Liu Wangcai’s wife is a notorious shrew in the village, a master at fighting and arguing.
When villagers see her, they basically avoid her if they can, lest they get bitten by a mad dog and have to pay for their own treatment.
This time, for some unknown reason, Liu Wangcai’s wife suddenly stormed into the Old Mu Family to stir up trouble.
However, if it doesn’t concern her, Mu Shuangshuang keeps her distance, lazily ignoring it, as she has a lot of other things to attend to.
The gold and silver flowers have been put in a large sieve to dry in the courtyard, the white flowers and green leaves are quite eye-catching in the sieve.
The fragrance of the gold and silver flowers wafted to Mu Shuangshuang’s nose, making her feel instantly refreshed, with most of her fatigue dissipating.
After drying for two or three days, these gold and silver flowers will become dried flowers, and once stored in a pottery jar, they’ll save her the cost of tea leaves.
The front yard was noisy, and even while busy chopping pig feed, Mu Shuangshuang could faintly hear demands to hand over that slut Mu Zhenzhen.
It was at this moment that Little Zhi came up, holding Little Black who had just had a big meal.
She mysteriously walked up to Mu Shuangshuang, insisting on pulling her into her room.
Mu Shuangshuang was very curious, wondering what could be so important that Little Zhi would pull her into the room to talk.
"Sister, I saw Second Aunt and Fat Girl’s dad come home this noon. Is Fat Girl’s mom here to make a fuss because of this?"
Mu Shuangshuang frowned in thought, reckoning it was indeed about that, but she reminded Little Zhi.
"Little Zhi, act like you didn’t see anything happen at noon. No matter what occurs, you can’t tell anyone about it."
If Mu Zhenzhen gets involved with a married man, once it spreads, it won’t just disgrace Mu Zhenzhen herself, but also the entire Old Mu Family and the third branch, who will all be shamed.
In ancient times, anything related to reputation was always a big matter. One person’s mistake brought shame to many, so Mu Shuangshuang’s actions were not to help Mu Zhenzhen, but to protect herself.
"Little Zhi understands, Little Zhi heard nothing at all." Little Zhi said as she covered her mouth and ran out of the room.
Little Black followed behind her, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Mu Shuangshuang then went out to continue working on her tasks.
In the front yard, Old Mrs. Mu stood alone at the forefront, balancing on her tiptoes as if rooted to the ground, not moving an inch.
Her fierce eyes glared at Liu Wangcai’s wife who was causing trouble at her home, while behind her stood several unreliable sons from the Old Mu Family, Mu Dazhong, Mu Danian, and Mrs. Lin.
Mu Dazhong and Mu Danian were pulled over on short notice, so they were still somewhat reluctant. As for Mrs. Lin, she stood the furthest away, as she had already witnessed Liu Wangcai’s wife’s ferocity.
Last time when she was watering the field, Liu Wangcai’s wife claimed there was manure in her field and couldn’t let water through, berating Mrs. Lin thoroughly before stopping.
And beside Liu Wangcai’s wife stood Liu Wangcai, battered beyond recognition, with blood-soaked bandages on his head.
"Well, Liu Wangcai’s wife, how dare you come to my Old Mu Family’s front door barking, you’re tired of living aren’t you? Believe it or not, I’ll beat you till your parents won’t recognize you!"
Old Mrs. Mu was as fierce as ever, especially when it involved her second daughter, she was almost single-handedly crushing Liu Wangcai’s wife.
"You old woman, don’t think having a son who never passes the scholar exams makes you able to show off in front of me, today you have to hand over Mu Zhenzhen whether you want to or not."
"You dead woman, dare to insult my old lady. What makes you think you can make me hand over Zhenzhen, who do you think you are?"
"Humph, wait till you hear what low things Mu Zhenzhen has done, then you’ll see if you still defend her!"
As soon as Liu Wangcai’s wife finished her words, she kicked Liu Wangcai in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"Worthless thing, tell everyone clearly what Mu Zhenzhen did today in front of the villagers. If you can’t explain clearly, I’ll knock you dead with a spade."
Liu Wangcai knelt on the ground submissively, like a criminal, shivering as he spoke: "Today noon, I met with Zhenzhen, she... she said she wanted to come to my house. As a married man, I naturally refused, and she started undressing to seduce me..."
That mention of buying meat made Old Mrs. Mu tremble inside, remembering the pound of meat her daughter brought home at noon — could it be...
But quickly, Old Mrs. Mu steadied herself, thinking her pretty daughter would never fancy someone like Liu Wangcai.
However, just because Old Mrs. Mu believed in Mu Zhenzhen, didn’t mean the spectators did.
"Wow, how can Old Mu’s second daughter be such a slut and want someone like Wangcai?"
"You all don’t know, do you? The second daughter was divorced, so she’s without a husband now, perhaps..."
"No wonder, maybe she thinks Wangcai’s thing is good..."
Liu Wangcai’s words made the villagers watching gossip about Mu Zhenzhen, who hadn’t appeared.
Some even went so far as to speak as if Mu Zhenzhen was a promiscuous woman, spinning all sorts of dirty tales.
Elably watching was so incensed she was about to hit someone.
Yet, Liu Wangcai went on: "Later when I refused to agree with Zhenzhen, she hit me with a large sea bowl, and stole three taels of silver from our home; those silver coins were stored in a pottery jar, and are certainly at Old Mu Family now."
"Listen, everyone, listen to what kind of daughter has Old Mu Family raised? Not only seducing other women’s husbands, but also assaulting people and stealing money — such a person shouldn’t stay in the village, they should be driven away."
"Yes, drive her away, Old Mrs. Mu, stop protecting her, since your daughter has done such low things, you should hand her over to be beaten to death with sticks."
Mrs. Zhang, who had argued with Mu Shuangshuang earlier in the afternoon, spoke first in agreement, thinking she couldn’t get revenge on Mu Shuangshuang, she would take it out on other members of the Old Mu Family — she won’t suffer losses.
Having some agreement from others, those mischievous wives in the village got all excited, clamoring to drag Mu Zhenzhen to be dunked in a pigsty.
"Everyone listen to me, Old Mrs. Mu is harboring a thief, we must rush in and we need to capture her..."