Wang Ying didn’t actually know that Tian Dazhu was planning to get married.
Since Qian Juhua’s divorce, Wang Ying hadn’t really paid attention to Tian Dazhu’s family. Tian Dazhu had been quietly working and had become much more distant from the people in the commune.
People in the commune had big mouths. Since it was Qian Juhua who had initiated the divorce, it meant that the woman had abandoned the man, right?
Because of this, Qian Juhua’s reputation wasn’t good, but Tian Dazhu’s reputation wasn’t much better either, as he was abandoned by his wife.
Especially with Tian Dazhu’s wife and mother-in-law still around, Wang Ying never expected Tian Dazhu to remarry so soon.
After all, he was such a timid person, it seemed like he would always be under the control of his biased mother, dedicating his life to his younger brother’s family.
Wang Ying thought to herself that Tian Dazhu would probably have to work for many years in his younger brother’s house before his wife would finally release him to marry someone. With such a good laborer, Tian Dazhu’s mother wouldn’t let him go easily. She definitely wouldn’t let him go until his younger brother’s family had drained him dry.
And even if he did get married, his mother would probably control the selection, and the woman he married wouldn’t be as capable as Qian Juhua.
But now, how could Tian Dazhu be ready to marry and have children so soon?
Erya, holding back her anger, said, “He told us that if we stay with Mom, we’ll be easily bullied, and he wants us to come live with him. He said that in the future, my younger brother will protect us.”
Wang Ying was speechless. The last time she was this speechless was during their previous conversation.
This man must be obsessed with wanting a son.
But at the same time, Wang Ying felt confused, as she didn’t think Tian Dazhu was someone who would actively talk to his daughters like that.
He was the kind of person who could hardly say three words in a row—how could he have such thoughts about his two daughters?
It was Daya, who had been silent, that finally spoke.
“A few days ago… I saw him with Widow Yu. He was helping Widow Yu fetch water…”
Wang Ying: …
Widow Yu was known as the “young widow” in the commune. There were two famous widows in the commune: one was Widow Sun, whose husband had been stolen by Wang Yaozong; people called her “Old Widow” because she had been widowed for a long time.
Widow Sun’s husband had passed away early, and she had raised her children by herself. She was very tough, and when the relatives of her late husband tried to take her house and land after her husband’s death, she chased them around the commune with a kitchen knife, nearly killing one of them.
After that incident, the people in the commune learned that Widow Sun was not to be messed with. Even those who thought they could take advantage of her widowhood had to keep their distance, afraid she might stab them with her knife.
As for Widow Yu…
Her reputation was much more ambiguous.
Wang Ying had met Widow Yu during the winter. She was wearing a tight coat that accentuated her bust, which seemed out of place for the season, and her lips were painted with a bit of red paper. With her round face, she had an alluring presence, especially in a time when most people could hardly find enough food. Widow Yu, standing there, exuded a certain charm.
Widow Yu wasn’t particularly beautiful, but she had a good figure, and she hadn’t had any children, so she stood out among the women in the commune.
Moreover, the reason Widow Yu was widowed was because her husband had accidentally fallen down the mountain a few years ago, and by the time he was rescued, he was already dead. Normally, since they had no children, Widow Yu would have gone back to her family for a while before eventually remarrying.
But Widow Yu had a good relationship with her mother-in-law, who was also living alone. For some reason, Widow Yu had made up her mind not to return to her natal family and insisted on staying with her mother-in-law at the in-laws’ house.
At first, everyone praised Widow Yu for being rare in her actions—her husband had passed away, yet she stayed and cared for her mother-in-law, making her a good woman in the eyes of the commune.
But gradually, rumors started to spread.
Some people saw others helping Widow Yu fetch water, others saw someone working in her fields, and there were even people living near Widow Yu who claimed they saw shadows outside her door in the middle of the night.
Though nobody had actually seen anything concrete, gossip still spread quickly.
As time went on, Widow Yu’s reputation began to suffer.
However, Widow Yu seemed unfazed, continuing to socialize in the commune as usual. Occasionally, if a man in the commune looked at her a bit too long, his wife would pull his ear, but no one dared openly confront her.
But as for Widow Yu and Tian Dazhu…
Wang Ying was unsure. These two didn’t seem like they were from the same background at all.
Wang Ying then looked at the two girls standing beside her, who were clearly worried, filled with concern.
She asked, “Are you worried… that if your father gets married, your mother will find out and be upset? Do you think she might think of you as a burden?”
Daya nodded gravely. She whispered, “If Dad gets married, will Mom get angry… and think that we are a burden?”
Wang Ying comforted them, “Don’t think of your mother as too fragile, and no matter what, she’ll never think of you as a burden.”
“You see, if your mother really thought you were a burden, she could have left you with the Tian family when she divorced, right? Daya, do you remember? They insisted on keeping you, but your mother didn’t agree.”
