Chapter 186

Chapter 186

The elderly couple looked weathered but kind-hearted. The old man wore a patched cotton coat, and the old lady leaned on a walking stick.

The two young people were also poorly dressed, their clothes worn thin from frequent washing.

Upon closer inspection, one could see the fine stitches of patches, but they blended with the fabric, making them hard to notice.

As soon as the old lady entered, she saw Xu Ling with her head down and tears welled up in her eyes: "Xiaoling? You're really here?"

Xu Ling was startled. When she lifted her head, tears flowed uncontrollably: "Mom? Dad? Brother, sister-in-law, why are you here?"

Xu Ling's sister-in-law had braids that were slightly malnourished and yellow. She looked dignified, but at just over thirty, she already had some white hair.

Seeing her sister-in-law, Yang Fangfang felt frustrated yet sympathetic: "If it weren't for my coworker telling me your in-laws were threatening to beat you to death, we wouldn't have known you were getting divorced. How could you not tell your brother about such a big matter?

You..."

Xu Ling's brother, Xu Jun, frowned deeply: "Xiaoling, did you finalize the divorce? At least come home with us. Where are our children? Whatever the issue is, let's go home first. If you want a divorce, you can't just live like this."

Xu Ling continued crying, all her recent grievances erupting.

Her mother cried even harder, and the two embraced each other in tears.

The little girl inside heard her mother crying and ran out.

Xu Ling's father saw his granddaughter and his eyes turned red: "Little Bao, don't you recognize Grandpa?"

The child immediately ran over.

The family was almost in tears together.

Director Wang, seeing the situation, explained what had happened.

Xu Jun quickly thanked Bai Xiuxiu and Director Wang: "Director, Comrade Bai, I... I don't know how to thank you. Without your help, my sister would have been bullied to death by that heartless Old Yuan family."

"This was because Xu Ling sought help from our neighborhood committee; it's our duty."

Director Wang looked at the exhausted Xu Ling and felt relieved: "Xu Ling, now..."

Hearing Director Wang ask her, Xu Ling finally said she wanted her family to take her home.

Before she could finish, her mother acted first.

"Xiaoling, come home with Mom. I'm not afraid of the Old Yuan family anymore. Now that you're divorced, if they come to cause trouble, I'll risk my life to protect you." The old lady pulled her daughter, ready to leave.

Although worried her daughter-in-law might be upset, with her daughter in such a state and now divorced, where else could she go?

"Mom, we should at least help Xiaoling pack her things. She left in a hurry, so we need to retrieve her belongings from her in-laws' place. We can't let others benefit from them," Yang Fangfang said rationally.

Seeing the elderly couple distraught and her sister-in-law in such a pitiful state, she felt heartbroken.

She married into the Xu family when she was young, and Xu Ling stayed with her parents for several years before marrying out. They had a bond.

In the past few years, her sister-in-law often took household items to support her in-laws, which seemed like a bottomless pit, causing her frustration. She wanted to stop the losses before the whole family suffered.

Now that her sister-in-law was divorced, things were different.

Divorced and back home, the family must support her and not let her go.

With two more mouths to feed, they needed to be frugal and couldn't leave anything behind at the Old Yuan family's.

"You're right. I almost forgot. Xiao Jun, hurry, go with your wife to bring your sister's things back. Don't... don't provoke them; they have many sons," the old lady urged, remembering the Old Yuan family's large number of sons.

Worried her son might be bullied.

Bai Xiuxiu remembered this family had always been bullied by the Old Yuan family.

She discussed it quietly with Director Wang.

Director Wang immediately called two men from the office: "Go with them and prevent any trouble from the Old Yuan family. Ensure Xu Ling can take her belongings smoothly."

"Alright, we'll go with them right away."

With the office staff accompanying them, Xu Jun felt bolder.

Yang Fangfang wanted to go along but worried about her sister-in-law, so she instructed her husband: "We're taking our sister's belongings; we're in the right. Don't be too accommodating. Of course, don't fight with them either; they're a bunch of scoundrels.

Since the families are now divorced, handle it wisely, don't get taken advantage of."

"Got it, don't worry, I understand," Xu Jun said, quickly following the office staff.

After her husband left, Yang Fangfang picked up her niece and walked over to her sister-in-law: "Xiaoling, don't worry. Mom came here to take you home. This morning, I heard you were divorcing your husband and that they were beating you.

I immediately took leave to find your brother.

Our family wants to take you home. If you want to remarry, we'll help you. If not, your brother and I will support you. Our family isn't large; we'll try to find you a temporary job.

We'll manage to raise the child."

Yang Fangfang spoke gently and sincerely.

Xu Ling cried uncontrollably: "Sister-in-law, I... I used to..."

"What happened before wasn't entirely your fault. They bullied you, and you didn't want to divorce for the sake of the child. It wasn't all your fault. It's in the past now, and the divorce is finalized. We're still a family."

Yang Fangfang didn't let her dwell on the past.

Previously, everyone in the family was angry about her sister-in-law taking things from home.

At this point, what’s the use of talking about the past?

We should just look forward.

“Xu Ling, it looks like you’ll need a bit more time to get your things. Why don’t you go sit in that room over there?” Director Wang suggested they wait inside a storage room, seeing how excited the family was.

“Sure, sure, thank you, Director Wang.” Xu Ling quickly led her parents and sister-in-law into the storage room, which only had a small wooden bed that had just been set up.

There were two canned food bottles on it, used to warm the blankets with hot water.

In this biting cold, where is the warmth of a heated kang?

Seeing her daughter living here, the old lady’s heart ached and tightened.

The people who went to fetch the things took almost two hours to return.

When they came back, it was already dark.

As soon as they entered, the older office worker, Zhao Ming, couldn’t help but complain, “The Old Yuan family is too unreasonable. If we hadn’t gone along, they would have definitely beaten someone up.”