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

"Dad, did you hear what I told you? I didn't object at all when you wanted to marry this woman. Even though I'm married now, you still have to help me resolve these issues," Xin Xin said indignantly.

Mr. Xin sat on the sofa, smoking a cigarette. "What 'that woman'? This is your Aunt Huang."

Xin Xin called out unhappily, and the woman smiled at her.

If Old Lady Xia were here, she would definitely recognize this as the infamous Widow Huang, who once demanded the wages of almost half the men in their alley, and who disappeared with her two children after being forced to repay the debt.

Unexpectedly, she appeared in the neighboring city.

Widow Huang Li chuckled, "Old Xin, the child has finally come back for a visit. What does it matter whether we address her or not? Look at the injuries on her face, poor thing. When she was a daughter at home, she never had so many accidents."

After listening, Mr. Xin frowned. "I already spoke with Old Song from the textile factory last night. His mentor, the former factory director, was a good friend of your grandfather, and I have some connections with him. But first, tell me, what exactly happened between you and that kid Qin Jiang?"

Xin Xin remained silent, only saying that Qin Jiang treated her very well.

Mr. Xin was furious. "Look at my granddaughter Xiaozao's body. She still has bruises from being hit with a stick. You're telling me that she got those from a fall?"

Huang Li patted his chest, "Old Xin, don't be angry, don't scare the child. Xin Xin, what are you hiding from your father?"

Xin Xin said angrily, "My affairs are none of your business."

Mr. Xin stood up, no longer wanting to listen. "If you don't tell the truth, I won't help you anymore. Since you don't want those so-called directors to get involved, I'll talk to them."

Xin Xin tried to call out to her father, but was startled by Huang Li's sudden change in expression. "You... what do you want to do?"

Huang Li turned her head and saw that Xin's father had left, so she stopped acting. "What do I want to do? I don't want to do anything. I just want to see just how stupid you really are."

Xin Xin was stunned. Although she and Huang Li had lived together for a while, Xin Xin got married within two years after Huang Li married Xin's father. During those two years, Huang Li was not exactly close to her, but she would never call her stupid like this.

She shouted, "What right do you, an old woman with a family to support and living off my father, have to laugh at me?"

Huang Li: "You laugh at yourself for being ungrateful, for being so useless and being bullied by your in-laws. You went to the factory to complain yourself, and several women's directors from the factory came to help you and seek justice for you, but you still resented them. You really deserve to be bullied to death."

Xin Xin never expected that this old man would guess the truth that she hadn't even told anyone. With such a confident tone, he must have been spying on her family from behind. She was furious and embarrassed, and said, "You really are a scheming person. I've been married for so many years, and you're still keeping an eye on me behind my back. Are you afraid that I'll come and take my father's inheritance?"

Huang Li sneered, looking at Xin Xin's miserable state. "With your brain, do you think I'm afraid? Don't even mention me, even your father or a stranger outside, if they had a brain, would know what happened if you and your daughter came back with injuries. You say your skin is delicate? How can you even say that?"

Xin Xin retorted, "You have time to laugh at me, but why don't you look at yourself? You don't know, do you? Among those women's directors in those factories is your mortal enemy. If I'm not mistaken, the Xia Yue'e I just mentioned is the reason why you couldn't even stay at your own home and had to come to my dad for help, right?"

Huang Li remained calm. If she could be angered by a girl like that, she wouldn't be able to coax so many men. "You mean Xia Yue'e, the women's director of the textile factory? She really made me suffer. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have been able to marry your father. I would be so free and comfortable on my own."

Xin Xin said smugly, "Since you're my mortal enemy, why don't you hurry up and help me persuade my dad to shut down all these damn directors?"

Huang Li frowned, looking at her like she was an idiot. "Xin Xin, how did your father raise you? How could someone as shrewd as him give birth to such a thing? My matter with Xia Yue'e is one thing at a time. I'm not someone who can't accept defeat."

Since she caught me red-handed and gave me a good beating, it just means I wasn't tough enough. I didn't expect her to treat me like this. I'm pretty easygoing. If you think you can provoke me like this, you're underestimating me.

Xin Xin: "But you've remembered this for so long, you must be feeling quite unsettled, right?"

Huang Li sat down calmly. "You don't think you're jealous because she's a leader now and I'm still like this, do you?"

Seeing Xin Xin's expression, Huang Li said, "I admire her for being able to sit in this position and help so many women, no matter what happened in the past."

Everyone has their own way of surviving. It's normal for you to look down on someone like me who depends on a man, but if you can't even understand why someone like her would want to get revenge, then you're just being stupid.

Xin Xin retorted, "You're the stupid one! What gives you the right to say that to me?"

Huang Li's eyes were unfathomable: "You're a woman too, you should know our difficulties. We're already in a vulnerable position in this society. In the past, when we were beaten or bullied, we could only silently endure it. It's okay if you have your family backing you up, but no family will be so good as to allow you to live at home after a divorce, and it's even worse if you don't have a family backing you up."

But what Xia Yue'e and the others are doing now is ensuring that when we women are bullied, someone can help us. The more people help, the less we'll be bullied. If more women think like this, we'll suffer less in the future.”

Xin Xin listened blankly to this woman she had always looked down upon; she rarely spoke so much to her. Huang Li had integrated into their family quickly after marrying in, and even her grandparents liked her.

She rarely interfered in her own affairs or those of her brothers, focusing instead on pleasing her father. She adopted a conciliatory and indifferent attitude towards her stepchildren, which greatly reduced the chances of her making mistakes.

Despite being looked down upon by her stepchildren, she maintained her own pace and style of doing things. She spoke up when she was in a position to speak, and she didn't step forward when it wasn't her place to.

But this time, she actually said such a long string of words to herself, and what she said was all about defending those despicable women's directors.

"What are you up to? You're not the kind of person who would kindly advise me." Xin Xin was extremely wary of her. People often say that stepmothers are no good, so this person must be up to no good.

Huang Li closed her eyes. Her stepdaughter was so stupid that she didn't want to waste her breath arguing with her.