Yang Ruqing did not speak with Xiaoyu in the room, but instead went with Xiaoyu to Xiaoyu's old bridal chamber and closed the door to talk privately.

When it came time for Guihua's mother to leave the house, she was still uneasy and lingered behind, pleading with Yang Ruqing: "Ruqing, please help your aunt persuade Xiaoyu. Let her think of better things and not dwell on this issue. Your words carry more weight than mine."

>

Yang Ruqing nodded, then closed the door and returned to the dressing table.

Xiaoyu sat in front of her dressing table, lifting those slender fingers, so thin that only the joints could be seen, and gently tracing them across the surface of the vanity.

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"If there were a kind of medicine that could allow you to go back to before your wedding day, carrying all your current memories with you, back to when you were still at home as a bride-to-be, how wonderful that would be!" Xiaoyu murmured.

"Qinger, if I could get that kind of medicine, I would do anything to obtain it. I would drink it without hesitation, and I wouldn't go to Xiushui Town, wouldn't see Ning Su again, and wouldn't fall in love with him or marry him."

"If it weren't for those things, I wouldn't have fallen into this wretched state. My son, he was dragged down by me, my child... Mother is truly sorry..."

Xiaoyu was slumped over the dressing table, sobbing softly. Her slender shoulders trembled with each choked sob, her heart heavy with despair.

Yang Ruqing came to Xiaoyu's back and gently patted Xiaoyu's back. Xiaoyu turned around and hugged Yang Ruqing's waist, crying.

Yang Ruqing silently accompanied Xiao Yu, waiting until Xiao Yu cried enough before handing her a handkerchief.

“Those who should have cried have cried, and those who should have vented their grievances have done so. Now, let's stop crying, or our eyes will be blind.” she said.

Xiaoyu choked back sobs and nodded lightly, “I’m really useless. When trouble comes, I only know how to cry. There’s no way out.”

Yang Ruqing said: "Now is not the time to blame oneself, you should cheer up and tell me what happened."

>

“Why were you protecting yourself well the last time I saw you, and now you’ve become so thin?”

Xiaoyu lowered her eyes, her eyelashes trembling slightly as they were wet. She clenched the handkerchief in her hands and mumbled, “I’ve lost so much weight, it’s not because of my diet. You gave me that silver needle when you left. My food has always been safe.”

“I got this skinny because of what I’ve been doing for the past ten days.”

"That damned milk-woman, she's got no brains! I wonder if she was tricked or bribed. She's sick and yet deliberately hides it."

"After taking the medicine, I still had to breastfeed my son, which ended up putting him in danger."

“In the first few days when my son fell ill, the Ning family wouldn't let me see him, wouldn't let me be with him. I was desperate, I worried myself to the bone, that's how I ended up so thin.”

“I’m going to write a letter to Ning Su, asking him to come back as soon as possible. Our son is like this, with one ear deaf and he doesn't even come back?”

"My mother-in-law absolutely forbids me from writing a letter. She says there is war in the south and that I shouldn't distract him by writing."

"My mother-in-law said that Ning Su is not a doctor, so even if he comes back, he can't cure the child's ears. The family sent the child to Chang Huizhou to ask a famous doctor to treat the child's ears,"

“I want to go to Chang Huizhou with my son to treat his ear, but my mother-in-law won't let me,”

“That milkmaid, after being beaten ten or so times by my mother-in-law, was sold to a person for money. My mother-in-law said that since things have already happened, the punishment has been given, and the treatment is underway. She told me not to cause any more trouble!”

“Qing’er, could it be that I'm making a fuss by accompanying my son to Chang Huizhou to see a doctor for his ears? Is this just looking for trouble?”

Xiaoyu looked up, her eyes filled with tears, and asked Yang Ruoqing in a mournful voice.

Yang Ruqing shook her head. "Of course not, you are the child's mother, it's natural to be by your child's side."

The reasoning is as follows, but in the Ning family, Xiao Yu, as the legitimate mother of the child, has no power to argue with her in-laws.

Why?

This is not just because of Xiaoyu's background, but also because of the strict patriarchal system in this feudal society.

"Has the child been sent to Chang huizhou now?" Yang Ruoqing asked again.

Xiaoyu nodded, "It's been five or six days since I sent him, and no one has given me any news about my brother. I don't know how the child is doing."

Then Yang Ruqing asked: "Who are the people who went with their children?"

Xiaoyu said: "My stepfather, and Ning Su's aunt, they two went with the child to Chang Huaizhou, staying at Ning Su's second sister's house."

“That day I went to my mother-in-law, begging her to let me go to Chang Huizhou too. My mother-in-law wouldn't let me go,”

Last time when Ning Su's second sister miscarried, it was because of me. My mother-in-law said that I went there to be a nuisance and scolded me, saying that I didn't know how to behave myself.

“She said that she hadn't thought things through carefully when she allowed me to marry into the family. She said that my upbringing, my family background, and my character weren't good enough for Ning Su…”

>

Hearing this from Xiao Yu, Yang Ruqing's brows furrowed even tighter.

Little Yu's voice continued, "My mother-in-law even scolded my parents and my older brother and sister-in-law. I know my brother and sister-in-law were in the wrong, so I didn't argue. While my mother-in-law was scolding them, I was standing there apologizing."

“But she actually dragged my parents into it too, criticizing them! That's something I absolutely won't agree to,”

"My parents gave birth to me and raised me. Although my family is poor, I am still the apple of their eyes."

My mother-in-law is an elder, and even though she scolds me harshly, I wouldn't say a word. But my parents and her are considered peers, as they are both in-laws and relatives. My parents are simply my father-in-law and mother-in-law.

"My mother-in-law can't treat my parents like that, she absolutely can't!" Xiaoyu shook her head, her face full of anger.

"What? Did you offend your mother-in-law?" Yang Ruqing asked.

Little Rain nodded.

“My stubborn temper has been subdued for these past few years, and I've been carefully learning to be a good wife. But my mother-in-law said that what my parents had said was simply unbearable, and my stubbornness flared up. I directly retorted her, leaving her speechless. She was so angry that her hands shook, and she almost fainted.” she said.

Yang Ruqing smiled and gave Xiao Yu a thumbs up: "Good job, this is the Xiao Yu I know."

"But you received a greater punishment afterward, didn't you?" Yang Ruohuang asked again.

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Xiaoyu wryly smiled: “I knelt in the Ning family’s Buddhist hall for three days and three nights, with only two bowls of water a day.”

Yang Ruqing gasped, taking another look at the small figure of Xiaoyu, who resembled a paper doll, "And what about you? How did you get out?"

Upon being asked this, a strange smile appeared on Xiaoyu's face.

“I should thank Ningxu’s cousin, Miss Cao San. She was the one who persuaded my mother-in-law at her place, and only then did my mother-in-law let me out.” Xiaoyu said.

"Miss Cao San? Ning Su's cousin? Is she the one betrothed to Ning Su from your aunt's family?" Yang Ruqing asked again.

Xiaoyu nodded.

“Isn't that exactly her? Before I met Ning Su, both the Ning and Cao families had elders who intended to push for a marriage between them. They had reached a tacit understanding in their hearts. That Miss Cao San also liked Ning Su, but this matter hadn't been officially made public yet.”

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