MAC’60s Chapter 70.1

Zhao Jun’s throat tightened, and a heavy weight pressed down on his chest. The news hit him so hard it was as if stars exploded before his eyes.

His mother… dead?

As people age, they tend to miss their parents more. Zhao Jun had lived a stable life in his previous life, reaching his fifties in comfort, with accomplished children — it was the kind of middle age where one often lamented, “By the time the child wants to care, the parent is no longer there.”

Even though he had been reborn, and many memories once blurred by time had become clear again — even though his mother no longer seemed like that distant, idealized figure — Zhao Jun still felt this was the one blessing of his rebirth.

On the journey back, he had kept reassuring himself: even if he had to go through it all again, even if he had to marry Wang Lingling again, it was no big deal.

In his past life, he had managed to establish himself through his own ability. This time, he could do the same.

More importantly, he could make up for the regret of not being able to properly care for his mother before.

But now — he hadn’t even seen her once — and already he was hearing news of her death. She had died even earlier than in his last life!

Zhao Jun’s knees buckled. After days of travel, the shock of being reborn, and the upheaval of his life, everything came crashing down at once. His legs gave out, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

The villager who had brought the news seemed to anticipate this and quickly caught him, shouting loudly to the still-brawling family ahead:

“Zhao family! Zhao Jun is back!”

…

Wang Lingling’s hair was in disarray, and her face and body were covered with bruises from being beaten.

She anxiously rushed toward Zhao Jun, opening her mouth in panic to explain.

“Zhao Jun, I didn’t mean to… it was your mother. She came at me first, even tried to hit me with a hoe, saying if I wouldn’t give her food, she’d take it by force… I was just—I was just defending myself.”

As she spoke, Zhao Dong, eyes wide, screamed out through his sobs, “You’re lying! You’re a bad stepmother! Grandma asked for food and you didn’t give it to her! You didn’t give me eggs either! You pushed Grandma to death!”

Wang Lingling was frantic. Even if she was stupid, she knew that how this ended would depend on Zhao Jun’s reaction.

“Don’t listen to him! I didn’t mistreat him! And besides, that grain wasn’t from the household distribution — it was mine!”

Wang Lingling couldn’t understand how things had gotten to this point.

Wang Lingling had been full of ambition before, thinking about how to distribute the grain, make a big profit, buy a house with the money, and no longer have to live with her in-laws. She also planned to raise Zhao Dong and Zhao Xi, and maybe even have her own child in the next few years.

She didn’t know how Wang Ying managed to slowly change the two children’s behavior in her past life, but now, Wang Lingling realized she couldn’t see that hope anymore.

Zhao Dong and Zhao Xi were cute at first glance, especially Zhao Xi, who looked like a delicate little girl. But that was only superficial.

For nearly a year, Wang Lingling had been enduring the mischievousness of the two children.

Zhao Dong, a five- or six-year-old boy, was naturally very naughty. In addition, Zhao Laotai and several aunts kept telling him that Wang Lingling was a stepmother, and stepmothers were always pretending, but eventually, they would be exposed. As a result, Zhao Dong always resisted Wang Lingling.

Other than asking for money to buy candy from the store, he always called Wang Lingling “stepmother.”

Then, someone told Zhao Dong something terrible, and whenever Wang Lingling hesitated to give money or things, the boy would run around the village yelling that his stepmother was abusing him.

Zhao Xi, three or four years old, didn’t understand much, but with an older brother around, she naturally learned from him.

Wang Lingling wasn’t unaffected by their resistance, but she kept thinking that since Wang Ying had been able to change the children in her previous life, she could do it too.

After enduring some hardship, things would eventually get better.

But that day, when Zhao Dong said that Zhao Jun was suspicious of her and that the children were suffering, it deeply struck Wang Lingling. Her determination to rely on the children began to waver.

She couldn’t help but feel disheartened.

Was it true that children who weren’t born from her own womb could never be as close to her?

She had been so good to Zhao Dong and Zhao Xi that even she was often surprised. But despite all that, she still couldn’t make Zhao Jun trust her.

Wang Lingling thought that if this was the case, she might as well have her own child!

Initially, she had planned to be like Wang Ying in her past life — to calmly raise her stepchildren without having her own. After all, with two children who were bound to succeed, having her own might cause divisions within the family and disrupt her “winning” plan.

But Zhao Dong’s words made her abandon that idea.

She needed her own child.

Without her own child, no matter how obedient, there would always be a gap of “biological bonds” that couldn’t be crossed.

Once Wang Lingling had this idea, her actions naturally followed.

The first sign of this was that she stopped giving the two younger children an egg each every day.

After the family split, Wang Lingling raised two chickens. The chickens laid eggs every day, sometimes one, sometimes two. Wang Lingling would rather trade money with others to get more eggs than give the children an egg each.

Her way of raising the children wasn’t without gossip in the village. Even families with abundant resources didn’t eat like this. Wang Lingling thought that at least by doing this, she wouldn’t get blamed, but in reality, the villagers said she didn’t know how to manage her life. Some even thought she was too intentional in trying to win over the children.

Zhao Dong also only spoke ill of her outside, never saying anything good.

Wang Lingling, already feeling wronged, took the opportunity of this incident to stop giving the children eggs.

