Keke lowered her head in grievance, and Lin Wanyi was furious:
"Mom, Keke is my daughter, not some money-losing burden. Don't ever call her that again."
Liu Chunlan curled her lips:
"I can't even call her a money-losing burden? If you got pregnant with a big grandson for me right now, I'd shut up immediately.
"But do you even have what it takes? Lin Wanyi, ask yourself, aren't you ashamed?
"It's been eight years. I've provided you with good food and drink, waited on you hand and foot, and all you've given birth to is a money-losing burden, you..."
Smack!
Lin Wanyi slammed her chopsticks onto the table, interrupting Liu Chunlan:
"Mom, if you insist on talking like this today, then let's get things straight.
"I've been married to Wang Hao for eight years. I've never eaten a single meal cooked by you, nor have I ever spent a single cent of yours.
"Even during my postpartum confinement, I cooked and washed my own clothes, and I still had to pay you two thousand a month for living expenses.
"So I'm asking you, who exactly is waiting on whom? How have you ever served me?"
Liu Chunlan flushed slightly, but refusing to back down, she immediately raised her voice:
"Lin Wanyi, you are the daughter-in-law, how dare you give me attitude?
"Isn't it your duty to serve us? Didn't your mother teach you to be filial to your parents-in-law?
"You really are just a cheap good from out of town. I disagreed when Haohao wanted to marry you back then. What good could ever come from an outsider?
"Don't women only marry far away because no one wants them back home? Haohao rejected so many pure, local girls just to marry you.
"These past few years, I've been laughed at to death by the old ladies in the village. They all say I got a cheap daughter-in-law.
"And you dare slam the table at me? Lin Wanyi, what do you think you're doing? Are you trying to turn this house upside down?"
A heavy breath caught in Lin Wanyi's chest; she didn't want to argue a single word more with Liu Chunlan.
For so many years, Liu Chunlan had always despised her for being an out-of-town daughter-in-law, looking down on her in every word she spoke.
She constantly compared her to the local girls.
But clearly, marrying a local wife here required a bride price of at least 380,000. Back then, her parents, afraid she would be bullied marrying so far away, hadn't asked for a single cent.
They had thought this would allow her to hold her head high in her in-laws' home. Unexpectedly, it instead became proof that she was cheap, brought up every time they argued.
After feeding Keke, she returned to her room without taking a single bite herself.
Wang Hao immediately followed her in:
"What are you doing? We're just having a meal, why did you slam the table at my mom? She is my mother, can't you just give in to her?"
Lin Wanyi kept looking at her phone without saying a word.
Wang Hao finally snatched her phone away:
"You're buying a ticket? You still want to go back?
"Didn't we agree that you'd go back after the New Year?"
Lin Wanyi tried to grab her phone back, but Wang Hao held it high above his head, and she couldn't reach it at all.
She grew anxious: "Give me the phone, hurry up, the tickets are about to be released. If I'm late, I won't be able to get one again."
Wang Hao held the phone even higher:
"No. My mom said you can't leave for the New Year. If you leave, my mom and dad will be so lonely.
"Every other family will be bustling and lively, while they'll have no one to keep them company. What do you expect them to do?"
"Wang Hao!"
Lin Wanyi finally exploded. She shouted:
"Give me the phone! I'll take Keke back myself. I don't need you to come with me. You accompany your mom, and I'll accompany mine.
"Let's each go to our own homes and our own mothers. Neither of us will get in the other's way."
Before Wang Hao could speak, the door was kicked open by Liu Chunlan:
"What kind of nonsense are you sprouting? If you leave with the child, the villagers will think you and Haohao got divorced. Won't they laugh at us just the same?
"Let me tell you, give up on the idea of going back to your maiden home. I will never allow it."
Lin Wanyi was so angry that large tears rolled down her cheeks:
"Mom, you are a mother too. Can't you put yourself in my shoes?
"If your eldest son-in-law didn't let your eldest daughter come back to see you, how would you feel? Wouldn't you be sad and worried?"
"Heh!"
Liu Chunlan sneered:
"Is my daughter the same as a money-losing outsider like you? She married locally and can be back in ten minutes.
"She doesn't need a high-speed train, an airplane, or money. How can you compare to her? Bah!"
After she finished speaking, she took Lin Wanyi's phone from Wang Hao's hand:
"The phone is confiscated. I'll give it back whenever you figure things out and decide not to go back!"
"No!"
Lin Wanyi lunged over like a madwoman to grab the phone:
"My mom will be looking for me. My dad is in poor health and something could go wrong at any moment. Give me the phone, give it to me right now!"
Liu Chunlan stood behind Wang Hao, while Wang Hao blocked Lin Wanyi:
"Stop making a scene. As long as you don't go back, you'll get the phone right away.
"Honey, just make a promise to my mom."
Lin Wanyi's eyes were red with anger. She almost roared as she questioned Wang Hao:
"If it was your dad who was seriously ill, would you still act like this?"
Slap!
Wang Jianguo, who had been standing at the door all along, suddenly slapped Lin Wanyi across the face:
"You bitch, are you cursing me?
"I'm living perfectly fine, do you want me dead?
"Let me tell you, stay obediently at home. You can go back to your maiden home when you give my Wang family a big grandson!"
The door was slammed shut by Liu Chunlan, and Lin Wanyi's cheek burned with pain.
She covered her face and wept. Wang Hao sat to the side and lit a cigarette:
"Honey, just be good, okay? Stop fussing. My parents are just thinking of our little family.
"If you just leave like this, who knows how the villagers will laugh at me."
"What is there to laugh at?"
Lin Wanyi said through her tears:
"I'm just going back to my maiden home. Do the girls in your village never visit their maiden homes?
"Wang Hao, you liar. You're a liar!"
Wang Hao also got angry, slammed the door, and walked out.
Lin Wanyi panicked. Without her phone, how could she book a ticket and go back?
It was already hard enough to buy tickets during the Spring Festival, and now she didn't even have her phone.
She didn't want to yield to Liu Chunlan. She had to go back.
She had to go back no matter what.
After crying with her head covered for two hours, she finally decided to go find Liu Chunlan.
"Mom, give me my phone."
Liu Chunlan turned a deaf ear and continued scrolling through short dramas.
Lin Wanyi raised her voice:
"Give me my phone!"
Only then did Liu Chunlan lift her eyelids, casually pull the phone out of her pocket, and toss it to Lin Wanyi:
"Here. Let's see what kind of waves you can make."
Her expression made Lin Wanyi uneasy.
But she couldn't worry about that; she had to book a ticket right away.
It was well past the ticket release time, and all the tickets with seats had long been snatched up.
With no other choice, Lin Wanyi decided to book two standing tickets for now and bring two stools onto the train.
But when she was about to pay, the system kept prompting that the payment failed due to insufficient balance.
Impossible.
There was clearly money in her account, but she tried several times and it kept saying it failed.
Her heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly opened her banking app, only to discover that the 30,000 yuan she had scrimped and saved was completely gone, every single cent had been transferred to Liu Chunlan.
She was mad with rage. Trying desperately to suppress her anger, she asked Liu Chunlan:
"You transferred my money?"
Liu Chunlan smiled smugly:
"What do you mean your money? That is all our Wang family's money.
"Lin Wanyi, Haohao gave you too much money and spoiled you rotten.
"Now let's see where you can go without money. Forget about going back to your wretched maiden home!"
