Some people had originally felt sympathy for Lady Pan Fan, but upon her words, couldn’t help but speak fairly, "We all saw it with our own eyes, it was you who fell and caused the child to be lost. How can you blame others now?"
Shi Xiaolan was somewhat angry and also said, "Exactly! You were clearly very happy just a moment ago, we all heard you happily calling for your husband. It was after you fell that the child was lost and then you cried. You were the one who caused your child’s death, how can you blame someone else!"
Another person advised, "Mrs. Fan, everyone knows your child was not going to live long, always hanging by a thread. It truly couldn’t withstand such a fall from you. Stop blaming this and that, and better quickly go back to properly bury your child. Such a tough fate for the child, only a few months old and now gone."
However, Lady Pan Fan didn’t take any of it to heart and became even more agitated, cursing out loud, "Xiao Changyi and An Jing just fixed this road, and you are all speaking up for them?! None of you are good people either; you’re all in it together with them. My son was cursed to death by that scoundrel Xiao Changyi! And An Jing, she must have cursed me again, she cursed me before that I couldn’t give birth to a son, and now she cursed my son to death... Otherwise, why would my son not die earlier or later, but just had to die today while I was on my way back after looking for them!"
Seeing that Lady Pan Fan was being unreasonable, people grew tired of wasting their breath to say anything to her.
"Enough, stop embarrassing yourself! You caused your child’s death by your own fall, and yet you blame others?! Hurry up, come home with me! You’ve lost all our face!" Pan Shuangquan, carrying the lifeless child in one arm and dragging the crying and shouting Lady Pan Fan with the other, took her back home.
The child was gone, and attending to the funeral matters was more pressing.
No matter how reluctant and persistent Lady Pan Fan was, she still ended up being dragged back home by her husband, Pan Shuangquan, in the end.
Shi Xiaolan thought it over and still felt it necessary to tell An Jing and Xiao Changyi about the incident, so they would be wary. Knowing Lady Pan Fan as a bitter and troublesome person, she would undoubtedly cause problems for them in the future.
Therefore, Shi Xiaolan stopped doing her laundry and went to find An Jing and Xiao Changyi.
Upon seeing An Jing and Xiao Changyi, Shi Xiaolan relayed Lady Pan Fan’s act of blaming them for the death of her child. Hearing this, An Jing felt speechless.
"These days, you really do find all sorts of people." An Jing was truly at a loss for words when it came to people like Lady Pan Fan.
Shi Xiaolan didn’t know what more to say, knowing she herself could never do the things Lady Pan Fan did, "I just came to give you a heads-up so that you’re aware. Someone like her is likely to come and trouble you again."
"Thank you, Xiao Lan," An Jing genuinely offered her thanks. Then she comforted, "Don’t worry about us. If she wants to come, let her come; we’re not afraid of her."
Shi Xiaolan said, "You guys are formidable in your own right. I used to worry about you, but after having been through so much, seeing that no one can bully you, naturally, I won’t worry anymore."
An Jing had originally thought to invite Shi Xiaolan to bring Niuniu and Yu Yu to their house for the New Year’s celebration, but Shi Xiaolan said that the thatched cottage was her home now. Since she had a home, it didn’t make sense to spend the New Year at someone else’s place, so she declined An Jing’s kind offer.
Wanting the New Year’s Eve dinner to feel more festive, An Jing thought it over and, after consulting with her husband, decided to invite Meng Lanqing and Meng Zhuqing to join them for the New Year’s celebration on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month.