The villagers stared at the brick in Jiang Nuan’s hand, barely daring to breathe, afraid that the next second it would smash into the brigade leader’s face.
To everyone’s surprise, Jiang Nuan suddenly tossed the brick aside and dropped to her knees before the brigade leader with a loud thud.
Her cries were even more pitiful and aggrieved than those of the mother and daughter beside her. “Brigade Leader, I’ve been wronged! A terrible injustice! My brother-in-law and I were framed!”
The brigade leader was startled by her sudden move.
He exchanged a brief look with Lu Lin on the bed before suppressing his shock and gently comforting her.
“Don’t rush. Speak slowly.”
Old Madam Lu and Lu Rou’s sobbing stopped abruptly. They were completely stunned by Jiang Nuan’s move.
Just as they were about to interrupt, the brigade leader shot them a sharp glare, forcing them to swallow their words, their faces turning livid.
Jiang Nuan wiped her tears sorrowfully. Why had the brigade leader suddenly become so kind?
She had no time to think about it. Choking back sobs, she continued, “My brother-in-law and I are innocent. It was Lu Rou, Lu Daqiang, and my mother-in-law who framed us!
Yesterday morning, I caught Lu Rou and Lu Daqiang in the act. The two of them were naked in bed together—I saw it with my own eyes!”
“Bullshit!” Lu Daqiang’s eyes widened as he blurted out, “I left Rou Rou’s room before dawn. How could you possibly—”
“Brother Daqiang!” Lu Rou shrieked to cut him off—but it was too late.
The brigade leader and the Jiang family members who had just arrived stood there dumbfounded.
Jiang Nuan trembled as she pointed at Lu Daqiang, her voice filled with grief and indignation. “Brigade Leader, did you hear that? He admitted it himself!”
She had already torn open the truth, and now the man involved had personally confirmed it.
Lu Rou and Lu Daqiang’s affair was undeniable.
While the brigade leader was still digesting the shocking revelation, the villagers had already erupted in fury, cursing loudly:
“Adulterers! Lu Daqiang admitted it himself—what’s left to argue?”
“Brigade Leader! Arrest this shameless pair and send them to the Public Security Bureau!”
After berating the two, the villagers turned their anger toward Old Madam Lu.
“You shameless old hag! You raised such a disgraceful daughter and still dare cry injustice? If it were me, I’d hide my face in shame!”
Old Madam Lu was sweating profusely, shaking her head desperately while cursing Lu Daqiang as a fool a thousand times in her heart.
“It’s not like that! Daqiang just misspoke in a panic. There’s nothing going on between him and Rou Rou!”
“Mother, why are you still defending them?” Jiang Nuan’s eyes were red as she cried, her voice trembling.
“Yesterday when I discovered their affair, I went to you for justice. But you threatened me—said if I dared breathe a word of it, you’d make me pay!
For the sake of their reputations, I didn’t want to push Lu Rou into ruin. I chose to swallow my anger.
And yet you turned around and schemed to frame me and my brother-in-law. Are you even human?!”
“You wretch! Nothing but lies!” Old Madam Lu lunged forward to scratch Jiang Nuan’s face.
“Stop!” The brigade leader stepped between them, his brows knitted tightly as he barked at Old Madam Lu, “If you dare touch her again, I’ll send Lu Rou and Lu Daqiang to the Public Security Bureau right now!”
Old Madam Lu’s face turned ghostly pale.
She waved her hands frantically. “Don’t send them! I won’t touch her again!”
Hiding behind the brigade leader, Jiang Nuan watched Old Madam Lu tremble like a leaf and allowed a fleeting smirk to curl her lips.
Old Madam Lu caught that smug expression and immediately screamed, “Brigade Leader, look! She’s smiling! She’s pretending!”
The brigade leader turned around. Jiang Nuan’s eyes were red and brimming with tears as she shook her head helplessly. “Brigade Leader, I’m not…”
Watching her switch expressions in an instant, Old Madam Lu trembled with rage. The curse words at the tip of her tongue were forced back down by the brigade leader’s warning stare.
Sighing, the brigade leader helped Jiang Nuan to her feet. “Stand up and speak. Don’t be afraid of your mother-in-law. As long as I’m here, she won’t dare do anything to you.”
“Brigade Leader, I misspoke earlier! It’s all a misunderstanding!” Lu Daqiang struggled desperately. “Rou Rou and I are innocent—it’s really all a misunderstanding!”
Jiang Nuan’s gaze turned icy as she pressed forward step by step. “A misunderstanding? If you feel wronged, let’s go to the Public Security Bureau right now. The officers there have plenty of ways to make you tell the truth.”
