The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity-Chapter 492 - 459: Turning Their Scheme Against Them (Part 1)
Wen Wan followed Second Lang’s wife to the door of Song Qi’s room, where no light was lit, suggesting the person inside had already gone to rest.
Second Lang’s wife knocked on the door while shouting, "Qi Qi, your third aunt is here to see you, open up quickly."
No response came.
Second Lang’s wife frowned deeply and continued knocking.
Still, there was no response, as if no one was inside the room at all.
Second Lang’s wife turned her head to look at Wen Wan, "She... I clearly saw her go in myself."
Wen Wan made a sound of acknowledgement.
The door was bolted from inside, indicating someone was there, just unwilling to open the door.
Wen Wan no longer hurried to call the person out, instead, she asked Second Lang’s wife, "What happened before?"
Talking about this, Second Lang’s wife seemed a bit disgruntled, "The sisters came back during the day, and I asked Jiaojiao about Mr. Liang. Qi Qi interjected, saying Jiaojiao has a crush, and once Mr. Liang finds out, he surely won’t want her. At the time, I didn’t say anything, but after Jiaojiao went to sleep, I pulled Qi Qi out with the intention of persuading her not to harm Jiaojiao. Somehow, I lost control and ended up hitting her."
Wen Wan roughly understood the cause of the tragedy; Song Qi’s despair towards this family was not just a day or two, but today happened to be the moment it erupted.
Thinking about how she would leap from the tower three days later, Wen Wan still felt a thrill of fear, and looked slightly reproachfully at Second Lang’s wife, "A twelve-year-old child can easily learn to be good, but also easily go astray, depending on how parents guide them. When things happen like this, I don’t endorse using violence, especially considering the child’s extreme and impulsive nature; hitting her will only intensify her rebelliousness and serve no purpose."
Second Lang’s wife felt there was nothing wrong, "When disobedient back in the countryside, wasn’t it the same to pick up a stick and hit?"
"Second sister-in-law, we’re in the Capital now," Wen Wan reminded her, "Your children are no longer the little girls from the countryside years ago, crying for food and clothes; what they want now is more than just simple sustenance. If you continue practicing the old ways from the countryside, sooner or later you’ll ruin them."
Second Lang’s wife was startled by her, "Third sister-in-law, isn’t that too serious?"
Wen Wan found it difficult to express her premonition directly, so she went around the subject: "There was a couple, with not very good character; during the first few years of marriage, they always wanted to learn how to eat from many sources like monks and took advantage everywhere, even liked to suspect everyone with a petty heart. They had a daughter, who grew up imitating their ways, becoming cunning, unreasonable, and argumentative.
Later, the couple faced a major accident and took a trip to the underworld’s gate, decided to live anew after surviving successfully. As time passed, they found their daughter disobedient, doing everything in opposition to her parents, and started hitting her at every disagreement.
The little girl couldn’t comprehend, what she learned was clearly all taught by her parents, why were her parents the ones beating her now. She felt her parents had become strangers, each time she was hit, she despaired more, until one day, she felt abandoned by everyone in the world, climbed up the high tower without looking back, jumped from the top, breaking into pieces and spilling blood everywhere, she was barely over ten years old when she died."
At this point, Wen Wan looked at the pale face of Second Lang’s wife, "Second sister-in-law, who do you think caused the death of that little girl, was she asking for it herself?"
Second Lang’s wife clutched her chest, the feeling of stepping into the shoes was too intense.
Some things are only revealed in their absurdity when looked at through the eyes of an outsider.
Unable to hold her emotions, Second Lang’s wife burst into tears, "It’s all my fault, it’s me and Erlang who failed to teach her properly, it’s my mistake..."
Inside the room, Song Qi wasn’t sleeping; she didn’t understand why Third Uncle and Third Aunt suddenly came.
In the past, she would surely have run out promptly to flatter and please, but today she didn’t even want to open the door.
She didn’t want to see anyone, didn’t want to hear anything, even, didn’t want to live anymore.
Earlier on the street, she had planned to run away from home, but upon thinking, the Capital is so vast, she didn’t even have a place to stay, even if she ran away, where could she go?
So after not going far, she turned back herself.
It wasn’t forgiveness for her parents, just the calculation of what to do before dying.
The family owed her everything, even in death, she wanted them to pay a painful price.
To commit suicide by jumping from the high tower was her decision on the way back, never imagining Third Aunt would stand outside the door telling a story almost identical to hers.
She could feel all the emotions of the little girl in the story, including the disheartened decision to commit suicide towards family.
Outside, Wen Wan’s words continued, "Just over ten years old, at the budding age, when the flower hasn’t truly bloomed yet, it withers—that is such a pity."
Closely followed by her biological mother’s tearful cries.
