Lan Hua was impatient and had long been fed up with her arrogant behavior. With her hands on her hips, she stepped forward two paces, her posture mirroring that of rural women when they get into a fight. Lv Liu had never witnessed such a scene and involuntarily trembled, taking a step back.
"Speak your business and don’t beat around the bush here!" Lan Hua snorted. "Pretending as if you’ve really been wronged by something I did!"
Swallowing hard, Lv Liu’s presence seemed much less imposing than before, but there were so many people around, she figured Lan Hua wouldn’t actually hit her. So, she stiffened her neck and said, "Hmph, so you won’t shed a tear until you see the coffin! Fine, let’s talk, and once I’ve said what I have to, you’ll understand the wrong you’ve done!"
Seeing everyone craning their necks to watch, Lv Liu huffed, "I ask you, when my master was leaving, did he not entrust you with taking care of his parents?"
"Yes," Lin Yuan nodded. Although she no longer wanted anything to do with Chen Shimei, the things that had happened in the past were beyond her power to change.
Taking Lin Yuan’s acknowledgment, Lv Liu pressed on, "And do you think you fulfilled that responsibility? Were you diligent in taking care of our master’s parents?"
Lin Yuan tilted her head and thought about it. The previous Lin Yuan did take her responsibilities seriously, but as for her now, she couldn’t exactly claim she did.
However, what did Chen Shimei’s parents have to do with her? Even if she didn’t take care of them, there was no need for a little maid to come and accuse her, right?
The others were naturally confused too, just listening blankly to Lv Liu spout off.
With a cold sniff, Lan Hua confronted her, "Hey, little miss, you keep going on about ’your master, your master’ as if he’s so dear to you! Let me ask you, if those old folks are your master’s parents, then why should someone who’s not related, like Lin Yuan, take care of them? Lin Yuan isn’t one of their household maids, so why should she assume the responsibility of looking after his parents?"
Lv Liu pouted and tilted her chin, pointing at Lin Yuan, "She knows very well what she did!"
Lin Yuan exchanged puzzled looks with Lan Hua, not getting it.
When Lv Liu saw Lin Yuan’s silent and bewildered expression, she felt deflated and said, "Tell me, didn’t my master give you two taels of silver before he left to take care of his parents? What a thick face you’ve got, taking the silver and not doing the work, even using my master’s silver to eat and drink lavishly!"
In the little maid Lv Liu’s mind, Lin Yuan’s ability to afford a feast for the whole village must be because she had taken the two taels of silver from her master! Hmph, what a shameless little village girl, spending someone else’s silver so comfortably yet neglecting their family!
"Two taels of silver? Is this what your master told you?" Lin Yuan pressed.
Thinking Lin Yuan was feeling guilty, Lv Liu triumphantly said, "Of course, don’t think you can do such things and still have my master cover for you!"
Lin Yuan was speechless, unable to believe that Chen Shimei could be so shameless as to fabricate a story to slander someone. Clearly, the little maid had been deceived by that despicable man. If Lin Yuan was guessing right, probably his own mistress had been duped as well.
The villagers who had come to eat were whispering among themselves again. When Lin Jianling came to sever ties with Lin Yuan’s family, Old man Chen was there too. Was it not said that Lin Yuan lent the Chen family two taels of silver? How had it now become about the Chen family giving Lin Yuan two taels of silver?
Unable to contain herself, Lan Hua burst out laughing, clutching her stomach with tears nearly streaming down her face, "Oh my, little maid, did you misunderstand something? Maybe you should go back and ask again, whether it was your master who gave Lin Yuan two taels of silver, or Lin Yuan who gave your master two taels of silver!"
Lv Liu didn’t expect them to be so brazen as to twist the truth, claiming her master borrowed money instead. She was so angry her little face almost turned white.
Just then, the Chen family’s gate opened again, and out came Wang Qiaoxin, Chen Shimei, and the entire Old Chen couple.
Wang Qiaoxin was worried about Lv Liu being out for so long, so she decided to check on her. Chen Shimei, with a guilty conscience, originally did not want to confront Lin Yuan face to face, but thinking the issue needed to be resolved, he reluctantly followed.
They had heard the entire previous exchange clear as day. Except for Chen Shimei who knew the truth and Aunt Chen who believed in Lin Yuan’s character, everyone else thought Lin Yuan was playing the blame game.
Old man Chen, leaning on his cane, made a thudding sound on the ground. With his son having passed the Scholar exam and soon to become Magistrate Yecheng’s dragon-riding son-in-law, he felt more confident than ever. "Little Disaster Star, I was wondering why you were always running to my house, turns out it’s because you took my son’s silver! Well then, you took the silver but didn’t do the work, now return the silver to me!"
While Wang Qiaoxin remained silent, the disdain and scorn in her eyes indicated she shared the same sentiment as the blind old man.
"What do you say, Chen Zhu?" Lin Yuan did not respond to them but with a smirk looked at Chen Shimei, who had yet to speak and seemed hardly able to lift his head.
Before he could say a word, Old man Chen’s cane thudded again, "What Chen Zhu? My son is now called Chen Shimei, and soon everyone must call him Young Master Chen!"
With disdain, Lan Hua rolled her eyes and murmured, "Young Master Chen, indeed. Even willing to change the name given by his parents, what a filial son indeed!"