Chapter 196

"Mom, not this again," Lin Xiaoyue set down her chopsticks, her appetite for the braised pork vanishing.

"You're twenty-eight. If you don't marry soon, the village will talk." Her mother nudged a piece of steamed fish into her bowl. "The Wangs' daughter, two years younger than you, already has a child running errands."

Xiaoyue stared at the glistening fish but couldn't bring herself to eat. Outside the window, the setting sun stretched the old locust tree's shadow across the yard.

"I have a good job in the city. Nobody cares about these things anymore—"

"Good job?" Her father slammed the table. "A proper young woman shouldn't flaunt herself like this! Your cousin married a civil servant—and she's just a nurse!"

Her grip tightened around the chopsticks. She thought of the coworker who always hovered too close, the manager's pointed remarks about her "biological clock." City people pretended to be progressive, but their expectations were just as suffocating.

"Dad, times have changed—"

"Changed?" He scoffed. "Your cousin Fang got married last year and is already showing. Meanwhile, you don't even have a boyfriend!"

A dog barked outside. The neighbor's TV blared the evening news. The house she'd lived in for twenty years suddenly felt alien.

"I'm leaving for the city tomorrow." Her voice was quiet but firm.

Her mother flustered. "Child, how can you—"

"Let her go!" Her father stood abruptly. "See if we care!"

Xiaoyue turned to pack. The red winter coat she'd bought last New Year still hung in the closet, its brightness mocking her. Her fingers brushed the train ticket in its pocket.

Beyond the window, the last sliver of sunlight surrendered to the night.

"Stop right there!" Lily Wilson stamped her foot in frustration, but Henry's father stormed past her without a backward glance, heading straight for Henry's room.

"That's my quilt!" She reached out to snatch it back but was shoved so hard she nearly lost her balance.

"Henry is my son too!" His father's eyes burned red. "What, only the children you bore deserve to be called my sons? The ones my late wife gave me don't count?"

Lily froze.

Hadn't everyone said Henry didn’t resemble him at all?

Why was he suddenly claiming him now?

That gossipy wife of the brigade leader must have opened her big mouth!

"Lily Wilson, I'm making myself clear today." Henry's father's voice shook. "Either you shape up and act right, or pack your bags and crawl back to your parents' house!"

Divorce?

The word struck Lily like lightning.

If she were sent back in disgrace, where would she go? With her plain looks, who would have married her if not for becoming a stepmother?

"I... I never said I wouldn’t acknowledge him..."

After all her earlier bluster, she could only swallow her pride now.

In the countryside, divorce was the ultimate shame.

From that day on, Henry and Daisy finally had their father's protection.

But no one could have predicted the greater storm brewing on the horizon.

"If she wants to come back, fine. If not, forget it." Mr. Johnson's face was stony, his cigarette crushed tightly between his fingers.

Mrs. Johnson opened her mouth but didn’t dare argue.

Getting leave wasn’t easy—the round-trip train ride alone would take four or five days.

Their youngest daughter had been in the countryside for years. Who knew what she’d become?

"Understood," she murmured. "While you’re at the factory... keep an eye out for potential matches. Emily isn’t getting any younger..."

Mr. Johnson snorted. "By her age, I already had our second child running around!"

When the eldest daughter-in-law heard her mother-in-law was going to fetch Emily, her grin nearly split her face.

Once the girl was back, she’d find a way to make her father-in-law agree.

Then...

The thought of becoming the factory director’s wife by next year sent bubbles of delight fizzing through her.

"Mom, after all these years in the countryside, Emily must be bitter," the eldest daughter-in-law said with feigned concern. "But coming back to the city now is what’s best for her..."

Didn’t Mrs. Johnson know that?

The college entrance exams had been reinstated for two years, but how easy was it to get into university?

For a girl, returning to the city and marrying well while she was still young was the sensible path.

The eldest daughter-in-law spun more honeyed words, each sentence dripping with sisterly concern.

But the calculating gleam in her eyes was impossible to hide.

The train clattered onward.

Mrs. Johnson stared out the window, her palms damp with sweat at the thought of seeing her daughter soon.

"Wife! Disaster!" The second son burst into the house in a panic. "Mom’s gone to pick up Emily!"

The second daughter-in-law leisurely cracked sunflower seeds between her teeth. "Isn’t that good? You’re always saying you feel guilty about her."

"But... but the eldest brother’s workshop director position is about to be promoted!" The second son wrung his hands. "At a time like this..."

The seeds slipped from the second daughter-in-law’s fingers and clattered to the floor.

Working as a salesclerk at the department store, she knew all the underhanded tricks.

"You mean... the eldest sister-in-law plans to use Emily’s marriage...?"

"Exactly!" The second son stomped his foot. "Everyone praises her as the perfect wife, but her schemes could fill a sieve!"