boasting about how she treated her children well and tried to teach them good lessons. Said something about them being bad eggs, ptui! If I had a mother who didn't give me enough to eat, I too wouldn't listen to her."
When Han Yichen arrived at his mother's house, he heard all sorts of comments, and his face turned red in embarrassment. He rushed over to his mother and cried out, "Mom!"
Old Madam Han paused. She turned and looked at her useless son and glared at him. "Yichen! What kind of thing have you married!?" Old Madam Han roared angrily, which proved how angry she was at that very moment.
Han Yichen stiffened. He shrank his neck and turned to glare at Meng Yunhan, who, instead of feeling apologetic, felt even enraged. She was beaten like this by his mother, and instead of questioning her, he was blaming her?
"Yichen, you—"
"Shut up!"