The Son of a Farmer Side Character Becomes the Chief Grand Secretary

Chapter 20 of 50

Chapter 20

Compared to Jang Un-mo, the way Jang Un-chu was treated was like heaven and earth.

Whenever the villagers talked about Jang Un-mo, they would inevitably mention Jang Un-chu as well.

And in the end, they always came to the same conclusion.

The Zhao family had truly made the right choice by marrying Jang Un-mo.

If they had taken Jang Un-chu as their daughter-in-law instead, they would have gained nothing at all.

Jang Un-chu didn't just fail to receive benefits from her maiden family.

There wasn't even the ordinary exchange of gifts between the two households.

Things only ever went from her husband's family to her maiden family.

Nothing ever came back.

Of course, Jang Un-chu wasn't stupid.

She didn't care what people said.

Since her maiden family never gave her anything, she also refused to take anything from the Gang family back to them.

Her miserable first marriage had taught her one thing very clearly.

The so-called maiden family would never become a place she could rely on.

If that was the case, then she had no intention of giving the Jang family free benefits just to preserve some meaningless reputation.

Whenever the three daughters-in-law returned to their maiden homes, Old Madam Gang would prepare gifts for them.

But Jang Un-chu didn't even want to take those.

She had no intention of observing empty formalities.

Because of that, her relationship with the Jang family was now extremely poor.

Naturally, Jang Un-chu noticed the change in Jang Un-mo's tone.

Her gaze moved indifferently away from the basket and settled on her cousin's face.

"I have something to say to you."

The two moved somewhere more secluded.

Jang Un-mo asked carefully,

"Sister, what is it?"

Her eyes were studying Jang Un-chu closely.

She looked as though she was worried that the way her maiden family treated her so well might upset her older cousin.

To anyone else, Jang Un-mo would have seemed thoughtful and considerate.

It wasn't her fault that she was loved, yet she was still worrying about another person's feelings.

But Jang Un-chu had seen this nauseating behavior too many times to be moved by it.

She didn't look at Jang Un-mo.

Instead, she stared at the river and suddenly asked,

"Why did you suddenly refuse to marry Yang Ze back then?"

Jang Un-mo's heart dropped.

It had already been years since her wedding.

She had even given birth to children.

It had been a long time since she last thought about Yang Ze.

But the instant Jang Un-chu mentioned him, her entire body tensed instinctively.

Jang Un-mo asked,

"Sister, why are you asking about that now?"

Jang Un-chu replied,

"I remember clearly that back then, you never gave a proper reason. You simply made a fuss and said you didn't want to marry him."

"You always did whatever you wanted, and the family didn't really want to marry you off to him anyway."

"So in the end, you got what you wanted."

Ever since realizing that the dreams she had been having were connected to reality, Jang Un-chu had spent day and night going over the past again and again.

By now, she had dug through even the smallest corners of her memories.

Jang Un-mo felt increasingly uneasy.

Something about Jang Un-chu was strange today.

"Sister, what exactly are you trying to say?"

Then, with an expression of genuine confusion, she continued,

"Don't tell me you still resent me?"

"Because you ended up marrying Yang Ze because of me?"

"But that wasn't what I wanted."

"I only think it's fortunate that both of us escaped from that beast and can live happily now."

"And Little Six is already over four years old."

"The Gang family treats you well too."

"Sister, forget what happened in the past. Don't keep thinking about it."

Jang Un-mo spoke in a sincere, earnest tone.

To anyone listening, it would have sounded as though she were genuinely trying to comfort Jang Un-chu.

Jang Un-chu couldn't help letting out a short laugh.

Then she abruptly turned toward Jang Un-mo with a fierce expression and fixed her eyes firmly on her.

"Un-mo, my dear little sister. Am I not allowed to resent you?"

Jang Un-mo flinched.

Of course she knew Jang Un-chu resented her.

Otherwise, Jang Un-chu wouldn't have treated her so coldly every time she tried to apologize over the last few years.

Jang Un-mo also knew that even though Jang Un-chu had technically agreed to the marriage herself, the matter still had something to do with her.

That was why she had accepted Jang Un-chu's cold attitude.

Her older cousin had undeniably suffered.

Jang Un-mo had always believed that if she treated her sincerely enough, then one day Jang Un-chu would forgive her.

She was just about to repeat the familiar reasoning she had used countless times before when Jang Un-chu cut her off.

"You knew what kind of person Yang Ze was back then, didn't you?"

"You knew exactly how miserable life would become if you married him."

"He didn't actually own that large estate he always talked about."

"He had no silver either."

"You knew he was addicted to gambling."

"You knew he drank every day."

"And you knew that when he got drunk, he beat people."

"You knew he would go mad demanding silver and turn the entire household upside down."

Jang Un-mo stammered.

"S-Sister, what are you talking about?"

"I... I didn't know."

"How could I have known Yang Ze was that kind of person?"

"If I had known..."

"I definitely wouldn't have let you marry him."

But Jang Un-chu's eyes were filled with something close to madness.

Jang Un-mo's entire body began trembling.

Without realizing it, she kept stepping backward.

Jang Un-chu whispered,

"Of course you knew."

"You... had already lived through it once, hadn't you?"

Jang Un-mo froze in horror.

