Chapter 494: Every Family Has Its Own Difficulties

After showering and coming out of the bathroom, he discussed it with Shi Youxuan: "I want to have Mom and Dad live with us. What do you think?"

"That's fine, I have no objections," Shi Youxuan agreed immediately.

If the mother-in-law were Wang Yingzhi, she would definitely oppose it; of course, if it were Wang Yingzhi, Sheng Hanyu wouldn't have suggested living together in the first place!

They would be trying to avoid her, so how could they possibly want to live together.

Mother-in-law Wang Yinghao is as good as her name suggests—she is a good person with a good temper, and she gets along very harmoniously with Shi Youxuan. Although Father-in-law Sheng Jiang often does things that leave people speechless, he is not unreasonable.

This matter was settled.

……

Fang Jie has been a bit unusual these past two days.

She acts furtively when making phone calls, and as soon as someone approaches, she hangs up in a hurry, as if afraid of being overheard.

She is also absent-minded when cooking; it's either too salty or too bland, and there was even one time that was even more outrageous—she put a large spoonful of salt into Shi Youxuan's bird's nest soup...

Shi Youxuan spat it out after one bite and hurried to the washroom to rinse her mouth.

Fang Jie apologized profusely: "I'm sorry, Madam, I mistook the salt for powdered rock sugar and put it in. Please deduct the cost of the bird's nest from my salary..."

The bird's nest is a small matter; Shi Youxuan wouldn't deduct Fang Jie's salary just because a bowl of bird's nest was wasted.

But for her to be this unusual, there must be something going on.

When asked, she wouldn't say, only claiming it was nothing—just that the weather was hot, she wasn't sleeping well, and she had been distracted for a moment.

Shi Youxuan doesn't have the habit of getting to the bottom of things; since Fang Jie didn't want to talk, she stopped asking.

In the afternoon, Fang Jie went to buy groceries. When she returned, she kept her head down and went straight to the kitchen without even saying hello.

Something wasn't right.

Usually, every time she returned from buying groceries, she would report what she had bought and then ask Shi Youxuan what fruit she wanted to eat or what they should have for dinner.

But today, she didn't ask anything.

Wang Yinghao also noticed something was wrong. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law exchanged a look, and Wang Yinghao went to the kitchen.

"Oh my, how did you get your face like this?"

Soon, Wang Yinghao pulled Fang Jie out of the kitchen.

"It's nothing, I'm fine, really, it's nothing..."

Fang Jie was forcibly pulled out by Wang Yinghao and pressed onto the sofa. Shi Youxuan took one look and immediately went to get the medical kit.

"What happened to your face? Don't tell me you accidentally bumped into a wall while buying groceries."

Fang Jie:...

That was exactly right; she had intended to brush it off that way, but now she couldn't. The excuse she had prepared had been blocked off.

She didn't speak, only shaking her head and weeping continuously.

"Hey, don't cry, just speak up, will you? If crying could solve problems, that would be easy, but unfortunately, it can't solve anything."

The mother-in-law nudged her gently, meaning for her not to say any more.

If she wouldn't say it, she wouldn't say it, but it was just worrying to watch.

Shi Youxuan wanted to apply medicine to Fang Jie, but the mother-in-law "snatched" the job away.

She was heavily pregnant and it wasn't convenient for her.

The mother-in-law unscrewed an iodine swab and wiped the red, swollen areas on Fang Jie's face bit by bit, asking as she wiped: "Does it hurt? Should I be even gentler?"

"It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt at all."

Fang Jie's tears fell in torrents.

The tears fell onto the wounds on her face, making her gasp in pain; she looked so pitiful.

Fang Jie must have been beaten by someone, and not lightly either.

Her left eye socket was bruised black and blue, the corner of her mouth was bright red, and both cheeks were swollen.

She has a good temper and would never provoke anyone, let alone get into a fight. To be beaten like this, what kind of grudge or hatred could it be?

