Qiao Wanyue leaned against Aunt Taohua. “Aunt, what can I do?”
She sighed, showing helplessness.
Aunt Taohua sighed as well and said nothing more.
Qiao Wanyue curled her lips slightly.
At this moment, Father Qiao also arrived.
“What’s all this noise? If you’re not working, then go carry manure for me.” He kept a stern face. The people around immediately fell silent and obediently lowered their heads to continue working. He glanced at Qiao Wanyue, his eyes full of warning.
Qiao Wanyue shrugged.
“Apologize,” he said.
Qiao Wanyue dug at her ear. “What did you say?”
“I said apologize to Wenwen. Look at how badly you beat her.” Father Qiao began blaming Qiao Wanyue. There had already been trouble in the morning, and now more—didn’t she know how to mind her reputation?
Qiao Wanyue let out a cold snort.
She pointed at the bowl-sized scar on her head. “Captain Qiao, it’s not me making trouble—it’s Zhou Wenwen. Did you even ask what happened before judging me? I’m going to report Zhou Wenwen for injuring me. I also want compensation.”
As she spoke, Qiao Wanyue lifted the half-conscious Zhou Wenwen and threw her directly in front of the Zhou family.
“Your Zhou Wenwen, jealous that I was engaged to Yang Huaiyuan, has repeatedly made things difficult for me. Today she even injured me.” She pointed at the wound on her head and accused Zhou Wenwen righteously.
Mother Zhou knew what had happened in the morning, but Qiao Wanyue had always been quiet, and her Wenwen hadn’t suffered any loss.
But now—
“Wanyue, let’s talk this out. Why did you beat Wenwen like this?” Mother Zhou immediately placed the blame on Qiao Wanyue.
Aunt Taohua stepped forward. “I can testify—it was Zhou Wenwen who struck first.”
Mother Zhou’s expression turned unpleasant. It wasn’t that she didn’t know her daughter bullied Qiao Wanyue, but since it hadn’t been brought to her attention, she pretended not to know.
“Wanyue, look, Wenwen has already received her punishment, you…”
Qiao Wanyue interrupted, “She injured me this morning. I need to go to the hospital. I’m getting married in three days—if my in-laws refuse me because of this scar, can your family take responsibility?”
She brushed aside her hair, revealing the large scar.
In her previous life, this scar had remained.
She had been ashamed of it her entire life.
Mother Zhou wanted to say more, but Qiao Wanyue cut her off again. “Aunt Zhou, you probably don’t want the whole brigade to know why Zhou Wenwen ruined my face, do you?”
Mother Zhou’s face changed.
“Wanyue, I’ll go home and get you three yuan right away.”
“I want one hundred.”
Mother Zhou sucked in a sharp breath. She narrowed her triangular eyes at Qiao Wanyue.
What an outrageous demand.
She rolled up her sleeves—
“Everyone might not know, but Zhou Wenwen, she…” Qiao Wanyue began to speak, but Mother Zhou immediately stopped her.
“Wanyue, let’s talk this through. I’ll go get the money right now. Don’t be anxious.”
“And you, drag this disgrace back home,” Mother Zhou said, lowering her sleeves again and pointing at her daughters-in-law, nearly furious to death.
She had always known her daughter liked Yang Huaiyuan, but the Yang family looked down on her, and the Zhou family wasn’t shameless.
She had warned her daughter many times, but never expected her to harm Qiao Wanyue.
Even if she didn’t care much for her daughter, if word spread that she was jealous over an engaged man, how would the Zhou family keep their standing in the village?
She had no choice but to swallow her anger and pay the hundred yuan.
It didn’t take long before the Zhou family delivered the money.
Qiao Wanyue put the money into her pocket—though in reality, she stored it in her space. Mother Qiao had been watching her from the shadows. When she saw the money go into her pocket, she made up her mind to steal it later that night.
After this incident, no one dared provoke Qiao Wanyue again.
Qiao Wanyue carried a hoe to the fields to weed, but in an entire afternoon, she only pulled out three weeds.
Aunt Taohua chatted enthusiastically with others. In less than half a day, the news of Qiao Shanshan and Yang Huaiyuan’s marriage had spread to the neighboring Xiaohe Village.
When work ended, Mother Qiao noticed the strange looks people gave her. As the wife of the brigade leader, she was usually treated with respect, but today something felt off.
She didn’t think much of it.
When she got home, everything collapsed.
Qiao Wanyue had a very relaxed afternoon. As the Qiao family’s workhorse, she used to earn full work points every day just to hear Mother Qiao praise her as the backbone of the family.
Only when she slowed down did she realize how easy it was not to work.
Qiao Wanyue returned to the brigade office, where the scorekeeper recorded three points for her. The scorekeeper looked up several times before confirming it was indeed Qiao Wanyue.
Her expression was as if she had been struck by lightning—the Qiao family’s workhorse had stopped working?
The scorekeeper was a young educated youth who had come to the village in the 1970s and later married a villager. She was kind-hearted and had once advised Qiao Wanyue to take care of her body and not overwork herself, or she would suffer later in life.
But every time Qiao Wanyue took those words to heart, Mother Qiao would praise her as the family’s pillar, making her work even harder.
After saying it a few times with no effect, the scorekeeper stopped interfering.
And now, she had actually stopped working.
Qiao Wanyue took out three White Rabbit milk candies from her pocket—snatched from Qiao Shanshan’s room—and slipped them into the scorekeeper’s pocket. “Sister Qingqing, take these home for your child.”
There weren’t many people who treated her well—Qingqing was one of them.
Qingqing looked down at the candies and frowned. “You should keep them for yourself.”
“I have more.”
With that, Qiao Wanyue slipped away.
Qingqing sighed and changed her score from three points to five.
After returning the tools, Qiao Wanyue slowly made her way home.
Before she even reached the door, she heard Mother Qiao, Liang Xiu, screaming loudly.
“Which bastard emptied my house!” Liang Xiu wailed endlessly.
“Liang Xiu, I’m telling you—if you don’t give me an explanation today, I’ll go to the brigade and accuse your family of marriage fraud!” It was Mother Lu’s voice.
Qiao Wanyue quickened her pace, even humming a tune.
In her heart, she silently praised Aunt Taohua.
As expected of the village loudspeaker.
The Lu family had come quickly.
When Qiao Wanyue entered, the Lu family stood aggressively in the Qiao family courtyard. Aside from a few trees, even the washbasin was gone—the place looked as if it had been looted.
Liang Xiu fainted again and again.
Qiao Shanshan’s head was pressed to the ground by the Lu family’s eldest daughter-in-law, who held a knife—no one dared approach.
The Lu family’s eldest son held a club and had already knocked down Qiao Xingjia, the second son of the Qiao family, who had just returned from his in-laws’ house.
The Lu family had come with overwhelming force.
Mother Lu stood with hands on her hips, kicking Mother Qiao.
“Liang Xiu, my second son’s eight hundred yuan betrothal gift was given to you half a year ago. The wedding is in three days, and now you tell me your Shanshan has already married that boy from the Yang family? Aren’t you slapping my Lu family in the face?
I don’t care whether you were robbed or not—if you don’t give me justice today, we’ll go to the Public Security Bureau. I’ll even take this to the provincial capital. Let’s see if I can get justice!”