Time-Travel: The Tragic Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character Makes a Comeback
CHAPTER 117: The 1980s Villain’s Biological Mother (Part 10)
The old Wang couple cried as they spoke.
“It’s that daughter-in-law of ours, that heartless woman! She’s the one beating us with a bamboo pole every day, and we still have to serve her and those two kids, feeding them, cleaning for them, doing everything! At our age, we’ve never suffered such injustice in our whole lives!”
The two soldiers from the military felt sympathy hearing this. One of them even steadied the old Wang couple as they spoke.
“Uncle, Auntie, don’t worry. We will make sure this is handled today. Otherwise, we would be failing Commander Jun’s trust in us.”
The village chief nearly choked when he heard that. He quickly replied, a bit stiffly, “Comrades, don’t just listen to one side of the story. Everyone in the village knows exactly how they treat their daughter-in-law. If anything, it’s Junzi's widow and children who’ve been mistreated.”
The two soldiers froze, clearly not expecting such a reversal.
The old Wang couple immediately exploded in anger.
“Nonsense! When have we ever mistreated anyone? Did Mu Shuhui give you something to make you side with her like this?”
Mother Wang even added viciously, “I’ve always thought Mu Shuhui had some man on the side. Don’t tell me it’s you!”
The village chief turned red with anger, pointing at them as he scolded, “Utter nonsense! No one deserves to have to put up with people like you. Whoever has to live with you must’ve been unlucky for eight lifetimes!”
The two soldiers frowned even deeper, exchanging a look. Something was clearly not right here.
The commotion drew nearby villagers, and one by one they came over to ask what was going on.
“Hey, isn’t that the old Wang couple? Why are they arguing at the village chief’s place?”
“So you two finally stopped hiding at home? Serves you right. You kept the compensation money from Junzi's widow and kids, and now Xiaomei ran off with it, right? No money left, and I heard your eldest son and daughter-in-law don’t even bother with you anymore.”
“Weren’t they just telling me a few days ago that Junzi's widow was mistreating them? That’s nonsense. Look at how they’ve treated that mother and her two kids. Those children are so skinny they’re not even as strong as my family’s dog.”
“If you ask me, Junzi's widow is actually the kind-hearted one. She even went to town just now to buy things and picked up clothes for the old couple.”
“That’s true. I saw it myself at the village entrance. She really bought them clothes. She even said the old Wang couple’s health was weak after the hospital stay and bought them malted milk powder. Honestly, only Junzi's widow would bother doing that. Anyone else wouldn’t spend a single cent on them.”
Everyone chimed in one after another. The two soldiers quickly understood what was going on, and their faces turned red with anger.
Before the old Wang couple even had a chance to defend themselves, they were already taken back to the Wang house by the village chief and the two soldiers for confrontation.
At that moment, Mu Shuhui had already returned with the children.
As luck would have it, when she went into town earlier, she happened to run into some villagers who mentioned that military personnel had come to the village today. She guessed they might be Wang Jun’s former comrades.
Knowing the old Wang couple’s personality all too well, she was sure they would cry and complain and try to get someone to back them up.
So she didn’t buy much. Instead, she picked out one set of clothes for each of the old Wang couple, and symbolically bought a tin of malted milk powder and some shortbread biscuits.
She even brought a mesh bag to carry them, then deliberately walked around the village entrance holding it, chatting with the gossip-loving women in the village.
Her words were simple enough, just saying the old Wang couple were pitiful and had no one taking care of them, so she bought them a few things.
It made everyone around her sigh and shake their heads, calling her naive.
But that was exactly the effect she wanted.
After returning home, she quickly added a few things to the old Wang couple’s room, locked away everything from the mother-and-children’s room inside a wooden cabinet, then opened both small earthen rooms and let them air out.
The three of them put back on their old worn clothes.
Just after they finished tidying up, as expected, the village chief arrived with a group of people.
Mu Shuhui deliberately put on a careful, slightly nervous expression and led the two children out.