She kept the eggs for herself. When the children went out to play, she would make herself a boiled egg. As she ate, she vented her frustration, thinking that she had been foolish to give the eggs to these ungrateful children. It would be better to keep them for herself and then have a real child later. No matter how successful Zhao Dong and Zhao Xi became in the future, wasn’t it all thanks to a capable father?

She shouldn’t have focused so much on the children but should have concentrated on securing Zhao Jun, the key!

Who cared about ungrateful stepchildren? At worst, she could raise her own child and then make sure Zhao Jun would be hers, with everything in the house belonging to her child!

After she stopped giving eggs, Zhao Dong quickly became upset.

Although eating one egg a day had become tiresome, he still knew eggs were valuable.

Now that his father was not home, he was the only male in the house. Even if there was one egg, it should be his!

Zhao Dong didn’t believe Wang Lingling’s excuse that the chickens weren’t laying eggs anymore. He pretended to go out but secretly hid at home. Sure enough, he saw his stepmother eating and drinking behind his back.

His stepmother even made herself a bowl of dumplings!

Zhao Dong was furious.

He burst out and accused her, “You’re a good-for-nothing, a mother locust! Why are you eating so well? This is all my dad’s money! My dad’s money is mine! You don’t earn any money, you just eat for free at home! I won’t let you eat!”

As he spoke, he tried to snatch the food from her, but Wang Lingling, enraged, kicked him over.

Wang Lingling, her temper triggered by the boy’s words, snapped and started scolding him, her accumulated anger pouring out: “Get away! Your dad’s money is also mine! I’m taking care of you two unlucky kids, and I haven’t said anything! Your dad should give me money!”

She said, her voice firm, “I’m your dad’s wife! We have a protected military marriage! Do you know what a military marriage is? It means your dad can’t divorce me! Everything in this house belongs to me and your dad! As for you two little brats, I’m only taking care of you because I’m kind. You dare to talk back to me?”

Ignoring the crying Zhao Dong, Wang Lingling finished all the dumplings and didn’t leave even a small piece of dough.

After eating, she went back to her room to lie down. She didn’t wash the dishes or clothes.

She sneered at herself. She had been foolish before. She just needed a capable man; who cared about capable stepchildren?

With two burdens like these, she was already being generous by not making them work for her. Why bother trying to win them over?

Zhao Laotai was furious and, on top of that, the harvest this year was poor, so her family was surviving on watered-down meals three times a day.

She didn’t know where Wang Lingling got several large bags of grain from, but Zhao Laotai had heard that the wicked woman even went back to her family’s village and distributed the work points and grain that her parents had accumulated.

The granaries were full of grain!

Wang Lingling thought she had hidden it well, but in reality, the two children had already leaked the information to Zhao Laotai.

Zhao Laotai went to Wang Lingling to ask for some grain, but Wang Lingling refused, saying that now that they had divided the family, they were no longer a family, so it wasn’t right to help in a time of need.

Zhao Laotai, already simmering with anger, now felt that Wang Lingling had truly revealed her true colors. Even her eldest grandson began to treat her harshly.

Feeling that she couldn’t hold it in any longer, Zhao Laotai decided to confront Wang Lingling and demand the grain, bringing along several of her sons and daughters-in-law.

Wang Lingling, of course, refused. She increasingly felt that the two children were unreliable, and her own child hadn’t come yet. She had to hold onto the money tightly.

If she didn’t hold onto the money, would she have to live in poverty for the next few years?

Since Wang Lingling wouldn’t give in, Zhao Laotai sent her sons to take it by force.

Inevitable conflict broke out, and no one knew who shoved whom, but Zhao Laotai fell down.

She didn’t bleed or cry out in pain, just collapsed and fainted. When the others realized something was wrong and checked her pulse, she was already dead.

Wang Lingling felt wronged; she hadn’t even gone near Zhao Laotai!

But the rest of the Zhao family all said the same thing, directly blaming her.

After all, it was already getting dark, and no one had seen clearly. Since no one had seen clearly, it must have been Wang Lingling who killed her!

The Zhao family’s sons wanted to beat up Wang Lingling. Wang Lingling was bruised and swollen, and it was only the village chief, who had arrived just in time, who managed to separate them.

“Zhao Jun, you have to believe me! It really wasn’t me!”

Wang Lingling cried desperately. “It really, really wasn’t me! I was just protecting the grain! I didn’t intend to hurt anyone!”

Zhao Jun’s eldest brother, with bloodshot eyes, yelled, “Poisonous woman! How dare you say it wasn’t you! You’re the one who’s been wishing for my mother to die!”

This was actually true. The Zhao family’s daughters-in-law weren’t from good backgrounds, and the men in their families weren’t much better. The whole family relied on Zhao Jun’s allowance. As long as the old lady was alive, Zhao Jun’s allowance would be shared, enough for them to survive.

Even though Zhao Laotai was disliked by everyone, the daughters-in-law had tolerated it because of the financial support.

As for the sons, it was needless to say—they all followed their mother, who was in charge, so they didn’t have to worry.

Only Wang Lingling, she truly cursed the old lady in her heart and hoped she would die soon.

When Zhao Jun’s eldest brother spoke, Wang Lingling had no words to defend herself. “You all came to steal my grain!”