Chapter 27
While the Gang family was happily struggling with their decision, the Zhao household had fallen into complete silence.
No one dared make a sound.
Even the children softened their footsteps, afraid that Old Madam Zhao might suddenly turn her anger on them.
Old Madam Zhao looked down at Jang Un-mo and her two children.
For one brief moment, a terrible thought crossed her mind.
Could these grandchildren possibly belong to another man?
Fortunately, Zhao Yang and Zhao Shan looked very much like Zhao Yongchang.
Only then was she able to dismiss the idea.
Jang Un-mo didn't dare look up at her mother-in-law.
She kept her head lowered and sobbed.
This time, the tears streaming down her face weren't an act meant to gain sympathy.
She was truly crying.
Old Madam Zhao let out a cold snort.
"So you still know how to cry after doing something so shameless?"
The more she spoke, the angrier she became.
Jang Un-mo had been engaged to her son, yet she had gotten involved with another man.
Didn't that mean this woman had looked down on her precious son?
Why else would she have gone looking for another man?
She must have found someone she thought was better and planned to break off the engagement.
No.
Perhaps there hadn't even been any need to formally break it off.
If she had simply married that man Yang Ze, then the marriage arrangement with Zhao Yongchang could have been pushed onto Jang Un-chu instead.
Zhao Yongchang was her precious son.
He had been praised by his private-school teacher since childhood and was the child she was most proud of.
If the Zhao family hadn't already arranged a marriage with the Jang family when he was young...
And if the Zhao family weren't so poor...
Old Madam Zhao had once dreamed of finding her son a young lady from a good family in town.
But she had known that wouldn't be easy, so she had long since abandoned the thought.
And yet the daughter-in-law she had already considered beneath her son had actually dared to look down on him.
Old Madam Zhao's anger surged to the top of her head.
She cursed Jang Un-mo for a long time before finally delivering her judgment.
"Our Zhao family can't keep a daughter-in-law like you."
"Yongchang, write her a divorce letter and send her away."
"There are plenty of women in the world."
"We can find another decent wife."
"...!"
Jang Un-mo stared at her in disbelief.
"Mother, I've given the Zhao family both a son and a daughter."
"If I leave, what will happen to Xiaoyang and Xiaoshan?"
"If you don't leave, then what will happen to our Zhao family?"
Old Madam Zhao shouted angrily.
Didn't everyone now know that her son had married an unfaithful woman?
"You still have the nerve to mention those two children?"
"Yongchang spends all day away from home. How exactly have you been raising them?"
"Did you teach them to steal?"
"Ten taels of silver! You must think money grows on trees!"
Old Madam Zhao was fairly certain the twins hadn't actually stolen ten full taels.
Jang Un-mo and Jang Un-chu had a bad relationship, so Jang Un-chu had probably exaggerated the amount to make sure she didn't suffer a loss.
But what could they say?
Their side was the one in the wrong.
Many villagers had personally seen Zhao Yang and Zhao Shan fleeing from the Gang household in panic.
They had also seen the terrible state of Jang Un-chu's room.
In the past, Old Madam Zhao had doted on the twins because they were Zhao Yongchang's children.
But perhaps because of what Jang Un-mo had done, even Zhao Yang and Zhao Shan no longer looked as lovable to her as before.
"Where is the silver you stole?"
"Hand all of it over."
Zhao Yang had been standing there in a daze.
The moment he heard that, he shouted,
"But we didn't steal any silver!"
Old Madam Zhao immediately looked at Jang Un-mo.
Jang Un-mo hesitated before admitting quietly,
"I... told the children to bring back the letters."
Old Madam Zhao's hands began trembling.
So they had simply handed over ten taels of silver because of that?!
Ten taels!
With a daughter-in-law like this, the family would be ruined sooner or later!
Even though that silver had technically belonged to Jang Un-mo and wasn't part of the common household funds, Old Madam Zhao still regarded it as Zhao family property.
That money could have been used for her son's future Imperial Examinations.
But now...
"Enough."
She no longer wanted to hear anything else.
"Yongchang, write your wife a divorce letter."
"Mother, no!"
Jang Un-mo screamed so sharply that her voice nearly tore.
She threw herself at Old Madam Zhao's feet and began sobbing uncontrollably.
Even while crying, her mind raced desperately.
She had to think of some way to avoid being driven out of the Zhao family.
Driving out a wife was a serious matter.
It wasn't something that happened easily.
Jang Un-chu had been beaten by Yang Ze countless times, yet the Jang family had still refused to let her divorce and come home.
And it wasn't only their family.
Most households behaved the same way.
Even families that deeply loved their daughters usually did no more than scold the son-in-law and allow the daughter to stay at her maiden home for a few days.
Once a woman married, her entire life was almost fixed.
Whether she lived well or suffered miserably, separation was extremely rare.
Jang Un-mo remembered when Jang Un-chu divorced and returned home.
Less than two days later, the Jang family had already begun looking for an older bachelor who had never managed to marry.
If not an older bachelor, then perhaps a man born with a disability.
Or someone notorious for beating his wife.
And failing all of that, even a desperately poor man had been considered.
In short, the difference between a first marriage and remarriage was like heaven and earth.
Of course, Jang Un-mo knew the candidates chosen for Jang Un-chu had been particularly terrible because Grandmother disliked her.
Old Madam Jang had been ashamed that the family now had a divorced woman living at home.
If it had been Jang Un-mo instead, Grandmother probably wouldn't have gone quite that far.
But there was another problem.
When Jang Un-chu divorced, everyone had seen how miserable she was.
People had pitied her.
Jang Un-mo's situation was completely different.
Her children were now known as thieves.
She herself had revealed a vicious side in front of the entire village.
And worst of all, everyone now knew that while already promised to another man, she had become involved with someone else.
It was obvious what would happen to her reputation.
By tomorrow, perhaps even the neighboring villages would know what she had done.
