After the frail beauty went to the countryside, she went crazy with scientific research.

Chapter 451, Episode 0496: The Past Affairs of the Yuan Family (Part Two)
To outsiders, Yuan Hongping's married life seemed quite happy, but any normal person who knew the truth would think it was a miserable existence, yet she herself seemed quite content with it.

My mother-in-law is a difficult person. She's never satisfied with anything I do and usually looks at me like I'm her enemy. She gets especially angry whenever she sees me being a little affectionate with my husband, and she often uses humiliating language to indirectly insult me.

Whenever there is a conflict between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the husband will step in to appease both sides, and then the mother-in-law will calm down, and the wife will feel that her husband is considerate.

Zhang Hongying raised an eyebrow: "Doesn't it look perfect?"

Lin Yuexi didn't respond. Judging from her mother's disdainful tone, she knew without even guessing that the truth was not what it seemed.

Sure enough, Zhang Hongying's next words would probably make a hot-tempered person sick on the spot.

“Yuan Hongping thought that her mother-in-law was dissatisfied with her daughter-in-law, who had ‘stolen’ her son, because she was a single parent and cared too much about her son.”

“There are mothers-in-law in the village who are not good to their daughters-in-law. It is said that a daughter-in-law becomes a mother-in-law after many years of hardship. The word ‘hardship’ can explain a lot of problems.”

“Yuan Hongping is honest and never thought of resisting anything. She only knows how to please others. Maybe she thinks that if she does well, her mother-in-law will accept her or accept her fate. At least her husband knows how to coax her and doesn’t hit her.”

"In addition, her husband is sweet-talking and good at flattering people, and he's also shrewd, but the way he's shrewd is despicable."

"They've been married for about seven years, but I can't be sure of the exact time."

Zhang Hongying knows her daughter's love for gossip, especially gossip that has a beginning and an end. So when she hears something interesting, she will make a point of finding out the details so she can tell her daughter about it later.

Normally, she shouldn't have known about Yuan Hongying's affairs. Coincidentally, Aunt Qiu, the nanny hired by Deputy Brigade Zhang who lived not far from their home in the compound, was from the same village as Yuan Hongying.

When Leng Xinghui's ex-girlfriend went to the gate of the compound to make a scene, she was recognized by Aunt Qiu, who was passing by on her way to buy groceries. After returning home, Aunt Qiu couldn't rest easy no matter how much she thought about it, and finally decided to take the plunge and find a wife for Deputy Brigade Commander Zhang.

So, that very evening, Zhang's wife brought Aunt Qiu to their house.

Aunt Qiu and Yuan Honggang became neighbors after their marriage.

In the eyes of the villagers, Yuan Honggang could be considered a son-in-law.

Back then, the only income in rural areas was work points. He had to support himself and his sister. It was not easy for the two of them to even have enough to eat, let alone anything else.

Therefore, he was not well-off when he got married. Not to mention the bride price, he even had to borrow decent clothes for the wedding day.

His wife's family was one of the wealthiest in the village, and she was an only child. Naturally, her parents didn't want to see their daughter living in a dilapidated house that didn't even provide shelter from the wind and rain after she got married.

Therefore, the couple lived at the wife's parents' home after their marriage.

Yuan Honggang's father-in-law was difficult to get along with. He was an honest man, but he had a bad temper and was the type to get angry easily.

Yuan Honggang already lacked confidence in his family, and with his father-in-law's bad temper, he lived a rather apprehensive life for the first few years.

Aunt Qiu initially thought he was timid, and Yuan Honggang's wife was also good-natured. She was even worried that if the two of them lost their parents, they would be in deep trouble.

We've digressed, let's get back to the point.

Aunt Qiu's house and Yuan Hongping's house were located in different directions, one to the east and the other to the south. Yuan Honggang lived next door, which is why she knew the details quite well; otherwise, she would only have heard the same versions of the story repeated countless times, like everyone else in the village. However, because of the distance, she didn't know the exact details.

"Aunt Qiu said that she remembered it was when her third son was nine years old. Yuan Honggang and his sister got married in the same year. Yuan Honggang didn't get married until he was almost thirty because of his sister. The year they got married, Aunt Qiu's eldest son was only two years old."

"One night, it was late at night when the village suddenly became lively, and we could hear what sounded like gongs being struck."

Their village used to be frequently targeted by bandits who would steal things. The villagers have inherited the excellent tradition of using the sound of the zither as a signal, and they are all particularly sensitive to the sound of the zither, so much so that they can be instantly awakened even when they are sound asleep.

Aunt Qiu's family was startled awake. Some hid, some concealed themselves, and some secretly inquired about the situation.

Then Aunt Qiu's brother-in-law saw a group of people rushing towards their house, looking like a bandit army coming down the mountain.

The truth, gleaned from the villagers' varied opinions, is rather unbelievable.

That afternoon, Yuan Hongping and her eldest son went into the mountains to chop firewood. It was a custom in the village that when they went up the mountain, they would not just chop firewood. They would usually bring baskets and sacks to pick wild mushrooms and wild fruits. If they were lucky, they could even catch pheasants or rabbits and have a treat.

In addition, due to their geographical location, their village is located some distance from the mountains, so under normal circumstances, it would take quite a while to make a trip up the mountain.

But that day was unusual. Not long after Yuan Hongping and her son went up the mountain, they came across a large patch of shiitake mushrooms, and the two of them filled two large baskets with them.

In this situation, the best course of action is to send the mushrooms back first.

When the mother and son returned home, they didn't notice anything unusual at first. However, they couldn't just put the two large baskets of mushrooms in there. Besides, they still needed to use the baskets. Since it was still early, they decided to clean the mushrooms and spread them out in the yard to dry.

Just as they were doing their work, they suddenly heard strange noises coming from Grandma Yuan Hongping's house.

This matter needs to be recounted a year earlier.

A year ago, Yuan Hongping's mother-in-law suddenly fell one night. She fell quite hard and couldn't get out of bed. She didn't want to see a doctor, so at least Yuan Hongping and her son didn't know the specifics of her injuries.

After the fall, the mother-in-law lay in bed and insisted that Yuan Hongping take care of her. She complained that Yuan Hongping was not taking good care of her and found fault with everything she did. She would even throw whatever was at hand at Yuan Hongping.

About ten days later, her mother-in-law suddenly said she wanted to go back to her parents' home to recuperate.

Yuan Hongping had been driven crazy by her mother-in-law for the past ten days or so. When she heard that she was going back to her parents' home to recuperate, she breathed a huge sigh of relief and didn't think much of it.

They value filial piety, and Yuan Hongping's act of kicking her mother-in-law out of the house when she was injured and bedridden offended many people in the village. For more than a year, Yuan Hongping has been living amidst the pointing fingers and various forms of dislike from others.

Yuan Hongping had tried to bring her mother-in-law back several times, but she was always driven out without even a chance to explain. Later, she couldn't even enter the village anymore. People in her mother-in-law's village treated her like a demon. Some of the more friendly ones stopped her from entering the village, while others were ready to beat her up. Some even actually laid a hand on her.

Yuan Hongping didn't know why, or rather, she didn't want to think about why.

Anyway, my husband can come and go as he pleases, and he often takes things from home to show his filial piety, so let's just leave it at that.

By dragging things out like this, deceiving ourselves, time has passed to half a month ago.

Two weeks ago, one day, Yuan Hongping's husband brought her mother-in-law and a baby back to the village.