Wei Chengan had gone to enlist in the army four years ago. During all that time, he had never returned, nor had he ever written a single letter. Whenever holidays and festivals rolled around, Zhang Xiufen would even burst into tears and snot, saying she was terrified he might have died in the military.
In her past life, Chi Yin remembered Wei Chengan only returning twice.
Once was for some agricultural activity organized by the county, and the other time was during the few days after her twin daughters were murdered.
And precisely because Wei Chengan stayed away from home for years, Chi Yin had dared to use him to disgust Wei Chengliang.
Yet now they were saying he was home?
Chi Yin was stunned for a moment. Recovering her senses, she hurried to squat down and asked the children, "Which uncle?"
Xixi tilted her little head and replied, "Daddy's younger brother, our uncle."
Wanwan cut in to add, "You don't understand, let me say it. It's Uncle Chengan, Uncle Wei Chengan."
Chi Yin was thrown into a complete daze once again.
Based on her understanding of Wei Chengliang, he would surely make a huge, prolonged fuss over the fact that the person in her heart was Wei Chengan.
Her original plan was to take the children and leave tonight, file for a divorce by mutual agreement tomorrow, and if that failed, sue for divorce. As for whatever tantrums Wei Chengliang wanted to throw, she would let him.
But now that Wei Chengan was at home...
Things would not be so easy to handle.
In the room opposite Chi Yin, Wei Chengan lifted the door curtain and stepped into the living room.
He was tall, with a narrow waist and broad shoulders. Even wearing ordinary, coarse cloth garments, anyone could tell at a glance that he was a soldier.
Wei Chengan had arrived around dusk, just as Zhang Xiufen was finishing cooking. Out of sheer joy, she had even slaughtered a chicken, which was why they were running so late that they hadn't even managed to listen to the seven o'clock "Xinwen Lianbo" broadcast on the radio.
That burst of happiness had also temporarily pushed her friction with Chi Yin and Wei Chengliang out of her mind.
Zhang Xiufen smiled so broadly the gaps between her teeth showed, busily serving rice and dishes for Wei Chengan. "Eat up, eat up. See if this still suits your taste. Mom remembers your favorite is the soup Mom stews. In the old days our family was poor, and we'd only get to drink it once or twice a year. But it's different now—you don't know, your older brother is an official at the factory now, and he makes fifteen yuan a month! You have no idea how he..."
Wei Chengan interrupted Zhang Xiufen, casting his gaze toward the doorway of Chi Yin's room, and said indifferently, "You stewed a chicken and didn't even invite your sister-in-law to eat?"
Zhang Xiufen's expression turned awkward. How could a little rooster weighing just over a jin be enough to feed three adults and two children?
However, since her son had brought it up, Zhang Xiufen had no choice but to force a smile and say, "I invited her, of course I did. Mom is so good to your sister-in-law, I treat her just like my own daughter."
Wei Chengan let out an "en," stirring the chicken soup in his bowl with a spoon.
Zhang Xiufen looked toward Chi Yin's room and offered a feigned, considerate invitation. "Chi Yin, Chengan is back today, and Mom slaughtered a little rooster for him. Come over and have a bowl of soup before heading to the backyard to do your chores."
Chi Yin was so mortified she wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. How could she possibly have the face to sit at the same table and eat with her brother-in-law?
If she had known her brother-in-law was going to show up suddenly, she would rather have died than use him to disgust that dog of a man.
At that moment, the mongrel dog in the courtyard began to bark. Zhang Xiufen put down her bowl and chopsticks, muttering unhappily, "Who could that be this late at night?"
Just as she was about to go look, the courtyard gate was pushed open.
Instead of barking, the mongrel let out eager, snorting sounds, clearly indicating that whoever had entered was an acquaintance.
Chi Yin's brow twitched. She had a bad feeling that the newcomer was Wei Chengliang.
She didn't know whether to attribute it to terrifying intuition or to having stepped in dog poop today, but the next moment she heard Zhang Xiufen's loud voice, "Oh! It's Xiaoliang! Didn't Chi Yin say you were working overtime? How come you're back too? You two are something else, coming one right after the other, and you couldn't even come back together."
Chi Yin felt entirely petrified.
She had thought her brother-in-law's sudden return was already the ultimate embarrassment.
She never expected that dog Wei Chengliang to come back at this exact time as well.
Well, her opening battle had been a resounding success—it had gone straight to becoming an outright catastrophe.
Wei Chengliang walked into the courtyard hunched over, his body soaked in exhaustion.
Upon learning that the person in Chi Yin's heart was his younger brother, Wei Chengliang had at first wanted to beat Chi Yin half to death. Even a rabbit knew not to eat the grass around its burrow, but her? She had directly made it impossible for him to hold his head high for the rest of his life.
