Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Meanwhile, Zhao Yongchang had no intention of taking the blame for his wife.

He wasn't stupid.

He knew perfectly well that denying everything would be the best choice in a situation like this.

But his face had turned blue with rage, and he had no desire to preserve Jang Un-mo's dignity.

Jang Un-mo had already trampled his own dignity into the ground.

While she was practically his fiancée, she had taken another man as her lover.

Worse, she had written to Zhao Yongchang using words she had secretly exchanged with that lover...

Hadn't she practically taken another man's expressions of affection and gifted them to him?

Zhao Yongchang thought he was already showing tremendous restraint simply by not exploding on the spot.

Old Madam Zhao also had no desire to continue humiliating herself in front of the entire village.

The moment she heard her youngest son's words, she answered with a dark expression,

"Let's go. We'll discuss this at home."

And so the Zhao family left together behind Old Madam Zhao.

No one physically dragged Jang Un-mo along.

But she didn't dare remain behind either.

She followed while crying uncontrollably.

Anyone looking at her could tell how terrified she was.

Old Madam Jang saw her beloved granddaughter leave in tears and desperately wanted to follow after her to defend her.

Fortunately, she still possessed enough sense to realize that this wasn't the time for her to interfere.

She could only return home and quietly wait for the Zhao family's decision.

Before leaving, Old Madam Jang glared hatefully at the second branch couple and Jang Un-chu.

Perhaps because she still didn't know what would happen to her granddaughter, she had no energy to start another fight with Jang Un-chu right now.

Jang Un-chu didn't care about the glare at all.

Fang Hong looked at her daughter but couldn't think of anything to say.

In the end, she left silently.

Her husband followed behind her.

Now that all the main figures involved in the incident had left, the villagers who had filled the courtyard also began leaving in cheerful little groups.

Judging from their expressions, they certainly wouldn't lack anything to talk about today.

Jang Un-chu watched her parents leave with an expressionless face.

She knew they loved her.

But their love had never been strong enough to protect her when Old Madam Jang truly became unreasonable.

For example, when the family decided she would marry Yang Ze.

And later, when she returned home again and again, crying and begging for a divorce.

Her parents' love had been unable to stop any of it.

Things only changed after Jang Un-chu realized she might be pregnant.

Yang Ze beat her so badly that she nearly lost the child.

This time, Jang Un-chu insisted on divorce without yielding at all.

When her parents and two elder brothers saw how miserable she looked, they finally brought her back home.

But only a few days after she returned, her grandmother was already preparing to marry her off to an older bachelor.

Jang Un-chu knew her parents wouldn't be able to resist for long.

A divorced daughter couldn't simply remain indefinitely in her maiden family.

Her two elder brothers had said they would continue supporting her, but that didn't change anything.

Her brothers had no real authority in the household.

And just like their father, they were simple and timid by nature.

So Jang Un-chu found her own way out.

She married Gang Jo-hang, the man with the injured leg.

Those years had eventually caused her relationship with her parents to grow distant as well.

That was why, even when she saw her mother confronting Old Madam Jang just now, she hadn't gone over to help.

"Mother."

While Jang Un-chu was lost in thought, a soft little hand slipped into hers.

Then came her son's sweet voice.

Jang Un-chu snapped back to reality.

Her parents-in-law and sisters-in-law were all looking at her with worried expressions.

Warmth suddenly spread through her heart.

"I'm fine."

She looked toward Old Madam Gang.

"Mother, thank you very much for helping me today."

When Jang Un-mo accused her of harboring feelings for Zhao Yongchang, Old Madam Gang had immediately spoken up for her.

Jang Un-chu knew that Old Madam Gang genuinely didn't believe there was anything improper between her and Zhao Yongchang.

Even though she was already a married woman with a child, rumors like that were never harmless for a woman, regardless of age.

Especially for someone's wife.

If gossip like that spread for long enough, a woman's reputation could truly be destroyed.

Old Madam Gang waved her hand.

"We're one family. What's there to thank me for?"

"Besides, my eyes still work perfectly well."

How could Old Madam Gang not know how close her son and daughter-in-law were?

