Just as she stepped out of the yard, she saw several onlookers gathered outside the gate.
Meanwhile, Li Yue’s voice continued to ring out: “You have no idea how this whole family has been bullying me. In the three months since I got married, I’ve been treated worse than an old ox from the production team. At least the ox gets hay to eat after working! When I said I didn’t want to donate my kidney, they locked me in the attic. In this sweltering heat, my goodness, they didn’t give me food or water for five days!”
“Look at me, see how thin I’ve become? When I first got married, I weighed a hundred jin. Even though we lived in the countryside without many good things to eat, at least I never went hungry. But now? I’ve turned into a dried-up corpse.”
She held up her arm for everyone to see – dry, dark, and emaciated, the wrinkled skin indeed resembled a dehydrated corpse.
When she had first married, these same neighbors had come to see the new bride, who had been considered one of the great beauties in this Family Compound.
She was certainly a worthy match for Lu Xiao.
With every sentence Li Yue spoke, she would follow with several sniffles, clearly wiping away tears.
Her performance was full of emotion and completely engrossing.
“What nonsense are you spouting? How dare you come out here and make a spectacle of yourself!” Li Shaohua moved to grab her by the braid.
But she was restrained by several bystanders who recognized her.
“Aunt Li, what’s going on here? How could you mistreat your daughter-in-law like this? You treat the elder daughter-in-law like treasure, but the younger one like weeds?”
“That’s right, they’re both from the countryside. What makes one better than the other?”
“Exactly, Lu Nan may be dead, but if you don’t start treating your younger son and daughter-in-law better, do you really think Feng Jing will support you in your old age after she remarries?”
“This is just too much.”
More and people gathered outside, growing increasingly curious about the situation.
Everyone chimed in with their comments, practically surrounding Li Shaohua and refusing to let her leave without answering.
Meanwhile, Lu Xiao stood with his lips pressed into a tight line, his face dark and terrifying. But he didn’t try to stop Li Yue, probably thinking this was just another one of her attention-seeking tricks. She certainly kept coming up with new schemes.
He was furious, so angry that he simply turned around and went back inside. He had no intention of joining her madness.
No matter what she did, she would never win his heart in this lifetime.
After he left, Li Shaohua found herself in a difficult position.
Just as Li Shaohua was unsure how to extricate herself from the situation, a deep male voice suddenly cut through the commotion:
“What’s going on here?”
Lu Jianguo looked at the crowd gathered in front of his house, a flicker of darkness passing through his eyes.
He had overheard some of what people were discussing. The uproar was so loud that he couldn’t have covered his ears even if he tried.
“Deputy Factory Director Lu, you’re finally back! How can your family be so biased? Forcing your younger daughter-in-law to donate a kidney to the elder one – would that even work if transplanted? Even though they share the same mother, there’s no guarantee they’d be compatible.”
The speaker was none other than the Lu family’s eastern neighbor, and she was deliberately being sarcastic.
She had heard the commotion from the Lu household on Li Yue’s wedding night. The next day, from her upstairs window, she had seen the new bride doing laundry in the neighboring yard.
Since then, it seemed she saw the young woman working in the yard every single day, without any rest.
Then a few days ago, another major argument had erupted in the house. Though she hadn’t caught the specifics, ever since that day, the new bride had never emerged again.
The Lu household had fallen silent too.
She had wondered at the time if something had happened.
Now, putting together what the young bride was saying today, she guessed that the locking up incident was almost certainly true.
This was nothing but bullying, taking advantage of the fact that the girl’s family wasn’t around to protect her.
Bullying the honest folk.
Now they even want to cut out someone’s kidney—how wicked can they be?
The moment everyone spotted Lu Jianguo, they swarmed over like a hive of bees.
“That’s right, Deputy Factory Director Lu, you better take a look. The young bride is so hungry she’s got low blood sugar.”
Listening to the clamor around him, Lu Jianguo’s eyes darkened. His gaze fell on Li Yue, who stood out conspicuously tall in the crowd, and an inexplicable irritation stirred within him.
Li Yue was in the midst of her dramatic performance when she suddenly felt her father-in-law’s stare, sending a chill down her spine.
But when she glanced over, Lu Jianguo had already switched to a jovial, smiling face.
“Alright, everyone, disperse now. About this kidney matter—what a coincidence, isn’t it? It’s fate. No blood relation, yet a match was found—what tremendous fate! She must still be upset with Lu Xiao. Lu Xiao’s been sleeping in the study for several nights, so she’s unhappy. Who knows what goes on between a young couple? A young girl’s petty thoughts—she’s just jealous because her mother-in-law treats Xiao Jing better. It’s just a fit of temper.”
With just a few words, he completely dismissed everything Li Yue had just said, framing it as her petty jealousy.
“You see, Xiao Jing is seriously ill. Although Lu Nan is gone, we can’t neglect our daughter-in-law’s affairs. Once she married into our family, she became one of us. Lu Nan left us early, so I… I treat Xiao Jing as my own daughter.”
Li Shaohua caught her husband’s meaningful look and immediately began playing along. As she spoke, she dabbed the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, portraying the image of a grieving mother who had lost her son.
The crowd’s opinion instantly shifted under the influence of the couple.
After all, Lu Nan had died—white-haired parents seeing off their black-haired child. Only parents could understand that pain.
Some now looked at Li Yue with disdain, others with contempt, though a few still held doubts.
“Tsk tsk, Deputy Factory Director Lu, you’ll have to be fair from now on. No matter what, your younger daughter-in-law is both expected to donate a kidney to Xiao Jing and serve your whole family. Shouldn’t you treat her better?”
Amid the crowd’s accusations against Li Yue, the woman next door spoke up again.
She had witnessed the suffering the young woman endured. Being a mother herself, she offered this reminder, believing smart people like Lu Jianguo would understand.
Lu Jianguo’s expression stiffened briefly, but he still managed a strained smile and agreed.
Watching this scene, Li Yue curled her lips slightly. She stopped pretending to cry and approached Li Shaohua.
“Well, this is an eye-opener—like an old lady getting double eyelid surgery! Quite impressive, turning black into red. What? You have mouths, but others aren’t allowed to have eyes? If it’s as you say, I should’ve gained weight in the three months since I married into this family, right? But not being given food is a fact. Making me wash the whole family’s clothes every day is also a fact, right? Mom, don’t you know the seat of your pants is full of holes…”
“Shut up! You shut your mouth!” Seizing the moment, Li Shaohua clamped her hand over Li Yue’s mouth.
“Enough, enough! Hurry home now. Aren’t you ashamed enough?”
Seeing the situation threatening to turn against them again, Lu Jianguo quickly signaled his daughter, who was still watching the spectacle, before anyone could react.
Lu Qing immediately stepped forward and, together with Li Shaohua, each grabbed one of Li Yue’s arms and dragged her into the house.
They hauled her away as easily as handling a chick.
“Let me go! Everyone saw it—this whole family bullies me! Let go! I curse you—may your children be born without anuses—”
Li Yue was being dragged along without being allowed to stand and walk on her own. Unable to break free no matter how hard she struggled, she could only resort to cursing.
She was hauled into the room and thrown harshly to the ground.
The impact sent a sharp pain through her hips.
Li Shaohua stood panting slightly, glaring fiercely at Li Yue.
His posture suggested he was itching to charge forward and tear her apart, and he truly intended to lay hands on her.
As he raised his hand, and the slap was about to land on Li Yue’s face,
Lu Jianguo immediately shouted to stop him: “Stop—!”