CH 35

“My wife is amazing!”

When they returned to the village, it was still early afternoon, a good time for the women in the village to gather and chat gossip.

The Lin family at the entrance of the village was usually the gathering place for people to chat, as they lived there and most people passed by their house when they go in and out. They were the first to know any fresh news, and Aunt Lin herself was a chatterbox. Over time, everyone grew fond of gathering there for a chat.

When Cheng Yun and his group left in the morning, it was still early and not many people saw them heading to town. However, when they returned, they made quite a spectacle. The four of them were pulling a cart loaded with goods. As soon as they entered the village, those gathered at Aunt Lin’s house saw them.

Five or six women were momentarily stunned, their hands stopped their work. The lively chatter that was happening just moments ago suddenly died down, and all eyes turned towards them.

Cheng Yun had heard about this group of women. Aunt Wang had warned him earlier to avoid them and take a different route if he saw them, so as not to become their topic of gossip. Otherwise, within a day, the entire village would know what he had been up to, and most of it would be false.

He glanced at them and noticed Yang Hongjin’s stepmother, Lin Fengjiao, among the crowd. His steps faltered for a moment.

Since Lin Fengjiao had seen them, apart from the initial surprise, she had been staring at them all along, afraid that they would disappear if she blinked. Naturally, she also noticed Cheng Yun and their brief eye contact.

Even though she was just a stepmother, she held the nominal position of Yang Hongjin’s mother. Since they had been spotted, and Yang Hongjin was oblivious, Cheng Yun couldn’t just ignore it.

He asked Wang Liang and Cheng Bao’er to take the things back home while he held Yang Hongjin’s hand and walked forward.

“Mother, ladies, good afternoon,” Cheng Yun greeted with a gentle smile, appearing approachable. He was dressed better than the villagers, clean and neat, resembling a well-to-do family in town. His demeanor was graceful and dignified, which made the ignorant village women feel a sense of unease and envy.

Lin Fengjiao frowned, instinctively feeling that Cheng Yun was putting on airs for her. However, when she glanced at the others who were intimidated by his pretentious appearance, she inexplicably felt a sense of superiority.

She straightened her posture, made a slight “Hmm” sound, and seeing the idiot and the barren Ge’er holding hands in front of others, she found an outlet for her frustration. She furrowed her brow and said, “Playing around and holding hands in public, how disgraceful!”

Cheng Yun had no interest in dealing with her, but he also didn’t want to give others something to gossip about. He could only maintain a composed demeanor and smiled, saying, “You’re aware of Hongjin’s condition. He can’t be separated from me right now. I’m afraid I might lose him if we let go of each other even outside.”

After speaking, he even pretended to bow halfway to the other women and said, “Please forgive any offense.”

These women, who were usually talkative, couldn’t utter a word when faced with someone taller than themselves. However, in recent days, there had been rumors circulating in the village about the skills and connections of Cheng’s family, particularly their interactions with the Yueqiong Tower in town. The rumors had even been confirmed by Doctor Liu, so now Cheng Yun was seen as a “superior person” in their eyes.

Normally, they would gossip about others in private, but seeing Cheng Yun in this state, they had no reason to doubt the previous rumors. Even though Cheng Yun was respectful, they didn’t dare say a word. They pushed and shoved each other until the lady of the house, Aunt Lin, was pushed forward and said, “It’s none of our business.”

Lin Fengjiao enjoyed the sense of superiority brought by her son-in-law while secretly resenting that these two had been living so well and had not come back to support their Yang family.

If she hadn’t mistaken them, one of the two people who had been following them was Cheng’s younger brother. They had only met once when Cheng Yun got married and paid respects with tea.

Seeing those people returning from town, dragging all kinds of big and small things, made Lin Fengjiao more and more uncomfortable. How could it be? Cheng Yun had married into their Yang family, but now it seemed like the Cheng family was benefiting from them?

Looking at the clothes they were wearing, so shiny and exquisite, and then looking at her own clothes, Lin Fengjiao felt a lump in her heart. Even the clothes she was currently patching for Yang Dashui seemed to be mocking her.

So her face turned black, she directly threw down the things in her hand, truly showing the face of a stepmother, and asked sternly, “Why have you been going to town so often recently? What are you doing there?”

Cheng Yun paused for a moment, not expecting their cheap stepmother to interrogate them in front of so many people, disregarding any family courtesy. Her emotional intelligence could really be so low.

But Cheng Yun wasn’t a pushover either, not allowing others to pinch him however they pleased. He maintained his usual drowsy appearance, showing no sign of fault, and replied straightforwardly, “Doing business.”

“Hmph, doing business?” Lin Fengjiao’s face was displeased, but deep down, she was envious and struggling. “I see that person just now was your younger brother?”

“Yes,” Cheng Yun didn’t want to answer any further.

Lin Fengjiao asked the question that everyone was curious about: “Why did you go to town to do business and bring your younger brother along?”

At that moment, everyone stared at Cheng Yun, and Lin Fengjiao even felt a sense of satisfaction as if she had caught him red-handed.

However, Cheng Yun didn’t have any intention of hiding it. Even if he didn’t mention it today, someone would eventually find out. He took this opportunity to explain himself, “A few days ago, Bao’er came to my house to deliver something. My mother isn’t in good health and needs medication regularly. We had a lot of fruit at home, so he brought some for me to eat. Coincidentally, I had a business collaboration that I wanted to discuss with Boss Liu, the owner of Yueqiong Tower. I was worried that I didn’t have anyone to help me, so I asked Bao’er to come along.”

