Li Honghua’s silence had already clearly told everyone present the answer.
The crowd sighed and murmured.
“Li Honghua, how much compensation did Fu Lin actually have?”
“There really was compensation? Li Honghua, that’s not right of you. No matter what, Xue Zhi was your daughter-in-law and contributed so much to the Fu family. Even if you didn’t give it to her, you shouldn’t have tried to kill her for money, right?”
“If it’s one or two hundred taels, honestly, who wouldn’t be tempted?”
“And don’t tell me Fu Dayong agreed to this too? He always looked honest—how could he do something like this? You really can’t judge a book by its cover.”
“Mother! Just say it—was there or not?” Fu Qiang repeated impatiently.
Li Honghua forced herself to deny it.
“There isn’t any!”
Trying to quickly change the topic, Li Honghua shouted at Xue Zhi.
“Xue Zhi! You beat my son into this state—you must compensate us! Ten taels of silver! If you don’t pay, I’ll report you to the authorities for attempted murder!”
Xue Zhi lowered her head, pretending to be shocked.
“Ten taels?! Where am I supposed to get that much money?
Besides, Fu Qiang came to my house on purpose. I thought he was a thief and accidentally injured him.”
“Li Honghua, stop being unreasonable. Your son started it first. Xue Zhi was only defending herself.”
“Exactly! Ten taels? How shameless. You can even buy a person for two or three taels—your Fu Qiang isn’t even worth that much.”
“If I sneaked into your house at night, stole something, got caught, and you hit me a few times, would you also have to compensate me? Ridiculous.”
Xue Zhi blinked and pressed further while the iron was hot.
“Fu Qiang, since you’re awake, it proves you weren’t seriously injured. You even had enough energy to ask your mother about the compensation money.”
Her tone was full of disdain.
Li Honghua snapped back.
“What do you mean not injured? Look at all that blood on his face!”
Sun Xiaoqian interjected.
“If Fu Qiang and Xue Zhi lived under the same roof for so long, how could he not recognize her? Her voice and figure—he should know them at a glance.
Besides, didn’t you send my husband here? You two clearly planned a secret meeting at night, something must have happened, and then you two fought. Am I right, husband?”
Fu Qiang caught her signal and quickly understood.
“That’s right! Xue Zhi, you clearly asked me to come during the day, but when I arrived you hit me with a stick. Tell me—what exactly are your intentions?”
“If I told you to come, you came? Are you a dog? So obedient.”
Xue Zhi glanced at him coldly.
The Fu family truly had no shame at all.
The crowd burst into laughter.
“A dog!”
“Really like a dog!”
“More obedient than a dog!”
Li Honghua’s face twisted with anger at the mockery around her.
Damn it!
Why didn’t Xue Zhi just drown in the river back then? None of this would be happening now.
Fu Lin’s instructions still hadn’t been completed—what if he came back and got angry?
No, they had to get rid of Xue Zhi.
Fu Lin had written before that he had connected with a noble lady and could not let her know he already had a wife. He told them to either sell Xue Zhi or kill her.
Originally, she planned to sell her, but no opportunity had come up. So they let Fu Rong push her instead.
Selling her would damage their reputation in the village.
Killing her would leave no evidence.
Clearly, killing her was more convenient.
Xue Zhi’s words rendered Li Honghua, Fu Qiang, and Sun Xiaoqian speechless.
Fu Qiang pointed at her.
“You… you…”
At that moment, the village chief arrived, panting heavily. He lived at the village entrance and rushed over after hearing the news.
Seeing him, Li Honghua immediately sat on the ground and started crying and cursing.
The village chief frowned impatiently.
“Enough! Stop crying! What’s the use of crying? Tell me, what exactly happened?”
Before Li Honghua could speak, Zhang Sanya stepped forward first and explained everything clearly.
“Village chief, that’s what happened. The Fu family has gone too far! This must be severely punished!”
“Right! Punish them!”
“Must punish them!”
Xue Zhi spoke loudly.
“Everyone here, don’t you think—if someone sneaks into your home at night, steals things, or even tries to kill you in your sleep, what then?
Village chief, Fu Qiang came to my house in the middle of the night. At first I thought he was a thief. I didn’t even know it was him. I’m just a woman—how much money could I possibly have?
But this is Scholar Fu’s house. Maybe Fu Qiang came to steal Scholar Fu’s things.
If you don’t believe me, you can check his room. It’s been completely rummaged through.”
The village chief immediately went to inspect and found it was indeed true.
He might not care about Xue Zhi—but he absolutely cared about Fu Shiyue.
Last time she had already used Fu Shiyue as leverage, and it had worked very well.
This time was no different.
Seeing the village chief’s anger rising, Xue Zhi silently apologized in her heart.
Sorry, Scholar Fu! I used you again.
Fu Qiang kept shaking his head.
“Village chief, I didn’t steal anything! I’m not a thief!”
“Then why were you here?”
“I… I…”
Fu Qiang secretly glanced at Xue Zhi.
He couldn’t possibly say he came to assault her.
Their village strictly forbade such immoral behavior—if exposed, he would be driven out.
But if he admitted it, he would be going against Fu Shiyue, a scholar, which he also didn’t dare.
After thinking it over, Fu Qiang chose to stay silent.
The village chief asked again.
“Fu Qiang, I’ll ask you one more time. What exactly were you doing here?”
At that moment, a man in the crowd suddenly shouted,
“Fu Qiang has long been interested in Xue Zhi. He came while she was alone at night, planning to—hehe—you all understand.”
Although he didn’t finish, everyone understood.
The man was Fu Qiang’s drinking buddy. That afternoon, while drunk, Fu Qiang had accidentally revealed everything.
Fu Qiang’s eyes turned red with rage.
“Wang Liu! You betrayed me!”