Rebirth Counterattack with Space

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: When the Upper Beam is not Straight, the Lower Beam is Crooked

Chapter 52 -52: When the Upper Beam is not Straight, the Lower Beam is Crooked

Remembering the fate of the three Chen siblings in her previous life, Lu Yun’s face revealed a cold sneer.

They say that if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked.

The Chen Family embodied this proverb to the fullest extent.

Their eldest, Chen Youxian, dropped out of school to hang around the streets when he was fourteen or fifteen, and in one gang fight, he ended up paralyzing himself. His wife ran off with someone else less than half a year later, rumored to have become a mistress to some big boss.

The second son, Chen Youxiang, was somewhat better. He was the studious type and quite thoughtful. Perhaps frightened by his older brother’s fate, he became more cautious after high school. Eventually, he made it to university and there, he got involved with a naive and innocent “silly girl” from the city.

Before the marriage, the Chen Family was extremely good at pretending. After the successful wedding, Chen Youxiang secured a decent job through the Yue Family’s connections.

However, during their first year back to their hometown after the marriage, as the mother-in-law, Wang Lizhen seemed to think she could manipulate her new daughter-in-law at will. In an effort to assert her authority, she tortured her daughter-in-law to no end. As the saying goes, troubles come from actions – Chen Qiuyu, the younger sister-in-law, joined in the chaos too. She was envious of her sister-in-law’s jewelry and clothes and went so far as to help herself to them without asking…

In the end, the “silly girl” came to a sudden realization and in a fit of anger, returned to her own family, forcing Chen Youxiang to make a choice. Chen Youxiang was no fool and decisively sided with his wife and the Yue Family.

After that, the villagers hadn’t seen Chen Youxiang return for over a decade, only occasionally hearing Wang Lizhen boasting about her son sending money home, followed by endless cursing at her daughter-in-law, leading to the villagers mocking her behind her back.

As for Chen Qiuyu herself, seeing her two brothers unreliable – with the elder brother paralyzed and his wife run off, and the younger comfortably settled in the city and leaning on his in-laws without hope for support – her parents decided to marry her off within the village to a man who was honest, sincere, and meek, hoping she could control her husband and rely on her natal family in the future.

But Chen Qiuyu’s true nature didn’t change after marriage. Not only did she pick up her mother’s habit of gossiping, but she even exceeded her in audacity. She gambled, stole, and her relationships with many men in the village were ambiguous and dubious.

Chen Qiuyu’s husband was indeed the epitome of “honest,” so much so that even when he caught his wife in the woods in disheveled clothes with another man, he did nothing but swallow his teeth in silence, not daring to make a scene.

This emboldened Chen Qiuyu even more. The most serious incident, which ultimately led to both families’ open hostility, was when she stole eighty thousand yuan that her mother-in-law asked her husband to withdraw from the bank for building a new house. She ran away, gambling and messing around for three months before returning empty-handed.

That time, her husband finally grew bold for a moment and beat her brutally until her parents from her natal home came running to cause a commotion. In the end, Chen Qiuyu suffered a miscarriage at the hospital, as she was just two months pregnant. Moreover, due to being hit so hard in the abdomen, she was left with no hope of conceiving again in the future.

In the end, Chen Qiuyu got divorced, and the man didn’t pursue the matter of the eighty thousand yuan. That put an end to the affair. From then on, the two families became sworn enemies. Chen Qiuyu utterly gave up on herself, recklessly flirting with anyone who showed her a favor, becoming a notorious promiscuous woman known to almost everyone within a ten-mile radius.

Chen Dazhuang and Wang Lizhen, the parents, not only were not ashamed but even acted as pimps, demanding benefits from the middle, causing quite a stir in their household several times over disputes about the money, heard by their neighbors.

Leaning on her mother’s side, Lu Yun sighed, truly puzzled as to what all of them in that family were thinking. Were they raising children or enemies? It might only be chalked up to their brains being wired differently from normal people, so one couldn’t use common sense to understand them, right?

The conversation in the car, after a while spent on Wang Lizhen’s family’s gossip, moved on to other topics.

It was probably out of consideration for Xia Yuan also being in the car that no one brought up any topics related to her.

Only the young bride took a careful look at Xia Yuan for a while and, with a smile, said, “So you’re Xia Yuan? Your shoes are really pretty.” Her tone was filled with intense curiosity and envy, but no malice could be detected.

“…Thank you.” Xia Yuan’s face turned a bit red, hesitated for a moment not knowing how to respond, and could only politely nod her head and say thanks.

The thing earlier with her showing off her leather shoes to irritate Wang Lizhen was purely because she felt it would quickly hit her where it hurt, with no intention of showing off to others. In fact, Xia Yuan was accustomed to keeping a low profile and truly was not used to flaunting her possessions.

The young bride’s comment shifted everyone’s attention back to Xia Yuan, temporarily abandoning the previous conversation and turning to a curiosity about Xia Yuan’s leather shoes.

“These real leather shoes must be expensive, right? They look much nicer than the pair Wang Lizhen wears. I saw them at the supply and marketing cooperative the other day, even those were nine and a half yuan. Yours must be even more expensive, right?” An auntie said enviously while looking at Xia Yuan’s black shoes.

“How much did these cost?” Another auntie leaned in with a ‘tsk tsk’ sound, eager to find out.

Seeing everyone’s keen interest, Xia Yuan uncomfortably shuffled her feet, “Twenty-five yuan and eighty cents.”

“Tsk… Lu Aiguo is really willing to spend, isn’t he?” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

“It’s just unexpected that Lu Aiguo would be so thoughtful.” Sighs rose, and Xia Yuan’s face grew even redder.

On one hand, everyone sat in the mule cart, chatting and laughing. Although the ride wasn’t very comfortable, everyone’s mood was still cheerful.

On the other hand, at this moment, Wang Lizhen and her daughter Chen Qiuyu, covered in dust and dirt, were trudging along a mountain path, and their mood was far from cheerful.

In the end, Wang Lizhen couldn’t bear to part with her leather shoes, so she went back to change into her usual liberation shoes. After all, although the liberation shoes didn’t look as elegant, they were quite durable for walking. She also didn’t forget to carry a basket with her leather shoes inside, planning to change into them once she arrived at the venue. Of course, in addition to the shoes, she also carried a basin of soup in her basket.

Unfortunately, just a few steps in, the mother and daughter began taking turns experiencing stomach troubles.

Fortunately, it was a mountain path with few people passing by, and there was no need to look for a proper toilet; they just had to dive into the bushes or hide behind a tree, and a few grabbed roots or tree leaves would suffice to do the business.

At first, they thought it wasn’t a big deal, but they didn’t expect their stomachs to betray them, acting up every half hour or so, leaving them weak in their hands and feet. When they realized something was amiss, suspecting it was the overnight wild vegetable corn buns and the unclean water they drank directly, the road was already half-traveled. Stuck in a dilemma, neither progressing nor returning was a pleasant option.

Wang Lizhen hesitated again and again, thinking of the cold and empty kitchen at home, where the food was always the same few items, and that the money for the wedding banquet had to be paid whether she attended or not. More importantly, there was meat to be eaten at the banquet. Wouldn’t she be at a severe loss if she didn’t go and get her money’s worth? So she finally made up her mind, gritted her teeth, and continued onwards with Chen Qiuyu.