“Li Miaomiao, you wicked slut, open this door!”
Li Miaomiao was still groggy from her nap. Hearing the incessant pounding on the door, she let out a yawn and headed outside. Standing on the threshold, she saw the Lin parents standing there with Lin Dalang and Li Xiaorou in tow.
She covered her mouth with another yawn, walked over, and pulled back the latch. As the gate swung open, the four of them surged in, their faces twisted with malice.
The moment she stepped inside, Lin Dalang’s mother, Bai Lian, reached out to shove her.
Li Miaomiao might have been sleepy, but she wasn’t stupid. She dodged gracefully to the side, and the momentum caused Bai Lian to lunge forward, nearly slamming face-first into the stone steps. Seeing her mother-in-law stumble, Li Xiaorou rushed to support her, immediately adopting her usual act of the “dutiful, understanding woman” to castigate Li Miaomiao.
“Sister, my mother-in-law is your elder regardless of what happened. How could you push her?”
Li Miaomiao crossed her arms over her chest, feigning a look of complete bewilderment. “Who saw me push her? If your eyes aren’t working right, go see a doctor. Don’t come here and throw a fit in front of me.”
Stung by the sarcasm, Li Xiaorou wanted to lash out, but Bai Lian was faster. She charged at Li Miaomiao, grabbing her by the collar and shrieking, “You shameless shrew! Look at yourself! Look at what you’ve done to my son!”
“If you don’t give me a satisfactory explanation today, I’m going straight to the village chief to report you!”
Li Miaomiao didn’t even try to pull away, keeping her eyes fixed on Lin Dalang. The slap marks weren’t visible, but the bruising at the corner of his mouth was glaringly obvious.
Lin Youcai hoisted his hoe in the air, threatening her with a vicious snarl: “Li Miaomiao, if you don’t give my son an explanation today, I’ll smash your house to pieces!”
Meanwhile, what was that coward Lin Dalang doing? He stood behind Lin Youcai with Li Xiaorou, staring down at Li Miaomiao with a look of arrogant disdain.
“Father, Mother, I was just passing by, and I tried to have a few polite words with her. She just suddenly attacked me! You can’t let her get away with this today.”
The villagers had seen the Lin family storming toward the end of the village. Everyone figured it had something to do with Li Miaomiao, and neighbors came running to get a front-row seat to the drama. In no time, the tiny courtyard was packed.
Auntie Pang and Auntie Liu were, as always, front and center. “What’s going on here?” “What happened? Why are they fighting all of a sudden?”
Seeing the audience grow, Bai Lian released Li Miaomiao’s collar and dropped to the ground, wailing at the top of her lungs. “Neighbors, you’ve come just in time! Judge this for yourselves! My son was just passing by, trying to have a civil conversation with this woman, and the shrew attacked him without rhyme or reason!”
“Is there no justice left in this world? Who gets beaten just for speaking?”
Seeing Lin Youcai brandishing his hoe, one of the men spoke up. “Uncle Lin, put the hoe down. You don’t want to accidentally hurt anyone.”
The man was Tie Zhu, one of the few people in the village who had never bullied the original Miaomiao. Lin Youcai shoved him aside, his neck stiff with defiance. “Get out of my way! If this shrew doesn’t give me an explanation for my son today, I’ll smash her house to bits. I don’t care who tries to stop me!”
Li Miaomiao let them throw their tantrum, playing the part of the confused victim. Seeing her expression, Li Xiaorou fanned the flames. “Sister, my parents and my husband are reasonable people. If you just show a little maturity and apologize, there’s still room for us to talk this out.”
Li Miaomiao furrowed her brows, her face a mask of genuine confusion. “What are you talking about? I didn’t hit him, so what would I be apologizing for?”
At this, Lin Dalang jumped out. He raised his fists in a threatening posture and roared in frustration, “You venomous woman! You were the one who hit me—don’t you dare deny it!”
Li Miaomiao took a step back, let out a heavy, defeated sigh, and looked at him with an expression of profound, soul-weary disappointment.
“Lin Dalang, I don’t know why you’ve come here to cause trouble today. Your family and all our neighbors are right here. You’re a grown man—if you wanted to, you could probably punch me until I puked blood.”
“Trees don’t move, but people do. Do you really expect them to believe I was the one who beat you black and blue?”
