Chapter 463: How He lost it all

Second Aunt Han felt that her mother in law was being too biased. When she asked her mother-in-law if she could send those crabs to her natal home, her mother-in-law refused, saying that those crabs were something that Han Ruochen gave to them and she could not hand them over as a gift for her in-laws. But when Han Xuehan did it, suddenly everything was fine and pitchy because it was her granddaughter who gave those crabs away.

Second Aunt Han was upset but with her mother-in-law looking at her as if she was about to eat her flesh and drink her blood, she could only suck in this bad breath. Turning around on her feet, she headed toward her room but Old Madam Han and Han Xuehan could still hear her muttering.

"Sorry, Grandma." Han Xuehan probably realised that she had made a mistake and stirred the hornets’ nest. Who would have thought that two blue crabs could cause such a stir? When she gave those crabs away, she thought that no one would have any objections since Han Ruochen was the one who caught them. But she forgot that she was not at her own home.

As soon as this thought flashed in her mind, Han Xuehan turned a little upset. There was a time when she could take whatever she wanted from her grandmother’s home and now that she was grown up and married off, she had become a stranger in her own grandma’s home.

"Hey." Just as she was feeling lost, an old yet warm hand reached out and nudged her. Han Xuehan raised her head and looked at Old Madam Han, who was smiling at her. "What are you thinking, you silly girl? There is no need to apologise over such a small matter. It is a good thing that you gave those crabs away or else they would have been fed to a bunch of white-eyed wolves." The first few words were spoken in a gentle tone, while the rest of the words were filled with a ferocity that could make a person shed tears of blood.

Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, the mutterings that were coming from inside the house turned quiet.

She then turned to look at Han Xuehan and said to her, "There is no need to feel guilty over such a small matter. You are my granddaughter and everyone else has to step aside when it comes to you. So what if your second aunt has opinions? She is just an outsider. Who is she to decide what can be kept or cannot be taken?"

Han Xuehan turned awkward upon hearing her grandmother’s scolding. She wanted to stop Old Madam Han but she couldn’t bring herself to.

Her personality did not allow her to confront Old Madam Han even though she felt what Old Madam Han said was wrong.

However, before she could come up with a response, she heard Old Madam Han question her in a sharp voice, "But whom did you give the crabs to? You are not the kind of person who will give things away without a reason." Those crabs were not cheap and Han Xuehan’s honest personality would never allow her to hand such an expensive thing to someone for no reason, which made Old Madam Han suspicious.

Han Xuehan was also curious about Zhu Kun and instantly felt that her chance had come, so she went forward and asked, "Comrade Zhu Kun helped me earlier." She then told what happened to Old Madam Han and sure enough, as soon as Old Madam Han heard what Qiao Tingyan had done, her expression turned sombre and she started to scold the eighteenth generation of the Qiao family. It was only when she stopped cursing the Qiao family and Qiao Tingyan that Han Xuehan got the chance to speak, "Grandma, isn’t Zhu Kun married? He told me that he doesn’t have a wife or children. He is already in his thirties; how can he still be unmarried?"

When Old Madam Han heard that it was Zhu Kun who came to help Han Xuehan, her expression turned a bit complicated. Who would have thought that such a situation would occur?

Han Xuehan and Zhu Kun used to be so close to one another and Old Madam Han thought that the two of them would get married. But because of Meng Yunhan—

She sighed and said, "He was indeed married before and had a son. He and his wife were very close; it made everyone envious in the village. However, five years ago, when his wife and child went to the county, they ran into human traffickers. They were kidnapped and sold off to far away villages, by the time the clues of their disappearance were found, their corpses were already half decomposed. If not for the fact that they still held human appearances, poor Zhu Kun might still be searching for them..."

Old Madam Han’s tone turned grim when she remembered what happened. "I saw his wife and child. His wife was a plain-looking woman but she was truly nice and his son was sunny and very polite. He was only four years old when he died."

Han Xuehan was someone who wanted to have a child very much. Naturally she could understand how painful it must be for Zhu Kun to lose his entire family because of some evil people.

When she recalled the bitter expression on Zhu Kun’s face when she questioned him about his wife and family, Han Xuehan wished she could slap herself in the face, what was she even thinking?

"It hasn’t been easy on him either." She sighed.

"Who says otherwise? The reason he helped you must be because he recalled how he could not help his own wife and child when they needed him the most. He must have felt sorry for you for having a husband who doesn’t respect you as a human being." Old Madam Han continued, "Probably he was worried that you would die in the same manner as his wife; after all, his wife was married off to a domestic abuser after she was trafficked by the human traffickers." She added when Old Madam Han saw that Han Xuehan was looking at her in confusion.

Han Xuehan was stunned when she heard her grandmother’s response; she had not expected there to be such a reason.