"Liang Kun, you’ve gone too far, how dare you hit me!"
Having been slapped in the face and her hair pulled, Madam Niu’s eyes were red with rage, almost ready to spew blood.
Liang Kun, who had taken a few kicks and scratches to his face, wasn’t faring much better. He yanked Madam Niu’s hair and said, "You rotten woman, how dare you hit me? You’re looking for death!"
Apart from Liang Da and Liang Er who were shouting for them to stop, everyone else was indifferent.
Madam Lu sneered and said, "Guess what kind of man marries what kind of wife."
With her limited strength, Madam Niu was soon overpowered. Liang Kun took the money from her.
"Here, cousin, cousin-in-law, this is your money."
Ignoring Madam Niu’s cries and screams, he handed sixty taels separately to Dong Zhong and Shen Shan, and tucked the remainder into his own pocket.
The villagers who had already collected their items saw what was happening and gathered around.
After asking those who’d been watching the situation from the beginning, they started pointing fingers at Madam Niu and Liang Kun.
"Serves them right!" Someone from Liang Family Village spat and said, "This family disputes everything with everyone, even fights over others’ land. And if they can’t win, they take up knives. They have no shame. Now they’ve met a hard match and can’t win against others. It’s a dog-eat-dog situation."
Someone said, "Sixty taels, I’ve never seen so much money at once in my life, who wouldn’t be tempted?"
"You don’t know, Madam Niu even drove her father-in-law to death."
"What’s that?" An old woman said, "I heard that when she first married into Liang Family Village, she sold her little cousin to human traffickers."
"What?" someone exclaimed in shock, "Is that something a person would do?"
"Isn’t it?" the old woman said, "People only said the child went missing. A five-year-old, where could they disappear to in the village? Wasn’t it those two, lost at gambling, who sold the child?"
The old woman’s voice was low, but Shen Qinglan heard it.
She stepped forward and asked the old woman, "Granny, where did you hear this from?"
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During that period, Shen Qinglan was always out helping Old Tang, so most people recognized her.
"I also heard it from people in the village talking in private."
The old woman glanced at Madam Niu who was still crying and yelling, lowered her voice, and said, "It was said that a few days after the child went missing, someone saw Madam Niu and Liang Kun carrying a child out of the village in the dead of night, but it was too dark to see if it was a boy or a girl. When someone called out to them, they just said it was a child from the Niu Family, bringing them over for a few days, fussing too much, so they were taking the child back while asleep."
After saying that, the old woman sneered, "What child can’t be sent back during the day, but has to be at night? I think the child was most likely Dong Lian."
Shen Qinglan’s eyes narrowed slightly, does this mean Dong Lian was very likely sold by Madam Niu and Liang Kun?
So where had they hidden Dong Lian before, why couldn’t the Dong Family find her?
And where had they sold her?
Shen Qinglan glanced at Liang Kun and Madam Niu, eyes filled with killing intent.
"Miss, are you alright?"
Seeing Shen Qinglan’s expression turn cold suddenly, the old woman was startled.
"I’m fine," Shen Qinglan said, "Collect your things and head home early. Build the house before the snow gets heavier—it’s not good to stay in the shack in such freezing weather."
The old woman nodded, and hearing this, the others lost interest in watching the chaos and went to pack their things.