Chapter 458 - 398: The Truth
Chapter 458: Chapter 398: The Truth
Lin Aizhen’s eyes flickered. She tried her best to compose herself, her face hardening as she spoke with a voice laced with fury.
"I’d like to ask you what you mean by that! What do you mean I was the one who insisted on marrying my daughter into your family? ’Freedom to love, freedom to marry’—that’s been the slogan for decades. Even a housewife like you should understand that principle by now! Back then, it was Qingyun himself who proposed marriage. He was a grown man in his twenties. Who could have forced him? He has to take responsibility for his actions! If he hadn’t ruined Xiao Wen’s innocence, do you have any idea that she could have married into a better family and found a husband who truly cherished her, loved her, and treated her like a treasure? But no, she had to marry Tang Qingyun, endure your bullying as her mother-in-law, suffer with him in the countryside for over a decade, risk her life to bear children and carry on your Tang family line... and in the end, this is how you treat her! It was Qingyun who was dying to marry my daughter back then, and now he’s the one filing for divorce! Marrying her when he wants and abandoning her when he wants—what gives you the right? Do you think you’re so great just because you’re a family of high-ranking officials? Tell Tang Renqian to come out here and give me an explanation! Do you really think our Wu Family has no one to stand up for us? Don’t push us too far!"
Lin Aizhen grew angrier and more agitated as she spoke. A faint flush appeared on her pale, gaunt face. Normally, she would have to pause for a rest after just a few sentences, but today she delivered this long tirade without even catching her breath, her voice full of vigor.
Then, looking at Wu Xiaowen’s dewy, rosy-cheeked face, Grandma Tang scoffed internally. ’What foolish things my silly grandson and granddaughter have done. Scum like this don’t deserve their filial piety at all. Giving them such a precious formula and fine herbs was a complete waste!’
"Fang Qinglan, do you dare let me in? We can let the neighbors judge who’s right!" Lin Aizhen continued to shout.
"I opened the door and invited you in long ago. Why didn’t you come in then? Don’t think I don’t know what you’re plotting. You haven’t made a big enough scene at the doorway yet. How could you bear to go inside?"
Grandma Tang looked at Lin Aizhen and sneered. "You launched into that tirade just to avoid my question, didn’t you? You refuse to answer? Fine, let’s just say we both know the truth! But I won’t accept you accusing my son, Tang Qingyun, of ruining Wu Xiaowen’s innocence! I asked Qingyun what really happened with him and Wu Xiaowen getting pregnant before they were married. Do you really want me to say it out loud? Lin Aizhen, it’s one thing for you, her mother, to be so thick-skinned, but Wu Xiaowen, do you want to hear it? Was it really Tang Qingyun who made the first move and touched you back then? Because Qingyun told me that, actually, it was..."
"No! Don’t say it!" Wu Xiaowen clapped her hands over her ears, her face a mask of shame and fury. ’That bastard Tang Qingyun isn’t a real man!’ she cursed inwardly. ’How could he tell his own mother something like that!’
Mother and daughter were indeed of one mind. After a moment of shock, Lin Aizhen opened her mouth and cursed, "Tang Qingyun is a real piece of work! To think he’d push the blame for his own actions onto a woman..."
Grandma Tang snorted. She wasn’t so bored as to waste her energy digging up the distant past. She was just using a petty trick to test the mother and daughter. She hadn’t expected them to react so strongly. ’There was definitely something fishy about Qingyun and Wu Xiaowen’s relationship back then,’ she thought, ’but there’s no need to uncover the truth now.’
"Lin Aizhen, don’t you dare curse my son. If I wanted to curse your daughter, I have a hundred ways to do it, and I doubt you could bear it! The past is the past. Let’s not talk about how they got together. And don’t you dare lie and say she suffered with my son. When Qingyun married Wu Xiaowen, *he* was the one who was dragged down! If it weren’t for your Wu Family, he would have followed his arrangements and gone to the Northeast or the Northwest. He could have been as successful as Qingshan is now. But he chose to break with his parents, to be your Wu Family’s son-in-law, and to follow you to the South. He may have been young and rash, but the Tang family couldn’t truly abandon him. The Tang Family still gave him some support. Without him, could your Wu Family have survived intact all this time? Your Wu Family’s two arch-enemies alone could have killed you several times over! So, Lin Aizhen, you’ve always been shrewd. Your judgment is sharp and your methods are brilliant. In the end, you managed to latch onto a member of the Tang Family to use for your own ends. You should be satisfied to let go at this point. Greed never leads to a good end!"