“Besides, I’m already married now and have absolutely nothing to do with him anymore. Why on earth would I go out of my way to hit him?”
The neighbors mulled this over, nodding in agreement.
“Li Miaomiao has a point.”
“Lin Dalang is a grown man. It’s not like he’s a dead tree that can’t dodge a blow.”
“He’s so tall and sturdy—even if he really did get into a scuffle with Li Miaomiao, he wouldn’t be losing this badly. Look at her; she doesn’t have a single scratch on her.”
The murmurs grew louder, leaving Lin Dalang feeling humiliated. The term “grown man” felt like a direct insult to his pride. He retracted his fists, whipped his sleeves back with a flourish, and stared at Li Miaomiao with cold, thin eyes.
“Because you’ve had a miserable life since marrying Xiao Xian, and you’re still bitter that I wanted to take you as a concubine on our wedding day! That’s why you attacked me like a lunatic.”
He then turned to the villagers, speaking with self-righteous gravity: “Can you reason with a madwoman?”
Everyone immediately thought of Li Miaomiao’s recent behavior—the tree-chopping incident and the mysterious transformation of her eight dowry chests into piles of rocks. They shot her looks of suspicion and unease.
Li Xiaorou seized the momentum. She stepped forward, grasping Li Miaomiao’s hand and feigning a soft, fragile concern. “Sister, I know that Brother-in-law is a cripple and that your personality has changed drastically since you lost your dowry. Don’t be afraid. Mother and I will hire a shaman to come and take a look at you.”
As Li Miaomiao’s own sister, Li Xiaorou’s words carried weight. To the onlookers, it was all but confirmed: Li Miaomiao was either genuinely insane or possessed by a malicious spirit.
Li Miaomiao sneered internally, though her face remained calm. She pulled her hand away with an expression of intense disgust and called out toward the inner room: “Husband! We have guests. Could you go watch the fire in the kitchen? Don’t let the braised meat burn.”
Inside, Xiao Xian was propped up against the headboard, listening to the unfolding drama. Hearing her sweet, melodic voice call out to him, he seemed to guess exactly what she was playing at. A cryptic, meaningful smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
Outside, the mention of “braised meat” caught everyone off guard. They peered toward the kitchen, eyeing the small, dilapidated courtyard with skepticism.
Whispers broke out instantly. “Her dowry is gone, and this shack looks like they don’t have two coins to rub together. Where would they get the money for meat and spices?”
Li Xiaorou, furious at being brushed off, jumped in before Bai Lian could speak. “Sister, Brother-in-law has a disability—you’re already married, how can you be so thoughtless?”
“Father and Mother taught us that a woman should obey her father before marriage and her husband after. You shouldn’t make your husband go to the kitchen just to put on a show for us, just to save face.”
Her voice was soft, gentle, and utterly submissive. Compared to her, Li Miaomiao looked like a rough, unrefined savage.
Li Miaomiao’s eyelashes fluttered. Suddenly, her eyes turned red, and her voice dropped to a dejected, trembling whisper. “You’re so ‘thoughtful,’ yet you were the one who stole my fiancé, weren’t you?”
If you want to play the fragile victim, who am I to stop you?
Hearing this in front of the entire village, Li Xiaorou’s face went ghastly pale. Lin Dalang immediately shielded her, bellowing at Li Miaomiao in a rage: “I chose to marry her myself! It has nothing to do with Xiaorou. And don’t you try to distract everyone!”
Lin Youcai, taking his cue from his son, raised his hoe high above Li Miaomiao, shouting with vein-popping fury: “You shrew! Don’t think you can drag this out! My son is going to take the civil service exams and become a high-ranking official. You’ve beaten him like this—how is he supposed to face his classmates at the academy?”
He swung the hoe back, making a show of preparing to strike her down. Li Miaomiao didn’t flinch. She stood perfectly still, watching them with the same hollow, sorrowful eyes.
The villagers realized things were escalating toward a tragedy and scrambled to intervene. Tie Zhu lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Lin Youcai’s waist to hold him back.
Auntie Pang hurried to mediate. “Li Miaomiao, just apologize to Lin Dalang and pay him some silver. Let’s just put this behind us.”
Auntie Liu nodded fervently. “That’s right, Li Miaomiao! We’re all villagers here. We see each other every day—why make things so ugly?”