At that moment, Mrs. Zhang had already raised the wooden basin and reached Qiu Hanlu’s side. She hadn’t heard what Qiu Hanlu had just said, and with her heart full of anger, she brought the basin straight down on Qiu Hanlu.
Just then, a young man reached out and grabbed Mrs. Zhang’s basin. “Auntie Qiu, a blow like that could seriously hurt someone.”
Qiu Hanlu had been prepared to take the hit, since achieving her goal required some sacrifice, but she was grateful she didn’t have to endure it after all. She nodded slightly at the young man who had intervened in time, expressing her thanks.
In the original owner’s memories, this man was named Sun Zhe. He was the village’s only scholar and now served as the teacher at the village school. He had always been kind to the original owner, and she had harbored a slight crush on him. Of course, now she was Qiu Hanlu, and she only analyzed the relationship rationally without any of the original owner’s feelings.
Mrs. Zhang was unwilling to let it go without striking Qiu Hanlu, but when she saw the people around her, she came to her senses and realized she shouldn’t have acted so impulsively.
She quickly explained to everyone, “It’s not what you think. Qiu Hanlu first splashed water all over Xiaoxue, then threw stones at her. As her aunt, I was only disciplining her.”
Qiu Hanlu wiped at the tears she had barely managed to squeeze out. “Third Aunt, you can’t wrong me like this. Everyone in the village knows how you’ve bullied and oppressed us all these years. Today, Little Sister Xiaoxue helped Sister Lixia put knockout drug in my food, but they used too little, so their plan didn’t succeed. She was angry and splashed water on me. I instinctively blocked it with my hand, and the water splashed onto Little Sister Xiaoxue. Then you wanted to beat me and kill me. I really can’t go on living in this family.”
That morning, Qiu Xiaoxue had hidden herself away when she saw things going wrong. Qiu Hanlu hadn’t seen her and had overlooked exposing the drugging incident at the time. Now the opportunity was perfect—by bringing it up in front of everyone, Qiu Xiaoxue’s malicious crime would be confirmed. Wouldn’t Mrs. Wang, who doted on her favorite granddaughter, be furious to see her reputation ruined?
Seeing the sympathetic looks from the people around her, Mrs. Zhang was so flustered she could barely speak properly. She had never known this damned girl could be so silver-tongued.
She grabbed Qiu Hanlu’s clothes and said viciously, “Qiu Hanlu, you’ve learned to lie now. Let me teach you a lesson on behalf of your grandmother.” With that, she moved to strike Qiu Hanlu again.
Sun Zhe stopped her once more. “Auntie Qiu, do you really want to leave no face for the Qiu family at all?”
With someone holding Mrs. Zhang back, Qiu Hanlu felt even more confident.
She watched Mrs. Zhang’s frantic, furious expression through her fingers and continued playing the pitiful role. “Third Aunt, I’ve endured it when you indulged Little Sister Xiaoxue in bullying me all this time, but today she drugged me! Am I supposed to endure that too? You’re deliberately trying to drive me to my death!”
Qiu Hanlu’s words made the onlookers begin to scorn Mrs. Zhang, pointing and whispering about her.
Of course, they also connected everything to the fact that Qiu Hanlu’s father was not Mrs. Wang’s biological son, and the talk turned to how Mrs. Wang, as a stepmother, had mistreated Qiu Hanlu’s father.
At that moment, Mrs. Wang and her third son, Qiu Guangqian, came running out. Qiu Xiaoxue had just gone inside and given them a rough idea of what happened before hurrying off to change clothes, as it was too cold.
Mrs. Wang sensed something was wrong and quickly dragged her third son over. Seeing the scene before her, she began thinking about how best to handle it.
When an elderly woman saw Mrs. Wang arrive, she stepped forward and said, “Yulan, you can’t be so partial. What will people think?”
This woman’s natal family was from the same village as Wang Jinlan’s, so this was meant as well-intentioned advice.
But to Mrs. Wang’s ears, the words sounded different. She said to the elderly woman, “Sister-in-law, what do you mean by that? Even though I’m not Qiu Guangwan’s birth mother, I still raised him to adulthood. With so many children in the family, a little fighting is normal. How is it as bad as you make it sound?”
The elderly woman sighed. “Yulan, I’m saying this for your own good. Heaven is watching what you do.”
Mrs. Wang didn’t want to hear such talk of karma and retribution, because she knew she was in the wrong, so she said, “I don’t need your lecturing. My conscience is clear.” The last four words came out a bit weakly.
The elderly woman shook her head. It wasn’t her family’s business, and saying more would be overstepping, so she said no more.
Qiu Hanlu liked Mrs. Wang’s tough attitude. The tougher she was, the more pitiful Qiu Hanlu appeared. She had originally thought that since Qiu Lixia was getting married today, it wouldn’t be suitable to split the family, but perhaps now was the opportunity to do so. She couldn’t afford to miss any chance.
She looked at Mrs. Wang with a pitiful expression. “Grandmother, since your conscience is so clear, then let us split from the family and live on our own. Our family works the hardest every day, serving your whole household, and in the end we can’t even eat our fill. My parents haven’t had a single full night’s sleep. It’s too pitiful. Grandmother, how about this—sell me instead, and give my parents a way out?”
Suddenly, a middle-aged woman pushed through the crowd and knelt on the ground, embracing Qiu Hanlu. “My girl, as long as your mother is here, I won’t let you be sold. If it comes to that, sell me instead—I can go do rough work for a wealthy household, won’t that do?”
Qiu Hanlu knew this was her current mother, Zheng Dongmei, née Zheng. In her previous life, her parents had favored sons over daughters, taking her younger brother to the city while leaving her to grow up with her grandparents as a left-behind child. Though her living conditions hadn’t been bad, she’d never felt a mother’s love. Now, held by Zheng, she found she quite liked the feeling.
At that moment, Qiu Hanlu’s father, Qiu Guangwan, also knelt before Mrs. Wang. “Mother, I beg you, please let us go.”
The couple had been sent by Mrs. Wang early that morning to her cousin’s house in a neighboring village to fetch something, only to be locked in a room upon arrival. They hadn’t been released until just now.
By this time, more and more onlookers had gathered, all cursing Mrs. Wang, and even the village’s Lizheng had arrived.
The Lizheng stepped forward and said to Mrs. Wang, “Qiu Wangshi, we’ve heard something about your family’s affairs. Since the children are all married now, why not split the eldest son’s family off?”
Everyone knew Mrs. Wang only kept the family together for free labor—after all, whether it was field work or household chores, Qiu Guangwan’s family did it all. Seizing this opportunity, the Lizheng wanted to help them separate, as Qiu Guangwan’s branch truly deserved pity.
Mrs. Wang was stunned. There was no way she could allow a split—the family wasn’t stable yet, her youngest son hadn’t married, and besides, these were several free servants. If they split off, who would she order around?
Right now, she could lie on the kang with someone massaging her legs and pouring her tea. If she sent them away, who would do all that?
She quickly said to the Lizheng, “Lizheng, there’s a misunderstanding here. I actually treat the eldest very well. But of course, the older one should be more accommodating than the younger—he may do more work than his siblings, but I truly regard him as my own son.”
The Lizheng replied, “There are things I shouldn’t say too much about, but I believe a person must have a bottom line and not go too far.”
Mrs. Wang nodded repeatedly. “I know, I now realize my shortcomings. So today, I’ll make a statement here in front of everyone: from now on, I will treat the eldest well and be fair. If anything like this happens again, I’ll accept whatever punishment everyone decides.”
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