WBSGVS Chapter 47 V2

The original owner had never served anyone, but for his sake, she slowly learned to attend to her husband, care for her mother-in-law, and teach her younger sister-in-law.

Oh, and there was also a younger brother-in-law.

However, because of gender roles, she didn’t need to care for her brother-in-law; all she had to do was… have her parents take care of him.

The younger brother-in-law, Cheng Zhaohua, moved into the Luo household. Her father made every effort to educate him, providing for all his needs without spending a single penny. Two years later, he successfully passed the county and prefecture exams and was recommended by the original owner’s father to attend a formal academy in the county, funded by the original owner’s dowry.

One could say the original family exhausted their resources to support Cheng Zhaohua solely because Cheng Zhaoyang sacrificed his leg for the original owner.

However, what followed was the Cheng family’s vicious revenge after gaining power!

Cheng Zhaoyang was not a good husband!

He disliked the original owner appearing in public and despised her for wanting to dress beautifully, yet he still expected her to expend all her efforts to benefit the Cheng family.

With the life-saving grace weighing on her, the original owner found herself perpetually in the wrong. If she showed any sign of reluctance, her mother-in-law would wail about her son’s crippled leg, unable to take the exams.

Cheng Zhaoyang would look at her incredulously: “I didn’t expect the woman I risked my leg for to be so cold-blooded!”

The original owner was forced to compromise time and again to secure benefits for the Cheng family.

For instance, three years into their marriage, Cheng Zhaohua went to the county academy, while Cheng Yue’er, Cheng Zhaoyang’s sister, grew older. Although she was spoiled, she was still fairly attractive and was determined to marry a young master from a wealthy family to enjoy a life of luxury.

So, when the wife of the wealthy Li family invited the original owner to a banquet, the Cheng family eagerly agreed and insisted that the original owner take Cheng Yue’er along.

Unfortunately, at the banquet, Cheng Yue’er offended a spoiled young lady from the Wang family, who was a bully in the town. She usually didn’t engage in bad deeds, but if someone crossed her, she would retaliate fiercely.

As a result, she pushed Cheng Yue’er into the pond behind her.

It was still spring, and the water was icy. The original owner instinctively protected her sister-in-law and tried to shield her, causing Cheng Yue’er to wobble but not fall. However, the original owner ended up in the water.

To make matters worse, the pond was quite large. In a sparsely populated town, wealthy families built deep ponds stocked with various fish and shrimp. When the original owner fell in, her heavy clothes weighed her down, nearly causing her to drown.

It was the son of the Li family who saved her.

Later, as the Li family hosted the event, they allowed the original owner to change her clothes and sent their carriage to take them home.

However, since the original owner was saved by the son of the Li family, Cheng Yue’er became particularly sarcastic in the carriage, completely disregarding the fact that her sister-in-law had fallen into the water to save her.

This fully showcased the Cheng family’s nature as ingrates!

But the original owner didn’t see through it. She was an ancient woman, and although her father educated her like a boy, the era still made her adopt the mindset that a husband was paramount, and even if she had some discontent, traditional teachings suppressed it.

Upon returning home, she would be directly berated by Cheng’s mother for not behaving like a proper wife. Cheng Yue’er would revel in her misfortune, and Cheng Zhaoyang would express his disdain. Everyone would consider her being saved by a man from the pond an insult to her husband.

But it’s truly those who have only received a half-hearted education who are the most rigid in their rules.

In this era, the status of women is not low. Even though they cannot take the imperial examination, they are far from being treated so harshly.

However, the original character was weak and always a delicate young lady, unable to stand up against someone like Cheng’s mother, who was a common, foul-mouthed woman. She was scolded without being able to retort.

The more she spoke, the more it became a reality. Cheng’s mother relentlessly clung to this incident, and the original character was branded as a restless woman, mocked everywhere she went. When this reached her father’s ears, he was infuriated.

The original character’s father was someone who cherished his daughter; he couldn’t bear to see her suffer like this and planned to let her divorce. However, the Cheng family disagreed. They believed this daughter-in-law was obtained at the cost of their son’s leg and future, and they refused to let her go!

