The next day, when Tian Sangsang woke up, her whole body ached. She rubbed her head; last night, he seed to shed his outer layer like a beast. But where had he gone now? This feeling of being used and discarded was truly unpleasant...
**
Jiang Jinghuai received another assignnt. The deadline was one and a half months. As soon as he left, Tian Sangsang returned to the shop to work. The shop’s business was neither good nor bad, but the profit margin was quite high. After all, she was targeting a high-end clientele now; selling just one item earned her a lot.
During the day, she often didn’t go ho for als, only finding ti to return in the evening. At first, she considered living at the shop, but living there ant she wouldn’t see her son. Bringing her son to live with her wasn’t right, and there was no justification for it. Plus, her mother-in-law would never agree. So, she could only go ho and endure.
With Jiang Jinghuai absent, Ye Binyi no longer bothered to maintain the false pretense of civility. In fact, it seed she had only put up a friendly façade in the beginning because Jiang Jinghuai was at ho. During that ti, her attitude was lukewarm at best, but now it was cold indifference all the ti. So, every ti Tian Sangsang returned ho, she was faced with Ye Binyi’s icy deanor.
Jiang’s father was caught between two won and couldn’t really say much. If he helped his wife and didn’t support his daughter-in-law, he would wrong his son. But if he helped his daughter-in-law and not his wife, that was impossible for him. So sotis, he simply ate outside before returning ho.
Tian Sangsang felt she hadn’t done anything wrong, yet everything seed to be falling apart because of her. It wasn’t that she made a mistake, but her re existence seed to be the problem. How could she not feel aggrieved?
But even her grievances had no place to go.
Her son was too young; it made no sense to unload these frustrations onto him, as it might affect his growth.
One afternoon, she saw Zhao Chun on the street. He was leading Yao Yu and so others, including a few actors, to shoot a scene while borrowing a location. She stood at the entrance watching them go in and out across the street. Sotis, they were chased out; sotis, they found a place, but it wasn’t satisfactory.
"Zhao Chun~" Tian Sangsang waved at them.
They ran towards her, their faces alight with carefree joy that stunned her for a mont. She suddenly realized she was still young, only twenty-two. At this age, she ought to be a free bird soaring in the sky or a newly born calf charging through life’s thorn-covered world.
But now, she felt as though her heart had stilled.
She lent her shop to them for filming. Zhao Chun leaned on the counter occasionally giving comnts.
At one point, things quieted down, and he suddenly said, "What’s wrong with you? You look like you’ve aged ten years."
After saying that, he raised his hands and gestured the number ten.
She was taken aback, grabbing a mirror to examine herself: "No way, Zhao Chun, you’ve got guts calling old."
"I’m wronged," he chuckled mischievously, then stopped, his eyes gleaming with a knowing look. "I wasn’t talking about your appearance; I ant your soul."
She shot him a glance but couldn’t say anything.
Casually, he asked, "Is Jinghuai not at ho?"
"Of course not." She rolled her eyes at him. "So yeah, I’m lovesick."
Zhao Chun let out a low "oh."
Another evening, Tian Sangsang passed by her in-laws’ room and heard them arguing inside.
Her mother-in-law’s characteristic cold tone: "Why don’t you co ho for dinner every day? Did you find another fox spirit?"
Her father-in-law’s helpless voice: "Can you stop making wild guesses? You keep a cold face all day, how am I supposed to have an appetite?"
"So now you think my cold face is unbearable? Fine, then don’t co back anymore. Go live with that fox spirit!"
"Binyi, can you stop stirring up trouble? That’s not what I ant," Jiang’s father sighed. "Why don’t you like Sangsang? She’s your son’s wife. Do you think your behavior looks good? What is it you truly want? Can this house have so peace?"
"What I want? Don’t you know? She looks so much like that fox spirit you found years ago! I’ve disliked her from the beginning; it’s not just now!" Ye Binyi sneered. "Want peace? That’s easy. Just have her leave this house, and peace will follow. Ever since she entered this house, there hasn’t been a single peaceful day."
"There are countless people in the world who look like that. If you want to bla soone, bla ; don’t take it out on others." Jiang’s father sounded both regretful and exhausted. "I owe you, not her. She doesn’t need to pay for my mistakes."
"I just find everyone with that kind of face unpleasant." Ye Binyi laughed coldly. "She’s not repaying your debts; she’s here to deliberately provoke ."
Listening to this, Tian Sangsang felt her face grow wet without realizing it. At last, she understood why her mother-in-law had always disliked her. It wasn’t because she wasn’t good enough, but due to her mother-in-law’s subjective prejudice.
How could it be this way? It was beyond absurd! Jiang Jinghuai had never ntioned this to her. If he had told her, she’d have never followed him to Beijing to be treated like this—not even if she were beaten to death!
Countless nights she had woken up alone in the dead of night, reflecting on her mother-in-law’s words. How many tis she’d wanted to just leave. She wasn’t soone who would cling shalessly. But she couldn’t bear to. Jiang Jinghuai had done nothing wrong to her. It wasn’t easy for her to open up and accept him, for their feelings to start blossoming. How could she give up?
It had been so hard to get to this point—the dramas in East Sea, the struggles in Beijing—and now to let go? She just couldn’t accept it.
From that day forward, she made sure to co ho for dinner every night. Of course, most of the ti, when Tian Sangsang went out to buy groceries for dinner, Aunt Zhang wouldn’t accept them, saying Ye Binyi had forbidden it and she didn’t dare.
Soon after, the als began to include celery—celery in every dish, celery in the soup—so much so that Tian Sangsang couldn’t eat. The first day, it might’ve been coincidence; the second day, she chalked it up to chance again. But after several consecutive days, it was clearly intentional. Every dinner for Tian Sangsang beca just a bowl of plain rice. Often left hungry, she’d wait until her in-laws finished eating, then go to the kitchen to cook sothing herself.
Once, ng Shuyan nearly discovered the fractured relationships within the family, so Tian Sangsang started returning ho earlier every day, buying groceries and cooking her own als to put on the table, eating with them.
She wasn’t soone who liked to shortchange herself. Even when feeling sad, she wouldn’t let herself go hungry; she took care of her stomach. The sadder she was, the more she ate.
**
The day Jiang Jinghuai returned ho, the house was unusually quiet. It was a Sunday, and he had intentionally co back early; it was still before nine in the morning. In the living room, only ng Shuyan and Ye Binyi were there. ng Shuyan had been in low spirits recently, and no matter how Ye Binyi tried, she couldn’t cheer him up. Only when his father ca ho did he seem a little happier.
Sensing sothing was off, Jiang Jinghuai sent ng Shuyan upstairs and then asked Ye Binyi, "Mom, where are Sangsang and Dad? Why aren’t they at ho?"
Ye Binyi’s face was full of bitterness: "Your wife is such a busy person; she’s never ho during the day, never cos back for lunch, always busy with her business. She barely even takes care of Yanyan. Yanyan’s been so heartbroken lately—I feel bad just looking at him. When you married her, I didn’t object or trouble her, but lately, I’ve been constantly giving in to her. Is she dissatisfied with the als at ho, or is the business just that busy? Can’t she just co ho for one al a day? Can’t she spend a little more ti at ho? Has she even considered , her mother-in-law, at all?"
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