The Farm Girl’s Charismatic Fortune

Chapter 27: Chapter 26 The Letter to Rest Daughter-in-law Chapter 27: Chapter 26 The Letter to Rest Daughter-in-law The northern night sky already had cold stars twinkling.

The deeper the night, the heavier the dew.

Mother Lei worried about the children catching a cold at home, contracting a chill from the wind, and with a grand gesture of her hand declared, “Alright, that’s enough for today. It’s dark now; let’s head home.”

Only then did the family stop their work.

Mother Lei supported Ruo He as they walked back along the field ridges.

As the night fell, Ruo He felt her vision blurring more and more, but it seemed that she could see a little clearer tonight compared to usual.

Everyone moved the bundles of Geng Grass they had cut down to the field borders.

They had just cut down the Geng Grass and had not yet peeled the Zizania, planning to bring them all back home to peel. The leaves of the Geng Grass could also be dried out to use as firewood.

Transporting Geng Grass was physically demanding work, and this task was left to Ruo Shui, Ruo Zhou, and Ruo Jiang, the strongest members of the Ruo Family.

Led by Mother Lei, the other members of the Ruo Family carried back a bundle of Geng Grass each and headed home.

Although Mother Lei took the children home first, it wasn’t long before Ruo Shui and the others caught up with a high cart loaded with Geng Grass.

This was just the first cart; they estimated that it would take two more trips to transport everything.

Once at home, Mother Lei saw the yard gate wide open and turned to the others, “Who was the last one out, and why didn’t you close the gate?”

“I remember I closed it!” Ruo Hang scratched his head.

He had just run back to fetch some rope and clearly remembered closing the gate!

Xuanbao vaguely sensed the presence of someone from the Zhao Family and said, “Aunt Zhao came back.”

Upon hearing this, Mother Lei knew the chicken porridge she was simmering before she went out was gone; she hurried to the kitchen and, sure enough, found an unwashed earthen pot on the stove and chicken bones littered all over the floor.

The hot water in the big iron pot, heated for the children’s baths, was also gone!

Mother Lei’s face turned green with anger.

This porridge was the family’s dinner for tonight; she had started simmering it when she went out to look for Xuanbao, even adding some chestnuts to make it especially soft and sweet. She thought Xuanbao would love it.

Who would have thought it would end up in Aunt Zhao’s stomach!

To make matters worse, after feeding herself, how could Aunt Zhao not leave any for the family? Everyone worked themselves to death in the fields, only to come home and look forward to a hot bowl of porridge and a warm bath.

And after eating, not only did she not clean the pot, but she left chicken bones scattered all over the floor, expecting others to clean up after her.

Every time was like this; what did she take her family for?

“Aunt Zhao, get out here!” Mother Lei bellowed.

But the only response to her shout was the open door of Aunt Zhao’s room.

Aunt Zhao had run away long ago!

Seeing this, Mother Lei had nowhere to vent her full rage, so she suppressed it.

Liu and Jiang entered the kitchen and, seeing the scene, were used to it by now.

Liu, worried about Mother Lei getting sick from anger, quickly consoled her, “Mom, don’t be angry. I’ll boil a new pot of porridge right now. I can also stir-fry some Zizania for the family to try; if it tastes good, we can sell it for a high price tomorrow.”

Jiang picked up the broom from the corner and began sweeping up the bones from the floor, “Right, Xuanbao made the Zizania sound so tasty; I’ve been looking forward to trying it.”

Ruo He became anxious inside but, unable to see clearly, asked in a hurry, “What happened? What did Aunt Zhao do this time?”

In this moment, he regretted ever taking on the butcher’s work and helping him repair his house.

Ruo Jiang and Ruo Shui felt even more indignant for their third brother, especially Ruo Shui, who had seen Aunt Zhao at the gambling parlor in town and was even more furious!

“What kind of rules did our ancestors set? Keeping someone like this around – is she for the New Year or something?” he couldn’t help saying.

“Enough! What nonsense are you spouting? Are you in a position to talk about our ancestors? Hurry up and move the Geng Grass down; we still have to bring back the rest!” Mother Lei, swallowing the frustration in her heart, gave an order and went to clean up the mess left by Aunt Zhao, helping to boil water for dinner.

At this moment, Mother Lei also harbored thoughts of getting rid of Aunt Zhao!

Actually, Mother Lei was not a mean mother-in-law, and the people of the Ruo Family were not unkind.

Although Aunt Zhao married into the Ruo Family with calculated intentions, the family had genuinely wanted to treat her as one of their own at first.

Even though Ruo He and Aunt Zhao slept in separate rooms, he handed over most of the money he earned each month to Mother Lei for living expenses and gave the rest to Aunt Zhao to manage.