Daya’s expression softened, her brows unknitting. When she first heard about Tian Dazhu’s remarriage, she had been nervous, but she wasn’t actually sad about her father remarrying. Her real worry was about Qian Juhua.
Wang Ying encouraged them, “You’re both great. Don’t be afraid. Your mother definitely won’t take her anger out on you.”
Wang Ying’s firm attitude calmed the two little girls a little, but Erya was still somewhat upset.
As for why she was angry, the five-year-old couldn’t quite express it, but she was just angry.
Wang Ying then sent the two girls back home.
After returning, she mentioned the matter to Old Madam Xu. Old Madam Xu slapped her thigh and said, “I was wondering why I saw Widow Yu wearing new clothes the other day! She even said there was a happy event at her house, so it turns out this was the happy event!”
Old Madam Xu was full of excitement as she explained to Wang Ying, “This old woman has finally found someone she can hold onto after all these years.”
Wang Ying, while cracking sunflower seeds, gleamed with curiosity, “Mom, tell me more.”
It wasn’t surprising she was so curious—there was little entertainment in the countryside, and even though the commune sometimes had movie screenings, they were usually held in the commune center, while her own commune didn’t have such luxuries. With such a dull life, how could one survive without some gossip?
Old Madam Xu grabbed some sunflower seeds, cracking them as she spoke, “You don’t know, but Widow Yu mother in law is the worst kind of person in our commune. Among all the women, she’s the most scheming and deceitful.”
To make sure Wang Ying understood, Old Madam Xu even gave a small example.
“A long time ago, when Xu Shuang was still little, because Xu Shuang’s father worked as a cook at a small noodle shop in the commune, Widow Yu’s mother in law used to come to me quite often. I was busy running the house, so I didn’t really suspect anything. She always acted like a young wife, and we got along fine.”
“But you know what happened later? Her little girl was only about ten years old, and every time she came over, she brought her daughter.”
“I thought, well, it’s just a little girl coming over, no big deal.”
“Who knew that the girl started coming more and more often, always hanging around Xu Ming, who was still in school at the time. She’d stay by his side, serving tea and water. People who didn’t know might have thought Xu Ming was making the girl his little servant.”
“I started feeling uneasy and mentioned it to her.”
“Do you know what she said?”
Wang Ying’s eyes widened in anticipation, “What did she say?”
“She said… she thought Xu Ming had potential, so she was planning to send her daughter over to be a child bride, not asking for any money, just to have her daughter serve Xu Ming when he grew up.”
Wang Ying: “…Wasn’t that after the founding of the country?”
“Of course it was, it was already the new society, and she was still thinking like that. She thought I couldn’t see through her intentions. She thought that by sending her daughter over, when Xu Ming grew up, it would be too late to say anything. Anyway, it would be official by then, and the new society didn’t care about child brides anymore. They’d just become in-laws, and once they were in-laws, they’d naturally help each other. Sending a daughter over without asking for money seemed like a loss, but she believed she would get it back eventually.”
Wang Ying: “I never would have thought she was that kind of person.”
On a regular day in the commune, Widow Yu’s mother in law seemed just like any other elderly woman, and no one would guess that she secretly had such plans to marry off her daughter for personal gain.
Old Madam Xu spat and said, “You’d better not be fooled by her, she’s no good. Back then, I got so angry that I kicked her out and never let her come back. Later, for some reason, she attached herself to a family from the next commune over and sent her own daughter there. Now, they say they’re in-laws, but everyone knows she sent her daughter there to be a child bride. That family was doing well at first, but in recent years, things have clearly gone downhill. It’s all because of that good daughter of hers, who’s been draining her in-laws dry to support her own family.”
Old Madam Xu spat again: “This woman is vicious and selfish. She never thinks about how her daughter had to endure hardship and suffering just to be sent away. She only pretends to be sick to get things from people. Even her daughter-in-law was tricked into staying with her.”
“Take this matter with Tian Dazhu—I’m telling you, there’s an eighty or ninety percent chance that old woman is behind it. That woman is ruthless. By keeping her daughter-in-law around, she’s essentially securing someone to take care of her in old age.”
Wang Ying asked, “But wouldn’t her daughter-in-law see through it? Why would she be willing to be used like that?”
Old Lady Xu sneered and said, “That daughter-in-law of hers looks sharp, but she’s actually stupid. You better not go sticking your nose in—if you say something, she’ll just think you’re jealous. Do you think we haven’t said anything before? We’ve told her so many times. But she insists her mother-in-law is the best in the world and refuses to remarry, even if it kills her.”
Old Lady Xu tilted her head, thinking, and said, “Now that she’s finally agreed to remarry, there must be something behind it. I don’t believe for a second that she’d willingly choose Tian Dazhu.”
There were quite a few bachelors and widowers in the commune eyeing that young widow. Plenty of men had helped her carry water and work the fields. Some clearly had a thing with her, and some were just being bossed around by her.
