“I’m not going!” Cui Shi felt it was a pity to miss such a rare spectacle. “Well, maybe I will go after all!”
“That’s my good mother!” Li Zhenzhu praised.
Cui Shi walked into the yard and said to her third son who was chopping wood, “You stay here. With us being the old, weak, and frail, it’s easier to justify ourselves if a fight breaks out. If you go, we won’t be able to reason clearly even if we’re in the right!”
“Mother is right, I won’t go then,” Bai Laosan replied immediately.
With his wife around, he didn’t need to worry about his parents, younger sister, or children getting beaten.
The entire family marched grandly from one end of the village to the other. Bai Renyi deliberately let the little dumpling ride on his shoulders, striding with great energy.
Firstly, to show off his precious daughter, and secondly, to prove he hadn’t cut flesh from his leg.
Little Tiger Girl was dressed in a new red floral-patterned cotton jacket and pants made by her mother, clutching a small cloth tiger in her arms and wearing a tiger-head hat that revealed only her chubby little face. Her adorableness was beyond description.
Every villager they encountered would glance suspiciously at his legs—perfectly fine, walking with such vigor! If he had really cut flesh from his leg, how could he be so spirited? The rumor was self-defeating!
After checking his legs, finding nothing to criticize, they would praise the little dumpling on his shoulders: “Oh! Little Tiger Girl is growing more beautiful by the day!”
“Of course! Look whose daughter she is. How could a daughter of the Bai family not be beautiful?” Bai Renyi replied with immense pride. Humility? Nonexistent.
Someone teased the little dumpling, “Little Tiger Girl, whose daughter are you?”
The little dumpling, in her baby voice, nearly turning red in the face, finally managed to say: “I-I-I… am Bai Yinyin’s!”
The person burst into laughter, “Old Bai, your daughter is so clever!”
Bai Renyi proudly rolled his eyes, “You’re just stating the obvious? I’ve known that all along!”
He and Cui Shi often taught the little dumpling at home—what her father’s name was, her brothers’ names, which village they were from—just in case she got lost and needed to say where she was from.
Tiger Girl was very clever and naturally remembered everything her parents told her.
After chatting with the villagers along the way, they finally arrived at Zhang Cuihua’s doorstep. Zhang Cuihua was using a pitchfork to move firewood when she saw the Bai family approaching in full force. She was so frightened her butt clenched.
She knew better than anyone that she was the one who had spread the rumor.
Seeing Little Tiger Girl sitting on Bai Renyi’s shoulders like a little pink ball, with the entire Bai family revolving around her like stars around the moon, she couldn’t help but feel resentful.
Ma Witch had said that her Liu Yun was destined for great wealth and honor but was incompatible with the Bai family’s daughter. She had engraved those words firmly in her heart.
Li Zhenzhu rolled up her sleeves and strode over. Zhang Cuihua was about to run inside and bolt the door but was blocked by Li Zhenzhu’s outstretched arm. With an authoritative tone, Li Zhenzhu said, “Zhang Cuihua, are you so bored your eggs ache? What kind of crap are you spewing?”
“What are you talking about? I don’t understand,” Zhang Cuihua replied.
After all, with so many people from the Bai family here, she stood no chance if a fight broke out.
“Playing dumb, are you? I’m asking you—did you spread the rumor that my father cut flesh from his leg?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Believe me, I’ll slap you.”
“I really didn’t say it, didn’t say it, just didn’t say it.” Zhang Cuihua had a notoriously sharp tongue.
Li Zhenzhu’s explosive temper flared up instantly, and she reached out to strike.
Zhang Cuihua had long been prepared. The moment Li Zhenzhu hit her, she would immediately lie on the ground and play dead, making a perfect case for extortion!Fortunately, Cui Shi stepped forward: “Zhenzhu, perhaps your Sister-in-law Cuihua really didn’t say it. Let it go, anyway your father has already walked down the street, and all the villagers saw his leg is fine! The rumor has long been debunked!”
Li Zhenzhu glared: “Mother!”
“Enough, a gentleman uses his tongue, not his fists! Since it wasn’t your Sister-in-law Cuihua, then it must be some sonless, heirless scoundrel gossiping behind our backs. Spreading rumors in the dark, aren’t they afraid their tongue will rot?”
Cui Shi stared at Zhang Cuihua with a smile and asked, “Don’t you think so, Sister-in-law Cuihua?”
Zhang Cuihua turned pale with rage. She only had two daughters and usually dreaded anyone mentioning her being sonless, but now she could only swallow her anger: “Sister-in-law Cui is right.”
“Sister-in-law Cuihua is truly reasonable. The one spreading rumors must be rotten to the core, with sores on their back and pus oozing from their navel! Their ancestral grave must be a triangular plot—utterly wicked! Someone as reasonable as Sister-in-law Cuihua couldn’t possibly be so vile!” Cui Shi cursed with a smile.
Zhang Cuihua was so furious she wanted to claw Cui Shi’s face, but she didn’t dare! If she really did it, it would prove she admitted Cui Shi was cursing her!
Just then, a few people approached—it was the Liu Brothers’ family, the ones who had discovered the death by stoning on the mountain that day.
The Liu family carried bundles and led dogs, looking as if they were fleeing famine.
But villagers loved gossip; even if they were escaping, they had to watch the drama first before leaving.
Seeing the Liu family watching the commotion, a few more people approached from not far away, and soon Zhang Cuihua’s doorstep was surrounded by a crowd.
Cui Shi’s war of words continued, with Li Zhenzhu joining in: “My mother is right. The one who spread rumors about my father definitely wasn’t Sister-in-law Cuihua. It must be some damned scoundrel—one whose son is born without an anus, whose foul mouth hasn’t defecated in three years, spouting nothing but crap!”
Cui Shi added with a smile, “A fat pig heading for the slaughterhouse, a rotten egg that won’t hatch in twenty-one days—a curse to anyone who crosses paths! Only such inhuman trash would spew filth and spread rumors about others.”
“Right, it’s definitely not human, but a turtle, a mad dog, a coward, a pig-head, a big-mouth, a wicked, good-for-nothing scum! My Sister-in-law Cuihua is beautiful and kind-hearted—not a turtle, mad dog, coward, pig-head, big-mouth, wicked, good-for-nothing scum!” Li Zhenzhu used every curse word she could think of.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law teamed up, insinuating and cursing indirectly, but Zhang Cuihua didn’t even dare utter a word, because if she retorted, it would prove she was the rumor-monger!
Besides, with so many people watching, how could she face the village if word got out!
The villagers all knew perfectly well that Zhang Cuihua was the one who spread the rumor. Hearing the duo curse creatively in unison, they burst into laughter.
Zhang Cuihua felt a surge of rage in her chest, a rush of blood flooding her head. Her eyes rolled back, and she thudded to the ground, fainting.
Cui Shi pretended to be startled: “Oh dear, Sister-in-law Cuihua must have fallen ill suddenly. How did she faint? Zhenzhu, quickly help her inside!”
After saying this, she smiled at Bai Renyi: “Father, we’ve been out long enough. It’s time to go home.”
“Alright, let’s go back!” Bai Renyi secretly praised his wife in his heart. Impressive.
Just as Li Zhenzhu was reluctantly about to help Zhang Cuihua up, the latter suddenly opened her eyes. Li Zhenzhu laughed: “Oh, so it was an act!”
Zhang Cuihua shot her a fierce glare.
As the Bai family prepared to leave in a grand procession, someone suddenly remarked, “Tsk tsk, it’s the first time I’ve seen someone cursed to death. How peculiar!”