Dong Liang’s eyes flashed with panic. He looked nervously and helplessly at Lin Weisen, explaining anxiously, “Weisen, don’t misunderstand, children just talk nonsense.”
Truth be told, Lin Weisen only believed one-third of what his daughter said; how could a child know what “liking” someone meant? But seeing Dong Liang’s expression, his suspicion deepened. He crouched down to look at his daughter. “He said he wanted to be your father?”
Lin Qionghua nodded blankly. “Yeah, he asked me a few days ago if he could be my father.”
Dong Liang grew desperate. “When did I ever want to be your father?!”
The villagers watching the spectacle glanced between the three of them, their eyes flickering with suspicion and gossip.
No wonder Dong Liang always liked to run over to Lin Weisen’s house; it turned out he had designs on Song Lanfang. Trying to seduce another man’s wife—he was truly shameless!
Dong Liang naturally heard the whispers. He had clearly never asked Lin Qionghua anything like that—why was this little girl lying? Could she possibly be sharp-eyed enough to see his true intentions?
Regardless, he had to explain himself, or how would he ever face Song Lanfang again?!
Dong Liang hurriedly laughed and explained, “Qionghua misunderstood. You know I only have two sons and have always wanted a daughter. Seeing how smart and clever Qionghua is, I just thought about adopting her as a goddaughter.”
Lin Weisen seemed to believe him, his voice flat and indifferent. “Forget about the goddaughter arrangement.”
Dong Liang breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could fully relax, a milky, childish voice spoke up again: “Daddy, I also know that Uncle Dong Liang likes Mommy.”
“Dong Liang likes your mommy? How do you know?” Lin Weisen didn’t disbelieve his daughter, but he was an adult and hadn’t even noticed—how could an eight-year-old understand what “liking” someone meant?
Lin Qionghua looked at her father with a face full of innocence. “He said it himself. The day before yesterday, he came to our house looking for you, but you and Mommy weren’t home. I was napping in the room with a lotus leaf covering my face. He thought the person on the bed was Mommy, and he said to me, ‘Lanfang, I like you. Lin Weisen isn’t good enough for you. Marry me, okay? I will definitely treat Qionghua like my own daughter.’”
She mimicked the tone Dong Liang used in her past life when he confessed to her mother. Children could talk nonsense, but they didn’t know how to fabricate details—the specific actions and expressions were not something a child could randomly invent.
The crowd of onlookers was in an uproar. A married man confessing to a married woman?! Was this cheating, or an affair?!
Dong Liang was sweating profusely. When had he ever said such things to Lin Qionghua? How did he not know?!
This little brat was lying! She, she, she…
He looked to Lin Weisen to defend himself. “Weisen, listen to me, I really didn’t do this. Your daughter is lying! If you don’t believe me, ask your wife if I’ve ever said such scummy things to her!”
Lin Weisen ignored Dong Liang entirely. He turned to look at Song Lanfang, who was equally shocked. “Did you know he had those thoughts about you?”
Otherwise, why would she believe Dong Liang’s words over his?
Song Lanfang snapped back to reality and shook her head. “How would I know?!”
Seeing her husband seemingly suspecting her of having an affair with Dong Liang, she glared at him fiercely. “I told you before that he isn’t a good person, but you insisted on associating with him. Well, now look—the whole village knows he has designs on me. Everyone will call me a harlot; how am I supposed to face anyone in the future?!”
Song Lanfang didn’t dislike Dong Liang because she knew of his lecherous thoughts; what Lin Qionghua mentioned just now was all stuff Dong Liang would do later. While Lin Weisen was still alive, he had hidden his intentions very well.
Song Lanfang disliked Dong Liang purely because he was a deeply inconsiderate husband.
Living in the same village, no matter how much she disliked socializing, Song Lanfang had a few friends she chatted with. She heard from them that Dong Liang wouldn’t even lift a finger at home and dumped the care of his two sons entirely on his wife. That wasn’t even the worst of it; he only gave his wife money for groceries every month, while spending all the remaining money on himself—he was stingy to the extreme.
Song Lanfang didn’t want Lin Weisen associating with Dong Liang simply because she was afraid Lin Weisen would be corrupted.
Lin Weisen didn’t suspect his wife of having an affair, which was why he felt guilty. He grabbed Dong Liang by the collar. “We grew up together, and we were classmates. I really didn’t expect you to have those kinds of thoughts about my wife. A brother’s wife is not to be trifled with—don’t you even know this principle?!”
Dong Liang had no defense. “Listen to me, I really didn’t!”
Lin Weisen pushed Dong Liang hard, sending him stumbling onto his backside, unable to crawl up for a long time.
Lin Weisen turned back to his daughter. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
Lin Qionghua scratched her head. “That day, he realized it was me and told me to keep it a secret. He also scared me, saying if I dared to tell you, he’d throw me into the river. I was so scared that I didn’t dare to tell you. Just now, hearing you two fighting, I wondered if Uncle Dong Liang was deliberately making Mommy misunderstand that Daddy was cheating so he could step in and steal Mommy away. I didn’t expect I would actually guess right.”
Her words were coherent, reasonable, and had no loopholes.
Lin Weisen no longer doubted his daughter. “I won’t associate with him anymore.”
They were childhood friends who grew up together, closer than brothers, yet Dong Liang wanted to steal his wife—it was too malicious.
Song Lanfang put her hands on her hips and glared at her husband. “He threatened your daughter, wanted to throw her in the river, and deliberately sowed discord between us, and you think cutting ties is enough?! Are you really that soft?”
