Sam Evans's Awakening
At this moment, Qing Mu suddenly cut in and said to Su Li, "Madam, I've seen the Su family matriarch extorting stuff a few times. She always moves whole baskets of items from Third Uncle's kitchen..."
Su Li's face darkened; she hadn't expected the Su matriarch to be so shameless—even after the family split, she still took things from her son's house every day.
Looking at it this way, Sun Shi's grievances were truly genuine; life in Su Sanyun's household really was tough.
But... Su Li glanced at Su Sanyun, thinking to herself, why didn't Third Uncle stop the matriarch from taking things? Isn't that just foolish filial piety...
The Hua couple's anger towards Sun Shi lessened; they began to sigh in sympathy.
With those two vampire-like in-laws pressing down on them, life was indeed hard to endure.
Aunt Hua suddenly didn't hate Sun Shi as much anymore; they were all pitiful people, forced to take crooked paths just to scrape together some silver.
"Sigh..." Aunt Hua sighed, recalling her own days as a daughter-in-law, tormented by her mother-in-law. Those days were truly hard to bear.
Sun Shi's grievances poured out nonstop, revealing everything: how the Su matriarch moved things, beat Su Lanxiang, and even threatened to sell Su Lanxiang to forcefully snatch items.
Su Li and the Hua couple were all furious to the point of boiling over.
"That thieving old woman! Su Lanxiang is her own granddaughter, and she uses her to threaten her own son for stuff? What a terrible person!" Aunt Hua fumed.
Sun Shi wiped away a tear and said to Aunt Hua, "I admit I forcibly took over your land and threatened you—that's my fault. I know deep down it's wrong, but I was truly desperate..."
Aunt Hua sighed and said to Su Sanyun, "Su Third, I'm not saying this to offend you, but how can you be a man and just let your own mother bully your wife and kids? Filial piety is fine, but it needs limits. Doesn't your family pay grain to your parents every month as respect? If you already do that, they shouldn't be taking more from your house! Taking a few vegetables or a bit of meat is understandable, but moving whole baskets at a time? Who can stand that?"
Su Sanyun looked ashamed, bowing his head. The honest man sighed deeply, "I know my mother is wrong..."
"If you know it's wrong, then be firm! Don't let your mother cause trouble!" Aunt Hua slapped her thigh, "Oh, being a man can't be so honest! To put it nicely, you're honest; to put it harshly, you're a pushover!"
Su Sanyun's face flushed red and white in embarrassment, keeping his head down without a word. After a while, he said to Su Li, "A Li, no matter what happens in our family, it shouldn't be a reason to bully the villagers. About compensating Aunt Hua's land, we'll do it as you said. We can't break the rules; otherwise, if everyone in the village learns from us and bullies others, no one will be able to do business."
Sun Shi suddenly grew anxious, "You stubborn fool, why still hold back! If you hold back, we'll starve!"
Su Sanyun took a deep breath, looking at Sun Shi, his voice small and uncertain, "I... I will protect you and the child from now on..."
"What? What did you say?" Sun Shi could hardly believe her ears.
Su Sanyun took another breath, his face turning purple with embarrassment, as if gathering courage: "From now on, if my parents come to take things from our house, I won't give them anything!"
"Really? Third Uncle, you've come to your senses?" Sun Shi's face lit up with unbelievable joy.
Su Sanyun wiped away a tear and said, "Before, I was useless—too weak and pushover, too lenient with my parents, causing my wife to do things against her conscience just to hold the family together. From now on, I won't entertain my parents' unreasonable demands. So even if we give up a third of our land to Aunt Hua, our family's silver will still be enough."