Mrs. Wang knew this was not the time to consider which step had gone wrong—she had to stop Qiu Hanlu from speaking further, lest her own reputation and the Qiu family’s name be ruined.
She hurried to Qiu Hanlu’s side and tugged at her: “Child, don’t talk nonsense. Come inside with me right now.”
Qiu Hanlu was hardly going to listen to her, but kneeling was too cold, so she took the opportunity to stand up and shake off Mrs. Wang’s arm: “Grandmother, I beg you. Though you’ve always mistreated our branch of the family and tried to make us work for free, we’ve endured all that. But now you’re trying to cut off our only means of survival?”
Her words neatly summed up Mrs. Wang’s misdeeds over the years, leaving the rest for everyone to fill in with their imaginations.
Soon, the guests in the courtyard began whispering among themselves, discussing the family’s affairs.
Seeing the tide turning against her, Mrs. Wang hastily pulled at Qiu Hanlu: “Stop your nonsense! None of that ever happened!”
Then she quickly explained to the guests: “Everyone, don’t listen to the child’s wild talk. She’s making it up. How could any of that be true?”
But the villagers weren’t fools—they knew these things well enough. It was just that no one had ever said it out loud before. Now their murmurs grew even more heated.
This was exactly what Qiu Hanlu wanted. She tugged at her bright red wedding dress and declared to the crowd: “If it were all false, why would I be wearing this outfit? Am I stupid? Would I rush to marry a cripple and hand over the bride price to someone else?”
Then she spotted the village physician among the crowd: “Please, Physician Li, check if there’s a knockout drug in this. This morning, I drank this water and passed out.”
Physician Li quickly came over, took the cup, and sniffed it. His face turned horrified: “This… this indeed contains a knockout drug.”
Just as Mrs. Wang was about to make more excuses, the village head arrived: “I never thought something like this would happen in our Gufeng Village. This cannot be brushed aside.”
Qiu Hanlu knew the village head was a man of justice, so she quickly said: “Uncle Village Head, our family has suffered so much all these years. Could you allow our branch to split off and live on our own?”
This was one of her goals in stirring up trouble today—she wanted to take this chance to separate the household.
Mrs. Wang would never agree to a family split, nor did she want the accusation to stick, or she’d never be able to hold her head up in the village again. As things stood, Qiu Lixia was beyond saving—she had to be married off no matter what. So they’d just have to sacrifice her.
She bowed to the village head and said: “Village Head, it’s my fault for not raising the children properly. But there’s been a misunderstanding. I knew nothing about today’s events—it was all schemed by that girl Qiu Lixia herself. She’d said before she didn’t want to marry, but we felt we couldn’t break our promise. When the engagement was made, the young man was perfectly fine. We couldn’t call off the wedding just because he got hurt. But I truly never imagined Lixia would stoop to such despicable tricks. I will punish her severely.”
In her speech, she deliberately emphasized her family’s commitment to keeping promises, hoping to leave a better impression on others, then shifted all the blame onto Qiu Lixia.
Qiu Lixia was furious when she heard this. If her grandmother hadn’t claimed to have a solution, she could have just called off the engagement earlier. It was her grandmother’s greed for the bride price that led to this scheme. Now that things had fallen apart, her grandmother was pushing all the blame onto her. How could she accept that?
She stepped forward: “Grandmother, it was you who—”
Before Qiu Lixia could finish, Mrs. Wang slapped her across the face: “Shut up, you vicious girl! How dare you make excuses!”
Then she called to her second son, Qiu Guangli, who had just run over: “Second son, take Lixia inside to change her clothes. The groom’s party will be arriving soon. What would this look like? We can’t let people laugh at us—we can’t disgrace the Qiu family or Gufeng Village.”
Qiu Hanlu had to admit that old Mrs. Wang was no simple woman. The scheme had been hers, but now she’d shifted all the blame onto Qiu Lixia.
Though she couldn’t completely topple Mrs. Wang today, anyone with eyes could see that Mrs. Wang was deeply involved in this affair. It just left her with a thin veneer of dignity—who didn’t see through it?
Originally, Qiu Hanlu had wanted to force a family split outright, but calming down, she realized she’d been too naive. The family was in the middle of a wedding celebration—Qiu Lixia’s wedding dress was still on her, and the groom’s party would arrive any moment. If she kept making a scene, she’d end up the one in the wrong.
Besides, she didn’t want to delay Qiu Lixia’s marriage. Making her marry someone she didn’t want was punishment enough.
As for the family split, she’d find another opportunity. For now, she needed to re-establish her own image—if she could never return to her original life, this would be her identity.
So Qiu Hanlu, looking every bit the sensible young woman, said to the village head: “Uncle Village Head, I’ve been wronged, but I can’t ignore the bigger picture. I can’t let outsiders laugh at the girls of our village for being unreasonable. But my parents aren’t home, and I don’t dare go to the main house to change. Could Aunt Zhang from the west courtyard accompany me back to the west wing to change?”
She hadn’t seen her parents at all, presumably sent away by Mrs. Wang.
Upon hearing Qiu Hanlu speak so sensibly, the village head nodded repeatedly: “You’re a sensible girl, good. Then find someone to accompany you to change your clothes.”
Just then, Aunt Zhang from the western courtyard came over. She grabbed Qiu Hanlu’s arm, tears streaming down her face: “This child is too pitiful. Come, Aunt Zhang will go with you to change.”
Qiu Hanlu followed Aunt Zhang back to the western wing where her family lived to change clothes.
The western wing was very crude. To the left of the entrance was a storage room, and through it was their living quarters. Her eldest brother had been taken out to play by their second uncle as a child and had fallen into the water, disappearing without a trace. Her eldest sister had married out the year before last. Now, only Qiu Hanlu, her parents, and her younger brother lived there—four people in total.
They had just entered the room when her younger brother, Qiu Ruifeng, came running in: “Second sister, I’m so glad you’re okay. I saw something was wrong earlier and went to find Father and Mother, but I couldn’t find them.”
Qiu Ruifeng was twelve this year, ranked third among the grandsons in the Qiu family, and was called Sanlang by the household. He had thick eyebrows and big eyes, but he was very thin, looking younger than his actual age.
Hearing her brother’s words, Qiu Hanlu guessed that her parents had also been held up. It seemed Mrs. Wang had played a big game this time—but unfortunately, it had been foiled by her. From now on, her good days were over.
She patted Qiu Ruifeng’s shoulder: “Don’t be scared. I’m fine. Go keep watch outside first—I need to change out of these clothes.”
Seeing that Qiu Hanlu was truly unharmed, Qiu Ruifeng nodded and obediently went out.
Qiu Hanlu found her own clothes, changed out of the wedding dress, and had Aunt Zhang deliver it to the main house.
No sooner had the clothes been taken away than a voice outside shouted that the bridal procession had arrived, and firecrackers at the gate soon crackled to life.
Qiu Hanlu, now changed, stepped out and stood in the courtyard, watching Qiu Lixia’s wedding departure.
Before long, the second son, Qiu Ruikang, carried Qiu Lixia out of the house on his back. Qiu Lixia’s arms and legs hung limp—she must have been unconscious. Presumably, she had resisted, and Mrs. Wang had knocked her out.
That old woman Mrs. Wang was truly ruthless. She would have to be even more careful herself in the future.
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