Yet the more he hated her, the less he could make sense of it.
For three years of marriage, every look Chi Yin gave him had been filled with infatuated adoration. Even this morning before leaving for work, she had urged him to eat and drink properly. Every single scene was ironclad proof that Chi Yin loved him.What Wei Chengliang could not wrap his head around was how Chi Yin had fallen in love with his younger brother. She had only been in the Wei Family for a few days before his brother left for the army, and he hadn't returned for four years. How could two people who had barely interacted develop such feelings?
It wasn't that Wei Chengliang hadn't considered that this "sister-in-law and brother-in-law" affair was a lie Chi Yin had concocted just to spite him. But regardless of the truth, he needed an explanation—a reasonable one.
Wei Chengliang walked slowly, his crotch throbbing with pain every now and then. Seeing Zhang Xiufen coming out to greet him, he shuffled toward the stone table and chairs on the side.
As Zhang Xiufen approached, she was startled by her eldest son’s grim expression. "Xiaoliang, what’s wrong with you? Where do you feel unwell?"
Wei Chengliang impatiently brushed her hand away. Seeing that she was still clutching a chicken foot in that same hand, he became even more agitated. "Mom, it’s not that I want to complain, but you really are heartless. Chi Yin is about to divorce me, and you still have the mood to slaughter chickens and eat here?"
"What? Di—divorce??" Zhang Xiufen’s eyes widened like a chicken’s, her hand frozen in mid-air, a chicken foot still clamped between her teeth.
Inside the room, Chi Yin signaled her twin daughters to stay quiet. She peered out through the broken window, just in time to see Wei Chengliang in the courtyard, looking utterly exasperated as he said, "She said there’s someone else in her heart."
What a two-faced, heartless piece of trash. He didn't bother mentioning how he and Chi Yan were canoodling at the factory, did he?
If he told that gossip-monger Zhang Xiufen, she would surely blow a gasket, jumping three feet high and cursing Chi Yin’s ancestors back to the eighteenth generation.
Sure enough, Zhang Xiufen began spewing vitriol. After cursing Chi Yin, she moved on to the "wild man," her rage reaching such a fever pitch that she bit down hard on the chicken foot in her mouth. "Tell Mom who that wild man is! I’m going out right now to tear his balls off!"
"Mom, keep your voice down! Do you really have to shout so the whole village knows your son has been cuckolded?" Wei Chengliang scrambled to cover her machine-gun mouth.
Zhang Xiufen didn't understand. Her son had been handed such a massive green hat, yet instead of fighting or killing, he looked terrified of losing face. This only made her more curious about the identity of the man.
Wei Chengliang grabbed his hair in frustration and whispered, "It’s Chengan."
"Who?" Zhang Xiufen froze, blinking as she pressed, "Who did you just say?"
Wei Chengliang repeated the name in agony.
This time, the chicken foot dropped from Zhang Xiufen’s hand onto the ground. A stray dog waiting nearby to gnaw on bones immediately darted over and snatched it up.
Zhang Xiufen didn't even bother chasing the dog. Her face turned from pale to blue, and she muttered to herself, "Could it be? Is it possible that..."
Seeing his mother’s reaction was even more intense than his own and fearing she might have a stroke from the shock, Wei Chengliang shared his own suspicion. "Mom, that’s not the point. Listen to me: Chengan only spent about ten days with Chi Yin before he left for the army. They barely interacted, so where would this affair come from? I suspect Chi Yin is just making up excuses. She is truly determined to divorce me. Mom, you have to help me; I don't want this family to fall apart!"
Zhang Xiufen’s brain was buzzing; she hadn't heard a word of what Wei Chengliang said. She continued to mutter to herself, "It’s over, it’s over. We’re in big trouble now. Our family’s world is about to turn upside down..."
Never mind Wei Chengliang—Chi Yin was baffled by Zhang Xiufen’s reaction as well. She couldn't tell if Zhang Xiufen was angry or terrified. And if she was afraid, what exactly was she afraid of?
Zhang Xiufen was a sharp, calculating woman. If Wei Chengliang could figure out the key points, how could she not? Yet, even after Wei Chengliang explained it to her, she acted as if the sky were falling.
However, Chi Yin couldn't care less about Zhang Xiufen’s dramatic state. As long as Wei Chengliang didn't believe in the "sister-in-law and brother-in-law" narrative, the guilt she felt toward Wei Chengan lessened a bit.
But just as Chi Yin let out a breath, her peripheral vision caught a tall, dark shadow standing in the courtyard.
The figure was tall and straight, with narrow hips and broad shoulders. Who else could it be but Wei Chengan?
When, when, when did he go outside?
Chi Yin was completely rattled. It was the dead of night, there was no moon, and the courtyard was pitch black. He had been standing there silently, and she had no idea how much he had heard.