As the Lunar New Year approached, Lin Wanyi, who had been married and living far from home for eight years, received a call from her mother:
"Your father's health is getting worse. I don't know if he can make it through this New Year. Your brother is planning to get married on the 20th of the twelfth lunar month to fulfill his wish. You absolutely must come back."
Gripping her phone, Lin Wanyi tried desperately to hold back her tears and immediately checked the high-speed rail schedules.
In the eight years since she married away, this would be her first time returning to her maiden home for the New Year.
But before she could even book a ticket, her mother-in-law, Liu Chunlan, suddenly snatched her phone away:
"You're going back for the New Year?"
Lin Wanyi quickly explained:
"Mom, my dad is seriously ill, and my brother is getting married. As a daughter and a sister, I definitely have to go back.
"Hao has also agreed. We'll go back to spend some time with my dad, and we'll come right back after the New Year."
She thought her reasons were perfectly justified, but to her surprise, Liu Chunlan's face darkened:
"Lin Wanyi, have you lost your mind? You've been married to Hao for eight years. You are a member of the Wang family now. In ancient times, your name would be Wang Lin Wanyi.
"You need to remember that your heart, your person, and everything about you belong to the Wang family. You are no longer a part of the Lin family, so what is there to go back and see?
"Staying at home properly and serving our large family is the right path. Stop constantly thinking about your maiden family."
Lin Wanyi thought she had heard wrong and argued desperately:
"Mom, I only married into the family, I wasn't sold to Wang Hao.
"I have my own home and my own parents. I must go back!"
Liu Chunlan's face turned completely black. She turned and smacked Wang Hao's arm:
"Play, play, play! All you know is playing games all day long. Your wife is about to run away, are you going to do something about it or not?"
Wang Hao finally put his phone away and glanced at Lin Wanyi:
"Honey, how about we don't go back for the New Year. We can't even get high-speed rail tickets anyway. I'll go back with you after the New Year, okay?"
"No!"
Lin Wanyi's chest heaved with anger, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Wang Hao, we've been married for eight years, and I haven't spent a single New Year at my parents' house.
"What did you say before we got married? You said transportation is advanced now, and I could go back whenever I wanted.
"You said we could alternate years, but it's been eight years, and every year you all have an excuse to stop me from going back.
"I compromised in the past, and I accepted it, but you know my dad is seriously ill right now, and you know my brother is getting married. How would it look if I don't go back?
"What would relatives and friends say about me and my family? How heartbroken would my parents and brother be?"
As Lin Wanyi spoke, tears fell from her eyes. Wang Hao finally showed a hint of guilt. He rubbed his hands together:
"Then just go back. What are you crying for?"
As soon as he said that, Liu Chunlan suddenly smashed her teacup on the floor.
The cup shattered into pieces, and she shouted loudly:
"You are not allowed to go back! I said no, and I mean no. Where is the logic in a daughter-in-law not being home for the New Year?
"You only think about your maiden family. Have you ever thought that our family would be a laughingstock for the New Year?
"Lin Wanyi, listen well. You are a person of the Wang family in life, and a ghost of the Wang family in death. You must spend the New Year in the Wang household."
Shards of broken glass pierced Lin Wanyi's foot, and drops of blood trickled onto the floor.
She stood stubbornly in front of Liu Chunlan:
"I am going back! These are my legs, and it's not up to you to decide!"
Liu Chunlan pointed at her with trembling fingers, suddenly clutching her chest and gasping heavily for air.
Wang Hao hastily helped her to lie down on the sofa:
"We won't go back. Mom, we won't go. Don't worry, please don't get worked up."
Lin Wanyi still wanted to argue, but Wang Hao dragged her into the bedroom:
"My mom is practically fainting from anger because of you. Stop bringing this up for now."
Filled with grievances, Lin Wanyi pounded her fists against Wang Hao's chest:
"Your mom is a mom, but mine isn't? She waits eagerly for me to come back every single year.
"It's been eight years, Wang Hao. Eight years! It should finally be my turn to go back."
Wang Hao kept his head down and let her hit him. After a long while, he put a band-aid on her foot and said:
"Alright, if you've vented enough anger, go out and make dinner. The whole family is still waiting."
Lin Wanyi didn't move. Her mind was set entirely on returning to her parents' home.
Outside the door, the coughing of her father-in-law, Wang Jianguo, could be heard:
"What time is it? Where's the food? There's not a single soul in the kitchen. Wang Hao, what's the use of marrying this wife?
"Are we supposed to wait on her?"
Liu Chunlan was weeping and wailing:
"She's rebelling! She's rebelling! Oh heavens, this mother-in-law is going to be angered to death by her daughter-in-law!
"Who will stand up for me? Oh God!"
Listening to the chaotic accusations outside, Lin Wanyi looked at the messages her mother had just sent her:
[Your dad heard you were coming back, and he's already feeling half-cured. Look, we've aired out the quilts so they're nice and warm. We were worried you and the child might get cold, so we even installed an air conditioner for you.]
[He also said your favorite childhood food was cured pork liver, so he had me buy several pounds immediately. He went down to the countryside himself to have someone smoke it.]
[Wanyi, you haven't been home for the New Year in the eight years you've been married. Mom and Dad really miss you.]
The tears that had been swirling in her eyes for so long finally could no longer be held back and fell.
Lin Wanyi made up her mind. No matter what, she was going back this year. No one and no excuse could stop her.
Even if it meant getting a divorce, she was going back.
Liu Chunlan pushed open her door:
"What are you throwing a tantrum for? Hurry up and cook. Are you really waiting for me to serve you?"
Wang Hao also came to pull Lin Wanyi:
"Honey, just for my sake, stop making a fuss. Let's eat first. We'll talk after dinner. Look, Keke is hungry."
Seeing Keke playing off to the side, Lin Wanyi finally wiped away her tears and went into the kitchen.
She had been married for eight years, and she had cooked for eight years.
Before she got married, she had never even held a kitchen knife, but now she had learned to do everything.
At the dinner table, Liu Chunlan spoke with a sarcastic and cynical tone:
"The daughter-in-law of the Liu family next door earned two hundred thousand working last year, and this year they bought a big house in the city.
"The Zhang family's daughter-in-law is pregnant with her second child. I heard it's a boy. Her mother-in-law shows off in front of me every day. She's really trying to anger me to death."
As she spoke, she looked at Lin Wanyi with disgust:
"And you? You've been married into my family for eight years. You haven't earned a single cent, nor have you given us a big, fat grandson. Tell me, what's the use of keeping you around?
"I'd be better off raising a dog. At least it can guard the house and wag its tail at me.
"Lin Wanyi, don't you agree?"
Lin Wanyi silently fed Keke and didn't say a word. Wang Hao couldn't stand listening to it anymore:
"Mom, we're eating. Just say a few words less."
"Why should I say less?"
Liu Chunlan slammed her rice bowl onto the table:
"Hao, you are just too cowardly. You need to remember that you are a man. You are the heaven and the earth of this household.
"Everything in this family is up to you. Lin Wanyi married you to give you a son. If she can't produce one, she hasn't fulfilled her duty. She deserves to be punished and scolded. Beating her would be letting her off easy."
Keke looked innocently at Liu Chunlan:
"Grandma, Mommy gave birth to me."
"You don't count for anything!"
Liu Chunlan smacked Keke with her chopsticks:
"You're just a money-losing burden. Who would want you?"
