“Hmph! Whether it was your Xiaofang or not isn’t something you can decide just by moving your lips and making accusations. Call Wang Xiaofang out here and let her face us!”
An’s mother knew her son better than anyone. If he hadn’t been drugged, there was no way he would have done something like that.
“Maybe your son had already been secretly involved with someone else!” Wang Sufen fired back.
“Perhaps he and another woman had been together for a long time, and he used my Xiaofang as a scapegoat because he was afraid people would find out!”
“You’re just trying to frame my family, Li Guiying. What a clever scheme!”
The more Wang Sufen talked, the more convinced she became that she was right.
“That must be what happened!”
“Bullshit!”
An’s mother was furious.
“You Wang family really have no shame!”
“Since you’re going to be this shameless, then today I’ll let everyone see exactly what kind of people you are!”
She rolled up her sleeves and stormed into the house, grabbing Wang Xiaofang, who had been hiding inside, and dragging her out.
“Ah!”
“Mom, save me!”
An’s mother was incredibly strong. Wang Xiaofang was about 1.7 meters tall and weighed around 150 to 160 pounds, yet An’s mother still managed to drag her out.
“What are you doing? Let go of my daughter!”
Wang Sufen rushed forward to help her daughter.
An’s mother didn’t back down.
She grabbed Wang Xiaofang with one hand while kicking Wang Sufen with the other.
By the time Feng Jiaojiao arrived, she happened to see An’s mother fighting the mother-and-daughter pair alone.
Without hesitation, she rushed over.
How dare they spread such filthy rumors about her?
She was the victim here!
If it weren’t for Wang Xiaofang, she wouldn’t have ended up in this situation in the first place. And now they were trying to ruin her reputation on top of everything else.
Feng Jiaojiao showed absolutely no mercy.
She specialized in sneak attacks—kicking Wang Xiaofang whenever she got the chance or helping An’s mother fend off Wang Sufen.
With Feng Jiaojiao’s help, An’s mother found things much easier.
She couldn’t help thinking that this new daughter-in-law was much more perceptive than her other two daughters-in-law.
“Wow, why is Educated Youth Feng here?”
“Of course she came. Li Guiying is her future mother-in-law now.”
“But… this girl is pretty fierce.”
“She keeps targeting all the painful spots!”
The villagers watching the spectacle quickly noticed that although Feng Jiaojiao wasn’t particularly good at farm work, she certainly knew how to fight.
She always went straight for her opponents’ weak points.
Before long, both Wang Xiaofang and her mother were yelping in pain from all the pinching and kicking.
Qin Siyu and the other female educated youths stood among the crowd, silently watching Feng Jiaojiao.
“Shouldn’t we go help?” Wang Yan asked anxiously.
“Help with what?” Zhao Meili stopped her.
“She’s going to be part of the An family soon. She won’t be one of us educated youths anymore. If we get involved, we’ll only offend the villagers.”
When Zhao Meili saw that Qin Siyu had no intention of helping either, a cold smile appeared on her lips.
She had known Qin Siyu couldn’t possibly have no resentment toward Feng Jiaojiao.
Qin Siyu’s eyes were dark and unreadable.
No one knew what she was thinking.
“You little brat! How dare you treat me like this? Just wait until I teach you a lesson!”
Wang Xiaofang’s mother finally managed to free herself and charged toward Feng Jiaojiao.
“Help! Somebody save me!”
Seeing that she was about to get hit, Feng Jiaojiao immediately shouted for help.
“Ah!”
Wang Sufen’s raised arm never came down.
An Jianjun had arrived.
“You… let go of me!”
An Jianjun released Wang Sufen’s wrist.
She immediately clutched her hand and didn’t dare approach again.
Seeing An Jianjun, Feng Jiaojiao quickly hid behind him.
“Third Son, why are you here? Go back. Your mother can handle this.”
An’s mother didn’t want her son involved.
She could deal with the situation herself.
But whenever other people saw that her son was a soldier, they always tried to use his status against him—as if being a soldier meant he had to tolerate everything, suffer losses without complaint, and never fight back or argue.
“Mom, this is my business. How could I stay away?”
An Jianjun knew that if this matter wasn’t dealt with properly, there would only be more trouble later.
So he decided to settle everything once and for all.
“Jianjun, what exactly happened?” the brigade leader asked.
