She won't clear her name; she'll throw away all the scum.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Chen Xiangnan accompanied Tang Jiao back to her parents' home with a normal expression, still ignoring everything in the house.

As they were leaving, they happened to run into Chen Xiangbei being discharged from the hospital, and the group met in the courtyard.

Chen Xiangbei remained oblivious and had no idea what had happened at home. Seeing that his second brother was still in the mood to accompany his sister-in-law back to her parents' home, he immediately started yelling, saying that he didn't care about his life or death at all.

Chen Xiangnan ignored him, but seeing that Chen Xianghong looked exhausted, he still said a few words of concern and told her to go home and get some sleep.

Chen Xianghong nodded. "Second brother, you can go with your wife without worry. I'll take care of things at home. By the way, is Mom still angry?"

Chen Xiangnan gestured with his chin toward Old Lady Yin's house, "Mom is staying at Aunt Yin's house and refuses to come back."

Chen Xianghong looked over there, looking very sad. "What's wrong with Mom? Xiangbei said a few unpleasant things, but he said them to me. I wasn't even angry. Why is she so angry? Is Dad alright?"

Yu Qingqing stared wide-eyed: ...Is her sister-in-law some kind of superhuman?

Thinking about how she had just spoken up for her, but Chen Xianghong had stood up to stop her, Yu Qingqing scratched her head. She felt that compared to herself, her future sister-in-law Chen Xianghong seemed more like the one who was sick.

Chen Xiangbei didn't care about anything else; he just wanted to get an explanation from his mother. Ignoring his recent discharge from the hospital, he rushed to Grandma Yin's house and frantically knocked on the door.

Yin Sheng was still asleep when he heard the noise and immediately got up. At the same time, Hu Yingying was frightened and started crying, as did Chen Lingling, who had slept with her the night before.

Yin Sheng was annoyed. Who was disturbing someone's sleep so early in the morning?

He opened the door with a grumpy face, only to find that it was Chen Xiangbei, the root of yesterday's troubles.

How dare he come here directly?

Yin Sheng sometimes really doesn't know if his child is stupid or bad. Knowing that he almost drove his own mother crazy, he is still so self-righteous and doesn't have a trace of remorse or regret.

He silently mourned for Aunt Xia in his heart. What he said yesterday was indeed true. Aunt Xia had wasted half her life, just for a few people, and made herself into this state.

"Xiang Bei, what are you thinking of doing so early in the morning?" Yin Sheng yawned.

Chen Xiangbei didn't care about saving face. He squatted down and crawled under Yin Sheng's raised arm, shouting, "Mom!"

Grandma Xia was coaxing Chen Lingling when she heard Chen Xiangbei's voice getting closer and closer, so she handed the child to Grandma Yin and said, "I'm going out for a bit. Things still need to be resolved."

Grandma Yin asked with some concern, "How do you plan to resolve this? Are you going to go back to Xiang Bei and tell him you want a divorce?"

Grandma Xia didn't answer and walked straight out of the room.

When Chen Xiangbei saw his mother come out, she looked much better than him, the injured man, and didn't seem worried about him at all. He was extremely dissatisfied.

"Mom, you beat me so badly I ended up in the hospital, and you can still sleep soundly?"

"You won't even go to the hospital or come to see me. Do you still consider me your son?"

"You hit Dad's head so hard it's bleeding! How could you be so cruel? How could I have a mother like you?"

"I only said a few words, and I wasn't talking about you. My sister herself has no objections, so why are you the one going crazy?"

"Do you only feel at ease if someone in our family dies?"

He raged and said a bunch of things, then realized his mother didn't react at all.

He stepped forward and grabbed Old Mrs. Xia, "Mom, come home with me. You have to apologize to me and Dad!"

Grandma Xia shook him off and touched his forehead. "You don't have a fever. Why are you talking nonsense to me every day? Were you an idiot when I gave birth to you?"

Chen Xiangbei blinked. "What?"

Grandma Xia raised her hand and gave him another hard slap, the one he loved most. "What? If you still can't hear me, I can give you another one."

Chen Xiangbei covered his face, unable to believe that even after all he had done, his mother still wanted to hit him. She was utterly unrepentant. "Mom, are you crazy?"

Chen Xianghong rushed in, "Mom, Xiangbei was just discharged from the hospital, why did you hit him?"

Grandma Xia beckoned with her finger, "Xiang Hong, come here, come to Mom's side."

Chen Xianghong walked over with a puzzled look and stood in front of Grandma Xia. "Mom?"

Grandma Xia raised her hand and slapped her hard across the face as well. "Are you trying to teach me how to do things?"

She didn't want to explain anymore; it was useless anyway, no one would listen. She had figured it out last night: she didn't want any of these children. If anyone criticized her, she would just hit them; she'd satisfy herself first.

She didn't care what they thought. She didn't care whether they would support her in the future. She didn't care whether they acknowledged her as their mother.

She is Xia Yue'e, the only girl in their village to graduate from high school and escape that environment. She was able to break free from her rural home and leave safely from her parents and brothers who wanted to bleed her dry. So, she can also break free from this home now and leave these children she has worried about for half her life.

She would never be worse off on her own. She doesn't need anyone to teach her how to be a good wife or a good mother.

From now on, she can live however she wants, and no one can restrict her anymore.

Chen Xianghong covered her face, wondering if she was having a nightmare in which her beloved mother slapped her hard.

"mom?"

Grandma Xia didn't respond to her. She slowly walked out and arrived at the front door. Looking inside from the outside, the situation was still the same as last night. The mess she left behind remained exactly as it was.

Old Chen cleared the things off the ground with his foot, then sat by the window and looked at her from inside the house.

Neither of them made a move, as if they were competing with each other.

Old Chen didn't sleep well last night. He woke up in the early hours of the morning and only slept for three hours in total. He was very tired and his head was spinning.

Lying in bed, he felt both saddened by Grandma Xia's crying and impulsive. Even if he was angry, he shouldn't have smashed up the house during the New Year. The thought of the mess made him angry with her.

Two conflicting emotions kept him tossing and turning, until he simply stopped sleeping and sat up, smoking and waiting for dawn.

After the second son and his wife left, he came out of his room, walked around the room a few times, and had no appetite for breakfast. After hearing Grandma Xia's footsteps, he sat down by the window.

He thought to himself, as long as Grandma Xia admits her mistake... no... even if she doesn't admit her mistake, it doesn't matter. As long as she puts yesterday's incident behind her back and acts like nothing happened after she comes home, he will definitely forgive her.

As long as... as long as she does that.

Old Chen watched her from inside the house and took another puff of his cigarette.