Was Song Wei really going to let herself be caught?

Holding Hei Dan, she quickly sidestepped, flicking her foot to send a pebble flying toward Lin Youfu’s mother’s knee. The woman, Deng Chunhua, stumbled forward and fell flat on her face.

No one caught Song Wei’s slight movement, so it looked like Deng Chunhua had just lunged too hard and missed.

Face down in the dirt, Deng Chunhua moaned and cursed, “You little wretch! You dared to dodge me!”

She looked up with a venomous glare, her face twisted in anger.

Song Wei just sneered, “Excuse me, but didn’t you try to hit me first? What, you thought I’d just stand here and let you slap me? How big does your ego have to be to think I’d just take it?”

Deng Chunhua was furious. “You little tramp! You hit my son yesterday! And you, Hei Dan, you little orphan—no father, no mother, and helping an outsider bully your brother! Why hasn’t lightning struck you down yet!”

Hei Dan lowered his head, saying nothing, as though long used to the insults. He clung to Song Wei’s sleeve in silence.

Song Wei’s tone was icy. “Ma’am, did you eat pig slop for breakfast to come up with this trash talk? Are you talking about that good-for-nothing son of yours, who made Hei Dan, a small child, cut pig grass for him? Lazy, sneaky, and repulsive, it’s no wonder he got what he deserved. I couldn’t stand his rat-like leer for another second.”

The villagers gasped.

Country folk didn’t usually hear such cutting insults—Song Wei’s words weren’t vulgar, yet they were sharper than any foul language. The fact that she said them with a casual smile made it all the more unsettling.

Deng Chunhua’s face turned bright red. “How dare you say my son is useless! He’s fine!”

Deng Chunhua scrambled to her feet, her anger boiling over, and lunged at Song Wei again.

Song Wei gave Hei Dan a little push, moving him out of the way, and then pretended to be afraid, dodging her clumsily. “Let’s talk this out, please,” she said, feigning panic.

Gao Le was puffing out his chest and preparing to help, when suddenly there was a crisp sound. Everyone saw a flash before their eyes, and then Deng Chunhua fell to the ground holding her cheeks.

Looking down at her hand, Song Wei blinked, her innocent expression betrayed only by the gleam in her eye. “Oh, my! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to… That didn’t hurt too much, did it?”

Deng Chunhua’s mind reeled, her cheek now bearing a red, stinging handprint. She hadn’t expected this frail-looking city girl to actually fight back.

“What a disgrace!” scoffed old lady Lin, watching from the sidelines. She hadn’t expected her eldest daughter-in-law to have trouble handling Song Wei and had believed she’d be watching her get put in her place. But reality wasn’t matching up to her expectations.

Deng Chunhua, not giving up, tried yet again. Song Wei sidestepped, landing a solid step on her foot as she moved. Deng Chunhua stumbled and, for the third time, met the ground in a messy heap.

Villagers around them murmured in amusement.

“What’s with Deng Chunhua today? She used to be so fierce—why does she keep falling?”

“She’s face-first in the dirt three times now!”

“Song Wei’s got some impressive luck!”

All the commotion drew the team leader’s attention, and he stormed over, barking, “What on earth is going on here?”

Deng Chunhua immediately pointed at Song Wei. “Squad leader! She hit me!”

Song Wei’s expression turned to feigned horror. “Ma’am, how could you accuse me like that? You came at me! If you fell down, that’s not my fault.”

The team leader shook his head. “Song Wei, it’s you again?”

She had only recently had a dispute with, old lady Niu. Now, here she was stirring up trouble again.

“This isn’t my fault,” Song Wei defended. “They’re the ones picking a fight.”

Deng Chunhua scowled. “You beat up my son yesterday!”

Song Wei gave her a dismissive glance. “Yeah, well, he deserved it.”

Deng Chunhua’s face twisted with rage. “You little hussy! Dressing up all fancy, luring my son like some vixen! He was doing you a favor by being interested in you, and you repay him by attacking him?”

She could still recall her son’s tearful, angry declaration that he wanted to marry Song Wei. The very sight of her now filled Deng Chunhua with loathing.

The team leader’s face darkened at Deng Chunhua’s words.

Song Wei wasn’t one to let anyone talk down to her. “Fancy that,” she replied, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “I had no idea being ogled by your lazy, shameless son was a privilege. Maybe you’d like to take my place in his ‘affections’? Any girl with common sense wouldn’t look twice at him. The only ‘good quality’ he has is that he vaguely resembles a human being.”

Old lady lin, who had been watching the exchange, could no longer hold it any longer. “Watch your mouth!” she snapped, her sharp eyes narrowed with anger.

“Song Zhiqing is really sharp-tongued. My grandson is the best in this village. He is an intellectual who has studied in junior high school. You, an educated youth who came to the countryside to work in the production team, are bullying us locals. You beat my grandson and now you are bullying my daughter-in-law. Do you really think that there is no one left in our Lin family?”

  Song Wei was surprised: “Did your grandson go to junior high school? Which school has such poor quality of intellectuals? He’s supposedly educated, but with his behavior, I wonder if he just sat in a classroom for show. You must have a bad eye. If there is really no one in the Lin family, would there be so many people bullying a little girl like me?”

Old Lady Lin was used to commanding her son and daughter-in-law with authority at home, and outside, she had never lost a fight when leading her daughters-in-law in quarrels and brawls.

But now, while their insults were nothing more than the same old vulgarities, Song Wei, who never used a single curse word, could still infuriate them to the point of almost driving them mad.

Old lady Lin rolled her eyes and suddenly came up with an idea. “Song Wei, my grandson’s already told us he’s been pursuing you. He’s even given you plenty of gifts, yet you repay him with violence. You may be educated, but do you really think you can treat our family this way?”

Song Wei was taken aback. She hadn’t expected the old lady to twist the story like this. Lies like that could damage her reputation, especially among the village women who were starting to give her suspicious looks.

Deng Chunhua quickly joined in, “Exactly! Foxy little thing, you’ve got him enchanted. Last night, he kept saying he’d marry you. What did you do to him?”

The other women began murmuring amongst themselves, scandalized.

“Could it be true? Is Song Wei really like that?”

“You never know. Didn’t one of the other city girls get mixed up with a village boy, too?”

The crowd’s disapproving whispers grew louder as Song Wei watched, silently fuming.