Reborn in the 1970s — Married a Proud Rough Man

Li Axiu let out a sigh of relief. She believed Jie Jingwei. The last time her daughter had slashed the back of his hand, the wound had been deep and long. Her daughter had meant to cause serious injury, yet Jie Jingwei hadn’t uttered a single harsh word.

But Li Axiu still said, ”She went too far this time. If you don’t teach her a lesson, she’ll never learn. When you do wrong, you have to face the consequences.”

Jie Jingwei remained silent. Ignoring Lin Yaru’s look of disbelief, Li Axiu strode out of the room.

Li Axiu knew full well that as long as she was there, her son-in-law wouldn’t dare discipline her daughter.

Li Axiu stood in the courtyard, watching the neighbors standing on stools and leaning over the wall, all ears as they tried to eavesdrop. Humiliation turned to anger, and she roared, ”Aren’t you people hot?!”

Hearing Li Axiu’s furious shout, the neighbors leaning over the wall sheepishly grabbed their stools and went back inside—all except Granny Li. Qin Mei had treated her to an ice cream bar, and she wanted to dig up more information on the Lin family to share with her the next time they met.

”Axiu! Did something happen to your Yaru? We’re all neighbors. If something’s wrong, you have to speak up so we can look out for each other,” said Granny Li.

Li Axiu took a deep breath. Granny Li was an elder, they shared the surname Li, and she meant well, so it wouldn’t be right to cause her to lose face. ”Aunt Li, my Yaru is fine. She just has a stomachache and was worried something might happen to the baby, so she got a little emotional. My son-in-law is in the house calming her down now.”

”Axiu, we’ve all been through this. It’s Yaru’s first pregnancy, so it’s only natural her mind is running wild. If her stomach really hurts, you should take her to the hospital. But honestly, I think the Fourth Wife of Jing is more reliable than the hospital. She and Yaru are sisters-in-law, you should ask her...”

”I don’t trust the Fourth Wife of Jing’s medical skills,” Li Axiu interrupted, her voice tinged with irritation.

”How can you not trust her? The Fourth Wife of Jing’s medical skills are incredible! Just look at the Hero’s wife. If it weren’t for the Fourth Wife of Jing, she would’ve lost her baby,” said Granny Li.

”She was just meddling for the sake of it. The Hero’s wife was carrying a girl, but Sister Guo wanted a grandson. If she hadn’t interfered and the baby had been lost, it would have been a good thing for Sister Guo. But because she got involved, the Hero’s wife gave birth to a daughter, shattering Sister Guo’s dream of a grandson. Sister Guo was so furious she hanged herself.” Li Axiu simply refused to listen.

Granny Li was left speechless. She also believed in favoring boys over girls. Her way of thinking was simple: daughters were a lost investment, while sons were the pillars of the family.

”Aunt Li, you should go back inside. Stop leaning over the wall. At your age, it would be a problem if you got heatstroke.” Having said her piece, Li Axiu walked out of the courtyard.

Granny Li felt a bit rebuffed. With a harrumph, she carefully climbed down from the stool and carried it back into her house.

Once back inside, she mulled it over but couldn’t make sense of it. So, she carried her stool back out to the wall. This time, she didn’t stand on it. Instead, she sat down, fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan, and pressed her ear against the wall to eavesdrop.

With Li Axiu gone, only the two of them remained in the main room. Jie Jingwei no longer held back. He didn’t raise a hand to Lin Yaru, but he attacked her with his words.

Not to be outdone, Lin Yaru’s every word was a dagger aimed at Jie Jingwei’s heart.

They traded barbs for half an hour, the argument finally ending when Jie Jingwei stormed out in a rage.

Jie Jingwei got in his car and drove back to the machine factory to work.

”Jie Jingsi, is your eye twitching?” Qin Mei asked, watching Jie Jingchen, who was intermittently rubbing and blinking his eye.

Jie Jingchen blinked hard a few times. ”My right eye is twitching.”

Qin Mei paused for a second, then teased, ”A twitching left eye means wealth, a twitching right eye means disaster. Just to be safe, you shouldn’t leave the house today. Don’t want any calamities falling from the sky.”

”If it’s fortune, it’s not a disaster, and if it’s a disaster, there’s no escaping it,” Jie Jingchen said. He wasn’t superstitious and paid her words no mind. ”Want some mung bean soup?”

”I’ll drink it if you make it. If you don’t, I won’t,” Qin Mei said with a shrug. ’There was no way *she* was going to make it.’

”I’ll go make it.” Jie Jingchen got up.

”Add extra sugar to mine,” Qin Mei reminded him. Their tastes differed. She liked sweet mung bean soup, while Jie Jingchen preferred it plain. Jie Jingshan, on the other hand, liked to add vinegar to hers. While she could handle Jie Jingchen’s preference, she truly couldn’t stomach Jie Jingshan’s.

’Vinegar in mung bean soup... what in the world would that even taste like?’

As for Jie Jingjue, he was fine with it as long as there was no vinegar.

”Okay.” Jie Jingchen gave her an indulgent look and stepped out of the room.

While Jie Jingchen went to the kitchen, Qin Mei sat in a chair, enjoying the breeze from the fan and reading a comic book, feeling relaxed and content.

”Jing Si! Jing Jue!” Mrs. Xie’s frantic voice suddenly called out.