Lin Jiayi sarcastically spoke, “What could your brother possibly bring back for you so late at night? These are things from my parental home, sister-in-law, are you even eyeing what my family has given me?”
Li Hongmei also saw what was inside, realizing that her brother indeed wouldn’t go buy cooked food late at night.
Seeing Li Hongmei’s reaction, Lin Jiayi finally let out a sigh of relief.
During the day, this sister-in-law of hers was always full of sarcasm and mockery, as she, a married granddaughter, returned to her parental home and they didn’t even prepare decent meals to welcome her.
During the New Year, her brother and sister-in-law didn’t prepare festive goods either, making the whole family endure hardship.
Of course, she knew what her sister-in-law meant by visiting her parental home—it was merely to take advantage of them.
She didn’t want her sister-in-law to benefit or to have the last word, so she thought of going to Qin’s cooked food shop.
She wanted to bring something back from her parental home specifically to slap Li Hongmei in the face.
It wasn’t because her brother and sister-in-law made them live poor lives, but because the Li Family was inherently poor.
If it weren’t for her, Lin Jiayi, god knows what kind of life they would still be leading.
But who would have thought Lin Jiadong was so useless, going there once and only bringing back such a little amount, and even getting bought off by Lin Chuxia.
However, this little amount was enough to annoy her sister-in-law.
But then Li Hongmei just paused for a moment and snorted, “What’s so great about bringing some things? If you’re capable, open a bun shop yourself. Maybe if you hadn’t swapped the marriage, it would have been Li’s Bun Shop instead. Why are you so proud here now?”
Although Li Hongmei didn’t know exactly what happened originally, it didn’t stop her from provoking.
Sure enough, Lin Jiayi was deeply stung, and she shouted sharply, “Li Guangyuan, aren’t you going to control her?”
Li Guangyuan also felt that these past matters had been over for so long now, and it wasn’t appropriate for his sister to bring up marriage swapping.
Moreover, it was initially the second son of the Lin Family who wanted to swap marriages. If Lin Jiayi hadn’t agreed to the swap or had simply called off the marriage, perhaps he would still be single.
“Hongmei, what nonsense are you talking?”
But Li Hongmei didn’t want to let her off. Her life was not going well now, all thanks to this sister-in-law.
Everyone said that she wanted to marry someone from the city, and it was them who said that the other party was a self-employed person with many pigs, promising carefree food and drinks without in-laws to serve.
But after marrying, it turned out not to be the case at all. Except for her husband being really honest, they were so poor that they nearly couldn’t make ends meet.
The money from pig farming never reached their hands, and the income from farming the land was too little for the effort.
Her current situation was all caused by Lin Jiayi; how could she let her have an easy time?
“Am I talking nonsense? Brother, have a think, Daqing Mountain Village is right next to our village. Whether Lin Family favors their eldest or the second child, just inquire around. They say Lin Chuxia wanted to marry Qin Yang which is why they swapped, I think it’s because Qin’s Family looked down on her. When Lin Chuxia was in school, she was a well-praised student by teachers. If she had married you, maybe we would have been living well by now. Instead, fearing she couldn’t marry off, she swapped with Lin Chu for someone others didn’t want…”
“Shut up!”
Even though Li Guangyuan was usually good-tempered and conciliatory, he lost his temper this time.
Lin Jiayi’s face turned even more ashen.
“Li Guangyuan, if you don’t give me an explanation today, this isn’t over. Do you really think your Li Family is so desirable? Don’t you have any self-awareness? If not for me, you wouldn’t even be able to sell vegetables, and you’d still be suffering from famine, right?”
“Is this ever going to end?”
Old Mrs. Li came out of her room, with a stern expression on her face.
“What are you howling about in the middle of the night? Isn’t that shameful? Everyone go back to your rooms.”
She gave Lin Jiayi a deep look, her voice indifferent, “Don’t blame your sister-in-law for those words, blame yourself for not being capable. You are real sisters, everyone already knows what your sister is like now. If you don’t want to be gossiped about, then live your life properly. When you start doing better than them, naturally no one will criticize you anymore.”
“Our Li family may be poor, but Guang Yuan knows how to live. He loves and protects his sister, unlike those who are black-hearted and rot-lunged, marrying your sister-in-law off far away; what good does that do for you? It would be better for you, as her brother and sister-in-law, to live well and support your mother-in-law. With such a malicious mindset, it’s no wonder the Qin family didn’t want you…”
Lin Jiayi was so angry that smoke seemed to come out of her seven orifices, wanting to argue back, but Old Mrs. Li had already pulled her daughter into the room.
Her eyes ablaze with anger, she looked at Li Guangyuan, “Do you think so too?”
Li Guangyuan grabbed her arm, “It’s cold outside, let’s go back to the room.”
“Li Guangyuan, I’m carrying your son right now, and you let them bully me like this? Are you even a man? I already made it clear to you about the swap arrangement in the beginning. What kind of person Lin Chuxia is, she doesn’t even regard you highly, you’ve seen what Qin Yang is like. How do you compare to Qin Yang in any aspect?”
She spitefully spewed hurtful words, seemingly to cover the panic in her heart.
For a moment, Lin Jiayi almost believed it, that all of Li Guangyuan’s achievements in his previous life came from Lin Chuxia.
But that thought was quickly dismissed.
Lin Chuxia and she grew up together, Lin Chuxia wouldn’t dare to challenge her words. Even if she was good in studies, what use was it? She found excuses not to let her mother pay for Lin Chuxia’s middle school fees.
What can a person who is always doing chores at home achieve?
Lin Chuxia, she knew her all too well.
Li Guangyuan pulled her towards the room without saying a word during the whole process, but Lin Jiayi felt suffocated.
“You don’t really believe what your mother and sister said, do you? They did it on purpose. Li Hongmei’s life isn’t going well because she’s incompetent, purposefully stirring up discord between us, what good does it do for her? You wouldn’t really let them come between us, would you?”
Finally, Li Guangyuan spoke, “No, Jiayi, we really misjudged the Ma family. Don’t take to heart whatever Hongmei says, my mother is just worried about her daughter…”
In the dim light of the room’s oil lamp, Li Guangyuan clearly saw Lin Jiayi’s face, but for some reason, that face overlaid with another.
He averted his gaze, “I’ll go talk to them.”
He left the room without waiting for Lin Jiayi to reply.
Yet after leaving, he didn’t go to where his mother and sister were, but looked towards the night sky, his mind in turmoil.
He never mentioned it, but these days, driven by Lin Jiayi to look for business, he went to the county twice, and each time he passed by Qin’s Bun Shop, he couldn’t help but linger for a while.
He had also secretly inquired, Qin’s Bun Shop was said to belong to the Qin family, but in reality, the person running it was surnamed Lin.
Li Guangyuan pulled out a small pouch from his waist, took out cigarette paper and tobacco, and rolled a cigarette.
He knew he was poor, lacking the capabilities of the Qin family, the more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t understand why his wife, leaving the Qin family, chose to marry him instead.
Initially, he believed it was because her younger aunt wanted to marry into the Qin family as an arranged swap.
Now, seeing how the Yue family treated their daughters and how the sisters got along, it was clear his wife was actually the favored one.
He couldn’t figure out why his wife insisted on marrying him; maybe she truly liked him, but he also thought, if he had married the younger aunt, would the outcome have been different?
After Li Guangyuan left the room, Lin Jiayi leaned against the window sill and looked out through the glass. She didn’t see Li Guangyuan going to his mother’s room, but instead saw a flicker of light in the yard dimming and brightening.
Her fingers involuntarily clenched into a fist…