“That’s enough!” Uncle Lizheng shouted angrily as he spoke to old lady Wang, who wanted to spill her guts. “Now that there are no outsiders, let’s get Shijing’s matter clear. Wang Dali, come here!”

Wang Dali, Wang Shijing’s father, who had been cowering in the corner, shrank, but because of the eyes of uncle Lizheng and the villagers, he stood up and walked over. Zhao Lizheng said with a grunt: “When you and your wife forced Shijing to marry this person, Shijing made it clear that he wanted to split up. If you wanted him to marry, he would be able to separate from the family. That’s what you promised. Now if you want Shijing to divorce his wife again, you are not only rude, but also shameless!”

This matter was known to uncle Lizheng, but he didn’t spread it out. Now that Wang Shijing said it himself, there was no need to save Wang family face. This remark was so heavy that there was a burst of laughter around him. Wang Wenhe, the patriarch of the Wang clan, felt his face was burning.

“Wenhe… “ Old lady Wang asked the patriarch for help, but Lizheng also looked at Wang Wenhe and said, “Master Wang, if they hadn’t given up the marriage for no reason, they wouldn’t have caused these things.” Old lady Wang interrupted Lizheng’s words and said hurriedly, “What do you mean for no reason? The eight characters…”

“Shut up!” Wang Wenhe was also very impatient. If the Wang family had not produced a Wang Zhisong who was great at studying and had a bearing on the glory of the entire Wang family, he would not have come forward for the Wang family. Wang Wenhe pointed to old lady Wang and said, “You are a blind! Shijing has separated. As long as he is happy, he can marry anyone he want. This matter was clearly stated before the separation, so why are you making a fuss? And you!” Wang Wenhe also pointed to Wang Dali. “How did you become the head of the family? Look at all these troubles in your family! Are you not afraid of affecting Zhisong?”

As soon as Wang Zhisong was mentioned, old lady Wang didn’t dare to complain anymore. While Wang Dali, as usual, only bowed his head and hummed, not daring to say a word. Wang Wenhe sighed and turned to Wang Shijing. “Shijing, have you thought it over and you want this marriage?”

“Yes.” Wang Shijing went to Shao Yunan and bent over to take the firewood axe from his hand. “From now on, he is my wife and the mother of my children.”

‘Mother, my ass!’ Not wanting to make any more trouble, Shao Yunan stayed quiet.

“Big brother married the son of the Shao family, who is not from the Shao family, right? So he shouldn’t be counted when it comes to dividing the family.” A sharp voice once again confused the crowd, which had already been subdued by Wang Wenhe. Wang Wenhe rebuked angrily, “What do you have to do with this? You son of a bitch, take care of your family!”

It was Wang Tianyan’s wife, Wang Guo who shouted it. Wang Tianyan curled his mouth and muttered, “My wife is right. The eldest brother split up and gave out so many things, but the one who married into the family, we don’t know whose family he belongs to.”

Wang Wenhe really wanted to hit someone, but the old lady listened. She immediately straightened her back, and said to the eldest son, “Shijing, mother wanted you to marry the son of the Shao family, not some kind of unknown goods from nowhere! This marriage was not unreasonable at the beginning. Either you leave him and go home, or you keep him and give back the land and house that have been allocated to you. We can’t afford such a wife in the Wang family!”

Wang Shijing’s jaw tightened for a moment, but his voice sounded like usual. “I don’t care where he is from. I only care that his name is Shao Yunan and he is my legitimate wife.” Old lady Wang jumped three feet high and said, “If you want to stay with him you no longer recognize me as a mother!”

Wang Tianyan acted like he suddenly had a shit stirring stick by his side. “The one who married the Shao family’s ‘real’ son was the one who was given so many fields, eldest brother.” Wang Guo echoed, “Didn’t the Shao family say they would pay 20 taels of silver as long as our family married them? None of this money was given and we still gave out so much land. I refuse to hand over his dowry.”

Nowadays, twenty taels of silver, excluding Wang Zhisong’s expenses, was enough for the rest of the Wang family to spend for half a year. Wang Shijing looked at his mother. “I won’t stop.” Old lady Wang’s finger was about to touch Wang Shijing’s nose. “Hand over everything you were given and from now on I don’t have a son like you!”

Shao Yunan snickered in his heart, so the root cause was here. Originally, it would be nice for a man with two children to marry. So why did the Wang family force Wang Shijing to marry him? The original didn’t get any money from him and he probably didn’t even want his dowry. Shao Yunan’s eyes were full of sympathy when he looked at Wang Shijing. Having these people as family members, this person was also unlucky enough.

The veins on Lizheng’s forehead pulsed, but old lady Wang was not ashamed. She not only did not receive any benefits from this marriage but also lost money. How could this happen? The first person to speak up was Wang Wenhe, who was quicker than her. Wang Wenhe said, “What is the story of your life, Shijing’s wife? It’s your Shao family’s business and we Wang clan don’t care about it. Now that you are married to Shijing, you are Shijing’s person. I ask you, do you want this marriage?”

Shao Yunan shrugged. “I married a chicken, so I need to follow the chicken.” Blah blah blah! Wang Wenhe nodded and looked at Wang Shijing. “Shijing, you’re not going to return this marriage, are you?”

