Chapter 23: The Rowdy Are Always Right

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: The Rowdy Are Always Right

On the way back, Ji Huan arranged to hire Uncle Xie’s mule cart for the trip to Dafeng Village. After all, she had a lot of things, and it was getting late.

Uncle Xie often transported people to the town and county seat to support his family, so of course he agreed.

When they got back to Xie Ditch, they saw a crowd gathered from a distance in front of Widow Xie’s family home. A huge ruckus was breaking out in the courtyard.

Ji Huan squeezed through the crowd to take a look. An old woman was lying on the ground—it was none other than Widow Xie’s paralyzed, bedridden mother.

Nearby, Widow Xie’s face was flushed red as she argued with her younger brother and his wife.

From the surrounding chatter, Ji Huan learned that Old Mother Xie had soiled the bed again that day. The Ma woman, Xie Kun’s wife, could no longer stand it and was demanding they carry her to the abandoned Land God Temple outside the village.

As fiery as Widow Xie normally was, she was clearly losing the argument against her own family. She pleaded gently with her brother, saying the weather was turning cold and leaving their mother in the Land God Temple would kill her.

But her brother, thoroughly henpecked by the Ma woman, was used to feigning ignorance and completely ignored the situation.

In the ensuing struggle, Old Mother Xie was forcefully carried out into the middle of the courtyard, sleeping mat and all. The Ma woman then threw down an ultimatum, "Either we take her to the Land God Temple, or you, the ’devoted daughter,’ can take her away yourself!"

Ji Huan took it all in. ’No wonder the Ma woman insisted Widow Xie come over today,’ she thought. ’It was all planned.’

It wasn’t just Ji Huan; everyone present knew. Ever since Old Mother Xie had become paralyzed and bedridden, Xie Kun and his wife had looked after her for only a few days before washing their hands of the responsibility.

The old woman couldn’t even get one full meal a day and was left to lie in her own filth with no one to clean up after her. Seeing this, Widow Xie had no choice but to run back to her family home every other day. She had to care for her mother and help her brother’s family with chores, yet all she got in return were complaints.

The foreman at the silk reeling mill was unhappy with her constant absences. She brought any good food she had to her family home, only for it to end up in her nephews’ stomachs, while she had to harden her heart and ignore the sight of her own children staring at eggs, their mouths watering.

What was it all for? Wasn’t she just hoping her brother and his wife would show her some goodwill and not mistreat their mother? Otherwise, why would she show up day after day only to be subjected to this kind of abuse?

"Brother, say something," Widow Xie pleaded, her eyes rimmed with red. Ji Huan had never seen her look so vulnerable.

"I... I have nothing to say..." Xie Kun mumbled under his breath.

His wife yanked him behind her, planted her hands on her hips, and faced Widow Xie. "If you have something to say, say it to me. But no matter what you say today, that old hag is not staying in my house."

She repeatedly called her own mother-in-law an "old hag," and the fact that the villagers didn’t seem surprised showed just how accustomed they were to her brutish behavior.

It had been the Ma woman’s idea to dump their mother in the Land God Temple in the first place, so Widow Xie knew talking to her was pointless.

"Xie Kun, if you really throw our mother out today, aren’t you afraid of having people curse your name? That’s our mother! She raised you through thick and thin! When you were little and got sick, the doctor in town gave up on you. Several doctors said you were a lost cause, but Mother carried you on her back for miles in the dead of night to the county seat. Have you forgotten all that? You can’t just cast aside your own mother now that you have a wife!"

Xie Kun hung his head, whether shamed by the murmurs of the crowd or pricked by a flicker of conscience, it was hard to say.

Ignored by Widow Xie and seeing so many people pointing and whispering, the Ma woman was already furious. So she started to make a scene.

She started slapping Xie Kun across the face with both hands, raining blows on him as she screamed, "You tell me! You make it clear right now! Do you want your mother, or do you want your wife? Only one of us is staying today. It’s her or me! If she stays, I go!"

