Ouyang Meihua saw that Tian Jing wasn't using internal energy to dry her clothes, so she didn't either.
Handing the car keys to Li Zhengguo, she escorted the exhausted Li Min, saying, "Let's go back and reason with Mother."
Li Min said indignantly, "That's my mother, but she treats you better than she treats me."
Ouyang Meihua smiled proudly, "That's our good fortune. A woman doesn't need to find an exceptionally good man, but she absolutely must find a good mother-in-law."
Li Min's eyes reddened, "I don't have a mother-in-law, and you've taken my mother away."
Ouyang Meihua released her, "Alright, be content. Having a mother-in-law doesn't automatically mean it's good; we just happened to encounter a good one."
"Forget it, you look quite pitiful, so I won't let Mother beat you."
Li Min glared at her, "You're that kind?"
Ouyang Meihua shook her head, "I'm not particularly kind, but I find you pitiable, so I'll let you off."
"You'll be a mother-in-law yourself someday. With your temper, you'll definitely be the bad mother-in-law in your daughter-in-law's eyes."
"Your mother became our good mother-in-law, and you'll become someone's bad mother-in-law. Thinking about your potential misery, I've decided not to let Mother beat you."
Li Min retorted, "Sister-in-law, which is better, being a good mother-in-law or a bad one?"
Ouyang Meihua glanced at her, "Is being a good mother-in-law that easy? Think about your mother, setting aside how she treated us."
"Just consider how difficult it was for her to help us look after the children in town all these years."
"If the daughter-in-law you marry is unreasonable, being a good mother-in-law becomes even harder."
"So, with your temper, you want to be a good mother-in-law? Only if the sun rises in the west."
Li Min drooped her head, "Then I can only be a bad mother-in-law."
Tian Jing couldn't stand it anymore, "Can't you be a mother-in-law who is neither good nor bad?"
Li Min grabbed Tian Jing's wet sleeve, "What kind of mother-in-law is that?"
Tian Jing looked at her husband. He and Xiao Fu had gone into the room and came out. Although he was busy, he still had an opportunity to tell her a name. If he didn't even mention a name, there must be a problem. "Not blocking the person your son fancies, and not forcibly pushing someone he dislikes on your son."
"After your son marries a daughter-in-law, separate them to live on their own."
"Don't interfere in their married life, don't mediate their disputes, and don't take sides with your son or daughter-in-law."
"After helping with your daughter-in-law's confinement, don't dictate how your daughter-in-law raises your grandchildren."
"If they send the grandchildren to you, you can look after them. If they don't, don't snatch them or insist on raising them."
"In short, keep a distance, don't comment, and don't interfere. The life is lived by your son, not by you. If you worry too much, you'll only be annoying."
Li Min misunderstood, "You mean I shouldn't talk about Xiao Fu anymore."
"Exactly!" Tian Jing seized the opportunity to tell her, "You compare Hao Hao and Xiao Bo to Xiao Fu. I could compare Hao Hao to the positions of county governor, mayor, or governor. Is that possible?"
"After creating good conditions for the children, if they can't succeed on their own, that's their problem. You just need to have a clear conscience."
"Do you expect to atone to the ancestral tablets of the Chen family by dying?"
"Do you expect them to earn you a title of nobility?"
"No matter how high your hopes are for your children, I believe the reason is simply this: you lack the destiny for it."
Lack the destiny?
Lack what destiny?
Li Min was stunned for a long time before she understood. "For the past two years, I've been stuck in a rut, only thinking about my two sons becoming successful so I could have face. Regardless of my mother's beatings or my elder brother's scolding, I couldn't turn my mind around. Now, a single sentence from my sister-in-law has made me see clearly. Yes, I lack the destiny for it. Why should I force it?"
"Alright, I won't nag about Xiao Fu and An An anymore. Whatever they achieve is their destiny."
"One's fate is determined by heaven. How much one eats and wears cannot be forced."
"My husband Suozhu and I have already embarked on the path to prosperity and wealth by following my younger brother and sister-in-law. To try and force more would be going too far. I accept my fate!"
Seeing his mother suddenly calm, Chen Fu felt a pang of guilt. He walked up to her, "Mom, I'm sorry, I've disappointed you."
