The village head watched and shook his head. They were incredibly stupid to come up with such a rotten scheme.
At this moment, Du Shi was also terrified upon hearing about reporting to the authorities and the possibility of her father-in-law’s scholarly honor being stripped away.
“What’s the use of kowtowing? Come, I’ll kowtow to you instead. Just bring the crops in my field back to life!” Liu Taohua said, and as she spoke, she made a move to kowtow to them.
Shen Hong immediately stopped her. “Mother, let’s let the County Magistrate judge this. Even if you kowtow to them, the crops won’t come back, and we still have to pay our taxes.”
“Yes, Mother, they must compensate us, or our whole family will have no way to live.” Liu Taohua wiped her tears.
Currently, her hair was disheveled and her face was bruised and swollen. In order to protect her mother-in-law, she had absorbed most of Du Shi’s fury, leaving her in a miserable and battered state.
“This cannot be. We are all one family; why must we be so eager to destroy each other? You’re just forcing Du Shi into a corner!” Shen Zhiqiou attributed all the fault to Du Shi.
“Since it’s Du Shi’s fault, then let Du Shi and the Du family go to jail and be exiled! Hmph, if we can’t survive, the Du family shouldn’t either!”
Shen Xixi’s small face was set sternly. Her words left Du Shi stunned.
“Shen Xixi, I am your Eldest Uncle’s Wife! At such a young age, you have such a cruel heart, wanting to harm my whole family!”
“I’ll kill you!” Du Shi scrambled up and reached out to choke Shen Xixi.
Shen Xixi ducked directly behind the village head.
“Great-Grandpa, save me! Du Shi wants to kill someone!”
“Du Shi! Since you can’t beat the adults, you come to bully the child? Xixi is right. Destroying crops during a disaster year is a grave crime. If you go to the yamen, you’ll get dozens of lashes at best, or be exiled at worst. You thought you were so clever, didn’t you? Now you’ve dragged your whole Du family into this!”
The village head’s scolding left Du Shi dazed. “I didn’t know… who knew the consequences were so serious? I didn’t mean it.”
“Who would believe you didn’t mean it? You only know how to be afraid now that the fire is burning your own skin. You’re a troublemaker.”
Many women in the village had long been fed up with Du Shi. This couple never worked in the fields; even with their children being so old, Du Shi only bothered to cook three meals a day.
She was idle and spent her time gossiping and showing off. Whenever she saw someone worse off than her, she would mock them, saying, “If I lived like you, I’d rather die.”
Her mocking expression had many village women grinding their teeth in anger.
However, they hadn’t dared to offend her because her father-in-law was a Xiucai.
Shen Zhiqiou and Shen Wu just stood by coldly, showing no intention of helping.
Shen Wu even felt an indescribable annoyance. He was currently preparing to head to town; his father had promised to buy a servant girl to serve the two of them. This commotion was delaying his business.
“Second Master Shen, how do you want to handle this? Through official channels or privately?”
Shen Hong looked at those two coldly. It was always like this; Du Shi was always the one in front, but he knew exactly whose idea it really was.
“Ask Du Shi. She’s the one who did all this!” Shen Zhiqiou’s eyes flickered, a trace of hesitation passing through them.
He glanced at his eldest son, saw that the youth remained unmoved, and then retreated two steps with his hands behind his back.
“Father, you knew about this! You were the one who said not to let the Second Branch and Third Branch have a good life, and told me to find a way to teach them a lesson! Father, you can’t abandon me now that things have gone wrong! My parents and brothers will beat me to death!”
Du Shi cried heart-wrenchingly. Seeing her husband’s expression, she understood everything—he intended to throw her out to take the fall.