“Then why didn’t you ask someone from our Yang family to go? Yang Hongcai is no less capable than your brother, right?” Lin Fengjiao blurted out the question, not thinking that there was anything wrong with it. She sounded confident and self-assured.

In her eyes, although Yang Hongcai wasn’t her biological son, he still carried the Yang surname. Her own son, Hongbao, was still young and couldn’t handle important matters. But the money earned by Yang Hongcai would still have to be handed over to her, as the mother. The good fortune should stay within the family, and for her, anyone with the surname Cheng was an outsider.

Cheng Yun couldn’t help but laugh angrily. He had long known that his stepmother’s way of thinking was abnormal, but he never expected her to be so annoying. Even a few neighboring aunts looked at Lin Fengjiao disapprovingly.

Fortunately, Cheng Yun was prepared for this. He intentionally replied, “It was just a coincidence that Bao’er brought me food, and I happened to be short of manpower.”

As soon as he said that, Aunt Fang, who usually clashed with Lin Fengjiao the most, made a scoffing sound, exaggerating her tone and adding a touch of mockery, “Indeed, that’s right. It turns out that only one’s own family will care for their own children. Fengjiao, your second son got a good catch. I can see that Cheng is a capable person. He can even do business in town without relying on others. He’s truly a rare and remarkable young man.”

When Cheng Yun mentioned doing business in town earlier, Aunt Fang also felt a pang of jealousy, especially when she saw Lin Fengjiao’s arrogant expression. However, as soon as she heard Cheng Yun’s explanation, a clever idea struck her, and she thought of a way to mock Lin Fengjiao.

There were others present who held similar thoughts, but no one dared to speak first. Now that Aunt Fang had spoken, everyone followed suit, subtly and quietly expressing their disdain for Lin Fengjiao, the stepmother who treated her stepson-in-law poorly and still wanted to benefit from him. It served her right that the Cheng family was reaping the rewards. It seemed that only one’s own flesh and blood would benefit.

The voices of the people weren’t loud, merely whispered gossip, but the words happened to reach Lin Fengjiao’s ears, making her even more uncomfortable than if they had openly mocked her.

Cheng Yun couldn’t be bothered with these gossiping women. Just the thought of how Yang Hongjin had been mistreated by this stepmother in the past made him feel satisfied seeing Lin Fengjiao endure some hardship.

Without giving Lin Fengjiao a chance to expand on the topic, he nodded at the women and said there were things to attend to at home. Then he pulled Yang Hongjin and left.

After the two of them were completely out of sight of the crowd, Cheng Yun suddenly realized that throughout the whole process, Yang Hongjin had been unusually quiet. He turned his head to look at him and was worried that he was afraid after seeing Lin Fengjiao, but instead, he was met with a pair of sparkling eyes.

Cheng Yun was momentarily stunned, but then he smiled and playfully scratched Yang Hong’s chin like teasing a puppy. “What’s the matter? You seem so happy.”

Yang Hongjin tightly held Cheng Yun’s hand and exclaimed excitedly, “My wife is amazing!”

“How am I amazing?” Cheng Yun smiled and held his hand in return, walking in the direction of home.

Yang Hongjin couldn’t explain why exactly, as he couldn’t express himself well at his current level. He could only straightforwardly speak his mind, “Mother, she was angry. I was scared. But my wife wasn’t afraid. My wife was amazing! My wife smiles and isn’t afraid. She won’t hit me. She, she wouldn’t dare to hit…”

Yang Hongjin’s speech became incoherent as he grew more excited, and he could only blurt out words one by one. Even so, Cheng Yun could piece together Yang Hongjin’s fear of Lin Fengjiao from his fragmented words.

With a pang of heartache, Cheng Yun tightened his grip on Yang Hongjin’s hand and patiently waited for him to finish. However, the fool suddenly pursed his lips and furrowed his brows, saying, “I can’t say…”

“It’s alright, your wife understands.” Cheng Yun’s tone was unusually gentle as he comforted him, “Your wife will become even more amazing in the future. Let me protect Hongjin, okay?”

Just a second ago, Yang Hongjin was sulking to himself, but upon hearing Cheng Yun’s words, he immediately became happy again. His eyes lit up brightly, and he replied loudly, “Yes!”

Cheng Yun gently conversed with him, carefully avoiding any unpleasant memories that might upset Yang Hong, while trying to find out how Lin Fengjiao had treated him in the past.

With his wife by his side, Yang Hongjin felt like he had a powerful support. The things that happened in the past could no longer harm him. Therefore, every time Cheng Yun asked a question, he answered without hesitation.

However, occasionally, when he remembered the things that had happened before, Yang Hongjin would unconsciously shrink his neck or furrow his brows, making Cheng Yun want to hug him and reassure him that he didn’t need to be afraid anymore and that no one would ever bully him again.

They walked a while, and even before reaching home, they could see Cheng Bao’er and Wang Liang waiting for them at the door.

Seeing his eldest brother return safely, Cheng Bao’er breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ran up to ask if those people had bullied him.

Cheng Yun smiled, ruffled his hair, and said, “How could your big brother be bullied? Let’s go, let’s go back and make the sour plum soup we’ll sell tomorrow!”

Wang Liang, who was standing nearby, glanced at Cheng Bao’er and then at Yang Hongjin. He rubbed his nose and felt a bit envious of Cheng Yun.

He also wished to become as capable as Brother Cheng, admired by his wife and family to such an extent!