After expressing her dissatisfaction, she kicked Dong Liang, scolding him as she did so, “You dared to threaten my daughter! And you dared to stir up trouble! I’ll show you!”
Lin Weisen was afraid she would get hurt, so he pulled her to the side and attacked Dong Liang himself.
Since childhood, the two grew up together. Dong Liang had seven older sisters, and his parents spoiled him as their only precious son, giving him all the best food, which made him grow up big and strong.
In contrast, Lin Weisen came from a family with many siblings; he was thin and small, always acting as a sidekick behind Dong Liang. From the outside, Dong Liang’s height and build were very intimidating.
This was likely the first time in Lin Weisen’s life he had summoned the courage to hit Dong Liang.
But as the saying goes, one is defined by their parents. The pampered Dong Liang hadn’t even killed a chicken in his life; he was just a “embroidered pillow”—all appearance and no substance—and he was no match for Lin Weisen in a fight.
The two wrestled together, locked in a heated struggle.
The onlookers shouted from the sidelines, “Stop fighting! We’re all from the same village. If we don’t see each other today, we’ll see each other tomorrow.”
Some people wanted to help but were afraid of getting hurt, so they could only hide to the side and shout, “Stop fighting!”
Dong Liang was hit several times and felt dizzy. His cousin, Dong Ming, couldn’t stand it anymore and stepped in to help.
Rural life wasn’t actually all that “simple and honest.” They had their own survival rules; they were superstitious about the most primitive form of violence, constantly giving birth to boys because having sons meant not being bullied by other families when fighting over water or land.
Two against one, Lin Weisen was naturally no match.
Seeing that Lin Weisen was about to lose, his eldest uncle charged in and joined the fight.
Song Lanfang was on bad terms with her two sisters-in-law, but Lin Weisen had a better relationship with his eldest brother, though he was on terrible terms with his second brother.
Song Lanfang shouted at the second brother in the crowd, “Come help him! You and Weisen are biological brothers. If you stand by and watch, others will bully you later too.”
Lin Weilin seemed not to hear her and directly backed out of the crowd.
Fortunately, the Dong family members were all “embroidered pillows.”
Two against two, the Lin family gained the upper hand, and soon Dong Liang and Dong Ming were beaten until their faces were bruised and swollen, with no power to retaliate.
The eldest uncle pinned Dong Ming’s arms.
Lin Weisen sat on top of Dong Liang, grabbing his face with one hand. “If you dare to pine for Lanfang again, or threaten my daughter again, I’ll beat you every time I see you! Do you hear me?”
Pinned down, Dong Liang’s face was beet red. He responded indignantly, “I hear you!”
After the fight, Lin Weisen stood up and yelled, “Get lost!”
Dong Liang glared at the brothers with hatred, greased the wheels of his feet, and ran away. Dong Ming followed behind him.
Lin Weisen touched his own injured face. There was blood at the corner of his mouth, and it stung sharply when he opened his mouth.
Song Lanfang looked on, feeling heartbroken. “Should I go to the clinic and buy you some iodine?”
Lin Weisen laughed heartily. “It’s fine, these are just minor injuries. They’ll be fine in a couple of days, don’t waste the money.”
The onlookers left to go about their business, eager to share the gossip with others.
Once the irrelevant people were gone, Lin Weisen panted as he crouched down to look at his daughter. “You shouldn’t have said that in front of the villagers just now. Your mom’s reputation in the village is already not great; it’s definitely going to be worse now.”
He was worried, but Lin Qionghua had done it on purpose. “Dad, if I hadn’t said it in front of the whole village, you would’ve been fooled by Dong Liang’s words again. You’re the softest-hearted person.”
Earlier, when Dong Liang said his tattling to Song Lanfang was unintentional, Lin Weisen had actually believed him.
It was true that Lin Weisen doted on his wife and daughter, but it was also true that he was easily swayed. He had known Dong Liang longer than he had known them.
Men cared about face. Now that so many people knew his “good brother” had designs on his wife, they would inevitably be pointed at and gossiped about whenever they ran into others. What man could stand being a cuckold?
If he didn’t tear off Dong Liang’s mask, he would never have broken off ties with him.
Lin Weisen was momentarily at a loss for words.
Song Lanfang patted her daughter’s head. “Small person, big ghost! You’re the one with the most tricks.”
After complaining, she reminded her daughter, “In the future, if you run into something like this, you must tell Mommy and Daddy. That way, Mommy and Daddy can protect you.”
Hearing such caring words, Lin Qionghua buried her little head in her mother’s arms. “Mom, you must live for a hundred years.”
In her past life, after her father died, her mother was afraid that if she remarried, a stepfather would treat her poorly. She preferred to take her to another city to scrape a living on her own. Her mother had no education and no skills, so she could only do the most exhausting work. Just as she finally finished college, her mother fell ill and passed away quickly. She never got to enjoy a single day of comfort.
In this life, she would ensure her mother stayed healthy and lived.
Song Lanfang patted Lin Weisen on the shoulder. “If it hadn’t been for Eldest Brother’s help today, you would have definitely suffered. Kill a chicken and keep Eldest Brother here for a meal.”
Lin Weisen agreed with a chuckle. “Alright! I’ll go kill a chicken right now.”
The eldest uncle waved his hand quickly. “No need. We’re brothers; helping each other is only right.”
Lin Qionghua, however, tugged at the eldest uncle’s hand, looking up at him. “Uncle, just stay and eat at our place. I have a great piece of good news to tell you.”