Second Child's remark was a devastating blow. Zhou Tingting was so enraged that she swayed on her feet, nearly fainting from anger.
However, she didn't actually die of rage in the end. Thinking about her current predicament, all thanks to those two children, Zhou Tingting wished she could devour them both.
Her gaze was icy.
Second Child shrank back in fear, hiding behind Si Nian.
But he quickly realized this was their home now, and his father was right here.
He was a little man; how could he hide behind someone?
He wanted to protect his mother, just like his dad did.
He wasn't afraid at all.
The little fellow puffed out his chest and belly, his small body stepping in front of Si Nian. He mustered his courage to stare wide-eyed at Zhou Tingting, putting on a brave face.
Zhou Tingting's attire had lost its former splendor. Not only were her clothes crumpled, but her face was also haggard, as if she had aged ten years.
Seeing Si Nian walk out, Zhou Tingting's eyes turned even more vicious: "What are you looking at? It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be so miserable! It's all because of you. Big Brother, it's all her fault that I'm in this state!"
Si Nian looked at her coolly and asked, "What are you talking about, Auntie? Did I make you steal the braised meat recipe? Or did I make your husband find a mistress? It seems you really have no one else to blame. Instead of confronting the mistress and your husband, you come back to trouble me? No wonder the Li Family could drive you out so easily. It seems you held no standing in the Li Family at all. Clearly married, yet the Li Family treats you like a dog, beckoning you come and ordering you go. If you had spent even half the patience you use to bother me on dealing with them, they wouldn't dare look down on you like this."
These words stabbed straight at Zhou Tingting's heart. Because of her rural background, she had always felt inferior deep down, thinking she wasn't good enough for the Li Family.
Her upbringing taught her that the husband was the heaven; whatever the Li Family said was law.
As long as she could secure her position, anything she did was justified.
So before, whether it was bringing people to beat Si Nian or coming to cause trouble, she had never refused.
This was precisely why her already strained relationship with her big brother completely shattered.
But could she be blamed for that?
Who asked Si Nian to be so troublesome and provoke their Li Family first?
Her brother-in-law was doing just fine in her brother's factory, but because she wanted to get her own brother sent to jail, she ruined the relationship between her brother and him, and caused her brother-in-law so much suffering.
As the elder sister-in-law, how could she just stand by and let her brother-in-law be bullied?
It was Si Nian who went too far.
If she had been well-behaved and dutiful like the previous woman, how could things have come to this?
"Big Brother, you're my own flesh and blood brother. I'm backed into a corner now with nowhere to turn. If you don't help me, no one will."
"Didn't you promise Mom and Dad you'd take care of me when they passed away?"
Zhou Tingting sobbed tearfully to Zhou Yueshen.
She was determined today; she absolutely would not go back. Her husband and mother-in-law were forcing her to divorce. If she divorced now, the Li Family would pin all those incidents solely on her.
She refused. Li Jiaming even hit her. Zhou Tingting truly had nowhere to go now.
As long as Big Brother let her come home, Li Jiaming wouldn't dare do anything to her.
He wanted to divorce her and be with that slut? They were dreaming.
As long as she refused to divorce for a single day, his affair would be adultery!
If she made a scene at his workplace, he could forget about keeping his job.
Of course, Zhou Tingting didn't actually want to cause trouble at his workplace, which was why she chose to come back instead.
After all, he was her husband, her child's father. The Li Family's situation was bad enough already. If Li Jiaming lost his job because of this, their family would be completely ruined.
Zhou Tingting wasn't that foolish.
Zhou Yueshen's expression was cold, his tone calm: "I did promise Mom and Dad I'd take care of you, but only until you married. Zhou Tingting, I believe I made it clear. Once you chose to marry Li Jiaming, I would not interfere in your future in the slightest."
Zhou Tingting's face instantly paled.
Back then, in her determination to marry Li Jiaming, she had nearly severed ties with Zhou Yueshen.
Zhou Tingting thought she was heading for a good life.
Of course she didn't care what he said.
She also considered herself an adult, no longer needing Zhou Yueshen's oversight.
She hadn't taken his words seriously at all.
"Brother, Brother, I know you were just saying that in anger, right? I was wrong back then, I didn't listen to you. Now I understand. Li Jiaming is indeed no good, just like you said. Let him fool around outside if he wants. As long as I don't divorce him for a single day, he can never bring that woman into the house properly."
"This is my home. If I don't come here, where else can I go?"
A mocking curve touched Zhou Yueshen's thin lips, his voice low and cold: "Zhou Tingting, if you want to go home, I can't stop you. But this is not your home. You should remember where your home actually is. If you want to go back, go back there."
Zhou Tingting's expression changed dramatically upon hearing this.
Her home?
That dilapidated thatched hut?
She would never go there.
The old Zhou Family house had been vacant for nearly ten years, long since fallen into utter disrepair, completely unfit for living.
Asking her to go there was worse than killing her.
Just as Zhou Tingting was about to say more, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded behind her.
She turned to see Li Jiaming walking over, his face dark.
"Tingting, why did you run back here? You should be resting at home properly. What are you doing here?"
Li Jiaming wore a gentle expression. If one didn't know his true nature, who could imagine this man was not only an adulterer but also a wife-beater?
Zhou Tingting's face instantly turned deathly pale.
Her body trembled involuntarily.
These past few days, because of the braised meat incident, which brought shame upon the Li Family and required compensation, Li Jiaming had completely lost patience with her and was forcing her to divorce.
Zhou Tingting thought that as long as she stubbornly refused, Li Jiaming could do nothing.
Who would have thought this man, who had always seemed gentle in front of her, would lock her in a room and lay hands on her?
Zhou Tingting had barely managed to escape and run back here.
She never imagined that even after fleeing back to her family home, Li Jiaming would dare to follow her here.
Zhou Tingting desperately grabbed Zhou Yueshen's hand, shrieking in terror: "Brother, Brother, save me! I won't go back! He'll beat me to death if I go back!"
