Chapter 94: Choice

Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Choice

"As long as the Lin family still hates my sister, they won’t let me off the hook. I’ll end up in jail! I won’t even be able to take care of you, Chunhua, or the two kids. How could I possibly provide for them then?" Tao Junhao clutched his head in agony, convincing himself that he was right. ’It’s every man for himself.’

"What have I done to deserve this? What sin did I commit?" Mrs. Tao no longer cared that the floor was dirty and collapsed onto it.

"Maybe... maybe we should go to the Lin family first and see what they’re thinking? After all, they raised those kids for ten years. Maybe deep down, they can’t bear to part with them? If they still care about the children, maybe they’ll let me go?" Tao Junhao said, as if grasping at a sliver of hope.

"How is that possible? If they really wanted the children, they wouldn’t have dumped them back here the moment trouble started, and they wouldn’t have let the rumors spread everywhere." Mrs. Tao shook her head. She wasn’t so optimistic. She even suspected the Lin Family had deliberately started the rumors, figuring that if they were going to be disgraced, they might as well drag everyone down with them.

Tao Junhao’s face turned ashen. He then tugged at his hair in frustration and said viciously, "If the Lin family really doesn’t want them, then our only choice is to give those two little bastards back to that... that Gu Family. They’re the Gu Family’s flesh and blood, after all. I refuse to believe they’d reject their own ready-made grandchildren. As for my sister, once the Lin family dumps her, she’ll be free of those two burdens. We’ll just marry her off to some hick town in the mountains. The old bachelors there just want a wife; who’s going to care about the scandalous crap she’s done?"

"Are you insane? That’s your own sister!" Mrs. Tao’s eyes widened in shock at her son’s words. Although she was furious at her daughter for what she’d done, she was still her own flesh and blood. How could she bear to treat her so cruelly?

"After something like this, do you think she has a choice in the matter?" Tao Junhao said menacingly, his eyes glinting with malice.

The thought that he might go to jail just like his brother-in-law because of his sister filled him with fear, hatred, and regret. "Mom, I don’t want to go to jail. If I do, Chunhua is still so young. She’ll definitely run off with another man. Then you’ll be left all alone, an old woman trying to raise two grandchildren. How would you survive? Would our family even be a family anymore?"

"But, but..."

"Mom, I know you feel bad for your daughter, but don’t you feel bad for your son? Before she went and cheated, before she did something like that, why didn’t she think about the consequences? Why didn’t she think about how the Lin Family would come to hate us? Right now, the Lin Family must despise her. The more miserable her life is, the less likely they’ll be to take their anger out on me. Only then can our family continue to live our lives in peace." The more Tao Junhao thought about it, the more he was convinced his reasoning was sound.

Seeing the hesitation still on Mrs. Tao’s face, he stood up, dropped to his knees with a THUD, and began to sob uncontrollably. "Mom, just take pity on your son and your two grandchildren. With an aunt like that, a father in jail, and a mother who ran off with another man, they’ll grow up with people pointing fingers and whispering behind their backs. They’ll be looked down on. When the time comes, no one in any of the surrounding villages will be willing to marry them... Mom, do you really want to see that happen?"

Seeing her son kneeling and crying like this, and hearing how his every word stabbed at her heart, Mrs. Tao finally closed her eyes. Without hesitation, she chose her son over her daughter. Tears streamed down her wrinkled face. "I’ll listen to you, Mom will listen to you, all right?"

’My daughter is my own flesh and blood, it’s true, but my son is my whole life.’

’Besides, my son is right. My daughter made a mistake, and things have gone too far for me to be soft on her anymore. Otherwise, what our family will face is no different from being torn apart and destroyed.’

Tao Junhao was secretly overjoyed that he had persuaded his mother. He quickly wiped the smile from his face, stood up, and pulled her to her feet, deciding to strike while the iron was hot. "Mom, we can’t delay this. Go change into some better clothes. We’re going to the Lin family now. Maybe things aren’t as bad as we think. Maybe the Lin Family will actually agree to take the two children back?"

Mrs. Tao looked up. The light that had briefly flickered in her dim eyes died out again, and she gave a bitter smile. "It’s not as simple as you think. Forget it. Whatever happens to Jia Ren... we’ll have to leave it to fate. I’m old. I don’t have the energy I used to."

"Mom, I’m just doing what’s best for our family. It won’t be that bad for my sister. After all, a woman’s life is the same no matter who or where she marries. As long as she has food to eat and doesn’t starve, it’ll be fine."

"Sigh... In the end, she brought this on herself. She had a life as perfect as an Immortal’s, and she threw it away..." Mrs. Tao shook her head and wiped her tears. "Forget it, forget it. Let’s not talk about her anymore. I’ll go get changed."

They waited for Mrs. Tao to change her clothes. Tao Junhao also brushed the dust off himself, washed his face, and tidied up.

Tao Junhao was giving Mrs. Tao a ride on his bicycle. As they were about to leave, they saw Tao Jianren returning, giving Yuan Chunhua a ride on her bicycle. The two sisters-in-law were surprised to see them looking like they were heading out. Yuan Chunhua asked, "Mom, Hao, where are you two going?"

"We’re going to..." Mrs. Tao started to say, but Tao Junhao quickly cut her off. "We have some business to take care of. It’s too complicated to explain right now, so don’t ask. Oh, by the way, Mom didn’t have time to cook. You two can make something for yourselves and eat first. Just save some for Mom and me. We might be back late, and we don’t want you to go hungry for nothing."

"What’s so important? It’s so urgent you can’t even wait until after dinner?" Tao Jianren grumbled with some dissatisfaction.

Usually, dinner was ready the moment she got home, but today she had to cook it herself. ’In this weather, just standing in the kitchen makes you break out in a sweat. I don’t want to spend any more time in there than I have to. Plus, all the smoke and heat is bad for my skin.’ She thought about all her precious imported skincare products and her many fine clothes—gifts from her husband’s second uncle—that were still left at her old home. She wondered if she’d ever get a chance to go back and get them. Now, she was pathetically reduced to snatching her sister-in-law’s cheap vanishing cream, and she couldn’t help but feel sorry for herself.

In the past, she would have thrown a tantrum if her mother had acted like this. But now, thinking about her current situation, she just pouted and reluctantly swallowed the rest of her complaints.

"It’s because we have urgent business that I didn’t have time to cook! What’s wrong with asking you to help out for once? Don’t you go bullying your sister-in-law and making her do all the work. You need to help too, you hear me?" Seeing her daughter’s attitude, Mrs. Tao knew exactly what she was thinking. A surge of anger rose in her, and she scolded her bluntly.

"Mom..." Tao Jianren whined, thoroughly shocked. ’My mom was never like this before. Why is she acting so strangely today? Why is she defending my sister-in-law instead of me?’