“Captain, this is what happened…”
An Jianjun explained that Wang Xiaofang had asked him to help her with something and had drugged the water she gave him.
Fortunately, it hadn’t worked, and he managed to escape.
Later, he couldn’t control himself and… forced himself on Educated Youth Feng.
That matter had nothing to do with Feng Jiaojiao.
Feng Jiaojiao was kind-hearted and understood that the situation had been caused by circumstances beyond his control, so she hadn’t held him responsible.
In the end, the two of them had decided to become husband and wife.
He hoped everyone would stop gossiping about them.
“Oh my, I never would have guessed!”
“Wang Xiaofang always looked so honest and simple. Who would’ve thought she’d do something like this behind everyone’s backs?”
“Exactly! There was nothing wrong with failing to match during a matchmaking meeting. How could she go so far as to hurt someone?”
The villagers began pointing fingers and whispering about Wang Xiaofang.
“This can’t be true!” Wang Xiaofang’s father immediately protested.
“You must have gotten it wrong! My Xiaofang doesn’t even know where I keep the medicine. How could she have drugged you?”
He had always kept the medicine hidden carefully and was certain that no one could have found it.
“Is that so?”
An Jianjun looked at him calmly.
“Then I suggest you go check it yourself.”
“Take it out and weigh it again. Are you absolutely sure that not even a little bit is missing?”
An Jianjun was certain that he had been drugged.
“And after it happened, I went to the county hospital and had blood drawn. They can quickly test what substances are in my blood. Once the results come back, the truth will be clear.”
He looked directly at Wang Xiaofang.
“Lies won’t mean anything when there is evidence.”
Wang Xiaofang’s father glanced at his wife, then at his daughter.
He noticed the panic in his daughter’s expression.
At that moment, he understood everything.
His fists tightened.
His thoughts raced as he struggled internally.
Finally, he made his decision.
“It was me.”
“Everything was my fault.”
“I was blinded by my desire to make An Jianjun my son-in-law and find my daughter a good husband, so I resorted to this.”
“Take me to the police.”
The moment he said this, everyone was stunned.
In the villagers’ eyes, Old Wang had always been considered a genuinely good man.
He had never quarreled with anyone, and whenever someone in the village needed help, he was always willing to lend a hand.
“Old Wang!”
Wang Sufen knew that her husband couldn’t possibly have done this.
She had slept beside him for decades. She knew exactly what kind of man he was.
He simply couldn’t have done something like this.
Which meant…
It really had been their daughter.
Only now did Wang Sufen remember how strangely her daughter had been behaving lately.
She must have been terrified that everything would be exposed.
And yet she herself had gone and made things worse.
Wang Sufen was overwhelmed with regret.
She wished she could slap herself.
Why had she been so reckless?
“Dad! I…”
Wang Xiaofang never expected her father to take the blame for her.
She knew he was trying to protect her reputation.
Now she regretted everything too.
Why had she become so obsessed with having An Jianjun?
She had tried to hurt someone and ended up dragging her own father into the mess.
“It’s not Old Wang!”
Wang Sufen suddenly shouted.
“It wasn’t him. It was me!”
“You all know that Old Wang could never do something like this!”
“I was the one who started spreading the rumors. But An Jianjun didn’t like Xiaofang and refused the marriage, so I lost my temper and drugged him.”
“If someone has to be arrested, then arrest me!”
At this point, Wang Sufen was willing to do anything to protect both her daughter and her husband.
Old Wang couldn’t get into trouble.
Her daughter couldn’t get into trouble either.
At worst, she would spend a few days in jail.
“Hmph. Now you’re regretting it?”
An’s mother wasn’t about to let them off so easily.
“You should have thought about the consequences before doing it.”
“You will pay for what you did!”
The brigade leader looked at the family of three with a headache.
“Only you know who actually did it.”
“Go and turn yourselves in.”
“Don’t make me personally take you there.”
“Since you did it, you have to accept the punishment and understand how serious this matter is.”
“This isn’t something you can treat as a joke.”
“From now on, medicines like this cannot be taken home. They must be kept under the brigade’s supervision.”
The brigade leader didn’t want anything like this happening again.
“And one more thing.”
“No one is allowed to gossip about An Jianjun anymore.”
“If I hear anyone spreading rumors again, don’t blame me for showing no mercy!”
His warning gaze swept across the crowd.
Everyone lowered their heads uneasily.