Lu Daqiang instantly fell silent.
The charge of hooliganism was no small matter—at best, reform through labor; at worst, prison… maybe even a bullet.
His legs went weak, and all his arrogance drained away. He lowered his head, not daring to utter another word.
Jiang Nuan sneered. Only by forcing this beast to confess publicly could she ensure the two of them would never recover.
“Lu Daqiang, in front of the entire village, I’ll ask you one last time.
Have you long been carrying on an affair with Lu Rou? Did you give birth to Lu Jie together, then stage a show of ‘finding’ him and claiming him as a younger brother?”
Cold sweat poured down Lu Daqiang’s face. His mind echoed with one thought: Don’t go to the Public Security Bureau. Don’t get shot.
Just as he was about to nod, Lu Rou and Old Madam Lu rushed to stop him.
“Shut up!” Lu Daqiang suddenly shoved them aside.
Losing face was better than losing his life.
He nodded with difficulty, his voice barely audible. “Yes…”
“Absurd! Absolutely absurd!” The brigade leader fumed, scolding the pair for a full five minutes before turning to Jiang Nuan, his tone softening. “Anything else? Say it all at once.”
Jiang Nuan nodded gratefully and walked quickly to Lu Lin’s bedside.
Meeting his puzzled gaze, she gently reassured him, “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. Everything they’ve done to you—I’ll make them pay it back.”
Lu Lin lifted his eyes, staring into her gentle yet powerful gaze. A distant memory flickered across his mind…
Seeing him nod, Jiang Nuan lifted the thick cotton quilt covering him.
A foul stench instantly filled the room, hitting everyone like a wave.
The villagers covered their noses and stepped back, eyes wide with shock.
Beneath the new quilt was a tattered, filthy old one.
What had once been white cotton stuffing had turned black and stiff, covered in grime and reeking with a nauseating odor.
If it smelled this bad through the blanket, one could only imagine the state of the body beneath it.
The brigade leader’s face darkened with fury.
He shouted at Old Madam Lu, “Ma Xiulian! Are you even human?!
Lu Lin is a hero who defended our country! You promised in front of the whole village that you’d take good care of him—is this how you keep your word?!”
“Brigade Leader, listen to my explanation…” Old Madam Lu trembled so badly she could barely speak.
“Explanation my foot!” The villagers were completely enraged. “Lu Lin risked his life for us, gave us peaceful days—and this is how you treat him?”
They had already felt guilty for misunderstanding him earlier. Now, seeing the hero abused like this, curses filled the air.
“Bah! Acting decent all this time—who knew your heart was so vicious!”
“No wonder she’s a stepmother! How could she truly care about him? We were all fooled! Someone who abuses a hero like this should be sent to labor camp!”
Jiang Nuan wiped her tears and continued through sobs, “After my brother-in-law was sent back, my mother-in-law said I was his sister-in-law and it would be inappropriate for me to take care of him, so she wouldn’t let me get close.
I always thought she was taking good care of him—until yesterday.
I was washing clothes in the yard when I suddenly smelled something strange.
Following the smell, I found it came from his room. That’s when I discovered how horribly he’d been treated.”
Sniffling, she continued tearfully, “I confronted her, but she said she’d been too busy recently to care for him.
Then she changed the subject and served me a bowl of plain porridge. She said I’d been wronged by Lu Rou and Lu Daqiang and told me to rest at home instead of earning work points in the fields.
Lu Rou and Lu Daqiang were there too, apologizing over and over, saying they’d never dare do it again.
I thought they had truly repented, so I didn’t think much of it and drank the porridge.
They watched me finish it, then served another bowl and told me to bring it to my brother-in-law.
But the moment I entered the room, I fainted. When I opened my eyes, everyone had already barged in.”
Jiang Nuan sobbed uncontrollably. “That’s what happened. My brother-in-law and I were truly framed. They deliberately drugged me!”
The truth laid bare, the villagers realized they had been played for fools and were furious.
“So they drugged her! How vicious!”
“Lu Daqiang, Lu Lin is your own brother! How could you do something so inhuman?!”
Lu Daqiang howled in panic, quickly shifting blame. “Not me! It was all my mother’s idea! It has nothing to do with me!”
Old Madam Lu stared at him in disbelief as he washed his hands of everything. Her vision went black with rage, and she nearly fainted.
Jiang Nuan looked at Lu Daqiang with disappointment and fury, her gaze resolute.
“Lu Daqiang! Even now you’re still trying to argue? I must have been blind to marry a man like you.
I want a divorce!”
The moment the words fell, the room went silent.