Reborn before the famine, kicking away the scumbag's family and living a carefree life.

29. Annulment of engagement (2)

Zeng's mother stared at Su Jinyu as if she didn't recognize her.

The reason their family chose this girl was twofold: firstly, their son liked her and insisted on marrying her; secondly, the daughters of the Su family were not only beautiful and capable, but also knew how to manage a household and had gentle personalities, making them ideal daughters-in-law.

But now it seems that the daughter of the Su family is not as good as everyone says.

They asked for a dowry of three hundred yuan right off the bat, and that was during such a famine.

Doesn't she know that all this money belongs to her husband's family? She's going to live with them for the rest of her life! Her husband's family losing so much money is equivalent to her losing just as much money. Isn't she stupid?!

Mother Zeng said, "Ayu, have you thought this through? If you want such a large dowry now, it's not that we won't give it, but we can't afford it right now. To save up such a large dowry, we'll have to wait three years. Who knows what might happen in three years? By then, you'll be a grown woman."

Su Jinru said, "My sister's idea is that we must get married now, we can't delay any longer, and she also wants a dowry of three hundred yuan. If we don't have it, we can borrow it and pay it back slowly later!"

"Is that what you mean, Third Sister?"

Su Jinru knew that in her previous life, it was also at this time that the Zeng family came to discuss marriage. There was no dowry or banquet, and Su Jinyu went to the Zeng family.

Not long after their marriage, a famine struck. The Zeng family forced Su Jinyu to find food every day, and if she couldn't find any, they would beat and scold her.

The Su family felt sorry for their daughter and secretly used all their money to buy food for her. However, the Su family's youngest son starved to death, and later the Su family's parents also starved to death.

With her parents and younger brother all dead, and without the support of her family, the Zeng family treated this daughter-in-law with even less respect and subjected her to all sorts of abuse.

Su Jinyu couldn't bear to worry her two older sisters, and she was also afraid that they would be implicated, so she silently endured it all by herself.

Moreover, the Zeng family has a tradition of beating women behind closed doors. It's the kind of beating that's both vicious and concerned with saving face, not wanting to leave a bad reputation for others.

So a few years after Su Jinyu got married, she was tortured to death by the Zeng family.

Su Jinru only heard about the abuse her sister had suffered at the hands of the Zeng family from their neighbors several years after her sister's death.

Therefore, in this life, Su Jinru will never let her younger sister jump into the Zeng family's fire pit again.

After her divorce, Su Jinru would often take the opportunity to brainwash her younger sister, telling her stories of many tragic women who were bullied by wicked mothers-in-law and scumbag husbands.

Su Jinyu was naive but not stupid. She was successfully brainwashed by the stories her older sister told her and gradually realized that the Zeng family was not a good in-law family and that Zeng Jianming was a selfish, scumbag who only knew how to talk and not how to do anything.

The Su sisters had already discussed breaking off the engagement with the Zeng family, but the Zeng family had to bring it up themselves. So, whether it was the 300 yuan dowry or some other reason, it was all to force the Zeng family to bring up the matter of breaking off the engagement.

When Zeng's mother saw the two sisters singing in unison, she was so angry that the veins on her neck bulged.

"What do you mean? Are you trying to drive someone to their death? We want the 300 yuan dowry right now."

Su Jinru: "Three hundred yuan is not much. Most people in the village receive between one hundred and three hundred yuan as a bride price. My third sister is such a good person, so three hundred is not much."

"Forget it, we can't afford three hundred. You can just stay at home and be cared for!"

Su Jinru: "Yes! If you can't afford it, then forget it. Even if you keep it at home, our family can afford to support you."

Mother Zeng didn't intend to break off the engagement; she was just saying it in anger. She thought the Su family would be anxious after hearing her words, since breaking off an engagement would be bad for a girl's reputation and would affect her chances of finding another husband.

However, Su Jinru's words blocked her way out.

In her panic, she blurted out something inappropriate.

"Aru, you got divorced yourself and were ridiculed by the villagers. Do you also want your sister to break off her engagement and be ridiculed by the villagers?"

Su Jinru: "I'm divorced, what's there to laugh at? The country allows divorce, the country supports it, why should I laugh at it? Besides, I haven't found anyone in the village laughing at me."

Just because someone doesn't laugh at you to your face doesn't mean they won't laugh at you behind your back.

"Who? Who is mocking me? Tell me, I'll go ask him. My divorce is a perfectly legitimate thing, what's there to mock?"

"If you go and start a fight, can I tell you that? Then it would be my fault."

Su Jinru: "No one is laughing at me at all, so the only one who's laughing at me is yourself!"

Zeng's mother was speechless and furious after being confronted by Su Jinru.

"What's wrong with laughing at you? Is divorce something to be proud of? Look at the entire Daben Village, with over 1,800 people, who else is divorced besides you?"

Su Jinru: "Divorce is not a glorious thing, but it is not a shameful thing either. It's as normal as getting dressed and eating."

"Marriage is for living a comfortable life, and so is divorce. Those who don't divorce aren't necessarily living a comfortable life. For example, you yourself are beaten like a dog by your husband every day. How can you live a comfortable life?"

Zeng's mother looked at Su Jinru in surprise.

Her husband beat her behind her back, never in public or in crowded places. How did she know?

Su Ke and Liu Yulan also looked at Su Jinru. Based on their many years of experience, they believed that if a man beats his wife, his son would most likely beat his wife as well.

Because I've been exposed to it since childhood, I think it's a very ordinary thing, and the habit is ingrained in my bones.

If they had known that the men of the Zeng family beat their wives, they would never have married their beloved youngest daughter into their family.

The Zeng couple looked ordinary, and their family conditions were average. They only agreed to let their daughter marry into their family because Zeng Jianming promised to treat their daughter well.

Furthermore, Su Jinyu was also coaxed by Zeng Jianming into marrying him, which is why they did not choose other better families and instead agreed to marry into the Zeng family.

Zeng's mother blushed and argued after Su Jinru exposed their family's shameful secrets.

"That's not true. Who told you that?"

Su Jinru: "Do you think that if you fight behind closed doors, no one can hear you? Besides, you always have bruises all over your body. Once or twice you say you bumped into something, but it happens countless times. You're so unlucky! You're always bumping into something here or there."

"Living together every day, which couple doesn't argue or fight? Their teeth might even touch their lips. Does that mean we have to pull out their teeth?"

“Your family has a habit of hitting women, which you think is the most normal thing, but it is not allowed in our family. Why should the child we raised have to suffer like that in your family? There are many men in the world, and not every man hits his wife. My father does not hit people, so my sister has to marry a man like my father who truly knows how to cherish his wife.”