Chapter 398 Rectifying Family Traditions

Chapter 398: Reforming Family Discipline

Ye Xiaoxiao’s words seemed to affect Zhang Manqiu.

Holding the prescription Ye Xiaoxiao gave her, Manqiu walked off, her steps heavy.

Grandma Lu, listening nearby, pitied the young woman.

"Honestly, how could they treat their daughter-in-law this way? I need to have a serious talk with your grandfather."

At her age, Grandma Lu’s word was law.

Unlike Ye Xiaoxiao, she had the clout to intervene in this matter.

Ye Xiaoxiao nodded beside her. "Grandma, Manqiu does most of the housework."

Grandma Lu: "True. I hadn’t noticed before, but now that you mention it, it’s obvious.

When I visited earlier, many shared the chores. But with a new daughter-in-law, even Wang Zhi slacks off now."

While they were still discussing solutions, trouble flared up in the Lu household that evening.

Manqiu’s tonic prescription wasn’t understood—instead, her mother-in-law Wang Zhi snapped that she was stirring up drama.

"Do you think our family has mistreated you?"

Wang Zhi yanked Manqiu’s ear, shouting.

"Mom, I didn’t mean that. But... if I don’t recover, I might never conceive again..."

This only enraged Wang Zhi further.

"You cursed nuisance! How dare you hex us with barrenness? If you can’t bear children, don’t cling to my son!

Remember the bride price we paid! Divorce means paying it all back!"

Manqiu bit her lip. She had no way to repay it.

The money had long gone to her father’s treatment. The debt to the Lu family weighed on her.

Yet... she still hoped to heal.

"Mom, please help me get the medicine. I’ll obey you completely."

She clutched her mother-in-law’s knees.

Wang Zhi tried to shake her off. "Scram! I won’t waste money on this."

"Mom, please!"

Just then, Lu Jiang came home to his wife and mother in a tussle. He yanked Manqiu back and laid into her without a word.

"You hit my mother?!"

"No, I didn’t!"

The ruckus woke the old master and mistress of the house.

"Jiang, what are you doing hitting your wife?"

The old man was furious. "Your uncle's still back home. If he sees this, how's that gonna look for our family?"

Lu Guozhong knew his cousin's temper all too well. Besides, how well-off their family was now mostly came from his cousin's support.

Though they shared the same family name, they couldn't hold a candle to that branch.

Only when his grandfather stepped in did Lu Jiang stop, yanking Zhang Manqiu into their room.

Wang Zhi might've disliked her daughter-in-law, but even she knew her son had crossed the line this time, keeping quiet and looking down.

After dressing down his grandson, the old man turned to his daughter-in-law.

"Don't pile everything on Manqiu these days. Look how worn out she is—folks'll think we're mistreating her."

Lu Guozhong kept up appearances with relatives and neighbors, but household matters showed he wasn't exactly even-handed.

Not that he meddled in women's business anyway.

Zhang Manqiu remained entirely at her mother-in-law's mercy.

Maybe years of being the bullied daughter-in-law herself had made Wang Zhi especially hard on the girl.

Now, under her father-in-law's glare, Wang Zhi gave a sheepish nod.

Come dinner time, Grandma Lu didn't even wait for her grandson, bringing up Zhang Manqiu herself.

"That girl Manqiu's gotten so thin it pains me. Y'all better fatten her up some."

She added pointedly, "Hope y'all don't mind me saying."

Old Mrs. Lu chimed in, "Course not. It's for the family's good."

"Speaking of Manqiu," Grandma Lu pressed, "where is she? She ain't off working somewhere again, is she?"

Lu Jiang studied his bowl while Wang Zhi got all flustered.

"Oh no, no, she's resting inside."

"Still needs to eat. Girl's frail as is—skipping meals won't help."

Grandma Lu told them to go fetch Zhang Manqiu.

"We're leaving soon. Got things to say to that child."

Nobody made a move.

Ye Xiaoxiao offered, "Which room's Sister Manqiu in? Want me to go get her?"

Wang Zhi hedged, "She'll be out in a bit."

Ye Xiaoxiao went back to eating, though she was clearly distracted.

When it was time to go after tea, she still hadn't seen her sister-in-law.

It crossed her mind they might not get to see Zhang Manqiu today.

Maybe she just didn't want to face company.

But something still felt off. She’d gone to ask her for health advice earlier that afternoon, and now she wouldn’t come out?

As the sky grew dim and Ye Xiaoxiao was preparing to leave with her grandparents, a door in the courtyard suddenly swung open.

Zhang Manqiu rushed out and dropped to her knees with a loud thud in front of Old Master Lu.

The old man frowned. "Child, what’s happened to you?"

Lu Jiang’s face twisted in anger. "What are you doing out here? Get back inside!"

At his voice, Zhang Manqiu flinched hard.

Lu Hanchuan stepped in front of Lu Jiang as he lunged forward, his tone icy. "Lu Jiang, what’s going on with your wife? Did she cross someone? Who beat her up like this?"

Lu Hanchuan was seething. What kind of man hits his own wife?

Men like that disgusted him.

Lu Jiang’s face burned with shame. He hadn’t meant to—he’d thought Zhang Manqiu was brawling with his mother and lashed out in the heat of the moment.

He and Zhang Manqiu weren’t exactly lovebirds—they’d met through a matchmaker.

After marriage, his mother never stopped nitpicking her.

Then they’d lost their baby.

Lu Jiang had his own grudges too.

But faced with Lu Hanchuan’s glare, he couldn’t spit out the truth.

Old Master Lu bit back his anger. "Child, stand up. If you’ve been wronged, we’ll hear it inside."

Grandma Lu gasped. "What happened to you? You were fine this afternoon!"

Old Master Lu herded everyone inside and turned to Lu Guozhong. "Guozhong, the Lu family might be simple folk, but we don’t raise our hands against women."

Lu Guozhong wrung his hands. "Just a misunderstanding, that’s all!"

Old Master Lu jabbed a finger at Zhang Manqiu’s face. "And those bruises? Another ‘misunderstanding’?"

Lu Guozhong wheeled on his son and daughter-in-law. "Explain yourselves. Now."

Wang Zhi stammered, "Father, Uncle—it really was a mix-up! This afternoon, Zhang Manqiu came waving some herbal remedy slip, going on about recuperating. I thought she’d been conned, so I gave her an earful.

Things got heated, we ended up shoving each other—then Lu Jiang barged in and jumped to conclusions."

Old Master Lu’s cane slammed the floor. "So that’s your excuse for beating her?"