Shi Youxuan decided not to respect her privacy anymore; she had to find out the reason today, so she said: "Fang Jie, tell me the truth, who exactly hit you? If you don't tell me, I'll have Lao Qi investigate."

Everyone knew of Lao Qi's capabilities; it wouldn't take two hours for him to find out the reason.

Fang Jie cried even harder, saying through her tears: "Madam, you don't need to go to so much trouble for me; it's not worth it."

Shi Youxuan:...

"Whether it's worth it or not is for me to decide, not you."

After crying for a while, Fang Jie choked out the reason.

It turned out that the ones who hit her were none other than her husband and her own son.

Her husband is a good-for-nothing who is skilled at nothing but eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling. Her son grew up with his father and didn't learn anything good, instead picking up all of his father's bad habits.

All these years, the money Fang Jie earned working as a servant away from home was sent back to her hometown to support the whole family, while she herself was unwilling to spend it on food or drink.

Shi Youxuan hadn't known Fang Jie for long, but Wang Yinghao and Fang Jie had spent a considerable amount of time together day in and day out. It was the first time either of them had heard Fang Jie talk about her family affairs.

She had never mentioned them before.

Fang Jie's hometown is in the countryside, where basically all the young and able-bodied people go out to work, leaving behind only the elderly, women, and children.

When she first got married, her husband also went out to work, just like everyone else in the village.

But he was gone for a whole year, and not only did he not bring back a single cent, he even owed others a lot of money!

The second year, having no other choice, Fang Jie went out to work. She was lucky; her first year out, she happened to catch the Sheng Family hiring servants.

Fang Jie is hardworking and capable. The Sheng Family treats their servants well; not only was the salary generous, but they also gave her a large red envelope at the end of the year when she went home for the holidays.

When she got home with the money, her family was happy at first, but within two days, gossip began to spread through the village.

At first, it was just whispered, but before long, it became very detailed and increasingly malicious!

Some said she was that kind of woman in the city, relying on selling her body to make money; otherwise, how could a woman earn more money than a man?

Her parents-in-law and husband believed it, so they wouldn't let her go out and "make a spectacle of herself."

But if she didn't go out, there would be no money in the house, and her husband went out to work with everyone else; this time he was gone for an even shorter period, running back after only a month or so.

He had returned, but the travel money he had taken with him had been spent down to the very last cent!

This money really hadn't been "spent in vain," as his horizons had been "broadened" quite a bit; upon returning home, he talked incessantly, boasting about how wonderful the outside world was.

He even said things like people laugh at the poor but not at the prostitutes, and that in this day and age, as long as you can make money, it doesn't matter what you do.

And so, Fang Jie was logically driven out of the house to earn money.

She worked as a domestic servant, and the hard-earned money she made through her own labor was described by her closest kin as doing that kind of "business."

Fang Jie tried to defend herself, but it was useless.

Her parents-in-law and husband didn't believe a word she said; they just stubbornly chose to believe what they wanted to believe.

They even said: "You don't need to lie, we don't care, what are you worried about?"

"As long as you can bring money back, that's fine; the more, the better."

She was never good with words and had a submissive nature.

One mouth could never win against several, but later she came to terms with it; as long as they let her come out, that was all that mattered. Others felt that life outside was hard, but Fang Jie didn't feel it at all.

Although the Sheng Family had strict rules and a lot of work.

Compared to being at home, it was like being in heaven; as long as the work was done well, she wouldn't be scolded, let alone beaten!

Thus, Fang Jie worked at the Sheng Family for many years.

She usually kept in contact with her family at a fixed time—on payday.

After getting paid, Fang Jie would go to the post office to fill out a remittance slip, keeping only a tiny bit for pocket money, and send the rest home for the children's schooling.

Originally, she had planned it well: she would earn money outside while the children studied at the school back home, and when they were older and got into a school here, she would be able to reunite with them.