Tian Jing handed her the cleaver, letting her dig herself.
Li Daboinian dug frantically, quickly unearthing a jar, about the same size as the one Tian Jing had dug up earlier.
Li Daboinian carefully placed the jar aside and continued to dig deeper.
What she dug up next was a very small jar. She opened the lid, and there was nothing inside.
"No! No!" Li Daboinian threw the small jar aside like a madwoman and continued digging.
Tian Jing reached out and grabbed the cleaver from her hand. "Stop deceiving yourself. Thirty years later, you actually believe your mother-in-law suffocated her own grandson for the sake of her eldest son and grandson."
"If she dared to take a life, why didn't she just harm you back then, take all the money, and make it disappear without a trace? Wouldn't all the money be in her hands?"
"Who told you she loved the younger son? Who told you she suffocated your eldest son?"
"For a woman to bring her niece to such a remote mountain village in Kushan, there's only one possibility: she loved the son she could only entrust to her own family for care."
"How did she win over her family? Wouldn't her family be tempted to follow her example? Wouldn't the conditions she used to win them over become a handle for her niece, forcing her to be her niece's helper?"
Li Daboinian brandished the cleaver. "Let go of me, I'm going to fight Wu Huidi to the death."
"What reason do you have to fight to the death? It's likely that right after you buried it, Li Erbonian took it away."
"It's definitely not with her anymore. Either she buried it elsewhere or sent it to her family. Such a cunning person, married into her family, couldn't have had no ulterior motives."
*Clatter*
The cleaver fell from Li Daboinian's hand. Had Tian Jing not pulled her, it would have chopped into her foot.
She swayed and fell, and Tian Jing gently lowered her to the ground, following her fall.
"Your mother-in-law, bringing trouble upon herself, got what she deserved. And you? You've spent your entire life paying for your foolishness."
"That man, if he truly cared for you, he wouldn't have given you money and then not sent you home. Didn't he know how chaotic society was back then? Don't glare at me."
No matter how fierce Li Daboinian's gaze became, Tian Jing wouldn't hold back from attacking men who played with emotions.
"I look down on him for playing coy. Does having money make him great? Can money compensate for the emotions you've invested? Perhaps you think he's a gentleman because he didn't take advantage of you."
"However, shouldn't a gentleman maintain a distance from women? Many people can't understand the mindset of the wealthy; sometimes they do certain things just for an inexplicable thrill."
"Your eldest son is gone, and you firmly believe your mother-in-law suffocated him. Didn't you consider if she would stoop so low? If she truly wanted your money, she would have taken it directly. In an era that valued filial piety, in an era where a mother-in-law was everything, what could you have done?"
"She didn't take it and even left some for you, which shows she only wanted to marry off her three sons. She took a wrong path for her family, but her conscience wasn't entirely gone."
"If you go confront Li Erbonian now, what will you say? Can you talk about the silver dollars? Can you talk about your eldest son's death? Can you talk about how you treated your nephew like an enemy? You're going to eat this bitter pill, no matter what."
"Help me." Li Daboinian suddenly sat up, grabbing Tian Jing's arm. "Tian Jing, help me, or I'll die with regrets. I've been fooled and tricked like this, I can't die with regrets!"
"See? You easily believed me again. Did you ever consider that I might be deliberately guiding you so you'd let Li Rongguo go now?"
"No, you wouldn't. You're not that kind of person. Your vision and perspective are broad. You analyzed Wu Huidi's schemes just from my words; you wouldn't deliberately mislead me. And the silver dollars are truly missing."
Tian Jing pulled away her hand. "Tell me, why were you digging for the top jar just now?"
"To put things in."
Li Daboinian got up and took a small bundle from her carrying basket. "This is the clothes for Yaoguo, who is now Rongguo, when he was just born. Your mother-in-law made them. I was worried you'd report me after finding them, so I wanted to bury them in a jar."
Tian Jing took it and opened it. They were small clothes made of fine cotton cloth, the same material as the small clothes in the jar she had dug up earlier. It seemed the mother-in-law had loved her eldest son dearly.
"Li Erbonian is cunning. I don't suggest you fall out with her, because after falling out, no one knows if you'll fall into another one of her schemes. I don't have time to meddle in your affairs."
"She likes to play dirty; you play dirty too. Doesn't she enjoy seeing your foolishness? Then keep playing the fool for her."
"I'll look for the whereabouts of the silver dollars. If I find them, I'll quietly get them back for you. She won't know the silver dollars are gone."
"Even if she knows, she won't know they've returned to you. She'll think you're still being toyed with by her. Won't you feel secretly smug inside?"
*Slap* Li Daboinian clapped her hands. "Yes, absolutely! I'll play along with her. She must have enjoyed watching my thirty years of pain."
"I'll continue to play with her, build a stage for her, and let her continue acting for me."
"But I have a condition." Tian Jing wouldn't work for free.
"Tell me."
"Household separation for the current Li Rongguo. Do not reveal Li Rongguo's identity to anyone. I don't want to have an extra elder brother and sister-in-law."
Li Daboinian was stunned. "Why?"
"I finally managed to improve the mother-in-law-daughter-in-law relationship and the sister-in-law relationship. But I'm not sure I can handle the sister-in-law-sister-in-law relationship."
"The three of you sisters-in-law put on a drama of human relations. Zhao Xiaofang's status disparity with me, wouldn't she go from inferiority to hatred?"
"Wouldn't my mother-in-law try her best to compensate out of guilt? Whose possessions would she use to compensate?"
"Human hearts are never satisfied. In the end, won't my mother-in-law compensate a viper in the bosom?"
"I will definitely help them, but I'll do so as a cousin, receiving gratitude, not jealousy and hatred."
"Hahaha."
Tian Jing's words made Li Daboinian pause for a moment before bursting into loud laughter, tears streaming down her face, which then turned into sobs.
"Wuwuwu, you're right. I was foolish to trust my sisters-in-law."
"Among the three relationships of mother-in-law-daughter-in-law, sister-in-law-sister-in-law, and sister-in-law-sister-in-law, although sisters-in-law are bound together by a common mother-in-law, they are also the most likely to capsize. This is because sisters-in-law have no blood ties, no trace of familial affection. I only realize this now."
"Fine, I promise you. Call Li Rongguo to my house again. I'll put on a show and agree. Don't worry, I guarantee I won't reveal it to Zhao Xiaofang."
Tian Jing was nonchalant. "I just don't want the sister-in-law relationship to ruin the mother-in-law-daughter-in-law relationship. After all, Li Zhengguo cares deeply about his mother. When all else fails, I might even give up my husband. I..."
"Tiantian~"
Li Zhengguo?
Tian Jing suddenly turned around. "Why are you here?"
"If I didn't come, would you have planned to abandon me?"
Li Zhengguo walked to Tian Jing's side, wronged, and looked into her eyes. "Tell me, when you need to make a choice, will you not choose at all and just give up on me?"