Chapter 533: Chapter 533

Zhou Yiyi, the protagonist of this story, and Zhou Songlin were from the same village. Her father was a soldier who died in the line of duty during a mission. Her mother wasn’t well and passed away after only a few years, and Yiyi’s paternal grandparents had already died of illness. Although she was from Zhoujia Village, she was an outsider with no clan relatives, which left Yiyi, just fifteen years old, as an orphan with no one to take care of her.

Zhou Songlin’s father, Zhou Yu, and Yiyi’s father, Zhou Hai, had been as close as brothers and both bore the Zhou family name. Furthermore, since the Zhou family had three sons and was extremely poor, Yiyi was not only beautiful and a good student, but also very capable. Zhou Yu and his wife came up with a plan: bring Yiyi into their home and have her become their son’s future wife—a solution that would benefit them in many ways.

Only three years to raise her, right? Surely that was more cost-effective than an expensive betrothal gift.

The two agreed on the spot, went to the village chief, and signed a document to officially take Yiyi into the Zhou family.

Yiyi was, of course, unwilling, but the Zhou family weaponized persuasion, telling her she had just started her junior year of high school and couldn’t afford to be distracted if she wanted to attend a good university in the future.

If she felt she owed them, she could always return the money after she started working.

In the entire Zhoujia Village, Zhou Yu was the only one willing to lend her a helping hand; thus, Yiyi was touched. Given that Zhou Yu had indeed been close to her family before, Yiyi believed him, never considering why anyone would cover the high cost of university for her for no reason.

In 2003, Zhou Yiyi passed with a high score of 680 points and was admitted to the Law Department of Fudan University.

However, the admission notice was torn up by Zhou Songlin’s mother, who sweet-talked with a dagger behind her smile, persuading her to get engaged to Zhou Songlin and then go out to work to pay for his education.

Zhou Songlin was only admitted to a second-tier university, and in order to send their son to university, the impoverished Zhou family came up with this scheme.

Yiyi was naturally unwilling, because she knew she had performed well enough to be admitted, so she decided to wait for her admission notice.

Zhou Songlin was the youngest son of the Zhou family and also the most promising child. All three Zhou brothers liked the beautiful Yiyi, but she only had eyes for the tall and handsome Zhou Songlin. To be able to attend university, Zhou Songlin resorted to all sorts of schemes and charm to coax Yiyi into an engagement, thereby legitimizing their relationship.

Isn’t it said that a woman in love is a fool? Without parents to support her, her status in the Zhou household was awkward. By getting engaged with Zhou Songlin, she would become part of their family, sparing her from gossip if she continued to stay. Besides, they had indeed taken care of her for three years. If she didn’t agree, Mrs. Zhou would spread word that she was ungrateful. Even if Yiyi was reluctant, under the weight of rumors, she eventually had no choice but to accept.

Indeed, the family lacked the funds for Zhou Songlin’s university education. If Songlin didn’t attend, he wouldn’t be able to land a good job. Without a decent job, their future was uncertain. The naive Yiyi got trapped and went to work in a factory in the south, sending all the money she earned, except for living expenses, to Zhou Songlin every month.

As for herself, she was so busy with work, where would she find the time to consider repeating a year or retaking the entrance exam? With no other choice, she gave up...

In order to earn overtime pay, she didn’t even go home for the New Year’s. Zhou Songlin was crafty too, visiting her in the south during his school holidays. Every time he visited, she looked after him with the best food and drink, and he would leave with a good sum of money. Only a fool wouldn’t go.

This went on for four years until he graduated and became a public servant at the county Bureau of Industry and Commerce.

Yiyi thought her good days had come, so she quit her job with high hopes and returned home. Bound by the gaze of the villagers, the Zhou family had no choice but let the two get married.

After marriage, Yiyi lived an incredibly humble life because she had no income; she had to ask her husband for every cent she spent, or ask her mother-in-law, and after the childbirth, her situation became even more miserable.

Zhou Songlin despised her for becoming ugly and out of shape after having the baby, looking messy like a rural person, causing him to lose face and lowering his value, yet he never considered that they were both rural people to begin with. Did he think working in the county made him superior?

The Zhou Family criticized her for not earning money, living off them without lifting a finger, and not helping with the baby. They would rather go out and play mahjong than give her a hand.

She wanted to send her child to kindergarten, but they said it was a waste of money.

She wanted to work, but they said, who would cook if she worked? Who would do the house chores? Who would take care of the child? The rightful source is N0velFire.ɴet

No matter what she did, they could always come up with a pile of reasons to contradict her.

There’s a saying that a poor couple is sad in many ways, she now fully understood what this phrase truly meant.

The three brothers in the Zhou Family had all separated their households, but they were the youngest and lived with the elders because the old house was given to the youngest.

But with Zhou Songlin gone during the day, she had to face the picking and various dislikes of her in-laws. Even when he occasionally came back at night, he was indifferent to her.

Sometimes, when she complained, it would bring his mockery and sarcasm, and when he was drinking, it would turn into physical abuse. In such an environment, she became increasingly fearful and meek, for she had no family of her own to turn to for a word or shelter in case of a quarrel.

What truly drove her to despair was the difficult birth of her second child. The doctors suggested a cesarean section due to complications, but the Zhou Family said it was too expensive and refused to consent, urging her to hold on instead. She nearly lost her life, and the child, due to lack of oxygen, ended up abnormal. Moreover, since the child was a girl and the birth had cost tens of thousands of dollars, the Zhou Family despised her and her daughter even more.

During the postpartum period, her mother-in-law would neither cook for her nor take care of the baby, nor even wash the baby’s diapers. She had to wash the diapers herself in the courtyard, trembling from weakness, and when her mother-in-law saw this, she loudly accused her of doing it on purpose to show the villagers how she was mistreated.

With her voice losing strength, she turned around and said, "Mom, if I don’t wash them here, where should I wash them?"

"Nonsense, go wash them inside your room. What would people think if they saw this?"

There was no water in the room, so she had to carry buckets of it inside. Because of the excessive work during confinement, the incision became infected, and she was rushed to the hospital again, where tests showed she was severely malnourished. No wonder the child was always hungry - where would the milk come from?

This medical emergency caused a stir among the villagers, and faced with their criticism, her mother-in-law dared not continue her wicked ways. But as soon as she healed, all the usual household chores expected of her resumed as before.

Perhaps because the child was born with deficiencies and had suffered from lack of oxygen, they developed a rare strange disease at the age of three, a persistent low-grade fever that they initially thought was just a cold and ignored. It wasn’t until the child had a high fever and seizures that they were rushed to the hospital. Unable to diagnose the condition with the existing resources, they treated it as a common pneumonia. After a month in the hospital and several thousand yuan spent, the child finally stabilized, much to the mother-in-law’s anger.

However, less than a week after returning home, the child fell ill again. This time, no matter what, the Zhou Family refused to take the child to the hospital, even as she knelt before them, it made no difference.

They even said, "If she dies, she dies, she’s a simpleton anyway." But she was the child’s mother; how could she just ignore her?