Inside and outside the door, some people listened and lowered their heads awkwardly.
Yes, is Liu Yulan really that bad as a stepmother?
It's undeniable that she did raise Wang Zhaodi, even during the toughest three years of the Great Famine, when so many elders and children in the village starved to death, yet Wang Zhaodi, a child living under a stepmother, survived well.
Fingers are of different lengths, who can really treat all children equally in a family with many kids? The human heart is... naturally biased...
Li Sanfu sighed deeply, "Every family has its own troubles, Baoxing, no matter what, Zhaodi is your daughter, you shouldn't just leave her alone..."
"Uncle San, you must be joking." Wang Baoxing looked at Wang Zhaodi expressionlessly, "Is this me not caring for her? Why don't you ask her if she needs me to care? All day long, except for meal and sleep times, she's never home. Does she really take this place as her home?"
"Zhaodi, what do you say?" Wang Baoxing asked, "You're grown up now, you can think and decide your own matters. Do you think your mother hasn't treated you well all these years?"
Wang Zhaodi lowered her head, tears in her eyes, truly looking aggrieved. She did feel wronged, how could her father ask her such questions in front of so many people, no matter what she says, it would be wrong.
The crowd looked at her, inevitably feeling a bit awkward.
Everyone was here arguing for her, yet she only cried, why did it look so awkward?
Wang Baoxing sighed again, "You all see it, no matter how she feels inside, this family can't contain her anymore. Her second aunt, since you have a good family, quickly find her a match and let her get married."
"As for the dowry, just as Yulan said, we've fulfilled our responsibility to raise her, so she doesn't need to come back for the festivals. I agree with Yulan, we won't provide one." Wang Baoxing looked at everyone, "To be honest, given these times, how many families can afford a decent dowry for their daughters? Not saving up the bride price to find a wife for their sons is already good enough, right..."
The crowd fell silent again, yes, in and out of the village, there are many families who save their daughters' dowries for their sons to marry.
But these are unspoken truths, and with Wang Baoxing speaking out so boldly, several people felt they had lost face.
"Alright, let's settle this. Yinfeng, quickly arrange blind dates for Zhaodi." Li Dalong stood up impatiently, feeling utterly humiliated. He was also someone who saved his daughter's dowry for his son's marriage, and he wasn't sure if Wang Baoxing was hinting at him. Either way, he couldn't stay any longer.
With Li Dalong taking the lead, everyone followed suit and left in a flurry, even Wang Zhaodi's own uncle didn't say anything, seemingly agreeing by default, what else was there for others to say.
However, from then on, people in the village would no longer gossip recklessly about Liu Yulan. Liu Yulan suddenly found that her popularity had inexplicably improved, people she met on the road could even exchange smiles with her.
Li Yinfeng, having gained nothing today and left with a belly full of grievance, also left, forgetting the still hopeful Wang Zhaodi behind.
Wang Zhaodi watched as her relatives left one by one, standing alone in the middle feeling utterly helpless, her tears couldn't stop flowing, sigh, is it true that women are made of water? Why couldn't her tears stop...
Wang Baoxing looked at her, frowning, and said impatiently, "Stop crying, since you don't like this home, Dad won't keep you. Get married earlier and live well in your husband's house..."
"Your father is right, but you have to change that habit of crying without saying a word. Such behavior won't be liked in your husband's family." Zhou Fengjuan, just held back by Liu Yulan, stayed and watched Wang Zhaodi's behavior throughout, thinking to herself, why didn't she notice her love of crying as a problem before? She even felt an urge to comfort her and secretly cursed Liu Yulan as vicious.
Ah, indeed, one can't judge matters from appearances alone. Without understanding the causes and consequences, how can one draw conclusions easily? Even if one understands the causes, different perspectives lead to different conclusions, don't they?
People mostly tend to perceive things based on their subjective will, and tend to follow the herd.
Wang Zhaodi, eyes blurred with tears, seeing everyone looking at her, blushed uncontrollably, covered her face with both hands and ran to the small room.
Wang Miaomiao seeing Liu Yulan and Zhou Fengjuan still had things to say, immediately went to the kitchen to fetch bowls to pour water for them.
It wasn't like she didn't know how to treat guests, but there were just too many people, and there weren't enough cups in the house.
If someone had some, and others didn't, wouldn't it just be more awkward? Might as well not serve water at all, treating everyone equally.
Wang Pandi and Wang Jia Bao didn't idle either, they placed all the chairs back in position.
"Oh, thank you, Miaomiao, Yulan, you're lucky, these kids are all so sensible." After what happened just now, the two were on the same side, Zhou Fengjuan now had a much better impression of Liu Yulan.
Looking again at Liu Yulan's children, they were all beautiful, not much less than Wang Zhaodi in appearance, and more importantly, they were sensible. She couldn't help but praise them a few more times.
Listening, Liu Yulan felt immensely proud inside, feeling that her own children were, of course, the best, her smile even more genuine and sincere, modestly saying a word before getting to the point, "Stop praising, children can't stand too much praise."
"The reason I asked you to stay was mainly to apologize to you, yesterday's things happened so suddenly, I didn't get to ask you, did Gangzi blame you?" Liu Yulan looked at Zhou Fengjuan a bit uneasily.
"No." Zhou Fengjuan smiled, "Gangzi came home and said nothing other than he wasn't interested."
"That's good, that's good." Liu Yulan breathed a sigh of relief, and with some regret said, "Ah, such a good young man, such a pity."
"Mom, you can't bear it, so why not give him to the second sister..." Wang Jia Bao jokingly said without a care.
But this is not a joke to be made, Liu Yulan glanced at her frozen second daughter Wang Pandi, and sternly said to Wang Jia Bao, "You child, how can you joke around like that, quickly apologize to your second sister."
Wang Jia Bao really just said it casually, but seeing everyone looking at him with blame, he felt uncomfortable and unrelievedly said, "I didn't say anything wrong. That lame guy has such good conditions, has a house, bonds, even a sewing machine and a bicycle, can you find anyone within ten miles better than him... Since big sister doesn't recognize the gem, let second sister try, maybe she'll win his favor."
"Hey, you're still talking, see if I won't beat you." Liu Yulan, angry, took off her shoe to hit him.