Chapter 10 Retribution Arrives

Qin Ruo left, and Zhu Shi quickly scrambled to her feet, rushing towards home amidst a chorus of laughter.

Zhu Shi, who had just been humiliated, felt as if a few large stones were pressing down on her chest, her heart feeling suffocated.

Zhu Shi was known for bullying the weak and fearing the strong. She had been kicked by Qin Ruo and hadn’t dared to fight back, but now she was fuming.

Not only had she failed, but she had also been kicked for nothing.

As soon as she got home, she felt pain everywhere.

She had made up her mind, this time she would definitely go to the Qin family to demand compensation for the medicine, she wouldn’t stop until she got three or five taels of silver.

On one side, Zhu Shi lay in bed, scheming about how to deal with Qin Ruo.

On the other side, Tian Shi, who had returned home earlier, couldn’t help but feel uneasy when she remembered what Qin Ruo had said.

When she entered the house, even her mother-in-law, Sun Daniang, scolded her, but she didn’t react.

All she could think about was Li Chuncao’s pale, contorted face when she hanged herself a few months ago.

Qin Ruo, who had returned home from outside, replayed the original owner’s memory of the tragedy that had befallen the Li family, and the killing intent in her eyes grew stronger.

A few months ago, Li Chuncao was alone in the outer part of the back mountain collecting firewood when she was followed and harassed by Zhu Shi’s son, Zhao Dala. Fortunately, she was rescued by someone passing by and escaped.

Afterwards, the Li family was furious and went to demand justice.

Zhu Shi only had one son, Zhao Dala, and she doted on him.

When Zhao Laotou was still alive, he could somewhat restrain Zhu Shi and Zhao Dala.

A few years ago, Zhao Laotou passed away, and Zhu Shi became even more indulgent towards Zhao Dala, and his behavior became even more outrageous.

So, when the Li family came to their door, Zhu Shi, unsurprisingly, turned the tables.

She said that Li Chuncao was shameless and seduced her son, throwing herself at him.

She was determined to make the Li family suffer this loss. Zhu Shi shamelessly told the Li family that Li Chuncao was already a withered flower, her reputation was ruined.

For the sake of their neighbors, she would reluctantly let Li Chuncao marry into the family.

But the condition was that they had to give her two taels of silver as a dowry.

As for the betrothal gift? Her family had already suffered a loss, so they wouldn’t give any betrothal gift.

The Li family was so angry at Zhu Shi’s shameless behavior that they trembled, but they were helpless against Zhu Shi, who was as stubborn as a rock.

And Tian Shi, who loved to join in on any drama, took Zhu Shi’s bribe and spread rumors to everyone, saying that Li Chuncao was promiscuous.

She also said that Li Chuncao and Zhao Dala had been secretly seeing each other, and the Li family was just pretending.

She spoke with such conviction, as if she had seen it with her own eyes, and the rumors became more and more outrageous.

Zhao Dala wasn’t idle either. He deliberately went to the Li family’s house every few days.

He would tell everyone that he was going to visit his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

Now, rumors had even spread that Li Chuncao was already pregnant with Zhao Dala’s child.

In this feudal society, a woman’s reputation was more important than anything.

Li Chuncao had no way to defend herself. She couldn’t bear the pointing fingers of the villagers, and she was both ashamed and angry. She couldn’t take it anymore and hanged herself when no one was home.

When Li Chuncao’s parents found her, she was already cold.

Li Chuncao’s parents were honest and kind people, but even they were enraged.

In their grief, Li Chuncao’s parents carried her body to the Zhu family to seek justice, but they were brutally beaten away by Zhu Shi and her son.

With the village head, Wang Lizheng, mediating and the Li family being small and powerless, they could only accept their misfortune. The matter was eventually dropped.

Today, Zhu Shi and Tian Shi were simply repeating their old tricks.

They wanted to use the same tactics they used on Li Chuncao on her.

Since in the eyes of these people, human life was like grass, then she would fulfill their wishes.

Zhao Dala was already dead and gone, and Zhu Shi, Tian Shi, and Wang Jiaojiao, who indirectly caused the original owner’s death, would all be dealt with one by one.

That day, facing Qin Ruo, who was radiating coldness, Old Lady Qin didn’t dare to seek trouble.

Old Lady Qin didn’t go out, and she was completely unaware of what had happened outside today.

At dinner, it was unusually peaceful. Qin Zian had suffered several setbacks and didn’t dare to act up for the time being.

Qin Zimu was very perceptive and didn’t go near Qin Ruo.

That night, the people in the Qin family went to sleep early, but Tian Shi tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep.

Thinking about what she had done, and remembering Qin Ruo’s words, “Your good days are over,” she became even more uneasy.

Her husband had gone to work in the county with some people a few days ago and hadn’t returned home.

Only Tian Shi’s mother-in-law, Sun Daniang, and her two children were left at home.

Tian Shi went to the outhouse and came back, looking at the dark night, her heart inexplicably fluttered.

She quickly ran towards the room, but tripped over a stone on the ground and fell hard.

Tian Shi let out a series of painful cries.

Sun Daniang, who had already fallen asleep, was awakened by Tian Shi’s commotion. She grumbled and lit a lamp to come over.

Seeing Tian Shi lying on the ground, her hair disheveled and her mouth full of blood, she was also startled.

Sun Daniang recovered her senses and angrily started to scold.

“I told you to stop gossiping and be more mindful of your words. Look! The Qin family girl was right, you deserve this retribution!”

Sun Daniang had always disliked her daughter-in-law, who was lazy and loved to cause trouble.

Sun Daniang had lived in Changhe Village for decades and had always been kind to others. Her son was also an honest and hardworking man.

Because of Tian Shi’s habit of gossiping, she had basically offended everyone in the village.

Sun Daniang’s biggest regret was that she had been blinded by appearances and let Tian Shi, who was good at pretending to be obedient, marry into the Sun family.

After the incident with the Li family, she had countless sleepless nights, secretly blaming herself for betraying her late husband.

Today, several gossipy women had come to her, gloating.

They vividly described how Tian Shi had hung out with Zhu Shi again today and had a conflict with the Qin family girl, and she was so angry that the veins on her forehead were bulging.

They snidely joked that Tian Shi had gone out of her way to seek trouble with the Qin family girl, and she must have gotten a lot of money for it.

Her old Sun family was going to get rich.

Sun Daniang was so embarrassed that she felt like she and her late husband had wasted their entire life’s reputation because of Tian Shi.

First, it was the Li family, and now it was the Qin family.

Who knows what kind of trouble someone like Tian Shi, who didn’t know her place, could cause?

She had made up her mind, when her son came back from the county, she would divorce Tian Shi.

“If you’re not dead, get up yourself, clean up, and go back to your room to sleep. What are you howling about in the middle of the night? If you howl again, go back to your Tian family!”

Sun Daniang became angrier and angrier, turned around and went back to her room, not even wanting to look at Tian Shi lying on the ground.

Sun Daniang had spoken, and Tian Shi instantly stopped howling.

She was still a little afraid of her mother-in-law.

Although Tian Shi was dissatisfied with her mother-in-law, she didn’t dare to say anything because her mother-in-law was the head of the household.

She spat out a few mouthfuls of blood, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and limped into the house in the dark.

After lying down in bed, Tian Shi secretly cursed Li Chuncao and Qin Ruo.

As she cursed, Tian Shi suddenly felt as if something had stung her eyelids, and the next second, her eyes started to burn.

Half an hour later, Tian Shi’s room was filled with her shrill cries.

“Mother, Mother, come quickly. Mother, help me! My eyes hurt so much, I can’t see anything…”