After being replaced, she changed from a miserable daughter-in-law to a lucky wife

When Aunt Xiao heard her say this, she looked out the gate and recalled the long forgotten past: "My name is Chu Xiuxiu, and I was born in this village. I heard from my parents that my family is an outsider, and we came here to escape famine."

Xia Wanniang had guessed the situation before: "Mom, where are your family members?"

Aunt Xiao sighed, "He died. I was thirteen that year. My grandfather said he often dreamed of his parents and wanted to go back to their graves to burn incense for them. He rented a horse carriage to take us back, but one day it rained heavily and thunder struck a big tree on the side of the road. The horse was startled and rushed down the mountain with us."

Xia Wanniang's heart tightened and she clenched her hand.

Aunt Xiao turned her head and glanced at her, with a look of relief on her face: "When I woke up, I was rescued by a family. My family members were all dead. They saw that I was alone and poor, so they took me in. The family's surname was Xiao. They taught me to read and many other things, but they didn't treat me as a servant."

Xia Wanniang knew it as soon as she heard it, and she was afraid that it was her father-in-law's family who saved her: "Is it my father-in-law's family?"

Aunt Xiao smiled and nodded: "When I first went there, I was often frightened awake. I was thin and timid. He would tease me during the day and sneak under my window at night to tell me stories."

When she said this, her face was full of joy: "You know what? He talked most about marches and battles. At first I thought it was interesting, but after listening to it too much, I found him too annoying. Can't he talk about something else?"

Xia Wanniang found it funny: "Did you tell me later?"

Aunt Xiao nodded. "Yes, I opened the window and yelled at him, asking if he only knew how to tell stories about marches and battles. I was tired of hearing them. He was stunned for a moment, then stood up and left with a sad expression. I regretted it when I saw him leave. I wanted to call him back, but he disappeared."

Xia Wanniang: "What happens next?"

Aunt Xiao: "He didn't show up for the next few days. Without his stories at night, I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned in bed all night. In the next few days, his parents thought I was worried again, so they asked a doctor to come and see me and give me a calming soup."

Xia Wanniang: "Did the father-in-law never go there again?"

Aunt Xiao smiled and shook her head: "He came again that night. This time he spoke from a storybook, stumbling over and over, but it was not as interesting as when he spoke about marching and fighting. I opened the window and saw him sitting cross-legged under the window with a smile on his face. I asked him if he was mad at me."

"He scratched his head and said he was not angry with me, he just went to find the storybook and spent several days writing down the contents of the storybook. He also said that the stories in the storybook were much harder to remember than the stories about marching and fighting."

Xia Wanniang smiled and said, "How old was your father-in-law at that time?"

Aunt Xiao thought of the boy who was sitting under the window and looking at him with a smile: "He was sixteen years old. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen. I told him that day that he should stop reading stories, which were not good at all. He should just tell stories about marching and fighting instead!"

When she talked about this, her face lit up: "He was so happy at that time, and he told me the story of marching and fighting in vivid detail. This time I didn't just listen, I also discussed it with him. It was also at that time that we seemed to be one step closer to each other."

"I settled down in the Xiao family. His parents knew our secret but never told me anything. They even taught me a lot of things. When I was sixteen, they asked me if I was willing to marry him. I nodded and agreed without hesitation."

Aunt Xiao paused at this point: "Our story seems to have come about naturally, and it seems to have been destined."

Xia Wanniang: "Mother, those bracelets were given to you by your father-in-law, right?"

Aunt Xiao smiled and nodded: "One year, he and I went to the street. When we passed by a silver shop, we went in to take a look. I thought the bracelets were beautiful at the time, but our family didn't have much money at that time."

"But when I got married, he gave me the bracelets. Later I learned that he worked as a laborer at the docks and saved money for a long time to buy the bracelets for me."