The two women faced off. Grandma Tang’s gaze was cold, proud, and certain, while layers of hatred roiled in Lin Aizhen’s eyes. The other woman’s smooth, jade-white face, without a single wrinkle, was blindingly conspicuous. The obvious contempt and indifference on that face provoked her even more. She squeezed a sentence through her clenched teeth: "Fang Qinglan, you owe me..."
"What do I owe you? Money? A favor? Tell me clearly, and I’ll repay you!"
"Can you repay it? You owe me a life!"
The scene fell silent. Wu Xiaowen, stunned by this statement, stopped crying and stared blankly at the two women facing each other.
Lin Aizhen regretted it so much she could have bitten her tongue. That damned woman, Fang Qinglan, had replied too quickly, rushing her into blurting out that sentence.
"Lin Aizhen, so the fox’s tail is finally showing, is it? Having your daughter marry Tang Qingyun to use him was just secondary. Your real target is the entire Tang family!"
Grandma Tang’s icy words were like knives, stabbing straight into the hearts of Lin Aizhen and Wu Xiaowen. "No wonder you could abandon my granddaughter without a shred of pity, hook up with some other man, and cuckold Qingyun without the slightest pressure or shame! You tried everything to stop Manman from returning to the Tang family because you don’t want her to come back and cure me! Once this old woman is dead, the Tang family will naturally fall into Wu Xiaowen’s hands. Then you, Lin Aizhen, can do whatever you want and turn the Tang family into your own little kingdom, right? Heh! What a satisfying way to get revenge! Lin Aizhen, are you still dreaming? Why don’t you hurry up, take your daughter, go home, wash up, and go to sleep so you can continue your little daydream!"
Wu Xiaowen’s face was deathly pale. She clenched her fists and cried out to Grandma Tang, feeling deeply wronged, "Mom! About Manman..."
Grandma Tang’s face filled with disgust. "You’re calling the wrong person. Your mother is over there. And don’t you dare say Manman’s name. You’re not worthy!"
Wu Xiaowen sobbed and stumbled to one side. Lin Aizhen clutched her chest, gasping for breath, her face pale as she enunciated each syllable: "Fang. Qing. Lan!"
Grandma Tang glanced at her. "What now? Still fixated on that life that’s owed? Lin Aizhen, you’d better think carefully: that life... do I owe you, or do you owe me? How did my sister, Fang Yulan, die? Do you and Wu Yu Xuan dare to give me a straight answer? It’s been decades. It’s all in the past. I promise I won’t pursue it. I just want a single honest word from you!"
Lin Aizhen’s lips turned ashen again. She shook her head forcefully. "It wasn’t us! Back then, she got lost because she wandered off to play! We looked for her for most of the day. The police investigated... Everything was clear!"
"I know all that, but I can’t bring myself to believe it. Just like you can’t bring yourself to believe that your brother defected!"
Lin Aizhen clenched her jaw, her gaze venomous and sharp.
Grandma Tang waved her hand dismissively. "I have to go inside and attend to my guests. I don’t have time to waste on this nonsense with you. Didn’t you want to come in and have a ’talk’ with my neighbors? Come on, be my guest! If they ask the reason for the divorce, should I tell the truth? Talk is cheap, but someone gave me a few photos. They’re of Wu Xiaowen with a man... and the way they were acting, well, my husband and I couldn’t bear to look. When a daughter-in-law is unfaithful and cuckolds her husband, how can the in-laws feel good about it? I’m sure the neighbors won’t mind. Come on in, and we can show the photos to everyone. That way, you can’t go around saying the Tang family bullied the Wu Family and filed for divorce for no reason!"