But Aunt Zhao gambled all the silver away completely, and after Ruo He found out, he never gave her money again.

In the half year since Aunt Zhao had married into the family, she rarely stayed at home in the beginning, but Mother Lei always saved her some food, treating her like a proper daughter-in-law, even hoping she would reform and that one day she and her son could live together happily.

But every time Mrs. Zhao finished her meal, she wouldn’t bother washing her bowl and would just leave it there as if the entire family owed her and were obliged to serve her.

At first, everyone let it go because she was pregnant.

Mrs. Zhao, however, became more and more excessive. During the busy farming season, the whole family would be out working in the fields. Grandma Lei would always prepare the meals for everyone, keep them warm in the pot, and then join the others in the field, so that everyone could eat as soon as they got home.

But Mrs. Zhao had it better; she would go out early to watch others gamble, return home at mealtime, and eat up all the food Grandma Lei had prepared for the family, leaving only empty pots and bowls behind before disappearing again to some gambling table.

The exhausted and hungry family would come home to find no food and still be expected to wash her dishes.

People’s patience wears thin, and who could endure such selfish behavior from Mrs. Zhao?

Ruo Xuan looked towards Grandma Lei’s hut and suddenly said, “Grandma, Auntie San entered your room.”

Grandma Lei’s heart skipped a beat!

She hurried back to her room and dove under the bed.

Soon, Grandma Lei let out a roar of rage that nearly lifted the roof tiles, “I’m divorcing her! I want to divorce Mrs. Zhao!”

It wasn’t Uncle San who would divorce Mrs. Zhao, she was going to do it herself.

Grandma Lei burst out, “Ruo Zhou, bring me paper and ink!”

She was going to write the divorce letter herself!

Day and night vigilance couldn’t prevent betrayal within one’s own home.

Mrs. Zhao had actually dared to steal the silver she had saved for Xuanbao’s dowry.

That was six taels of silver she had scrimped and saved for three years to put aside, of which five taels had been earned by Xuanbao herself.

She was livid!

Grandma Lei could tolerate all of Mrs. Zhao’s bad habits, but she couldn’t tolerate a thief.

This was a problem of character!

In fact, the day before yesterday, when Xuanbao had almost choked to death, Grandma Lei had already considered divorcing Mrs. Zhao.

But the Ruo Family had rules, and since Mrs. Zhao was pregnant, it wouldn’t be proper to not follow the family rules at that time.

The family rules state that a pregnant woman must not be divorced!

But recently, Mrs. Zhao had been committing one “good deed” after another, and her pregnancy was fake, which finally pushed Grandma Lei to her limits!

If she didn’t divorce her now and something worse happened, it would be too late for regrets!

Liu’s heart jolted, and she quickly glanced towards her own room. Today, that handsome young master had sent quite a few things for Xuanbao, and Grandma had told her to lock them away in the room.

Fortunately, she had locked the door when she went out, and now there were only two big footprints on the door.

When the family saw Grandma Lei this upset, they all guessed that Mrs. Zhao must have stolen all the silver from the house!

Ruo He clenched his fists, “Mother, let me write the divorce letter.”

Grandma Lei refused, “No, I’ll write it! Mrs. Zhao was the wife I found for you; this is my mistake. I shall divorce her myself, it’s not your responsibility. Ruo Zhou, haven’t you brought the paper and ink yet?”

Men of the Ruo Family couldn’t easily divorce their wives, so she would do it herself since she was not a Ruo Family man!

She couldn’t keep Mrs. Zhao any longer, allowing her to ruin Uncle San and the entire Ruo Family.

Even Xuanbao knew that members of their family still had to pass exams for official positions, needed to have upstanding character, and a good reputation.

How could a swindler and a thief be worthy of her son?

Seeing his own mother make such a firm decision, Ruo Shui quickly went to fetch paper and ink.

Grandma Lei was not an ordinary peasant woman; she could read and write, and with her own hand, she wrote the divorce letter for her daughter-in-law!

Grandma Lei handed the divorce letter to Ruo He, “It’s dark now, so let it be. Tomorrow, you can bring this divorce letter to the Zhao Family. Say that I divorced her. Our Ruo Family can’t tolerate a thieving daughter-in-law!”

Ruo He took it, gripping it tightly and nodded lightly, “Mhm.”

Tomorrow he should also take a doctor to the Zhao Family.

Ruo Shui let out a sigh, patted Ruo He’s shoulder heavily, and said, “Third brother, congratulations!”

He was spiteful, having long hoped that his third brother would divorce his wife.

If Mrs. Zhao had been his wife, he would have divorced her already, family rules be damned.

He was rebellious; the family rules were set by the ancestors, but centuries later, wouldn’t he also be an ancestor with the right to set new family rules?