Chapter 2: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind

The flickering beam of the flashlight fell on Granny Zhao, and the gathered crowd looked slightly surprised.

The village chief glanced doubtfully at Granny Zhao, who stood at the doorway of Bai Ruoqiao’s room, then looked at the tightly shut door behind her.

“What’s the situation inside? Has the thief been caught?”

Brigade leader Fang Hanwu stepped forward, assuming Granny Zhao was also there to help catch the thief.

Granny Zhao’s heart skipped a beat when she heard this.

She thought these people had come to catch her son.

Immediately, she shouted loudly and spread her arms to block the door behind her.
“What are you doing barging into my house in the middle of the night?!
Trying to rob us or what?!
Old man, old man, get up! There are thieves!!”

Granny Zhao’s sharp voice was piercing—almost like a blaring siren.

Within seconds, Zhao Genlai’s panicked voice came from another room.

“A thief? Where?”

Along with a cacophony of crashes and clattering—clearly things being knocked over.

The expressions on the crowd’s faces changed as well.

The village chief barked angrily, “Zhao Jinhua, what nonsense are you spouting? We’re here to—”

Before the chief could finish, Zhao Xiaohui suddenly rushed forward.

Her voice choked with sobs as she cried out,
“Mom, is… is sister-in-law already…?”

The people around didn’t need her to finish—they immediately understood the implication behind her words. Their expressions shifted.

Granny Zhao was stunned too when she saw her youngest daughter push her way through the crowd.

Wasn’t this girl supposed to be asleep? What was she doing here?

By now, Zhao Genlai had run out of his room.

Seeing this, Zhao Xiaohui immediately put on a performance of grief and indignation, shouting in a shrill voice:

“Mom, I know you’re trying to protect our Zhao family’s reputation.
But now that sister-in-law has been caught doing something like that with a strange man…
We can’t cover this up! That man—what he did is a crime! Wuwuwu…”

Zhao Genlai was stunned. Her words were like a bomb going off in his head.

What?! His daughter-in-law messing around with a strange man?

He looked at the crowd confronting his wife and instantly turned red with shame and white with rage. With a furious roar, he charged toward Zhao Sihai’s room.

“That woman dares cheat?! I knew she was no good!”

Granny Zhao was startled by his outburst.

Instinctively, she stepped aside to avoid him—
then suddenly remembered her son was still inside the room.

She hurriedly tried to stop her husband. “Bao’s father, wait—”

Before she could finish, Zhao Genlai, blinded by fury, shoved her aside. She nearly tumbled down the steps.

Inside the room, Zhao Third’s face had gone deathly pale. He was panicking and pacing like a trapped rat.

But Zhao Sihai’s room was tidy and sparse—there was nowhere to hide.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Three loud thuds.

The wooden door was kicked open and fell with a crash.

Zhao Third let out a shriek of terror.

The pitch of his scream was so high, Zhao Genlai didn’t even recognize it as a man’s voice at first.

He followed the sound and charged inside, spotting a blurry figure.

Without thinking, he reached out and yanked the person over, cursing as he beat them fiercely.

The people outside, hearing a man’s voice from inside the room, suddenly realized something and rushed forward.

Fang Hanwu was at the front, his flashlight beam jittering from the agitation in his hand.

“Stop! Don’t hit him anymore!” Granny Zhao heard her son’s pained wails and was beside herself.

She tried to push through the crowd, but Zhao Xiaohui held her back by the arm.

Still playing the concerned daughter-in-law, she cried out,
“Mom, what sister-in-law did can’t be covered up. Everyone saw it!”

“That’s right, that’s right. Jinhua, don’t cause trouble. Catching that thief is what matters now,” Aunt Liu chimed in, helping to hold her back.

Another Zhao family aunt spoke with a mocking sneer,
“Tch, what’s the use catching him now? Bai Ruoqiao’s already been defiled.
Poor Sihai, not even back yet and his wife’s already been taken by someone else.”

