Xu Lanhua, feeling wronged, began to cry loudly.
Her tears washed away the thick powder on her face, revealing a face full of pockmarks.
Young Master Huang, standing nearby, frowned slightly.
He hadn't paid much attention before, but now it seemed this woman was truly off-putting.
However, that girl just now, although her temper was a bit too fierce, was quite well-featured.
With his skills and tactics, there wasn't a woman he couldn't conquer. He was sure that before long, this girl would be completely submissive to him.
The look in his eyes toward Xu Jianing became even more ardent, his objective very clear.
Father Xu's brow furrowed; he couldn't fail to see what this man was plotting.
He quickly stepped forward to stop Young Master Huang from approaching, shielding the two Xu sisters behind him. "Young Master Huang, there's no need for your concern; our Jianing isn't cold. My daughters and I have matters to attend to, so we will take our leave first."
Father Xu carried the basket and led the two Xu sisters away.
Xu Lanhua was still crying on the side, but Young Master Huang scolded her with some displeasure, "What are you howling about? You're bad luck!"
With those words, he also left.
Xu Lanhua was somewhat stunned; how could this happen?
According to the usual script, shouldn't this Young Master Huang have quickly offered her comfort? Why did he just run off like that?
She couldn't bother crying anymore and quickly chased after him, shouting as she ran, "Young Master Huang, wait for me!"
Unexpectedly, her shout made Young Master Huang run even faster.
She completely lost control and sat on the ground, weeping bitterly, attracting quite a few onlookers.
Xu Wangshi, who had been leisurely cracking melon seeds, heard a familiar voice and quickly pushed through the crowd to see—wasn't that their girl?
She started shouting, "Disperse! Everyone disperse quickly!"
After everyone left, she asked, "Lan'er, what's wrong? Didn't I tell you to get along well with Young Master Huang? Did he bully you?"
"No, Mother, it was the people from the Second Branch; they bullied me!"
Xu Lanhua recounted what had just happened, adding fuel to the fire.
Xu Wangshi grabbed her and walked forward. "Come, Mother will take you to reason with them!"
Soon, they arrived at the town entrance and saw the members of the Xu Family Second Branch preparing to leave. Xu Wangshi rushed toward them in one stride.
"Whoa! Xu Wangshi, are you crazy? Didn't you see the ox cart is about to leave?"
Uncle Jingde glared at her with dissatisfaction. This crazy woman, who knew what trouble she was going to stir up now. He always felt something bad would happen whenever he saw her.
As expected, Xu Wangshi aggressively accused them. "Oh, Second Uncle, now that you're rich, you're different, not even caring about your own niece."
"What happened to our Lan'er? You and your daughter made her lose face in front of outsiders. Are you disrespecting her, or are you disrespecting your Eldest Brother?"
Father Xu's face flushed red with anger. He wanted to argue with this crazy woman, but he couldn't let her sling mud like this either.
He quickly got down from the ox cart, looking sharply at Xu Lanhua. "You tell me yourself, what exactly did you tell your mother? How did we bully you? Look at your face—it's covered in whitewash, and you're flaunting it around. Aren't you afraid of scaring people?"
"Mother, look, Second Uncle is bullying people."
Xu Jianing, who was already feeling wronged, couldn't help but drop all pretense and speak out. "Xu Lanhua, is my father wrong? If you want to seek a powerful patron, fine, but don't drag our two sisters into it. We aren't interested."
"How old are you, still running to your mother to settle everything? Did you tell her how you were trying to curry favor with that Young Master? To be honest, I almost threw up my dinner hearing about it. Disgusting!"
Xu Wangshi jumped up in anger. "What nonsense are you spouting, girl? I'll tear your mouth apart! How can you slander your own second cousin like that?"
While Xu Wangshi was angry, she also felt a bit guilty.
If the villagers found out about this, who knew what they would think of their family.
The head of their household didn't know about this matter.
According to her plan, she intended to wait until their Lan'er had successfully secured Young Master Huang before they broke off the engagement with the Li Family.
Her cousin, who was a concubine in a wealthy family in town, had said that this Young Master Huang was very rich, just a bit of a flirt.
But so what? Which man nowadays isn't a flirt? Even the head of their household stares intently when he sees a pretty woman.
As long as there weren't any major flaws, they could accept it. Even if she couldn't be the main Madam, being a concubine like her cousin was better than marrying a village man.
If it were a few years earlier, she would have wanted to go to a wealthy family to be a concubine herself.
Their Lan'er had looks and a figure; how could she possibly fail to capture that Young Master Huang?
They absolutely couldn't let the people from the Second Branch ruin things at this critical juncture.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but issue a warn. "Second Uncle, you can eat things carelessly, but you cannot speak nonsense."
"If I hear any rumors when we get back, I will make your entire household restless! Lan'er, let's go!"
Hearing her say that, Xu Jianing truly became furious, and she couldn't help but retort sarcastically, "Second Aunt, what you say is one thing, but we don't accept that accounting."
"There are so many people in town. Second Cousin spends all day trailing after a man in an ambiguous way; anyone who isn't blind can see it."
"We say it, but we can't guarantee others won't. If this gets spread around, and it's all blamed on us, how will our family survive?"
Xu Jianing's words successfully caught Xu Wangshi's attention.
Although she didn't want to admit it, every word the girl said was reasonable.
With people coming and going, they were all locals, and who knew when someone might see this and it would reach the ears of the Li Family.
The Li Family members, apart from their seemingly foolish son who was easy to manipulate, were none of them easy to deal with.
What if things didn't work out here, and they also gave the other side leverage to ruin their girl's reputation?
Xu Wangshi looked deeply at Xu Jianing and said in an unfriendly tone, "What a sharp-tongued girl. I trust you wouldn't dare speak nonsense, because if your second cousin's reputation is ruined, you won't fare any better."
"And you, Xu Jingde. Watch your mouth."
"Let's go, come back with me." Xu Wangshi pulled the only capable response from the constantly weeping Xu Lanhua and headed back.
She needed to find her cousin to discuss how they truly couldn't let their Lan'er associate with Young Master Huang so openly in the future.
After they were far away, Uncle Jingde said with admiration, "Ning'er girl, you are truly amazing. In just a few words, you left that crazy woman speechless. Speaking of which, she is truly unscrupulous, sigh..."
Amazing? Xu Jianing didn't think so; she just didn't want to see her relatives wronged. In the future, with her around, she wouldn't let Xu Wangshi take advantage again.