“Son, my son, are you alright?”
A woman rushed out from the crowd, pushed through everyone, and threw herself onto Fu Qiang, wailing, “Qiang, you are my only son!”
That night, when Li Honghua got up to use the latrine, she saw her son sneaking out. She followed him.
When she saw Fu Qiang heading toward the village’s edge, she immediately understood his intentions.
She had long known Fu Qiang had designs on Xue Zhi, so she did not stop him and simply turned back home.
But before she even reached home, she heard noises coming from the village edge and quickly rushed to Fu Shiyue’s house.
She originally thought her son had succeeded, but instead saw him beaten all over, covered in injuries, and unconscious.
Thinking of this, a trace of hatred flashed in Li Honghua’s eyes. Like a sharp blade, she glared at Xue Zhi and shouted,
“Xue Zhi! Was it you?!
You little wretch, you actually dared to kill my son!
If anything happens to him, I’ll make you pay with your life!”
With that, she suddenly lunged at Xue Zhi, trying to hit her.
The surrounding villagers quickly stepped in to stop her.
“Enough! First save the person!”
Zhang Sanya sneered, clearly displeased with Li Honghua.
“Li Honghua, be reasonable. Your son sneaked here in the middle of the night—what was he doing here?”
“Exactly!” someone echoed.
“Fu Qiang brought this on himself. If he hadn’t come, would this have happened?”
“A grown man who can’t even beat a woman—spit! Useless!”
Li Honghua, seeing her injured son being insulted, grew furious and blurted out,
“Xue Zhi! It’s you! If you hadn’t seduced my son, why would he come here?!”
Then she pretended to suddenly realize something.
“Now that I think about it, something was off between you and Fu Qiang when you were still in the house.
Every time we ate, Fu Qiang would give you extra food and even help you with work.
I thought he was just being a good elder brother-in-law.
But now I see—you actually seduced your own brother-in-law!
Oh heavens! How did my family end up with such disgraceful things!”
Xue Zhi let out a mocking smile inwardly.
That scum Fu Qiang would never do anything like that.
At this point, she wondered what exactly she had done to offend the Fu family—especially this so-called “former mother-in-law,” who seemed determined to ruin her no matter what, even at the cost of her own son’s reputation.
Sometimes she truly admired Li Honghua’s shamelessness—how could she lie so confidently without even blinking?
Soon after, Sun Xiaoqian arrived late. After hearing Li Honghua’s words and receiving her signal, she immediately understood without even asking anything and shouted angrily,
“Xue Zhi! I warned you before not to seduce my man! Are you deaf?!
Do you have no shame at all? Back in the house, you made my husband work for you just to avoid doing chores.
What, now that your husband isn’t around, you can’t even keep your hands off your brother-in-law?
I think you shouldn’t be an embroidery worker anymore—you should just go to Chunfeng Tower and become a prostitute!”
She grew more and more agitated.
“Before, I endured it.
But now you’re already divorced and have nothing to do with our family—why are you still clinging to my husband?!”
Xue Zhi snorted coldly.
“Sun Xiaoqian, it was clearly your man who sneaked into my house in the middle of the night to steal things. And now you’re trying to turn the tables?”
“Who is clinging to your husband? Only you treat that scoundrel Fu Qiang like treasure.”
“I’d like to ask—why did your husband come here? To steal? Or to kill me?”
“I just want to live my life in peace—why won’t your Fu family leave me alone?”
“What exactly did I do to offend you all?”
Tears welled in Xue Zhi’s eyes as she pretended to be wronged.
“In the Fu family, I worked diligently and respected my elders. I never did anything improper.
But how did you treat me?
My mother-in-law beat me every day. Even livestock wouldn’t be treated like that.
They didn’t give me food and still made me work. How can anyone work without eating? I fainted in the fields, only to be beaten awake with a stick.
Even after waking up, I had to keep working in pain. Everyone here has seen this.
As for the brother-in-law—he harassed me despite knowing I was his younger brother’s wife. I endured again and again, always avoiding him.
Whenever he appeared, I stayed away.
And even after I left the family, he still wouldn’t let me go.
My sister-in-law pushed me into the river. I washed her clothes, did all her chores, and never once refused her orders.
Fu Lin was a soldier. After his death, there was compensation.
According to Daan law, I was supposed to observe mourning for two years, and that compensation should have been given to me.
But I never received a single cent.
I didn’t understand before—but I understand now.
You were afraid I would take the compensation, so you tried every possible way to kill me. That’s why you agreed to the divorce so quickly.
I worked like an ox for the Fu family—so what did I get in return?
Your cruel intentions?”
Her words struck the crowd like a heavy stone, pressing on everyone’s hearts.
The villagers began to sympathize.
“Compensation? Fu Lin had compensation?”
“Yes,” someone who knew explained.
“My husband also went to war. After he died, I received fifty taels of compensation.”
“Fifty taels?! That much?”
In Daan Kingdom, an ordinary farming family of five would spend at most five taels a year. Fifty taels was enough for ten years.
“I’m a widow with three children. Fifty taels isn’t much—it was used up long ago,” the woman said quickly, fearing others would covet it.
“My husband was just an ordinary soldier. I heard Fu Lin was even a small officer. His compensation might be a hundred taels… maybe even two hundred!”
“A hundred taels?!”
“Two hundred taels?!”
“No wonder the Fu family would do anything—even kill—to seize Fu Lin’s compensation.”
“So that’s how it is…”
While the crowd was discussing, Fu Qiang, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly woke up.
His eyes were filled with aggression. He sprang up and grabbed Li Honghua’s arm.
“Mother! Is what Xue Zhi said true? Did you really take Fu Lin’s compensation?!”
He had already woken up earlier when Sun Xiaoqian arrived. He had pretended to be unconscious to avoid confrontation, but now he had overheard something important.
Compensation? A hundred taels?!
No wonder his mother had been saying lately that their family was going to get rich.
So this was what she meant.
Excited, he rushed home to confirm—and now this situation unfolded.
Sun Xiaoqian had the same thoughts, but she did not dare speak.
Li Honghua, startled by Fu Qiang’s sudden movement and the stares of everyone around, shot him a furious glare and gritted her teeth inwardly.
Was Fu Qiang stupid? How could he say something like that out loud?!
Fu Lin’s fake death had been arranged precisely so they could claim compensation, and they certainly did not intend to let Xue Zhi benefit from it.
An outsider wanting the money?
Not a chance.