Chapter 42: A Double Whammy
Li Junlu finally noticed Sisi's feet. She was wearing black cloth shoes, and the white edging was thin and yellowed.
They were quite shabby.
“You don't have any shoes to wear. Why didn't you say anything?”
Sisi found it amusing, and she laughed, “Hee hee hee, blame me, blame me for not telling you I don't have any shoes to change into. Blame me for being so out of touch with reality that even the old women in the city don't wear thick cotton coats and trousers, but I still walk around in front of you all day long, and I don't know how to ask you to buy new ones.”
Li Junlu's face reddened. “You're so quick-witted! Now that your foot is healed, go help your aunt cook.”
“Humph!” Sisi put down the cleaver and went into the kitchen.
With Sisi as her helper, Song Hanmei started playing the role of the head of the household, assigning Sisi all the chores. When Li Junlu saw this, he pretended it was for the sake of training a good daughter-in-law for the family.
Li Junlu nodded slightly. “You're working hard, but this girl is not appreciative. Ugh, it's so hard to be a parent.”
Sisi slammed the cleaver down. “If you two want to play the role of good parents, go do it in front of Li Yuwei. Don't try to humiliate me.”
This was too disgusting.
Thinking back to the night before, she almost fell for it.
She shivered.
That guy was not only old and ugly, but he was also incredibly bad.
Song Hanmei was determined to ruin her.
If someone had backed her up, she would have made a big scene, labeled that man a scoundrel, had him paraded around with a sign, and shot him!
"Li Sisi!" Li Junlu roared. “Do you believe me when I say I can get the Qin family to break off your engagement?”
“Break off the engagement, then you'll have to return the betrothal gift, right?” Sisi's eyes, light and airy, drifted over to Song Hanmei. “How much of it did you spend?”
Li Junlu was furious and started spinning in circles.
Seeing this, Sisi ran off. If she was one second slower, she might have been beaten.
Li Junlu really did want to beat her. He grabbed the fire tongs from the stove, but when he turned around, she was gone.
Song Hanmei took the opportunity to play the victim. “Now you know how much she makes me suffer. With her personality, when she gets to the Qin family, things will be chaotic. Don't even think about moving up in society. You might even get kicked out. I just say a few words, and she's not happy.”
Li Junlu's temples throbbed. He was determined to teach Sisi a lesson and rushed out the door.
At that moment, Li Yuwei came in. “Mom, what's wrong with Dad?”
“He's been pissed off by your good sister.” Song Hanmei hoped that Li Junlu would give Sisi a good beating.
She wanted Sisi to understand that as an outsider in this family, she had no right to resist.
“What good sister? I was blind to see her true colors. Mom, what can we do to get her?”
“You figure it out.” Song Hanmei was worried about gossip after what had happened the other day. She didn't want to mess with Sisi for now.
Li Yuwei pondered for a moment. “How about we wait until Qin Yanci comes to our house for New Year's, and let them do something? We can bring people in to catch them in the act. Even if they're legally married, Sisi will be called a vixen. From now on, whenever people mention her, they'll remember that she didn't have a wedding and was sleeping with a man.”
“And when the word gets back to the Qin family, what do you think they'll think of her? I don't need to say more.”
She knew mother Qin best.
Besides her two sons, she didn't tolerate any faults in others.
Sisi moved into the Qin family right after she got her marriage certificate. Mother Qin didn't say anything.
But Sisi didn't have a wedding.
In mother Qin's eyes, she represented the epitome of a chaste and virtuous woman.
Now, before the wedding, this whole thing happened.
Mother Qin would think that Sisi was pretending to be chaste and virtuous while secretly being a dissolute woman. Would she ever give Sisi a good face after that?
If their relationship was strained, Qin Yanci would be caught in the middle, and he would eventually go crazy.
Her idea was a double whammy!
(End of Chapter)
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Translator's Note:
Double Whammy 一 « 箭双雕 » in the sense of achieving two bad things with one action. It's more colloquial and casual, like “two birds with one stone.”
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