Song Qi bit her lip corner, fingers gripping tightly the quilt covering her, with two voices in her mind clashing between suicide and non-suicide, stirring her mind into chaos.
Wen Wan specifically glanced at the tightly closed door.
Intuitively, the people inside must not be asleep.
Those words just now were all deliberately said for her to hear.
After a long while without seeing Song Qi open the door, Wen Wan figured she must find it hard to change her mindset quickly, so she didn’t force it and said to Second Lang’s wife, "I and Third Son have some business outside, were passing by here, so we came in to sit for a while. It’s late, so we won’t disturb your rest any longer. Goodbye."
After speaking, Wen Wan went to the central room to call Song Wei, and the couple quickly left the courtyard in the alley.
Upon hearing the sound of the door closing, Song Qi quickly flipped out of bed and hastily pushed open her room door. Sure enough, her third aunt was no longer there; all that was left was her mother still outside crying.
Unexpectedly seeing her daughter suddenly open the door, Second Lang’s wife turned her head to look at her, but before she could speak, Song Qi shut the door with a "bang," isolating her outside.
Second Lang’s wife wiped her tears and softened her tone towards the inside, saying, "Qi Qi, are you hungry? I’ll make you some supper."
Song Qi had already crawled back into the quilt, with her back facing the direction of the door, and no matter how much her mother called, she didn’t respond with a single word.
Nevertheless, Second Lang’s wife still went to the kitchen, planning to make her some porridge.
Song Erlang followed her in, noticing his wife’s red, swollen eyes, and hurriedly asked, "What’s going on?"
Second Lang’s wife didn’t look at her husband, and after adding water to the pot, she stood there dazed, like a stake.
"Say something!" Song Erlang anxiously exclaimed, but as his wife wasn’t speaking, he had to turn around intending to ask Song Qi directly.
"Stop!"
His wife’s voice came from behind, and he paused his steps, turned around, and asked again, "Who made you angry, was it the third sister-in-law?"
"It’s not about the third sister-in-law." Second Lang’s wife randomly wiped her face, "It’s me, being a bad mother, that has led Qi Qi to turn out like this."
Hearing her say this, Song Erlang muttered, "I told you not to hit the child, but you wouldn’t listen. Third Son and they must have heard some rumors and came at night to investigate. Qi Qi is still young; isn’t it normal for her not to speak? You shouldn’t hold grudges against her. Why do you have to resort to hitting?"
Second Lang’s wife glared at him, "You’re giving me criticism after the fact? Where were you earlier?"
Seeing her really upset, Song Erlang, afraid of provoking the tigress, quickly changed the topic, "You’re cooking porridge for Qi Qi, right? I’m hungry too, make some extra, let me have a bowl as well."
After speaking, he dashed out.
Second Lang’s wife calmed down, clenching the long-handled spoon in her hand, stirring the rice porridge in the pot.
Once cooked, she scooped a bowl and brought it outside Song Qi’s room door, knocking for a long time with no response, so she left the porridge at the door.
Song Qi didn’t get up; after everything went quiet outside, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
...
On the carriage ride home, Song Wei asked Wen Wan, "How did it go?"
Wen Wan sighed lightly, "I said a lot standing outside her room door at the time. There was no reaction from inside. I don’t know if she heard it or not. If this technique doesn’t work, we’ll have to think of other ways."
Suddenly, her hand was enveloped by a warm large palm. Wen Wan turned to see his lips curved slightly, displaying a mature man’s unique confidence on his face, "If she can spread rumors, so can we. We might as well counteract it."
Wen Wan didn’t react for a moment, "What do you mean?"
Song Wei didn’t explain, but when they got home, he specifically instructed Wei Qian to send someone to handle matters.
Wen Wan was really tired and fell asleep before he returned.
...
Second Lang’s wife discussed with her husband that night, at home, they lacked money to add to the child’s dowry. The business couldn’t be left unattended, so she decided to have Song Erlang go alone to sell breakfast the next day, while she planned to stay at home to find an opportunity to talk thoroughly with Song Qi.
Song Erlang left at dawn, and Second Lang’s wife, seeing it was still early, took a nap. Song Jiao hadn’t gotten up yet either, so nobody noticed that shortly after Song Erlang left, Song Qi took all her pocket money and quietly left the house.
She went to the alley where beggars gathered, spent all her silver coins, and asked them to spread the rumors.
Afterwards, she hurried back home, Second Lang’s wife, Song Duobao, and Song Jiao were still asleep. She stood in front of her room door, glanced at the bowl of porridge on the ground which had already turned cold, then shifted her gaze without further notice and entered the room, staying inside the whole day, ignoring her mother’s calls for meals.
The next day, Song Qi specifically went outside to investigate, discovering that the rumors spread by the beggars were completely different from what she had instructed them to spread.
