Mrs. Gao was too horrified to say anything. The head of the household had told her that Afu and Dabao were pitiable souls, and often scolded his children, forbidding them to bully the two outcasts. But their grandmother and aunt consistently made unkind remarks about them in front of the children, with the aunt even occasionally inciting Dahu to hit them...
Mrs. Wang's eyes welled up, but she didn't dare to speak up in favor of Chen Afu. Perhaps her status as a mere concubine made her reluctant to stir up controversy.
Chen Dabao also kept quiet, but the fire in his eyes demonstrated his outrage as he focused intently on the rice in his bowl.
Chen Alu served generous portions of food into the bowls of Chen Afu and Chen Dabao, especially the limited supply of meat, which he was swift and accurate in serving. This annoyed Chen Dahu and Chen Daya to no end. Dahu was able to help himself, but Daya was not as self-sufficient. She anxiously asked Mrs. Gao, "Mother, please serve me some meat quickly before Uncle Alu takes it all."
Angry, Mrs. Hu chastised Chen Alu with a chopstick strike on his own chopsticks, muttering, "Are you trying to starve everyone else? All the meat is gone because you two ate it all." She had the cunning to lower her voice.
Chen Alu was wary of Mrs. Hu and didn't dare serve any more meat.
Chen Alan, laughing, placed a few vegetables in Chen Alu's bowl. "Alu is the most sensible," she proudly said, "despite his tender age, he knows how to take care of his niece and nephew."
The meal ended in silence and unhappy faces.
After sending the family members from the second room away, Chen Ye's face darkened. He strode into Chen Aju's bedroom, where Chen Aju lay sulking on the bed, with Mrs. Hu trying to coax her into a better mood.
Chen Ye kicked off one of his shoes, pushed Mrs. Hu away, and hauled Chen Aju from the bed, giving her a couple of good thrashes with his shoe. He scolded her, saying, "You reckless thing! You even resorted to that particular trick. What if Afu had really taken a sip of that boiled water? What if it had scalded him?"
Mrs. Hu hurriedly pulled Chen Ye back, pleading, "Please, sir, don't hit her anymore. Aju must have acted out of extreme frustration..."
Chen Aju sobbed, "It's not like it would have killed him, at most he would have lost his appetite for a few days. What's the big deal? Don't I even have the right to vent my anger?"
Chen Ye slapped aside Mrs. Hu, and shouted, "It's you who spoils the child! Even after doing something wrong, you won't admit your mistake. If she had actually harmed someone, not only would the life of the child's family be ruined, but your daughter's reputation would be shattered too!"
Mrs. Chen also entered the room and said, "Chen Ye was right in his critique. If we continue to spoil Aju, who knows what disaster she will bring in the future. While giving a hot pepper as candy can be excused as children's mischief, feeding boiled water to a mentally challenged child is harmful. Not only will it harm Aju but it will harm you too. The girl should be smart enough to understand this, yet she still seeks to harm others. It's just foolish. Also, you should avoid visiting Mrs. Hu's family, none of them are up to any good..."
Mrs. Chen and Chen Ye's chastisement of Chen Aju was purely for the sake of her own good. After all, she was already a young woman and she needed to understand the importance of actions. But Mrs. Hu didn't view it that way. First, she felt that she didn't earn any advantage despite sending Chen Ming to join the second room of Chen's family and did not see anything wrong to make fun of the "fools". Second, she thought Chen Afu having a son had spoiled the reputation of the Chen family and ruined her daughter's prospects of finding a good husband. In her mind, not only should they bully Chen Afu and her son, but even if they got hurt, they also deserved it, because one is mentally challenged and the other one an illegitimate child. Add to that Mrs. Chen's veiled criticism of her family, Mrs. Hu was seething with anger. But at the same time, she dared not confront her mother-in-law and her husband directly, so she directed her anger at Chen Afu and her son instead.
Chen Agui also felt that his sister needed a lesson. It was not acceptable for her to hurt someone like that, and he also disapproved of his mother spoiling his sister excessively. He didn't make any effort to get involved in the dispute and even physically stopped Mrs. Gao from intervening, pulling her back into their West Wing Room. Once they had closed the door behind them, they reprimanded Dahu sternly.
When the family of the second room returned home, Mrs. Wang was still disturbed. She told Chen Afu and Dabao, "I had no idea that Aju was so malicious despite her young age. From now on, you should steer clear of her, who knows what mischief she will come up with next."
Chen Ming also warned them, "Your mother is right. Stay away from Aju. She's been spoiled by your Aunt Hu."
All this while, Chen Afu had been pondering a problem: how to set up a household in her name earlier, and to transfer Dabao to her family book under her name. Currently, this son wasn't firmly in her grasp. If her illness were to improve, there was a real risk that she would lose the rights to the child. Even if she had to treat him as a little brother instead, she was unwilling to do so.
Firstly, she had spent so much time with the boy, and genuine mother-son affection had blossomed between them. Also, the boy had always considered her his mother. If he couldn't be her son, he would feel abandoned and would likely be heartbroken.
She seriously suggested, "Father, Mother, I love Dabao - I want to be his mother. Can you please set up a family book in my name while I'm still sick and put Dabao under my name? If I have a family book in my own name, Auntie won't be so upset about Dabao being my son. Otherwise, once I'm cured, I might not only lose the chance to have Dabao as my son, but also the ability to have a family book in my name."
Although Chen Afu's speech was still somewhat halting and slow, it was coherent. It was clearly the speech of a mentally normative person.
Chen Ming and Mrs. Wang felt overjoyed. Chen Ming approvingly nodded, "That's great. Our Afu is finally recovered." He continued, "We have already discussed it. If your illness is definitely cured, you still need to get married. After all, a woman's normal life involves marrying and bearing children. Regarding Dabao, we won't mistreat him. He can be our son."
Before Chen Afu could reply, Chen Dabao began to wail loudly. He sobbed, "So you haven't officially registered me as my mother's son, and I've been happy for nothing all these years. Grandpa, Grandma, please let me be my mother's son. I'm used to being my mother's son, not her brother. Grandpa and Grandma already have Uncle Alu as their son, but my mother only has me. Without me, she will be sad. Moreover, Grandma Chen and Great Grandma Chen were originally afraid that I would share Uncle Alu's inheritance. They will definitely not want me to be your son again. Who knows, one day they might even sell me. I once overheard Uncle Hu telling Grandma Chen that I'm handsome and likable, and at least worth ten taels of silver - enough to buy two acres of the best farmland..."
Once Dabao started wailing, everyone's discussion came to an abrupt halt. And his last few sentences had shocked everyone. Chen Afu had to comfort him quickly, "Don't worry, Dabao, I will speak with Grandma and Grandpa again. You will forever be my son." She then asked Alu to accompany him to the West Wing.
Chen Afu continued, "Father, Mother, over the years, Dabao and I have developed a real mother-son relationship. If he needs to act as my younger brother instead, neither Dabao nor I would feel comfortable." Her concern made her words flow more fluently than usual.
Mrs. Wang anxiously replied, "Afu, if you establish a separate household, it would mean you're either planning on never marrying or would be looking for a stay-at-home husband. But now that you've recovered, it wouldn't be good for you to never marry. And any man who is willing to be a stay-at-home husband is simply a man looking for an easy life, one who lacks ambition. My Afu, you are so attractive, why would you want to settle for that kind of man? Plus, having to care for Dabao would make it an even greater challenge to find a good husband. Your father and I only thought of this plan because we didn't want to compromise your happiness."
Chen Ming nodded in agreement.
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Thank you all for the support! Thanks to keppra and Shallow Yi Yan for the recommendation tickets, thank you!