The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 577 - 575 Filial Piety

Chapter 577: Chapter 575 Filial Piety

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The people inside the room exchanged glances, and Wang Laozhu hurriedly said, "Mutou, come in quickly, is there something wrong with your mother?"

The door curtain was lifted, and Sun Mutou supported Wang Yongzhen as they slowly walked in.

Wang Yongzhen’s complexion, after a night’s sleep and a bowl of thick rice porridge, had greatly improved, and her lips had gained a faint touch of color.

Seeing Wang Yongzhen, Wang Laozhu immediately grew anxious, "You’re not well yet, why are you out in the wind? Get on the kang and lie down. Old wife, make Yongzhen a cup of warm sugar water—"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a silence fell over the room; Old Granny Zhang sat firmly, pretending not to have heard.

Wang Yongzhu looked at Wang Laozhu with a smile that was not quite a smile, shaking the property division document in her hand.

Wang Laozhu suddenly choked up.

Liu Xiaoqiao, feeling guilty about not having reminded anyone to save dowry for Wang Yongzhu, saw the awkward atmosphere in the room and hurriedly said, "I’ll pour it!"

She poured a cup of hot water for Wang Yongzhen, but as for sugar, that was all kept by Old Granny Zhang, who had just yesterday taken it all to Wang Yongzhu’s room in a huff.

As a new bride, where could she find sugar? So, she had no choice but to simply hand the hot water to Wang Yongzhen.

Wang Laozhu’s lips moved twice, but in the end, he remained silent.

Since waking up, Wang Yongzhen had cried a lot and, after calming down and seeing no one else in the room, had grabbed Sun Mutou to ask what had happened.

Sun Mutou explained everything to her in detail.

Wang Yongzhen finally relaxed completely. It seemed that her father still cared about her, otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent her brother and sister to bring her back.

She was relieved to hear from Sun Mutou that they had already separated from the Sun Family and established their own household, finally freeing her from the need to return to the Sun Family.

Yet, they had rushed to take her from the Sun Family so quickly that she didn’t even have a change of clothes. How would she get by in the days ahead?

After much thought, Wang Yongzhen gritted her teeth and decided to get off the kang to apologize to her parents.

Right now, she had no money and was unwell, with nowhere else to go.

She had no choice but to rely on her parents’ house for the time being. If her father agreed to take her back, it must mean he had forgiven her. She knew it when she saw his happiness that morning.

But there were her stepmother, her brother, and her younger sister to consider. Wang Yongzhen knew that it was her younger sister who ran the household now. Just a few days ago, she had sworn only death would bring her back through the Wang Family’s door.

Now, lying in a room of the Wang Family house, Wang Yongzhen felt somewhat ashamed, but she quickly consoled herself: she had, in a sense, already died once, so she hadn’t really broken her vow.

Moreover, she found it strange that no one, aside from her father who had visited early in the morning, had come to see them since she woke up half a day ago.

Wang Yongzhen felt increasingly uneasy and could not stay put any longer.

Despite Sun Mutou’s attempts at persuasion, she insisted on going to the backyard.

Indeed, she first encountered Jinhoo storming past them, who didn’t even acknowledge the two with a greeting.

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It wasn’t long before I saw the youngest sister-in-law come out from the backyard covering her face, and when she saw me, she glared at me fiercely and cursed, "Home-wrecker!"

The more Wang Yongzhen thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. After entering the room apprehensively, she sensed that something was off. Could it be that a row had broken out while picking her up, between Dad and her younger siblings?

Otherwise, why did everyone in the room look at her without a smile, not even uttering a word, as if they hadn’t seen her?

Thinking this, how could she dare to climb onto the kang?

She didn’t even dare to take the hot water Liu Xiaoqiao had poured for her; instead, she promptly dropped to her knees, pulling Sun Mutou along with her, and knelt down before Wang Laozhu.

"Dad, Mom! I have failed as a daughter! I’ve made you worry and fear on my behalf. It’s all my fault! I’ve wronged you, Dad and Mom!" As she spoke, tears streamed down her cheeks.

Upon seeing this, Wang Yonggui rolled his eyes, having reached his limit of endurance. He had been hearing their mother and sister crying all morning, and just when there had been a quiet moment, the crying started again!

Is his big sister a crybaby or what?

"All right, all right, the ground is cold! How can your body take this? Get up quickly! Mutou, help your mother up," Wang Laozhu said in a hurry.

Sun Mutou quickly helped Wang Yongzhen to her feet.

Just as Wang Yongzhen stood up, she looked at Old Granny Zhang, who sat to the side, expressionless, and felt both afraid and grateful, "Mom! Thank you for not holding my past mistakes against me! I was thoughtless before and did many foolish things, all thanks to you not taking them to heart. Now I realize, I was blinded by my own stupidity! I was too easily swayed by gossip and misunderstood you! Daughter is here to apologize!"

She said, ready to kneel again.

Old Granny Zhang bore it stoically, without a word.

Wang Yongzhen, of course, didn’t dare to rise, kneeling there, fragile and pitiful to behold.

Wang Laozhu couldn’t bear to see this and signalled Old Granny Zhang with his eyes, "Enough now, as parents, how could we really hold grudges against our children? Knowing your mistake is enough, just be good to your mom from now on."

He whispered to his wife, "Old lady, the child has been kneeling for a while now, the ground is cold, let her get up."

Old Granny Zhang let out a cold laugh, "Enough, stop putting on a show in front of me! Who needs your dutiful daughter act? I don’t need it. Don’t I have my own biological daughter? Zhuzhu is much more dutiful than your daughter! Being dutiful isn’t just about paying lip service, is it? Otherwise, why all these years, every single time saying she’s dutiful, she always takes things from the house with her!"

"I was willing to turn a blind eye before, but not anymore! Big girl, to make it clear to you, from now on, you just be dutiful to your dad. You don’t need to be dutiful to me, your stepmother. I couldn’t have born a dutiful girl like you!"

Wang Yongzhen’s face turned pale; what did her stepmother mean by these words? Was she disowning her as a daughter?

For a moment, she panicked and looked towards Wang Laozhu, "Dad, I—" she began, a picture of grievance.

Wang Laozhu looked away uncomfortably.

Wang Yongzhu had been watching silently and finally spoke up, "Big sister, don’t get the wrong idea. My mom told you to be dutiful to dad because we’ve just split the household. Mom has been given to me, and we will live together from now on. Dad has been given to Third Brother; he will live with Third Brother from now on! We’re only living together temporarily; after the New Year, we’ll separate..."

It took a while for Wang Yongzhen to comprehend, "Split... split the household?"

Wang Yonggui, who was annoyed by the sight of Wang Yongzhen and her son, Sun Mutou, rolled his eyes and had an idea, "That’s right, our household split thanks to you, big sister! If it wasn’t for you, how could we have ended up splitting? But it doesn’t really have anything to do with you. After all, you’re married, water that’s been poured out. Your maiden family’s issues have nothing to do with you! Big sister, you just get your health back in these next few days, and then you and Mutou can move into the old house."

"Otherwise, it’s not proper for a married daughter to keep living in her parents’ home, you know? It’s like this: we’ve all divided up our courtyards already. In a few days, we have to clear out dad’s rooms. The rooms where you’re living are actually the ones I’m planning for dad. We surely can’t expect dad to be crammed in with the kids, right?"