She was so shocked that her legs gave out.

She collapsed onto the ground.

Jang Un-chu let out a sharp, almost hysterical laugh and crouched in front of her.

"How does it feel, my dear little sister?"

"Now you're not the only one who knows."

All the darkness Jang Un-chu had suppressed for so long erupted at once.

There was nothing normal about the way she looked now.

And with a single glance, Jang Un-mo understood.

Her cousin knew everything.

Trembling, Jang Un-mo asked,

"Sister..."

"Sister, did you also..."

"Were you reborn too?"

Jang Un-mo had read quite a few storybooks and enjoyed listening to storytellers.

So she knew the concept of reincarnation.

"Reborn..."

Jang Un-chu repeated the word slowly.

She had never heard it used this way before.

But the meaning was obvious enough.

Then did that mean her dear little cousin hadn't merely seen the future in dreams like she had?

Had Jang Un-mo truly lived through an entire lifetime once before?

When Jang Un-chu said, You had already lived through it once, she hadn't meant anything especially profound.

Her dreams had felt so real that it was as though she had personally experienced that life.

That was all she meant.

Yet unexpectedly, Jang Un-mo really had lived through it.

Could she truly have been reborn?

Jang Un-chu smiled bitterly.

Jang Un-mo had experienced that suffering herself.

She knew exactly how painful that life was.

And even after being reborn, she had stood by and watched Jang Un-chu marry Yang Ze with her own eyes.

From childhood until now, Jang Un-mo had monopolized everyone's love.

And even after being reborn, she still hadn't been willing to spare Jang Un-chu from something like this.

Their treatment within the family might have been different.

But if Jang Un-chu had been the one to suffer that life and return, she would never have allowed Jang Un-mo to fall into the same pit.

They might never have been close growing up.

But they had still been raised under the same roof.

Jang Un-chu couldn't understand how Jang Un-mo could be so cruel.

At first, Jang Un-mo had been terrified.

But in the end, she was someone capable of pushing her own cousin into a tiger's den, knowing exactly how miserable her life would become, and then continuing to live happily as though nothing had happened.

That alone showed just how "strong" Jang Un-mo truly was.

Now that everything had been exposed, she gradually stopped being afraid.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

"You can't blame me for that."

"I warned you."

"No matter what, I have nothing to be ashamed of."

"Nothing to be ashamed of?"

Jang Un-chu almost laughed from disbelief.

"If you truly have nothing to be ashamed of, why do you keep circling around me every day, shamelessly trying to give me things?"

"Are you doing it because you're bored?"

"And what exactly was your so-called warning?"

"You only said once that he seemed a little frivolous."

"When I asked you to explain, you avoided the question and said nothing."

She laughed coldly.

"You were already engaged, yet you lived with a strange man for two whole days."

"Do you really have the right to criticize him for being frivolous?"

"Did you think I didn't know Yang Ze was improper?"

"And were you really so innocent yourself?"

Of course Jang Un-chu had noticed there was something wrong with Yang Ze back then.

Any decent man, if a woman he liked ran away from home to find him, should have persuaded her to return.

But Yang Ze had allowed Jang Un-mo to stay with him for two whole days before letting her go back.

This wasn't some place with open customs.

If anyone had discovered what happened, Jang Un-mo's reputation would have been destroyed.

Even if she later married Yang Ze, people would still have looked down on her.

And Jang Un-chu hadn't truly believed all the wonderful conditions Yang Ze claimed to have either.

The very fact that he was willing to accept her as a substitute for Jang Un-mo was proof enough that his life couldn't possibly be as glamorous as he pretended.

If Yang Ze had truly been a wealthy young master, then perhaps his obsession with Jang Un-mo could at least have been explained as genuine love.

Perhaps he might have been some lofty man untouched by worldly concerns, willing to take a village girl as his legal wife because he loved her.

But once Jang Un-mo refused to marry him, Yang Ze willingly accepted Jang Un-chu instead.

That only made sense if he had some ulterior motive.

What wealthy young master would simply take any random village woman as his wife?

Jang Un-chu wasn't even the kind of breathtaking beauty who made men fall in love at first sight.

The reason she agreed was simply that she had no other choice.

Her grandmother had the authority to decide her marriage.

Her parents weren't people she could rely on.

Her mother might have tried to stand up for her daughter, but it wouldn't have changed anything.

And if Jang Un-mo's scandal had been exposed, Jang Un-chu would also have suffered as a member of the Jang family.

At that point, no matter what kind of man her grandmother chose to marry her to, nobody would have found it strange.

No matter how she looked at it, she had no way out.

So even though she suspected Yang Ze's family situation might be false and that his personality might not be very good, she could only force herself to think positively.

How bad could it really be?

Even if his family was poor or drowning in debt, so what?

She could endure hardship.

When she met him, Yang Ze's personality had seemed normal enough.

Jang Un-chu had never demanded perfection.

She had thought that if the two of them built a household together, they could eventually live a decent life.

Hardship was something a person could endure.

Besides, she would be Yang Ze's wife.

Surely he wouldn't sell her off somewhere.

But after they married, things happened that Jang Un-chu had never imagined.

The problem wasn't merely that Yang Ze's family circumstances were bad.

His character itself was rotten.