Chapter Eighteen: Your Sister-in-Law Has Been Caught

When Wei Yao was thinking about buying pigs, chickens, and ducks, she had already prepared chicken coops and pigpens in her space, building large fences with the idea of hatching eggs from the chickens, ducks, and geese she would raise, ensuring a continuous supply of fresh meat and no longer worrying about food.

The pigpens, sheep pens, and cattle enclosures were made from clay bricks bought from the countryside, which were quite inexpensive there.

Although there was plenty of sorted meat stored in her space, as a mother, Wei Yao wanted only the best for her children. The money she spent was all for Song Yang and Song Hui’s future.

As the end of the year approached, the cotton mill closed for the holidays, and the workers received their benefits: half a catty of pork, a bag of candy, two cans of preserved food, and a box of peach crisp biscuits. After working there for so many years, she knew she would no longer belong there in the future, and Wei Yao felt a twinge of reluctance.

Without this job in her past life, she and her two children would surely have starved!

After collecting the goods, she took Aunt Guan’s son to the director’s office. After explaining the situation, they completed the job handover. Aunt Guan and her son were immensely grateful to Wei Yao. Once the job was secured, she finally felt at ease.

Every year during the youth’s countryside placement, her son qualified but was just two days short. If he didn’t have a job, he would have to go, and it had already been delayed for a long time. The place he would be sent to was extremely remote. Aunt Guan’s hair had turned white from worry. Fortunately, Wei Yao was selling her job at this time, which was nothing less than saving the boy’s life.

On the twenty-seventh day of the lunar month, Aunt Guan and her son arrived at Wei Yao’s door, carrying two bags of goods.

“Auntie, what brings you here? Come in, come in, have a seat.”

“Isn’t the New Year almost here? Yongchun and I came to see the three of you. How’s everything at home? Anything you need or any work that needs doing? I can have Yongchun come help.”

Hearing Aunt Guan’s voice, Song Yang immediately ran out of his room and happily hugged her leg.

“Grandma Guan, you’re here! I missed you so much!”

“Oh, my dear child, Grandma Guan missed you too. That’s why I came to see you. Grandma fried some sticky rice balls and sugar cakes, and brought a jar of soybean paste. You love dipping scallions in the paste wrapped in flatbread, don’t you?”

“Wow! That’s great, Grandma Guan! I’ve missed your soybean paste—it’s the best!”

Wei Yao looked at him, amused by his sly, sweet expression, and couldn’t help but tap his little head.

“You, with that sweet little mouth, you’re just so good at coaxing people.”

“Coaxing? It’s all true what Yangyang says.”

Aunt Guan guarded Song Yang as she and Yongchun sat down. The two women surveyed the small courtyard, full of envy. Their own house was small, and their youngest daughter still squeezed into the same room with her parents!

“Have some ginger and jujube tea to ward off the cold. I’ve stocked up on vegetables and bought plenty of coal. We lack nothing at home except for this bitter cold. These two kids have been cooped up all day and can’t go anywhere. They’re getting restless!”

“Not going out is good. If they go out, they’ll hear all sorts of nasty things and only get upset.”

“Mom, don’t say that!”

After Yongchun spoke, Aunt Guan smiled awkwardly at Wei Yao and quickly took a sip of tea.

“Auntie, did something happen? I haven’t been out since the holiday started. The furthest I went was visiting neighbors with the kids. Did I offend someone when I left the factory? Please don’t hide it from me.”

Aunt Guan hesitated before finally speaking reluctantly.

“It’s not you. You’ve worked hard and earnestly in our canteen all these months. Everyone appreciates that. If anyone dared say a word against you, I’d tear them apart. No, it’s your husband’s younger sister... Oh, you wouldn’t believe it. Your sister-in-law ran off with someone else’s man. That young man has a girlfriend. The two young people came home together after work, planning their wedding stuff, but when the door opened, your sister-in-law was lying naked on the bed. My goodness, that poor girl nearly fainted from anger.”

“What???”

Wei Yao said, “What???"

“It’s true. You don’t know how big a scandal this caused. Your parents-in-law stubbornly told people their daughter was deceived. If I were her mother, I’d be so ashamed I’d hide my face. The whole family is disgraced.”

“But it’s not just your sister-in-law... it’s not all her fault. If that man had no intention, how could she have a key to the room?”

“That’s impossible. The door lock was broken. She was naked, saying things like ‘free love is noble, arranged marriages are the poison of the old society.’ I heard the wedding almost got called off. If that young man hadn’t knelt before his fiancée swearing he did nothing, it was only because he pitied your sister-in-law and helped her out. She’s a mother of three, poor and destitute. At first, people thought the two were having an affair. Later, when they learned she had three kids and was so poor, the gossip changed. Now the whole family stays home, afraid to go out.”

Wei Yao was speechless.

Such audacity—it was unbelievable!

“Auntie, thank you for telling me. Fortunately, the families have split, and they don’t live together anymore. If they did, I wouldn’t have the face to go outside. I’d be dragged into the gossip and looked down upon.”

Though she said this, Wei Yao was genuinely angry. What era was this? Morals were so strict that even young couples holding hands in public would be questioned by the neighborhood watch.

Song Liping had no shame herself, but she dragged the entire Song family’s reputation through the mud. What was she thinking?

Aunt Guan regretted telling her this, especially during the New Year. Who could feel good hearing such bad news? After chatting a while, the two women prepared to leave.

Song Liping packed some homemade pickled vegetables and sauerkraut and a bag of millet candy. Aunt Guan nudged Wei Yao to accept them, knowing her generosity was sincere; otherwise, she wouldn’t have brought so much.

Outside the gate, Yongchun glanced back into the yard.

“Mom, Sister-in-law Wei is really pitiful.”

“Who isn’t? How did she end up with such a rotten Song family? And her man—he’s never home all year. I don’t know if he inherited the Song family’s bad habits, but he’s off with widows and such.”

Yongchun was speechless.

“Mind your words, Mom. You just said Sister-in-law Wei was pitiful. Isn’t it more pitiful if her man is running around like that?”

Song Liping lay on the bed, crying bitterly. She never imagined that the couple who once loved each other would be torn apart like this, with accusations and slanders hurled at her. How could he do this? Wasn’t it supposed to be a free love?

She had already given up status and position; she only wanted love.