My father-in-law died for saving the nine-year-old Lanhua from drowning when my husband was only seven. Lanhua’s parents brought her to my father-in-law’s funeral and said to my mother-in-law and my husband, “From now on, she is your family, alive or dead. That’s all we can do for your husband.” My mother-in-law cried and cried holding Lanhua in bed for three whole days.
I didn’t think Lanhua’s parents would feel sad to give her to a different family, because they gave birth to four daughters in order to have a son. They were too poor to have a bite of meat in a year. Lanhua was the third daughter. Giving her away was a good way to reduce the family burden and also to repay the dead.
From then on, my mother-in-law raised Lanhua like her own child. Life was not easy to raise two children on her own. Lanhua was considerate even when she was at a young age. When she was in fifth grade, she dropped out of school because she wanted the family to spend money on my husband’s education. My mother-in-law and my husband were touched by her action. My mother-in-law had the idea of marrying Lanhua to my husband since then. My husband later went to college, worked in Guangzhou, bought a house, and then married me.
Knowing that my husband had married someone else, my mother-in-law started to set up blind dates for Lanhua. Lanhua, however, refused to see anyone because she said she would never marry anyone and would serve my mother-in-law for all her life to repay my father-in-law. My mother-in-law cried out and said, “Silly girl. You are so considerate, so kind.”
This time my husband had asked my mother-in-law to spend New Year with us. I asked what about Lanhua. Leave her alone at home? He told me that Lanhua would stay at her own parents’ house. But I didn’t expect that my mother-in-law brought her here.
Women were born sensitive. I had only met Lanhua for three times, but I had a feeling that she adored my husband. She couldn’t keep her eyes off my husband, which made me feel uncomfortable. So I was mad that she visited us blue uninvited. I put the blame on my mother-in-law because of her decision making without discussing with me in advance. My hus1. All contents (including but not limited to text, pictures, etc.) on our official website flying-lines.com are exclusive. Any website or individual shouldn"t copy or use the contents without our permission; otherwise, it shall be deemed as infringement. For those who don"t comply with this statement or use the contents on our platform illegally, we reserve the right to sue the plagiarist for our loss.band and I had been married for one and a half years. Why hadn’t she told us earlier that Lanhua was coming too? This was my home too. I did have the right to know who was visiting.
My mother-in-law was a nice person. She was a hard-working and capable woman. She was a non-stop talker too. After all these years of staying at home, she got used to make all decisions on her own. She spoiled my husband in a way that I couldn’t understand. She also had a daughter who had died of a fever at five. It made sense that she got along with Lanhua and raised her like her own child.
Before I got married, I didn’t know Lanhua had been arranged to marry my husband. On our wedding day, my mother-in-law said to me with her drunken voice, “You should be nice to Lanhua. She is not my blood though, she is more than blood. I wanted her to marry my son. But he went to college and met you. I know she likes my son. My son came home every weekend at high school. She walked miles and took the bus for half an hour to bring food to him on Wednesdays. The reason why she refused to see anyone was because of my son. I felt sorry for her because she said she wanted to marry my son and spend a happy life together. But now it was impossible. We could only be nice to her. ”
I felt uncomfortable to know it. I was mad at my husband why he didn’t tell me before. He apologized and said Lanhua was an elder sister to him and he had never taken her as his fiancée. His mother had ever mentioned it once, but he refused. He didn’t tell me because he didn’t want me to get jealous. He didn’t tell me because he loved me.
And I loved him too, so I accepted his explanation. But now when I looked back, maybe I wouldn’t have married him if I had known better about my husband and his family.