Lying on the ground, Old Mother Xie watched her son being beaten. Her mouth opened and closed, but only "Ah... ah..." sounds came out as tears streamed from her cloudy eyes.

Xie Kun endured the beating and verbal abuse without a word. It wasn’t that he was truly reluctant to abandon his mother—as the saying goes, no child remains filial at the bedside of the long-suffering. Even though she was his mother, the daily stench of filth was nauseating. But he was afraid of ruining his reputation, so he didn’t dare publicly declare that he was casting his mother out.

That really stirred the hornet’s nest!

The Ma woman threw herself to the ground with a THUD and began rolling all over the courtyard, nearly crashing into Ji Huan’s feet. The sheer shamelessness of her tantrum left Ji Huan speechless.

When she’d had enough of rolling, she started wailing to the heavens. "You heartless bastard, Xie Kun! I haven’t had a single good day since I married into this family! Isn’t it enough that I work day and night serving you and your sons? Now you expect me to slave away for that old hag, too? Are you the only one in the Xie family who crawled out of her womb? Are all the others dead?!"

Her words were a clear attack on Widow Xie. An older woman in the crowd couldn’t watch anymore and chimed in, "Qiu Ping has it hard, too. Her husband died, and she has several children to feed. Besides, she already comes over so often..."

The Ma woman spat in her direction. "This is my family’s business! What gives you the right to meddle? Or what, did your son sleep with her too?"

"You...!" The older woman trembled with rage. A person next to her whispered, "She’s completely unreasonable. Everyone in the village knows that. It’s best to just watch their family drama from a distance. Don’t get involved. You can’t win against someone like her."

As if she hadn’t heard a thing, the Ma woman went right back to her wailing.

"You were dirt poor when we met, but I didn’t look down on you! A rich man from town wanted to marry me, but I turned him down to be with you. I must have been blind! And now you still treat me like an outsider, ganging up on me with your sister! Fine! I’m leaving! You can spend the rest of your life with your crippled old mother! You can wipe her ass and wash her face and never complain! I won’t stand in the way of you being a ’good, filial son.’ You just won’t have a wife anymore!"

The Ma woman scrambled up from the ground and stormed into the house. A moment later, the sound of chests being opened and cabinets being rummaged through came from inside.

Xie Kun panicked. Terrified that his wife was actually packing her things to go back to her family, he rushed to follow her inside.

Widow Xie grabbed him, but he flung her aside. He stomped his foot and roared at her, "This is all your fault! If you had just taken Mother away, none of this would have happened! Oh, so she’s *my* mother and not *your* mother, is that it? What’s wrong with you putting in a little effort! Must you be so petty about everything? In any case, you either take her away today, or you get out of here right now! Don’t come back, and don’t you dare ask where we take her!"

After Xie Kun went inside, the house fell silent. The couple had obviously decided to stay in there and not come out.

The crowd started talking all at once, trying to persuade Widow Xie.

"What else can you do? You can’t just watch them dump your mother in the wilderness. You’ll just have to swallow your pride and take her home with you."

"Your parents-in-law are no longer around, so no one will gossip. And your children are older now, aren’t they? They can help look after her when you’re out working..."

"It’s your bad luck to have such a brutish brother. You’ll just have to bear the burden..."

’So whoever throws the biggest tantrum wins? Whoever is the most shameless gets their way?’ Ji Huan felt a surge of indignation on Widow Xie’s behalf.

When it came to filial piety, Widow Xie, a daughter who had married out of the family, had already done more than enough.

Xie Kun, in contrast, had inherited the house and the land, yet he was pushing the entire responsibility of caring for their mother onto his sister, giving no thought to how difficult life already was for her as a widow.

This was the same sister who had practically raised him. The money he’d used to get married had come from her own bride price.

Ji Huan pulled the silent Widow Xie aside and whispered, "Aunt Xie, I have a way to make sure they won’t dare throw her out."