Li Yue Shu opened the door, her suppressed morning temper making her look rather intimidating, causing the woman who knocked to instinctively retreat.
Li Yue Shu frowned, "What is it?"
The woman swallowed, "Shen... Shen Wei is back."
Before Li Yue Shu could recall who Shen Wei was, two surprised voices suddenly rang out from behind her.
"Father is back?"
"Father is still alive?"
Li Yue Shu finally remembered that Shen Wei was the original host's nominal husband.
But hadn't this person died a year ago?
A year ago, Shen Wei went up the mountain to hunt and disappeared. The village head led people to search for a day and a night, only finding blood-stained clothing fragments. Everyone assumed he had been eaten by wild beasts on the mountain.
The Shen family didn't want to raise four children, so they spent money to buy the original host and then split off the third branch.
The original host, barely out of her teens, married a dead man and took four stepchildren with her. Her in-laws and her maiden family avoided her like a plague, so she took all her resentment and anger out on the four children.
Li Yue Shu knitted her brows.
The protagonist of the original book was Li Xiang Ru, and the author hadn't spent much ink on others, so she didn't know if there was a plot in the book about Shen Wei coming back from the dead.
While pondering, Li Yue Shu and the twins followed the woman to a crowded road.
Before they even got close, she heard a heart-wrenching wail: "Third son, my son, where have you been for the past year? Your mother has been worried sick!"
In the crowd, Shen's mother was holding a tall man covered in dirt, weeping inconsolably.
Beside her, a burly man was also wiping away tears excitedly. This person was Shen's mother's eldest son, Shen Wang.
"Third brother, where have you been for the past year? Mother was so worried she couldn't eat or sleep, she's lost so much weight."
Li Yue Shu glanced at Shen's mother, who was dressed the most luxuriously and looked plump amidst the crowd, and couldn't help but roll her eyes.
The twins paid no attention to their surroundings and rushed directly to Shen Wei's side, grabbing his hands one on each side.
Shen Ting Wen's eyes welled up with tears, "Father, Eldest Brother will be so happy when he knows you're back!"
Shen Ting Yi's eyes also turned red, "Father, where have you been for the past year? We were so worried about you."
Shen Wei lowered his gaze, tilted his head to look at the two children, said nothing, and made no move.
Seeing this, Li Yue Shu felt something was slightly off.
As if sensing her gaze, Shen Wei looked up, his eyes clear and filled with curiosity.
The moment their eyes met, Li Yue Shu's heart skipped a beat.
At this moment, Yang Shi, Shen Wang's wife, suddenly spoke, "His father, why isn't little uncle saying anything?"
Hearing her, the crowd only then belatedly reacted.
Shen's mother also stopped crying and turned to look at Old Man Liu, who was pulling a ox cart and had brought Shen Wei back.
"Old Man Liu, where did you find my third son?"
Old Man Liu's expression was a little strange, "I went to town to deliver goods today and saw some people fighting in a beggar's den, and that's when I saw your third son."
He sighed at this point, "He was covered in blood then, so I took him to the doctor. The doctor said he had a head injury and had gone mad. I spent two taels of silver to buy medicine, but the doctor said only a doctor in the capital could hope to cure him."
"What? Two taels of silver!" Shen's mother exclaimed, "Old Man Liu, you're not trying to trick me because the Shen family is rich, are you?"
Old Man Liu's face immediately darkened, and just as he was about to speak, the surrounding people erupted:
"Could it be that Shen Wei injured his head on the mountain a year ago, which is why he never came back?"
"It's possible. The Shen family is indeed unlucky. Shen Wei was the most capable earner in our village, and he helped the Old Shen family build the only tiled-roof house in the village. It's a shame that an accident happened, and now that he's back, he's become an idiot!"
"So what if he's an idiot! Shen Wei earned a lot of money for the Old Shen family in the two years he was back. Can't they afford to support an idiot?"
...
"Who said the Shen family has to support him!" Yang Shi immediately retorted loudly upon hearing the surrounding discussions, "The third branch has already been split off. If anyone is to support him, it's that Li Yue Shu!"
As soon as she said this, everyone instantly looked at Li Yue Shu in the crowd.
Shen Wang immediately echoed loudly, "Yes, yes, Li Yue Shu should support him! She's third brother's sister-in-law, so she should support him!"
Shen's mother's eyes lit up, and she quickly said to Shen Wei, "Third son, this is the wife Mother found for you. She will take care of you from now on and treat you well."
Everyone fell silent.
Everyone in the village knew what kind of person Li Yue Shu was.
She treated the children with beatings and scolding, so how could she possibly treat Shen Wei, who had gone mad, well?
The twins clearly thought of this too, tightening their grip on Shen Wei's hands, resenting their own powerlessness more than once.
Shen Wei seemed to sense the children's emotions and his gaze followed everyone else to Li Yue Shu.
Treat him well?
Everyone beat him and called him an idiot, and no one was good to him. Would she be good to him?
Li Yue Shu remained calm throughout. Facing everyone's gaze, she slowly said, "I can take Shen Wei back, but I have a condition."
Shen's mother's expression changed, "You are Third Son's wife, you should take care of him. What other conditions do you want to make!"
Yang Shi chimed in from the side, "Sister-in-law, we've already split the family. Little uncle has a wife and children. Why would the family need to take care of him?"
"Split the family? Ha!" Li Yue Shu did not hide her sarcasm, "You live in a tiled-roof house, yet I, a woman, have to live in a leaky, drafty old house with four children, without enough to eat or wear. How can I take care of Shen Wei?"
To split the family, they had to go to the village head to write the paperwork. When the original host was bought back, Shen's mother had already prepared it. Apart from the deed to the old house, a tattered quilt, and a few broken bowls, they were given nothing.
The original host had gone to the Shen family to make a scene about it, but she couldn't beat Shen Wang, nor could she out-argue Yang Shi. Moreover, Shen's mother, as an elder, held the upper hand. Every time, she hit a wall.
Therefore, the original host resented the four children even more and tried every means to torment them.
Hearing this, the surrounding people couldn't help but look at the three members of the Shen family strangely.
Listening to Li Yue Shu's words, the Shen family truly hadn't acted right.
Before, they just thought Li Yue Shu was a bad person, but now that they thought about it, if the Shen family had extended a hand, these four children wouldn't have lived such a hard life.
Shen's mother's face instantly changed, "What nonsense are you spewing, you little slut! I bought you to take care of Third Son and his children. What right do you have to interfere in my Shen family's affairs!"
Li Yue Shu looked at her with a cold expression, "You say you bought me, so where is the deed of sale?"
Shen's mother's expression stiffened.
She couldn't read a single word and had painfully spent one tael of silver to buy this woman, just wanting to get rid of those four burdens quickly. How could she bother with a deed of sale?
Li Yue Shu had known this all along and taunted Shen's mother, "Without a deed of sale, I am a free citizen. If I go to the county yamen to accuse you of human trafficking, do you think the officials will arrest you?"
"You dare!" Yang Shi instinctively cried out.
Her son was still studying in the town's academy. She absolutely couldn't have something happen that would lead to a court case!
Li Yue Shu knew this very well, which was why she dared to say such a thing.
As expected, although Yang Shi softened her tone, her expression was very ugly, "What do you want?"
Li Yue Shu's lips curved slightly, "It's simple. Either you take out what should have been allocated to the third branch, or you take Shen Wei back to the Shen family to care for him and repay the medical expenses that Old Man Liu paid, or we go to court!"