Chapter 42: The First Wife Spends Money Like Water (9)

Jiang Youyou shrank in fear behind Mufeng, her already frail body trembling uncontrollably. Her complexion was as pale as paper, sickly to begin with, and at a glance, it looked as if she might breathe her last at any moment.

The onlookers took another step back. This young woman didn’t look like someone capable of bullying others—if anything, she seemed more like someone on the verge of collapse.

Then they turned to the woman whose voice thundered over the crowd, whom not even her attendants could restrain. Silently, the crowd’s sympathies shifted.

It appeared to be yet another classic case of a wicked mother-in-law tormenting her daughter-in-law.

“How would I ever dare raise a hand against you, Mother-in-law?” Jiang Youyou cried out, her voice choked with grievance. “You keep forcing me to give money to the Xue family, but all this silver was left to me by my parents. Now that the shop’s takings are poor, how could I have any money left to support the Xue family?” As she spoke, she burst into tears, coughing weakly from time to time.

“Lies!” Madame Xue flung her son’s hand aside, unable to restrain herself. At a moment like this, nothing could stop her—not even her own mother-in-law, let alone a daughter-in-law. How could a mother-in-law possibly accept being slighted by her son’s wife?

“You married into our family, so your money is our money. Since when does the Xue family need supporting? You show neither respect to your elders nor concern for your husband. My son hasn’t come home in days and you show no worry at all. Worse still, you treat his mother this way, throwing me out of the house—utterly unfilial!”

Madame Xue’s mouth was like a cannon, words firing out faster than her son could hope to stop. She was, after all, the daughter of a former escort agency chief; her strength had been honed from childhood—how could a frail scholar like her son hope to restrain her?

At this point, she poured out everything, propriety be damned.

Xue Ci’s face grew uglier with every word. He longed to knock his mother out right there in the street, but he couldn’t even pull her back, let alone do that.

“Fine, fine!” Jiang Youyou, tears shimmering in her eyes, clung to her maidservant with one hand and pointed at Madame Xue with her handkerchief in the other, her voice trembling. “Have you forgotten, Mother-in-law, that my husband married into the Jiang family?”

“Since the arrangement was for him to join our family, how can the Jiang family’s assets belong to the Xues? Do not think you can bully me just because I am an orphan!” She was so exhausted from this performance—she wanted nothing more than to strike someone.

“And as for you, Husband—when I entrusted you with the accounts, you sent all the money back to your own family. I thought that as husband and wife, we would share our lives together, so I turned a blind eye. But you only grew worse, demanding I scrimp and save so you could send more home.”

“I remembered our bond as husband and wife, but you—what about you? You betrayed me, you betrayed me!” With a choked cry, Jiang Youyou coughed up a mouthful of blood on the spot. Mufeng, panicked, rushed forward to support her, disregarding all sense of propriety. “My poor lady! How can your fate be so bitter?”

Mufeng’s wailing, tears streaming down her face, only deepened everyone’s sympathy for the sickly Jiang Youyou.

“Ah You, can we please discuss this at home?” Xue Ci stepped forward, his tone soft and gentle, hoping to salvage the situation—at least to stop Jiang Youyou from speaking any further, for he had an ominous feeling.

And his instincts had never failed him.

“You betrayed me, kept a mistress outside!” Jiang Youyou’s face was devoid of color, her trembling finger pointing at Xue Ci, her voice shaking with sorrow. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her frail body would have collapsed to the ground if not for Mufeng’s support.

With a thunderous crash inside, Xue Ci felt as though something inside him had shattered.

[Ding ding ding! Ten points of hatred value received!]

He looked up at Jiang Youyou’s deathly pale face, a flash of malice flickering in his eyes before being masked by tenderness and regret. “Ah You, I know you’re angry with me, but you mustn’t speak such careless words. For you, I was willing to marry into the Jiang family. How could you so wrongly accuse my feelings for you?”