At that moment, the second group of villagers finally arrived after hearing the commotion.

They walked in just in time to hear the aunt’s comment—
and their faces lit up with shock and disbelief.

What was going on here?

Bai Ruoqiao caught in the act of adultery?

Just then, a startled shout came from inside the room:

“Zhao Third? Why is it you?!”

Outside, Zhao Xiaohui trembled with excitement as she clutched tightly onto Granny Zhao’s arm.

Her eyes were glued to the doorway, her heart pounding wildly.
She couldn’t wait to see Bai Ruoqiao condemned and shamed in front of everyone.

But suddenly, all went silent inside the house.

With a wail, Granny Zhao shoved Zhao Xiaohui aside.

She shoved her way through the crowd and burst into the room.

Her swift and agile movements were completely out of character for a bound-footed old woman.

As soon as she entered, she threw her arms around her son, who was surrounded and trembling in fear.

Then she turned and kicked Zhao Genlai, who stood frozen in shock.

“You damned old man! How dare you beat my precious son?!
If he’s done something wrong, I’ll take your damn life first!”

Her furious shriek snapped everyone out of their daze.

Then confusion set in once again.

Fang Hanwu shone his flashlight all around the room.

But—there was no sign of Bai Ruoqiao.

“Where’s Comrade Bai?” he asked.

The village chief came to his senses. “Right, wasn’t there a thief?
Zhao Third, why are you in the room? Where’s your sister-in-law and your nephew?”

By now, Granny Zhao was fuming to the point of dizziness.

Hearing them question her son, her mind buzzed, and she blurted out “Bai Ruoqiao” without thinking.

Afraid that Bai Ruoqiao would accuse her son of harassment, she immediately shouted:

“This has nothing to do with my son! It was that shameless hussy Bai Ruoqiao!
She seduced my son—it was her who started it!

No—she tried to molest him! Village Chief, arrest that harlot!”

Outside, the crowd couldn’t clearly see what was happening inside the room.

But hearing this, they burst into noisy chatter:

“What? Bai Ruoqiao seduced her own brother-in-law? Is that true?”

“How could it not be? They caught them red-handed!”

“Tch, just look at her, that sly fox face—anyone can tell she’s not a decent woman.”

Several of the educated youth, squeezed into the entrance courtyard, were also shocked.

Liao Yu’an looked completely stunned, then his face darkened in disbelief and fury.

He couldn’t believe Bai Ruoqiao was that kind of woman.

If only he’d known sooner…

If he’d known, he wouldn’t have held back so much.

Lin Qianqian, meanwhile, wore a rare expression identical to Zhao Xiaohui’s—
full of glee and malice.

“Hah! That woman’s really disgraced all of us educated youth.
A shameless tramp like her ought to be paraded out to the grassland and publicly denounced!”

“Paraded?! With this many people? What the hell is going on?”

A loud voice rang out suddenly—it was Aunt Fang.

The sudden noise startled the group.

They quickly turned around—and froze.

Outside the courtyard stood four people.

Fang Chunsheng held a flashlight in one hand and carried a basket on his back.

Behind him stood Aunt Fang and her eldest daughter-in-law.

And between the two women, being supported—

Was…

Everyone stared in stunned silence.

Liao Yu’an exclaimed, “Comrade Bai?! What are you doing here? Weren’t you—?!”

That’s right. The woman being helped along at that very moment—was Bai Ruoqiao,
the one who was supposedly caught in the act.

Even the Fang family looked a bit confused.

Bai Ruoqiao herself was visibly startled and bewildered.

She looked around at the chaotic crowd in the courtyard and asked in confusion:

“What’s going on? What happened here?”

Lin Qianqian finally snapped out of it.

Her expression suddenly shifted, and she shrieked loudly:

“Bai Ruoqiao’s here! She ran out! She ran away!”