Volume One, Chapter 135: Phoenix Man (2)
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“Why is the tone suddenly heading in such a terrible direction?”
“Don’t tell me he’s a mama’s boy?”
“A Phoenix man and a mama’s boy?”
“Good heavens, I suddenly can’t stand him anymore!”
“These women change their attitudes so quickly. I’m trembling here, terrified I’ll get caught in the crossfire just for breathing in one extra breath of fresh air.”
Xu Jingtang’s expression darkened slightly. Modern people were far too sensitive to terms like “Phoenix man” and “mama’s boy.” Even though he had spent so long laying the groundwork at the beginning, public opinion had still veered out of control.
Yet he was clever enough not to defend himself in the slightest. Instead, he continued, “I was studying away from home and rarely returned except during the winter and summer holidays. I had no idea my mother was no longer the gentle, virtuous woman I remembered. Even less did I know that she would kill someone simply because Lanlan had defied her once... If I had known, I absolutely, absolutely would never have let my mother come here! She was the woman who loved me with all her heart! How could I ever have harmed her?”
As he spoke, Xu Jingtang slapped himself twice across the face. Two clearly visible handprints immediately appeared on his cheeks.
Even Qin Yu felt the pain.
Auntie Wang Guihua had recovered somewhat by now, though her voice was still weak. “You’re talking nonsense! You and that old mother of yours clearly plotted this together! Your mother, He Huizhu, was already in the terminal stage of cancer! Her death would not have been undeserved, but my poor Lanlan was completely innocent!”
“Wait, the two of them have completely burned out my brain’s processing unit.”
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“Is this a game of Werewolf? Why does everyone I listen to sound like they’re telling the truth?”
“I just went to ask Baidu. This was a sensational case from a while ago. The headline was: ‘Vicious Mother-in-Law Stabs Her Pregnant Daughter-in-Law Eight Times, Killing Her, Then Dies of Metastatic Cancer Before Execution.’ It caused an enormous uproar at the time!”
“???”
“I reasonably suspect the mother-in-law and the husband conspired together. They should investigate this thoroughly!”
“But the court verdict came out back then. The man was found not guilty, and because the woman was an only child, half the property under her name was to be divided between him and her family?”
“??? The woman’s money still has to be given to the murderer’s son? I can’t understand this.”
Wang Guihua gently patted her chest, trying to steady her breathing. “It’s true that Lanlan’s father and I were the ones who arranged for the two of them to get together. But we did it only because we felt Xu Jingtang was too calculating and feared that our simple-minded Lanlan would be unable to handle him. Lanlan, however, was determined to marry him. We had no choice but to arrange the wedding for them.”
“She was our only daughter. We had some savings, and we thought that if we kept her close to home, she would be less likely to be bullied. So we paid in full for their new house and car and gave them both as wedding gifts. Not only that, we even found Xu Jingtang a more respectable job! All we hoped for was that he would appreciate what we had done and treat Lanlan a little better.”
“For the first year, Xu Jingtang really was quite good. He was exceptionally filial toward his elders and considerate toward my daughter. Gradually, we lowered our guard around him. That was why, when he later claimed that his sick mother had no one to care for her, we kindly suggested bringing her to live in Imperial View.”
Wang Guihua was suffering terribly. If she had known that rural woman would cause Lanlan’s death, why had she said anything at all?
“Do you know how outrageous Xu Jingtang’s mother, He Huizhu, was? On the very first day she moved in, she set up a small bed in the couple’s bedroom! At night, she slept in the same room as the married couple!”
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“And that wasn’t all! When my daughter tried to talk things over with her, she brushed her off by saying, ‘That’s how I used to lull Tangtang to sleep when he was little.’”
“My daughter complained to Xu Jingtang, but he ignored it too. Every time, he simply told her to endure it!”
The angrier Wang Guihua became, the more rapidly she spoke. “There was something even more outrageous afterward! He Huizhu slept in the same room as the couple every single day, yet she still had the nerve to blame my daughter for being unable to have children!”
“Besides, whether to have children is my daughter’s decision! If she doesn’t want them, no one has the right to force her!”
“So her father and I came up with an excuse and sent He Huizhu back home.”
“Just when we thought life could finally return to peace, Lanlan became pregnant...”
“If I’m not mistaken, this He Huizhu is about to start causing trouble again!”
“I think conflicts between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law often stem from the husband’s failure to act. There’s something seriously wrong with this man.”
“And that mother-in-law’s behavior makes me extremely uncomfortable... How old is her son now, yet she still sleeps in the same room with him? That kind of maternal love is pathological...”
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