Chapter 128: There Is a Deeper Meaning to Visiting One's Maternal Grandmother's Home

Du Yun clutched a bag of candies, stomping home in a huff. She felt as though her two-decade-long romantic aspirations had been thoroughly tainted by those two disgusting people.

"Pah, pah, pah! How could people like them ever represent my view of love?" she muttered, eyes wide with indignation. She thought of her older sister and her sister’s future husband—weren't they the very model of childhood sweethearts? Yet, as she told herself this, an image of a perpetually cold, handsome face involuntarily surfaced in her mind.

"Oh, why am I thinking of him?" Du Yun hurriedly patted her cheeks and quickened her pace. With her sister’s wedding just around the corner, there were more important things to attend to—namely, investigating the background of her new brother-in-law's family.

Although Du Yun had never been married, she knew from countless novels that while getting married was easy, living harmoniously with a husband’s family was a different matter entirely.

"Since there’s still time before the wedding, I should go and check out the groom’s family. If there’s anything amiss, we can still remedy it," she reasoned, deciding to ask her mother to take her to her maternal grandmother’s house as soon as they got home.

When Du Yun arrived, her family had already returned. Seeing her mother heading toward the kitchen to help with dinner, she quickly grabbed her arm.

"Mother, you’re back!" Du Yun said with a bright, beaming smile.

"I am indeed," her mother replied, looking at her second daughter’s increasingly fair and delicate face with a sense of relief, before turning to head inside.

"Mother, wait!" Seeing her mother about to leave, Du Yun hurriedly pulled her aside to a quieter spot. "Come here, Mother."

"You child, what are you being so mysterious about?" Her mother had been in a rush to get to work, so she found the tugging quite strange.

"Mother, let’s go visit Grandmother in a couple of days!" Du Yun suggested, her eyes sparkling with a sweet, endearing expression.

"Why go to your grandmother’s now? Your sister is getting married; we’re so busy!" Hearing the request, her mother felt a flicker of emotion. She hadn't visited her own mother in a long time and missed her, especially since her eldest brother had recently sent over so many wonderful things. "No, it’s too hectic. Let’s wait until after your sister’s wedding."

"Mother, I have a real reason for going!" Du Yun insisted, grabbing her mother again as she turned to leave. "Before my sister gets married, shouldn't we see what her future mother-in-law is like?"

"What? See your sister’s future mother-in-law?" Her mother stopped in her tracks, a clear look of hesitation and concern dawning on her face.

For Du Yun, the difficulty of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships was something she had only read about in books. But for her mother, it was a lived reality. Whether a husband was good was one thing, but whether a mother-in-law was kind was entirely another; it was a matter of personal experience, known only to the one enduring it.

Back in her own maiden home, Du Yun’s mother hadn't been this timid or cautious; she had once been a cheerful girl. But after marrying into the Du family, with an overbearing, strict mother-in-law, a steady but passive husband, and a string of sisters-in-law to contend with, life had become a struggle. To survive, she had buried her original, lively nature, and the heavy burdens of life had turned her into the silent, shrinking woman she was today.

"Mother," Du Yun said, watching the rapid changes in her mother’s expression, which eventually settled into a look of profound loneliness. Her heart ached, and she pulled her mother’s arm to her chest. "If you don't want to go, we don't have to."

"It’s alright, I’m fine," her mother said, hastily wiping away the tears that had gathered in her eyes. "It’s not that I don’t want to go; I was just thinking about what I should bring for your grandmother since I haven't seen her in so long."

Deep down, she sometimes wondered if she had known she would face such a fierce, demanding mother-in-law who would crush her spirit day after day, would she have still married into the Du family? The answer was yes, for the sake of her wonderful children. But as a mother, did she want her own daughter to suffer in such an environment? Even though she had been worn down into a soft-hearted person, she firmly refused to let that happen.

Reasoning through it, she realized Du Yun was right. Rather than waiting for trouble to erupt after the marriage, it was better to understand the Tang family now and prepare her sister for any potential challenges.

"Let’s go! We’ll go to your grandmother’s!" Her mother, now fully convinced, abandoned her kitchen duties and grabbed Du Yun’s hand, ready to set off.

"Mother, let’s eat first, and we can pack some gifts for Grandmother before we head out," Du Yun said, touched by her mother’s protective love but pulling her back to reality.

"Oh, look at me!" Her mother, having been caught up in her memories, calmed down and realized how improper her impulsive rush had been. If she had just stormed off to her parents' home without changing or bringing gifts, people would assume she had suffered some terrible grievance at her in-laws'. That would not only be embarrassing for her and her own family, but it would also cause her mother-in-law to lose face. And her mother-in-law, a woman who prized her reputation above all else, would surely fly into a rage.

Shuddering at the thought of her mother-in-law’s ruthless tongue, Du Yun’s mother breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't acted yet.

"Mother," Du Yun said, realizing her mother was clearly traumatized by the grandmother. For the first time, a thought took root in Du Yun’s mind: once she had enough money, she would help the family move out and live separately, so her mother could finally be the mistress of her own home and no longer suffer under the grandmother’s thumb.