I Was Too Ruthless to the Scumbag So My Mother-in-Law Begged Me to Split From the Family

Jiang Jiuyue, a supreme survivor of the zombie apocalypse, dies fighting the Zombie King only to reincarnate into the body of a peasant woman with the same name. The original host was a abused wife in the Liang family, subjected to relentless cruelty by her mother-in-law, Du Jinhua, and her two sisters-in-law, Chen Cuihong and Ma Guichun. After giving birth to three daughters, she was treated as a slave, forced to work even while pregnant, and ultimately beaten to death for stealing a steamed bun to feed her starving children. Upon waking in this new body, Jiang Jiuyue immediately recognizes the threat and, displaying her combat prowess, dislocates the jaws and limbs of Du Jinhua and the two sisters-in-law. She establishes dominance by declaring herself the head of the household, forcing the women to serve her and her three daughters, whom she renames Jiang Zhen'er, Jiang Bao'er, and Jiang Yu'er.

The Liang family men, Liang Youchang and Liang Wenchang, attempt to challenge Jiang Jiuyue but are swiftly defeated by her superior strength. When Du Jinhua and Liang Youchang are struck by lightning—a display of Jiang Jiuyue's supernatural abilities—the remaining family members submit in terror. Jiang Jiuyue seizes the family's hidden savings, buys new clothes and food for her daughters, and begins to systematically dismantle the Liang family's authority. She forces the other branches to cook for her and provides only meager bran porridge for them, reversing the power dynamic completely. When the village head, bribed by Du Jinhua, brings a group of strong men to arrest Jiang Jiuyue for unfilial behavior, she single-handedly defeats them, breaking the village head's arm and kicking him out of the village.

The village head's son-in-law, Zhao Kun, a corrupt yamen constable, arrives the next day to avenge his father-in-law. Jiang Jiuyue captures him, dislocates his legs, and brands his face with the characters for "turtle" before abandoning him in a cave with a wolf. However, she returns to save him from the beast, an act that cements Zhao Kun's twisted loyalty and fear. He agrees to pay her twenty taels of silver to learn self-defense techniques, effectively becoming her student. This resolution neutralizes the immediate threat of legal persecution. Meanwhile, Du Jinhua attempts to negotiate a family split, offering land and silver to remove Jiang Jiuyue from the household. Jiang Jiuyue refuses, intending to keep the family divided and under her control until she has accumulated enough wealth to leave permanently.

Jiang Jiuyue plans to work as a bodyguard for grain transport companies in the nearby county town to earn money for her and her daughters to start a new life. She views the Liang family as a source of debt to be collected rather than a family to be maintained. Her daughters, initially traumatized by years of abuse, begin to adapt to their new safety and prosperity under their mother's protection. The story concludes with Jiang Jiuyue consolidating her power, having turned her oppressors into servants and allies, while plotting her eventual divorce from the absent husband, Liang Jinchang, and her complete separation from the toxic Liang lineage.