Li Min patted her son's shoulder, "No, it's just that there's always someone better. From now on, if you two are well, I'll be a mother-in-law who is neither good nor bad."
"Don't expect me to be like your grandmother, but I won't be like the wicked mother-in-law from the Huang family either. I'll just be an ordinary person with a conscience."
"Thank you, Mom."
Chen Fu smiled. From now on, he wouldn't only be free from pressure, but he would also have the chance to marry the woman he loved. He looked at his uncle, saw his uncle gently shake his head at him, and he nodded slightly. He knew that his mother's attitude might not last, and he was still underage. They both needed time.
The group returned to the quadrangle courtyard, startling Li Mu. "Did you fall into the river?"
Li Min quickly replied, "It was my idea. After I jumped in, I flipped over Big Sister-in-law and Little Sister-in-law, and then the three of us flipped over more than a dozen boats. We were having a water fight!"
Li Mu raised her hand and tapped her forehead forcefully, "How old are you? Not to mention how unseemly it is to have clothes stuck to your body, wouldn't wearing these wet clothes give you a cold?"
"Afeng, hurry and boil some water. I'll boil water at home. Minmin and Meihua, come back with me to bathe."
Li Min hugged her mother's arm, "Mom, you're so good."
Li Mu was stunned, then raised her hand again and touched her daughter's forehead, "Are you not running a fever?"
Ouyang Meihua and Tian Jing covered their mouths and laughed.
After washing up and changing into clean clothes, Tian Jing learned from her husband who Chen Fu had taken a liking to. "This matter really needs time. Li Min seems to have come to her senses, but it's hard to change one's nature. Who knows what kind of reaction she'll have?"
"By the way, Fang Qiuhong hasn't been here since she was released from prison. Do you know her recent situation?"
"I do," Li Zhengguo nodded. "She's remarried. She married a middle-aged widower who has two children. She's also had a son of her own and isn't causing trouble anymore; she's living a quiet life."
"That's good," Tian Jing felt a sense of relief. "These women, they kept coming to me with their troubles, and one by one, I sent them away."
"Seeing their miserable situations doesn't make me feel good either. Why must women make things difficult for other women?"
A few days later, Tian Jing received a letter. Inside were three other letters, addressed to Li Liguo, Damai, and Xiaomai. The letter was written by Zhao Xiaofang before her execution.
Tian Jing: I'm sorry.
These three words, I don't have the courage to say to you face-to-face.
Whether it was you or any other woman, as long as you married Li Zhengguo, I would be jealous. It's because of my mistaken perception.
I designed for Damai to ask you for help, but I didn't expect you to have superpowers. I mistook your extracted plant essence for a miracle drug. What made me mad with jealousy was that you were pregnant. At that time, I thought, if I couldn't have him, having a child would be good.
On the day of the Warm House Wine, it happened to be my fertile period. Again, because I didn't know you were a superpower user, my plan failed. You sabotaged it, which made me even more jealous.
Li Liguo divorced me, and I didn't linger. I only thought about how to get revenge on you...
Entering prison, no amount of re-education could change the fact that you snatched the man in my heart...
Unfortunately, it was all orchestrated by Li Weiguo. After his sentence was extended, I saw him again. He admitted that saving me was his design.
He wore Li Zhengguo's clothes, intending to use Li Zhengguo's identity to attract my attention, but I didn't expect myself to jump into the river. When he heard me announce my family name, he believed his plan had succeeded.
His plan was to take away everything he could from Li Zhengguo in the years to come. He designed for me so that I would marry into the Li family with resentment, using the dominance of Li Liguo's eldest aunt and my infatuation to disrupt Li Zhengguo's household.
Who would have thought I wasn't as capable as Zhang Fangcao. He's a lunatic. He said he would snatch you too. Actually, you wouldn't be snatched by him even if I didn't tell you. You're not like us ordinary women who can be easily manipulated.
I'm leaving now. Please give the other three letters to Damai, Xiaomai, and Li Liguo.
Can't say goodbye, but saying goodbye is also not wrong, everyone has to die. I'll go ahead and strive early. When you come, perhaps I'll already be a overlord in the underworld. If I still remember you then, I'll protect you. If I don't remember you, then you're on your own.
... Zhao Xiaofang
... May 1994