Chapter 17

“I also heard it from those people. Xia Yu is the person who deliberately spread these rumors,” Yan Han said after some hesitation.

“Xia Yu is Wanwan’s cousin, so how could he be so cruel and ruined her reputation?

“In the past, Mother discriminated against their family, so I didn’t say anything. But now that this matter concerns our daughter, I can’t just watch them ruin the rest of her life!”

Xia Hai didn’t say anything immediately. He was upset. He was so angry that he wanted to go to his second brother, Xia He, and ask him how he had been educating his son. However, he also thought that if he dared to, Li Jin would definitely make a scene with him in front of everyone. He would say that he was unfilial and that he didn’t want his mother anymore since he had a wife.

Sighing, Xia Hai said with self-blame, “It’s all my fault for being so useless.”

He thought of a compromise. “Why don’t I go to the village’s prestigious master Xia tomorrow? He has some connections with our family. With master Xia’s seniority, it will definitely be useful for him to prove Wanwan’s innocence.”

Yan Han looked at him helplessly as she heard this. “You’re still too naive. This time, we might find someone to explain it to her and let things slide on old master Xia’s account, but what about the future? If someone slanders our Xia Wan again, are we still going to look for old master Xia?”

As he spoke, Yan Han began to cry, musing over the events that had taken place today.

Initially, Xia Wan was the one who was wronged. Xia Ru and Xia Ye stood by and watched, not knowing how to help save her. She asked for some eggs for Xia Wan, but Li Jin was biased and refused to give them to her. Later, Xia Yu even turned around and slandered Xia Wan, saying that Xia Wan had done something sinful by seducing someone’s boyfriend.

The truth was out there, but no one believed it. Li Jin and the other two families were like one family, but theirs was like an outsider who would be bullied by them.

Then, she looked at her husband, Xia Hai. If it wasn’t for Xia Wan’s coughing today, he would’ve handed over all his salary to those heartless people.

Thinking back to what Xia Wan had said today, Yan Han became determined. “Why don’t we do as Wanwan said and split the family? In the future, we can spend our own money and feed the children whatever we want. We don’t have to give in to their whims.

“You might not know this, but when I was cooking eggs for Wanwan today, Song Yan even called me a thief and accused me of stealing eggs from the house. Usually, they’re the ones who eat the most eggs, but now she’s saying that about me. Xia Hai, how am I going to live out my life now?”

At this point, Yan Han cried even harder.

Xia Hai felt even more guilty when he saw his wife crying so hard. However, he had never been good at coaxing people, nor did he know how to say nice things.

He couldn’t bear to look at Yan Han, and couldn’t help but say, “But what if our mother can’t think things through and make a fuss about hitting the wall?”

Every time Li Jin couldn’t reason with them, he would use his own way to imply that they were unfilial and that it wasn’t easy for Li Jin to raise them.

Yan Han looked at Xia Hai, who was always thinking of Li Jin, and felt even more depressed.

He was being filial to Li Jin, but he had wronged her and the children.

However, when he thought about it carefully, other than being too filial and obedient to Li Jin, Xia Hai really had no other shortcomings. He was extremely good to his children and wanted to give them everything he could.

Seeing this, Yan Han couldn’t say anything more. She couldn’t bad-mouth Li Jin in front of Xia Hai, or Xia Hai would blame her for it.

“Forget it. I’ll think of a way tomorrow. I’ll find a few morally upright sisters-in-law and ask them to put in a good word for our Wanwan. But my poor Wanwan. Her two aunties won’t side with her, and now, she has to find non-blood-related aunts to help her.”

The more he thought about it, the more upset Yan Han felt. She simply turned her face away from Xia Hai, her back facing him.

Xia Hai could only sigh, not knowing what to say.

He was caught in the middle and was in a dilemma.

The next day, Xia Wan woke up before the sun rose. She did not look too good. The mosquitoes had been buzzing the night before, and she had not slept on a hard bed for a long time. It was uncomfortable, to say the least.

For the entire night, she was either rolling around or trying to slap away the swarm of vampiric mosquitoes.

“Sigh.” Xia Wan sighed. It seemed that she had to earn money quickly so that she could bring her family to a better place.