Chapter 25: A Family Becomes the Target of Universal Scorn

Yan Ziyue followed the sound and looked over.

A dozen or so young men from the village were forcibly dragging several struggling outsiders toward them. The scene looked exactly like men hauling off hogs before the Lunar New Year. Behind them, two middle-aged women were shoving Zhang Qingqing along with expressions of utter disgust. Zhang Qingqing, pale as a sheet, clutched her own arms tightly, looking as though she had suffered some immense humiliation and trauma.

"Qingqing! My poor Qingqing!" Zhang Juhua, unable to bear the sight of her precious daughter in such a state, scrambled to her feet, intent on rushing toward her.

Before she could move, Miao Lanlan grabbed her hair and yanked her backward with force. "Where do you think you’re going?"

"You haven't settled the matter of your family selling the Xiao family’s daughter-in-law yet. Did you think you could just run off?"

Zhang Juhua’s face twisted in agony as she clutched her scalp. "Miao Lanlan, you bitch..."

*Slap! Slap! Slap!*

Miao Lanlan delivered several sharp blows to her face and mocked, "When it comes to being a bitch, no one can top you!"

"It’s only because Yan Zhuangshi is brainless that he treats you like a treasure. Everyone knows that when you lived in Dalin Village, you were flirting with men everywhere." She cast a meaningful glance at Yan’s father and added, "For all we know, Yan Zhuangshi just picked up a pair of worn-out shoes!"

The thing Zhang Juhua feared most was Yan Zhuangshi finding out about her past dalliances in Dalin Village. At these words, she shrieked, "Miao Lanlan, you’re just making things up with your loose tongue!"

"Do I need to make things up?" Miao Lanlan scoffed. "Ask anyone from Dalin Village; they all know."

Many of the villagers nodded in agreement.

"I have a relative in Dalin Village who told me that when Zhang Juhua lived there, she had a different man every night, and it seems Yan Zhuangshi was one of them."

"Zhang Juhua was an abandoned orphan raised by the kindness of the village. Not only did she fail to show any gratitude, but she also deliberately broke up families and stirred up endless trouble. What an ingrate!"

Noticing the shift in Yan’s father’s expression, Zhang Juhua realized she couldn't let them continue. She collapsed onto the ground, sobbing and slapping her thighs. "My poor Qingqing! You people are just bullying us because we’re outsiders, aren’t you?"

*Damn Miao Lanlan,* she thought, *I’ll settle this score with you.*

"Bullying you because you’re outsiders?" Village Chief Luo spoke up.

The villagers fell silent immediately, casting looks of pure loathing at Yan’s father and the mother-daughter duo. Zhang Juhua shivered involuntarily, but she stiffened her neck and insisted, "If you weren't bullying us for being outsiders, why would you frame us like this? I don't want to live anymore! I don't want to live anymore!"

Village Chief Luo sneered, "Everyone, step aside. Let Zhang Juhua find a place to end it, so she can’t say we forced her to stay alive!"

The villagers stepped back in unison, their expressions dripping with ridicule. Suddenly, Zhang Juhua found herself in a dilemma—to live or not to live? She flushed a deep, humiliating red.

"Didn't you say you couldn't go on living?" Village Chief Luo gestured toward the outskirts and then back toward the Yan house. "There are plenty of places here; pick any spot you like. No one will stop you."

Zhang Juhua’s eyes darted around, and she immediately tried to fake a faint. She was snapped back to reality by a slap from Miao Lanlan, who laughed sarcastically, "Not fainting anymore?"

"I’m a very helpful person, especially when it comes to people like you who are about to pass out. I guarantee one slap will wake you right up."

Under the scornful and disgusted glares of the crowd, Zhang Juhua dared not pretend to faint again. "I... I’m not fainting."

"Good, because the main event is next." Miao Lanlan clapped her hands sharply. "Chief, shouldn't we ask these outsiders what this is all about?"

Village Chief Luo nodded, puffing on his dry tobacco pipe. "It is time to ask." He pointed at several strong young men. "You lot, keep a close eye on the three of them. If they try anything, beat them!"

The young men surrounded Yan’s father and the two women, staring at them with murderous intent. Yan’s father and his companions froze.

Village Chief Luo walked up to the outsiders, his face dark. "What is going on here? Tell the truth! If you don't, the whole village will beat you to a pulp!"

The villagers rolled up their sleeves, eyeing the outsiders expectantly. These men were from deep in the mountains and knew full well that being surrounded by an entire village meant certain death. Furthermore, the money they had pooled together to buy a bride was gone. They had no choice but to confess.

"That ugly woman—the ugly middle-aged one—she approached us herself. She said she had a daughter who was very beautiful and capable at both housework and farm work, and that she wanted to sell her to us."

"That woman has a heart as black as coal; she demanded five hundred yuan! We were so satisfied after seeing her eldest daughter today that we handed over the money. Who would have known it would end up like this? That’s why we thought we’d just take her second daughter instead."

Zhang Juhua shrieked in panic, "Don't you dare spout nonsense! I have always cherished Ziyue. How could I ever do such a thing? Someone must be trying to frame our family!"

The villagers chimed in, one after another.

"Zhang Juhua cherishes Yan Ziyue? That’s the funniest joke I’ve heard all year. Who in the village doesn't know that Zhang Juhua is always plotting against Ziyue and sowing discord between her and Yan Zhuangshi?"

"I saw it with my own eyes in the middle of winter. Zhang Juhua viciously pushed Yan Ziyue into the river and then pretended to rescue her. It made me absolutely sick."

Yan Ziyue looked at Zhang Juhua with icy eyes, a sharp, cold curve at the corner of her lips. "Zhang Juhua, ever since you married into this family, what kind of life have I led?"

"I did all the work inside and outside the house, yet you told my father that it was you and Zhang Qingqing doing it. You claimed I was just lazy and that I was trying to harm you and Zhang Qingqing."

She let out a cold laugh. "You two ate the best, wore the best, and used the best. When my father wasn't home, you did nothing while I served you. I wasn't even allowed to wear your leftovers."

"And now, you’re trying to sell me off."

"How can you be so vicious!"

Xiao Heshuo stood silently behind her, providing strength and a sense of security. The villagers’ contempt for the three of them deepened. "Calling them vicious is an insult to the word itself."

"You wretch, shut your mouth!" One of the things Yan’s father hated most was having family matters aired in public. "You’ve done so many wicked things in your mother’s home..."

"Then tell me, what wicked things have I done in the Yan house?" Yan Ziyue cut him off, crossing her arms and eyeing him coldly.

Yan’s father spat out, "You tried to kill your stepmother and your sister!"

Yan Ziyue’s expression remained devoid of warmth. "Oh?"

"Do enlighten me—how exactly did I try to kill Zhang Juhua and her daughter?"