Both sides were at a stalemate, and Cheng’s mother went to the original character’s family to make a scene. The original character’s family became the kind of people who despised the poor and loved the rich, completely ungrateful. Before a divorce could be reached, they had already made the original character’s mother sick from anger.

Seeing that the situation couldn’t be dragged out any longer, the original character’s father took her to the magistrate’s office, believing they could finally get a divorce. However, the magistrate sided with the Cheng family. They said that the divorce was possible, but the original character’s family had to compensate the Cheng family with two hundred taels of silver as payment for Cheng Zhaoyang saving Luo Qingli.

The Luo family was doing well, but after the incident with Cheng Zhaoyang, they had given most of their assets to the Cheng family as thanks, leaving only a small portion as the dowry. They didn’t even have enough to provide a betrothal gift for their son’s marriage. Naturally, they couldn’t afford to pay the two hundred taels.

With the divorce failing, the original character was taken back home, and Cheng Zhaoyang, feeling that his authority as a husband was insulted, began to beat and scold her.

After enduring hellish days, the original character had her maid help her send a letter home for help. After a failed attempt, she suddenly realized that her maid had developed a romantic relationship with Cheng Zhaohua, Cheng Zhaoyang’s brother.

No wonder her distress signal never got sent out!

In despair, she stayed in the Cheng household, doing the hardest chores and eating the least leftovers, and she began to curse the Cheng family day and night.

But her curses did not come to pass. Instead of falling into ruin, the Cheng family prospered because Cheng Zhaohua made connections in the capital, and after passing the imperial examinations, he took his whole family to live luxuriously in the capital.

Before departing, when Cheng Zhaoyang and Cheng’s mother discussed the original character’s fate, the original character accidentally overheard that Cheng Zhaoyang had feelings for her. However, the incident of heroically saving the damsel had been a conspiracy all along; the mountain bandits had conspired with him.

The so-called hero saving the beauty was nothing but a well-planned scheme. At the time, the magistrate’s men happened to be out on business and passed by the area just in time. The bandits thought they were being set up and, in anger, tried to cut off Cheng Zhaoyang’s leg, but he was lucky and only ended up with a limp.

At that moment, Cheng Zhaoyang, seeing the original character developing feelings for another young master, was worried he wouldn’t have enough time to devise such a plan.

An unexpected turn of events led the Cheng family to start complaining in the marketplace. People loved scandals, and thus the rumors spread, pressuring the Luo family to marry their daughter off.

This led to the painful married life of Luo Qingli.

After listening to this through the wall, the original character felt as if struck by lightning, completely stunned by this revelation.

How ridiculous!

The so-called hero saving the beauty was just a lie, and the chain of consequences it caused ruined her later life and brought harm to her parents and brother. The once-thriving Luo family was now impoverished, her mother dying of depression because of her, her father aging prematurely, and her brother’s future hanging by a thread.

Feeling utterly defeated, the original character did not leave immediately, yet unexpectedly, Cheng Zhaoyang and his family were unaware of her presence.

The original character thought she was doomed this time.

However, the Cheng family didn’t know she had overheard the truth. Fearing the consequences of murder and the trouble it could bring Cheng Zhaohua, they simply abandoned the original character at the doorstep.

Soon, her father received the news and brought her back, but by then, her mother had already passed away, and her father had aged considerably. Few of his students remained, and her once lively and cheerful brother had turned silent and introverted. The family was ruined.

The original character completely lost the will to live and, the day after returning, committed suicide in secret.

After death, she was filled with resentment, trapped in it, and unable to break free.

What she once thought was a saving grace turned out to be a scheme; what she believed to be admiration was merely shameful possessiveness, and what she thought was a beloved husband was all a calculation.

All of this made her hate them intensely.

But while hating them, she was also filled with guilt toward her family.

Because of her, her father, once respected, had become someone others looked down upon, a man who despised the poor and favored the rich. Her mother had lived comfortably for half her life but suffered and died of depression in her later years because of her worries about her daughter.

Her once lively and intelligent brother had also undergone a drastic personality change.

Thus, in this life, Luo Qingli was filled with resentment, but even more than that, she was filled with a desire to protect her family, wishing for their safety.