“He is my wife.” Wang Shijing’s attitude was firm. Wang Wenhe nodded again and continued to say, “Although you have separated from the family, it is written in the deed that you have to pay 500 coins a month to support your parents and 200 coins for Zhisong study. You also have to help with farming when the farm is busy and pay a dowry when your sister gets married. Now, your mother wants you to divorce your wife and if you don’t want to, then you should return all the land you were assigned. In the same way, you will no longer bear these conditions and we can rewrite the deed of separation.”

Wang Wenhe has always been on the side of old lady Wang, but this time he was also angry at old lady Wang’s nonsense. His attitude seemed to be helping old lady Wang, but in fact it was also helping Wang Shijing get out of the family completely.

“That won’t do!” Old lady Wang was the first to say no. She would lose several taels of silver a year and would lose a fortune when her daughter got married. 

Zhao Lizheng couldn’t help himself. “Everyone is watching here! Do you want Chunxiu to be unable to get married in the future?”

Wang Wenhe also held back his temper and said, “If you don’t want to, then you can’t take back Shijing’s fields. If Shijing has no more fields, he should no longer be burdened with paying you. Zhisong is qualified enough to be a scholar, but If word of this gets out, it won’t do him any good. Even for the sake of Zhisong, you should have a good reputation!”

“That’s it.” Wang Dali, who has never been able to make a fart with three sticks, suddenly made a sound. Old lady Wang’s eyes become round. If she hadn’t been watched by so many people, she would definitely have scratched the old man’s face.

Wang Dali looked at Wang Shijing, but there was no guilt for his son in his cloudy eyes. “From now on, you will live your own life and whether it is good or bad, it will have nothing to do with the Wang family.”

“Dad!” Wang Tianyan was not happy. If his elder brother did not take care of the fields, then he would be overworked again. He was still counting on his big brother to come back to work! Old lady Wang was also reluctant. Without Wang Shijing, there would be one less able worker and she was previously hoping to have more leisure time in the future when the farm was busy. When Wang Shijing was away from home in the past few years, she worked very hard. Wang Shijing said lightly, “In the years I was away, our family’s life was also quite good, with me or without me. I am willing.”

Zhao Lizheng said at the same time as Wang Wenhe, “Then rewrite the deed.”

“Patriarch!” Old lady Wang and Wang Tianyan also spoke at the same time. Wang Wenhe glared at the two. “Who is in charge of your family?” Everyone in Xiushui village knows that old lady Wang was in charge of the family, but no matter how stupid old lady Wang was, she wouldn’t dare to say she was in charge in front of everyone. Ruthlessly shooting Wang Dali a glance, old lady Wang sat down on the ground and began to howl. “How can I be so miserable ah… my son just married a daughter-in-law, but no longer wants this old mother. How can I be so miserable ah…”

“If my mother doesn’t want to, then I’ll go to Zhisong.” As soon as Wang Shijing’s words fell, old lady Wang instantly stopped howling. Wang Shijing spoke again. “This matter started because of him, he is a scholar, let him judge.”

“Do you want to make a scene until everyone in the county school knows about it?!” Wang Wenhe pointed at old lady Wang and said angrily. When she thought of her third son, who could bring great prospects and glory to the Wang family in the future, old lady Wang also felt a little weak. Seeing this, Wang Wenhe immediately started to write the deed. The old woman stopped opposing, so Wang Tianyan also did not dare to make a fuss.

During the separation, the Wang family gave Wang Shijing one mu of paddy field, two mu of dry land, two mu of sandy fields, an old house, a load of grain, and a few other miscellaneous items. The fields were inferior, but with old lady Wang, even giving this was stabbing her deep in the heart, which was agreed on by Wang Wenhe and Li Zheng. At first, old lady Shao’s idea was that the Shao family would give 20 taels of silver and also promised to give Shao Yunan a generous dowry, which was enough to make up for her losses. But now it was a real loss. If old lady Wang was not able to get the land and house back, she would absolutely be unable to eat and sleep.

Wang Shijing was also a ruthless person and returned everything. He had just separated from the family a few days ago, so he didn’t eat much food yet and replaced the eaten food with dry wood. Wang Wenhe and Zhao Lizheng both said that he didn’t need to be so meticulous, but old lady Wang was silent. Wang Shijing said that he would give it all back, so old lady Wang accepted it all according to the order.

Now everything was returned and Wang Shijing was completely separated. Because he was not allocated his share of any family property, old lady Wang and Wang Dali also would not need him to pay a pension and he would not take care of his sibling’s things. To put it simply, Wang Shijing was no longer a part of the family. From now on, he would have nothing more to do with the Wang family and the Wang family’s honor and disgrace become irrelevant to him.

After taking the deed, Wang Shijing knelt down, kowtowed to his parents three times, then took Shao Yunan and left Lizheng’s house. He could no longer live in the dilapidated old house that he had just been assigned, so Zhao Lizheng lent a dilapidated house in the village to Wang Shijing. Wang Shijing needed to pay for the deed of the house within three years and he agreed to it.

Edited by: Jaisland

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