“Village chief, what’s going on?”
The village chief was startled the moment he saw her. “Oh, Junzi's widow, you’ve lost quite a bit of weight these past couple of days.”
After taking the medicine again yesterday, Mu Shuhui had already dropped from 165 jin to around 150 jin.
Since she hadn’t expected anyone to come, she had even made herself look more worn out. Her face was dull and tired, and she wore old, loose clothes that made her look like someone who had not been eating properly.
The two children beside her also looked thin and timid, quietly peeking at the crowd.
Mu Shuhui let out a bitter smile and sighed as she explained, “After Junzi passed, I got really sick. The remedies I tried ended up harming my body. I haven’t had much appetite lately, and my weight keeps going up and down. I honestly don’t know what’s going on.”
The village chief immediately replied, “If you have time, you should go get it checked properly. Don’t let it turn into something worse.”
Mu Shuhui lowered her head and tugged at her sleeve. “We’ll see. I’m still young, it’s not a big deal. The in-laws matter more.”
“You little shameless thing, stop talking nonsense! Don’t try to fool everyone with lies. Comrades, you must not believe her!”
“Don’t believe us? Go check our room yourselves. She’s cleared everything out. All we old folks have left is one quilt. Even the chickens at home were stolen and eaten by that heartless woman. She’s always ordering us around to do this and that…”
The old Wang couple, still fuming, led everyone toward their room. But the moment they pushed the door open, they were instantly speechless.
Inside, the bed was neatly made with clean bedding. Next to it was a stack of folded clothes arranged in perfect order.
On the table sat malted milk powder and shortbread biscuits, along with other food items.
The washstand, basin, and towels were all neatly placed. A calendar hung on the wall, and on the table were small everyday items like a mirror, a comb, and skin cream.
The floor was swept spotless, not a speck of dust in sight.
A curious neighbor leaned in and said, “Wow, this was all organized by Junzi's widow? You two are so lazy yourselves, there’s no way you’d keep things this tidy.”
Even the village chief let out a frustrated laugh. “So this is what you call bad living conditions? If this counts as bad, then what do you want? Even I, as village chief, don’t live this comfortably.”
People in the courtyard kept looking around, even pointing at the two earthen rooms.
“Ever since Wang Jun passed, the old couple brought their eldest son Wang Zhuang’s children over. The mother and two kids have been living in these mud rooms. I’ve seen it several times.”
Hearing this, everyone went to take a look at the outer rooms.
The doors were open. As they stepped closer, a damp, moldy smell hit them. In the sunlight, they could clearly see inside.
There really were bedding laid out on the earthen kang, clearly showing someone was living there.
Wang Chaoyang spoke up. “When my cousin came over, grandma and grandpa said there wasn’t enough space in the main house. The small room is mine, and the bigger one is for mom and sister. We can sleep there, but there are no windows. After staying too long, we get dizzy and nauseous.”
Hearing this, everyone sighed again, calling it truly cruel, not even treating the children like human beings.
The two soldiers from the military had been clenching their fists since they arrived.
In this day and age, most people at least had enough to eat, yet Wang Jun’s children looked clearly malnourished. His wife also looked frail and soft-spoken, someone who would not even seek medical help when sick, just to take care of the old Wang couple.
If they had not seen all this with their own eyes, if the villagers had not spoken up, they might have been completely deceived by the old Wang couple.
The two of them felt deeply ashamed and quickly bowed.
“¹Sister-in-law, we’re sorry. We misunderstood you. Please rest assured, we will report everything truthfully to the higher-ups and try our best to apply for support for you and the children.”
________________
Glossary:
¹Sister-in-law: A respectful form of address used by the soldiers for their fallen comrade’s wife. It does not necessarily mean they are actual relatives. In this context, it reflects the close bond and camaraderie between soldiers and their comrades’ families.
.jpg)
♡♡♡
ReplyDelete🤍🤍
Delete