However, not only was Yang Anshi unkind to Xun Hui, Yang Dani, and others, but she was also unkind to Xiaofeng, the only boy in the main branch of the family, which made many people despise her.
"I’d gladly do it, if you’re so concerned, provide for them yourself..." Yang Anshi yelled, nearly crazed, and she would have lunged to tear the gossiper’s mouth if Yang Peili hadn’t been holding her back.
"I, for one, would be happy, indeed. If they were willing to take the name Li, I would naturally treat them like my own grandchildren," the gossiper retorted without weakness.
"Enough, stop your yammering," Yang Peili shouted at Yang Anshi, who was about to speak again, "Shut your mouth!"
Upon hearing this, instead of holding back, Yang Anshi felt even more humiliated as she had been stopped by Yang Peili several times in front of others. Suddenly, she sat down on the ground and started pulling out her trump card: she began slapping her thighs and wailing.
"You just know how to be unreasonable at every turn," the gossiper said disdainfully, "The little blessings we have in this household, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re all cried away by this devout widow... Always going on about this person being a jinx or that person being a jinx, I think you’re the biggest jinx... Your mother-in-law was such a good person, wasn’t she? Weren’t you the jinx that angered her to death?"
What the gossiper mentioned was an incident from a long time ago and not many people knew about it, but this did not mean that no one knew. It’s just that those who knew wouldn’t bring it up. Now that it was mentioned, it was a real slap in the face for Yang Anshi and an even bigger blow for Yang Peili.
Back in the day when Yang Anshi was a daughter-in-law, she indeed was very domineering. She treated her mother-in-law well in front of Yang Peili, but she would turn around and mistreat the old lady. When the old lady confided in her son, he didn’t believe her. In the end, she could only keep it to herself, and over time, she succumbed to depression and passed away.
They say that the player is often unaware. This was the case for Yang Peili; he always thought that his wife was dutiful, which is why he always accommodated her.
"You damned slut, you think you’re so important?" Yang Anshi, shamed and angered after being exposed, sprang up and lunged at the gossiper with such force that Yang Peili couldn’t hold her back, "I’ll make sure to tear you apart today for your babbling..." She had always prided herself on handling her mother-in-law just fine, but now, having all that dug up again, she was naturally upset.
After all these years, she wasn’t worried about what Yang Peili might do, she was purely upset about the possible damage to the image she had previously crafted for herself.
And Yang Peili indeed hadn’t thought much about it; after all, it was a fight, and no one would speak nicely in such a situation.
But before Yang Anshi could reach her, He Zhuang, who was behind her, pulled his mother-in-law back and then shoved Yang Anshi away with one swift motion.
Back in the day, the He Family was very poor, had proposed several marriages, all of which fell through, except for Dafeng, who did not look down on him. His father-in-law and mother-in-law didn’t make things difficult for him either; they just reminded him to live a good life and then married their daughter to him. Not only had she given the He Family a son, but now they had also acquired seven or eight acres of land, making their life quite decent. So, he was truly grateful to his wife’s family.
But back then, it was precisely this devout widow from the Yang Family who nearly caused his family to fall apart. Though many years had passed, and he had grown into a middle-aged man, he hadn’t forgotten; he truly despised Yang Anshi and naturally wouldn’t let his mother-in-law be wronged.
However, He Zhuang didn’t understand the true nature of Yang Anshi; he thought that pushing her away would be enough. But the gossiper knew better, and inwardly she cursed, knowing this was sure to lead to extortion.