Chapter 73: Chapter 73: They Said It Would Be a Heavy Sentence Chapter 73: Chapter 73: They Said It Would Be a Heavy Sentence Old Madam Lu and Guifen’s wails once again drew the attention of the surrounding villagers.
Some families rushed over upon hearing the cries, while others didn’t forget to phone their close acquaintances in the village, “There’s a commotion at Lu Zhenguo’s family again! It’s happening right in the courtyard and it’s really loud, hurry and see!”
Aunt Lin next door had already propped a ladder against the wall, climbed it, and was peering over the wall to watch the excitement in the Lu Family’s courtyard.
At that moment, still eager for a spectacle and seemingly indifferent to the consequences, she shouted towards Guifen in the Lu Family’s courtyard, “I told you Lu Zhenjia was taken away by the police, didn’t I! You still didn’t believe it!”
Guifen, who couldn’t care less about her at the moment, said to Youxi, “Lu Youxi, do you want your aunt to kneel before you agree? We are clearly a family, what grudge can be so deep that you insist on sending your uncle to jail?”
At this, the villagers who had hurriedly come to watch were all startled.
“What’s going on, how did it end up involving jail!”
“The Lu family, they have troubles every other day!”
“But, what did Zhenjia do?”
“Lu Youxi too, no matter what, it’s still family, isn’t this too extreme?”
“That’s not right, if the police took him, it means Zhenjia must have committed something significant. If he’s done something wrong, shouldn’t he be arrested? It has nothing to do with Youxi being ruthless. Suppose he’s a murderer, just because the victims are family, does that mean they shouldn’t pursue it and he should get away scot-free? You can’t say that!”
“That makes sense, but it doesn’t seem like Zhenjia would do something so severe, he wouldn’t have the nerve.”
“But as long as he’s arrested, it definitely means he did something wrong.”
Yushu infuriatedly said, “Enough! What does Zhenjia’s arrest have to do with Youxi?”
“How can you say it has nothing to do!” Guifen, with red eyes and full of resentment, pointed at Youxi, “It was her who conspired with Xu Mai to set up Zhenjia and get him arrested.”
Yushu was stunned; she didn’t know the details, as Youxi hadn’t had the chance to explain yet.
But she only hesitated for a few seconds before retorting, “What do you mean ‘Youxi set him up’? If Zhenjia hadn’t harbored crooked thoughts and actually done something wrong, would the police have arrested him? If he was a good person, no trap would work against him!”
“Don’t talk as if Youxi harmed him; it was all his own wrongdoings from the start!” Yushu firmly stated, “The police wouldn’t wrongly accuse an innocent person!”
“If he were good, the police wouldn’t have arrested him!” Yushu, embracing Youxi’s arm, trusted Youxi unconditionally.
Youxi, moved, held Yushu’s hand; Yushu was slowly changing.
At this time, Zhenguo returned.
He had just been to Zhenjia’s house, and found no one there, the main door securely locked.
He waited for a while but saw no one; he then went to the fields and didn’t find Zhenjia or Guifen, so he had no choice but to return first.
Little did he know, as soon as he saw his own front door, he found it surrounded by villagers again.
Zhenguo’s heart skipped a beat, worrying Youxi might have caused some trouble again.
“Make way, make way!” Zhenguo hurriedly squeezed through the crowd, finally managing to reach his own doorstep.
Only to hear the conversation between Guifen and Yushu as he entered.
“Zhenjia was really arrested?” Zhenguo exclaimed, “What happened?”
“Mom, why are you sitting on the floor!” Zhenguo then inquired of Old Madam Lu.
Zhenguo’s head buzzed, everything had been fine when he left; how could it have turned into a complete mess upon his return?
Seeing her eldest son, Old Madam Lu quickly scrambled up from the ground, saying to Zhenguo, “Your dear daughter, and son-in-law! The two of them conspired to set a trap for your brother and had the police take him away! They say he’ll face severe punishment, your daughter and son-in-law, they’ve gotten your brother into prison! And your wife, instead of blaming them, stands by and watches idly, accusing us!”
“Zhenguo, you must make Youxi release your brother!” Old Master Lu said.
“Yes!” Old Madam Lu aggressively agreed.
“Youxi does have many disagreements with Zhenjia, and indeed you had conflicts before,” Old Master Lu said while holding his smoking pipe, “but no matter what, we are still a family. Why escalate family disagreements to the extent of sending someone to prison?”
Zhenguo blinked, confused by their accusations.
“Youxi, what’s going on?” Zhenguo eagerly looked at Youxi.
He felt he was growing less familiar with Youxi by the day.
Youxi surprisingly had the ability to get Zhenjia into prison!
Youxi thought to herself that Zhenguo finally seemed to be acting reasonably, at least he had not immediately believed the words of Old Madam Lu and her group and accused her without knowing the true situation.
Youxi said coldly, “Then why don’t you mention what Zhenjia planned to do to me?”
“Zhenjia thought Foolish Hu was foolish, and went to find…” Youxi had not finished speaking when Guifen hastily interrupted.
She knew too well what Zhenjia had done, thus she couldn’t let Youxi reveal it!
“First release your uncle then we’ll talk!” Guifen screamed loudly, “Don’t mention those useless things!”
“Why won’t you let me speak? If you think Zhenjia was wronged and I framed him, shouldn’t you want to hear what I have to say?” Youxi retorted coldly.
“Exactly!” Aunt Lin, perched on the wall, now somehow had a bag of sunflower seeds and was cracking them while listening.
There was also a little paper box made from folded newspapers on the wall.
She tossed the cracked seed shells into the paper box.
Seeing Aunt Lin’s setup, Youxi couldn’t help but twitch her mouth.
Thinking to herself that Aunt Lin took her sunflower seed eating seriously.
“If Zhenjia did nothing wrong, let Youxi speak, see if she can make head or tail of anything?” Aunt Lin spat a seed shell into the box, “You not letting Youxi speak, how are people supposed to judge?”
“Exactly!” the villagers watching from the yard also chimed in.
“Enough of you!” Old Madam Lu angrily said, “Whether it’s your business or not, you always come to gawk. This is our family’s matter, what does it have to do with you.”
“If you’re shouting so loudly in the yard, you can’t stop people from listening.” Aunt Lin retorted, “Youxi, don’t mind her, you speak.”
Old Madam Lu, angered, looked around the yard for something to throw at Aunt Lin.
Only to find the yard had been cleaned spotlessly by Yushu, nothing was left.
That really infuriated Old Madam Lu.
“Youxue, go back inside, no eavesdropping,” Youxi instructed Youxue.
“Why? I also want to hear,” Youxue anxiously said, curious about what Zhenjia had done and how Youxi managed to get him into prison.