She was very satisfied with Jang Un-chu as a daughter-in-law.

While they were talking, Gang Jo-hang returned with his two elder brothers.

None of the three brothers were in the habit of napping at noon, so they had gone fishing together.

It was partly to pass the time and partly because if they caught anything, they could add fish to the family meal.

Gang Jo-hang hurried into the courtyard.

"What happened?"

Even as he asked, his gaze moved across his wife, son, and parents, checking that everyone was safe.

The river was far from the house, so the three brothers hadn't known about the commotion.

Only when the argument at home was nearly over did someone run to the river and tell them to hurry back.

The three brothers rushed home immediately.

Along the way, they only heard that Jang Un-chu and her cousin had fought badly.

They still didn't know exactly what had happened.

Old Madam Gang immediately began explaining everything.

"...Didn't I tell you long ago? That girl has a crooked heart."

"She pushed her own cousin into a pit of fire without blinking an eye."

"When Un-chu was suffering before, she never even asked how she was doing."

"But once Un-chu married into our family and finally started living properly, she suddenly began appearing again, bringing worthless things and pretending she cared."

When Jang Un-chu had been at her most miserable, Jang Un-mo had shown almost no concern.

Then, once Jang Un-chu finally got her life back on track, Jang Un-mo began showing up again as though she wanted everyone to notice how considerate she was.

Old Madam Gang couldn't understand what she had been thinking.

The three Gang brothers were stunned.

Jang Un-chu felt slightly awkward with everyone staring at her.

She didn't want anyone's pity, so she quickly changed the subject.

"We made a lot of money today."

"Why don't we go into town this afternoon, buy some meat, and celebrate?"

Whenever the household received a large amount of unexpected income, it was customary for everyone to eat something good together.

Everyone blinked in surprise.

Then they realized what money she was talking about.

Old Madam Gang asked,

"Those children didn't actually steal that large amount of silver?"

"No."

Jang Un-chu shook her head.

"They only took two copper coins and the letters I had left in the room."

"Letters?"

Everyone repeated the word curiously.

"Yes."

Jang Un-chu explained,

"The love letters between Jang Un-mo and Yang Ze."

"There were originally four."

"At first, I had no intention of taking those letters out and showing them to everyone."

"But suddenly, I started suspecting that Jang Un-mo might have known what kind of person Yang Ze was and still deliberately allowed me to marry him."

"So I went to test her."

"I didn't expect my guess to actually be correct."

"Jang Un-mo already knew what kind of man Yang Ze was."

"She knew what would happen to me if I married him, but because she wanted to escape from Yang Ze herself, she simply closed her eyes and let me take her place."

"I became angry while talking to her and mentioned the letters."

"After I came home, she immediately sent her children to steal them."

Since everyone had shown concern for her, Jang Un-chu couldn't simply act as though she owed them no explanation.

Ten taels of silver was no small amount.

And publicly revealing another woman's love letters and damaging her reputation wasn't a trivial matter either.

She needed to explain to the Gang family that she hadn't acted shamelessly or without reason.

That way, no one would think she had gone too far.

Of course, the Gang family didn't actually think that in the first place.

They had learned the truth while the two cousins were arguing.

As far as they were concerned, Jang Un-chu had done nothing wrong.

At this point, they were simply fascinated by the story.

Madam Oh urged her on.

"Sister-in-law, keep going."

"You said Zhao Yang and Zhao Shan stole the letters. Then how did you still have letters in your hand?"

"Did you already make a plan to trick them?"

This was incredible.

The whole thing was so dramatic that it was even more exciting to listen to.

Madam Sun and the others also looked at Jang Un-chu expectantly.

"..."

For a moment, Jang Un-chu didn't know what to say.

But the gloom in her heart had already disappeared.

After a short silence, she continued,

"This was all thanks to our Little Six."

"A few days ago, Little Six found the letters."

"He took three of them away to play with and left only one in the room."

The rest was obvious.

Zhao Yang stole one letter.

But since three still remained, it caused no real problem.