After absorbing the memories, Qingli felt as if she had empathized with the original character’s entire life, filled with hatred after being schemed against, watching her family almost fall apart while her enemies enjoyed a luxurious life in the capital. This made her fists clench!

At that moment, the carriage stopped, and she was pushed.

Qingli opened her eyes to see Cheng Yue’er looking at her with annoyance. “Get out of the way; I want to get off the carriage!”

As soon as she said this, she noticed the darkness in Qingli’s eyes. Cheng Yue’er shivered and, with a pale face, asked, “Wh-what are you doing?!”

Qingli took a deep breath, quickly reining in her exposed emotions. With a gentle smile, she moved her legs aside and shook her head, saying, “It’s nothing; you can get down now.”

“That’s more like it.” Cheng Yue’er, oblivious, immediately smiled, not taking Qingli’s earlier demeanor seriously. She deliberately took a detour to get off the carriage near Qingli. The curtain was drawn back, and she jumped down, only to hear the surprised exclamations of onlookers who had already gathered around: “Oh, so it’s the Cheng family girl?”

“Why did she return in a carriage? My goodness!”

“Could it be that she has caught the eye of the Li family? Is she going to be the young lady of the family?”

Cheng Yue’er held her chin high, strutting back proudly. Once she reached inside, she immediately shouted, “Mother! My sister-in-law fell into the water and was saved by a man!”

Because her elder son had become a scholar and her second son was about to become one as well, studying in the county academy, Cheng’s mother, Mrs. Xiong, had absorbed some manners. The household was very strict, and in the small courtyard, Cheng Yue’er’s loud voice was heard even inside the house. Mrs. Xiong rushed out as if her tail had been set on fire, angrily asking, “What did you say?”

Cheng Yue’er immediately described in vivid detail how Luo Qingli was saved from the pond by Young Master Li, filled with excitement at the prospect of seeing her sister-in-law come to misfortune, “Mother, she was soaked, and the clothes she’s wearing now were given to her by Young Lady Li!”

Mrs. Xiong took a deep breath and marched toward the door. At this moment, Qingli had just stepped down from the carriage. They met at the entrance, and Mrs. Xiong immediately shouted, “Luo family! How dare you act so shamelessly?! What have you done to my son?!”

Qingli, calm and composed, simply asked, “Mother, do you know the reason?”

“The reason?” Mrs. Xiong scoffed, placing her hands on her hips like a water barrel, her face dark as she looked at Qingli in her new clothes. The image of a woman drenched in water automatically flashed in her mind, and she felt as if her son’s head was green with shame. In a fit of rage, she raised her hand:

“There’s no reason that could justify you falling into the water! I knew you were a loose woman! My son isn’t home, yet you dress up so extravagantly; it must be to seduce someone!”

Upon hearing this, Qing Li walked around her mother and took a few steps inside. She grabbed a large broom nearby and swung it at Cheng Yue’er, who was watching the commotion. At the same time, she shouted, “Mother is right! Cheng Yue’er is just a flirt who intentionally fell into the water to attract attention. I shouldn’t have gone in to save her! Women like this deserve a beating!”

After saying this, she struck Cheng Yue’er several times with the broom, hitting her unprepared on the back and the back of her head.

She moved swiftly and accurately, and while Xiong Shi was still seething with anger and hadn’t realized what was happening, her daughter had already been hit. Xiong Shi stood frozen in place.

“Ahhh!” Cheng Yue’er’s wretched screams echoed through the courtyard. Instinctively, she covered her head with her hands, but her wrist was struck again by the broom, causing her face to turn pale with pain. She stumbled around the yard, crying out desperately, “Mother! Boohoo… save me!”

Taking advantage of the chaos, Qing Li coldly struck her again and shouted, “Mother said that women like you, who are so flirtatious, shouldn’t be saved!”

Xiong Shi snapped back to her senses, pain flooding her heart as she rushed forward to embrace her daughter. As she took the blow meant for her daughter, she winced in pain and, filled with both anger and frustration, shouted, “If you have something to say, then just say it! Why are you hitting people?!”