Chapter 101: The Outsider

Tang Xin knew that Meng Jia’s father had indeed saved Tang’s father; there was no disputing that.

It was only right that Tang’s father should have treated their mother and daughter a little better, which was why the original Tang Xin had always been so good to Meng Jia in her previous life.

Tang’s mother, too, had always treated that mother and daughter kindly.

But after Meng Jia’s rebirth, what had she done?

In the novel, what had Meng Jia’s mother done in her deranged madness?

Tang Xin warned herself that she must never soften. She had to win justice for the original owner of this body!

Wasn’t the reason she had been able to come here that the original Tang Xin had already been driven to her death by the reborn Meng Jia?

So when Tang Xin saw the remittance slip for one hundred yuan, she did not soften toward Tang’s father at all. Instead, she only grew anxious.

What had Tang’s mother sacrificed in order to send her this money?

Pity the hearts of parents everywhere. The original Tang Xin had such a wonderful mother, so why had she ended up with such a rotten father?

Even in the end, the letter had said:

Behave yourself with that country man and help Meng Jia more. Only then will I consider whether to accept you again.

Without hesitation, Tang Xin tore off the second page of the letter, leaving only the first.

What was the use of keeping a father like that?

As for the remittance slip, she kept it safely. Another day, she would go withdraw the money with Brother Li Sheng, and then she could openly buy some gifts for her parents-in-law.

In Tang Xin’s heart now, this was her home; her family was all in the Harvest Brigade. As for the provincial capital—

Hmph. After she got Tang’s mother out of there, she would find a way to bring her family to the city to build a life there, but she would absolutely not have much to do with the Tang family or the Lu family.

Since the money had been received, as a conscientious person, Tang Xin would of course do the job.

But the matter had to be kept straight: she was not the original owner, the poor girl who had been kept in the dark. Since she knew that this was Tang’s mother’s hard-earned private savings and had nothing to do with Tang’s father,

then she only needed to treat Tang’s mother well. As for that scum of a man—

You keep saying those mother and daughter are the good ones, so why not just live happily with them from now on?

Tang Xin knew that, according to the plot, Lu Liqin would later become a successful man in the business world, and Meng Jia would use every means possible to marry him and become the wife of one of the wealthiest men around.

A daughter who became the wife of a tycoon—Meng Jia’s mother surely would not have a bad life either.

And as for Tang’s father, who had been so good to them as an old fool, shouldn’t that hypocritical mother and daughter repay him and treat him a little better?

So Tang Xin, whom Tang’s father already regarded as an unfilial daughter, the "outsider," felt she should remain obedient and not disturb that future family of three.

Of course, Tang Xin was not the least bit worried that after she had entered the book, the lives of people like Li Sheng had changed so much that it might indirectly affect the later lives of Lu Liqin and Meng Jia.

Those were the male and female leads of the original novel, weren’t they? The ones the author favored absolutely, the ones with cheat-like advantages?

They had to be invincible. Tang Xin felt that she, an innocent bystander and supporting character, would do better to stay far away from them, so she would not be hurt by the overwhelming force of the plot.

Once she had thought it through, Tang Xin no longer bothered with those irrelevant matters.

After putting her things away, she picked up a pen and began to write a letter, naturally addressed to Tang’s mother.

She knew Tang’s father would certainly read it. Knowing Tang Xin’s nature, he would surely use the letter to put on a pitiful display.

She would write at length about the hardships of life in the countryside, say that she had fallen ill from exhaustion while taking part in the autumn harvest, and that it was all thanks to Brother Li Sheng...

Without the people of the Li family, how much harder would her life here have been, and so on and so forth.

In any case, she would make it as miserable as possible and embellish it to the fullest. Writing compositions had always been Tang Xin’s specialty in the past.

The main point was to tell her family that if not for Brother Li Sheng, she truly could not have survived in the countryside.

It was only because she genuinely liked Brother Li Sheng that she had married him.

Then she described Brother Li Sheng’s admirable character to her birth mother. In truth, she had also thought about not writing about her own miserable condition.

Although that was deliberately meant to make Tang’s father feel guilty and lay the groundwork for the future rupture between father and daughter,

if Tang’s mother saw the contents of the letter, she would definitely worry about her daughter sincerely and with all her heart.

After hesitating for a moment, Tang Xin still decided to write it that way.

To break before one can rebuild. Without using hard measures, it would probably be very difficult to make a traditional woman as softhearted as Tang’s mother leave her husband.

Of course the Li family knew that something had been sent over from Tang Xin’s family in the provincial capital. They had already received a package before the New Year, and now there was another one, so each of them felt a little embarrassed.

Tang Xin did not specifically explain, but she did tell them that these things should all have been sent by her mother.

Her mother had scrimped and saved, giving all her good things to her daughter.

Since Tang’s mother might well have to rely on her son-in-law in the future, Tang Xin naturally had to build her presence up in front of the Li family and fight for as much goodwill as she could.

She had not yet figured out exactly what had happened, but this time Tang’s mother had truly been generous. There were quite a lot of things in the parcel.

She took out nourishing items like malted milk and powdered milk in front of everyone and locked them in the kitchen cupboard. In any case, they would later be distributed as rewards for studying.

This time it really was a lavish gift. Besides the one hundred yuan, there were many things in the package, including some old cotton clothes of Tang Xin’s.

Winter clothes should already have been sent over last year, but at that time the spoiled original Tang Xin, the young lady of the Tang family, had not wanted to ride the train with so much luggage.

Besides, she had held out hope that Tang’s father would quickly find a way to transfer her back, so she had not brought many daily necessities.

Now that she was married, people in the countryside surely did not have anything good. Tang’s mother was afraid her daughter would freeze herself to death here, so this time she simply sent all her things over.

Tang Xin gave one of her cotton jackets to Li Xiyue, and another older cotton coat to Li Xihua.

These had once been worn by the original Tang Xin. The current Tang Xin actually was not afraid of the cold; her space farm kept pace with the times.

So when winter arrived, the upgrade package included cold-weather clothing, though some of it was too fashionable for her to take out.

Even so, she was not worried. Her mother-in-law had specially used the new cotton from the house to make her new clothes, and whenever her husband had anything good, he would always think of her first.

So Tang Xin did not lack winter clothing. And besides—

For some reason, she still felt a certain resistance toward some of the original owner’s belongings, which was why she did not want these two cotton coats.

Though Tang Xin saw them as old, the Li sisters would not mind at all. They had never worn clothes from the city before.

Their eyes lit up one by one, as if they were looking at treasures.

Li Xihua was all right, a little more reserved, but Li Xiyue let herself go completely.

“Sister-in-law, you’re so good. You’re really such a wonderful person.”

Tang Xin rolled her eyes. So now she was a good person, was she?

“Then next time I ask you to wash my clothes, will you do it?”

“How could I not help my sister-in-law wash her clothes? Don’t worry, Sister-in-law. From now on I’ll wash them, and I’ll make sure they’re very clean.”