Old Madam Gang exclaimed,

"Our Little Six really was lucky to play with those letters."

"If all of them had been stolen, who knows what would have happened?"

"That Jang Un-mo has already taken every advantage she possibly could, yet she still wasn't satisfied and even tried to frame Third Daughter-in-law."

"Fortunately, Heaven has eyes."

"Everything she did was exposed by her own actions."

Without the clear evidence of those letters, it was difficult to say who would have come out ahead in the conflict between Jang Un-chu and Jang Un-mo.

Jang Un-mo's reputation in the village had always been fairly good.

Jang Un-chu, on the other hand, had often been misunderstood as "ungrateful."

Even though the two cousins had been treated completely differently while growing up, people usually thought that was merely because the elders favored Jang Un-mo.

They believed Jang Un-chu shouldn't resent Jang Un-mo personally because of it.

Jang Un-mo would always greet Jang Un-chu warmly and try to give her gifts.

But Jang Un-chu always rejected her coldly.

As this happened again and again, even though Jang Un-mo had enjoyed nearly every advantage, the villagers gradually began sympathizing with her instead.

Jang Un-chu also felt that she had been extremely lucky this time.

She once again suggested buying meat so everyone could eat together.

But Old Madam Gang shook her head.

She pointed toward the wooden bucket the three brothers had brought back.

"Those two fish will be enough for dinner."

"Don't waste that silver."

"Save it properly and use it for Little Six's studies."

Studying cost money.

Jang Un-chu's eyes widened.

"Studies...?"

"You mean... the family decided to let Little Six study?"

At that moment, her emotions were difficult to describe.

She felt sorry toward the second branch's child.

But at the same time, she found it impossible to give up yet another opportunity that had come to Gang Gye.

In the end, Gang Gye was her son.

How could she not love him?

Before she could think more deeply, Old Master Gang spoke.

"We've decided to let both Munsaeng and Little Six study."

"The common family funds will cover half of each child's expenses."

"The remaining half will be handled by your own branches."

"After a few years, we'll see which child is more suited to studying."

"At that point, we'll focus our resources on supporting only that one."

Old Master Gang also believed this would encourage some healthy competition between the two children.

Perhaps then neither of them would secretly skip lessons the way Daejang had.

Needless to say, this decision was wonderful news for Jang Un-chu.

There was no longer any need for the branches to fight over a single opportunity.

A bright smile appeared on her face before she even realized it.

All the painful things that had happened today suddenly seemed insignificant.

Old Master Gang looked over the expressions of his sons and daughters-in-law and felt quite satisfied.

"Munsaeng is old enough, so he can begin attending school immediately."

"His parents can decide which private school is suitable."

"Just follow roughly the same standard we used when Daejang studied."

"As for Little Six, he's still young and physically weak."

"Whether you send him to school now or wait until he's a little older is something the two of you should decide yourselves."

The last part was clearly directed toward Gang Jo-hang and Jang Un-chu.

It truly was something they needed to consider carefully.

Gang Jo-hang found it difficult to decide.

Still, he leaned toward sending Gang Gye to study immediately.

He wanted his son to begin receiving proper instruction from a real teacher as soon as possible.

Gang Gye had only been studying for a few days, but he was already clearly different from ordinary children.

He didn't need to spend much time memorizing characters or learning how to read and write them.

Everything Gang Jo-hang taught him was remembered immediately.

The problem wasn't Gang Gye.

The problem was Gang Jo-hang himself.

Teaching basic characters was no issue.

But he couldn't explain the meaning of every sentence in the books.

He didn't fully understand many of those passages himself.

If things continued like this for too long, it wouldn't be good for Gang Gye.

They would only be wasting the child's time.

But Gang Gye really was physically weak.

Autumn had already arrived.

In only a few more days, the weather would grow colder.

And once the bitter winter arrived, the wind would be freezing enough to sting the face.

There was no private school in their village.

To study, Gang Gye would have to travel into town.

Their village didn't even have a covered carriage.

He would either have to walk all the way there or ride an open ox cart.

Gang Jo-hang could already imagine his son falling sick after being exposed to that kind of weather.