Chapter 10: Trouble

Back in the village, the group split into two.

The men carried the tea leaves to the teahouse, while the women carried their belongings towards home.

Liu Zhaodi walked quickly, disappearing from sight in no time.

Ding Xiujing was going to pick vegetables and took a different fork in the road halfway there.

Only Xu Jiaojiao remained, walking home alone. But before she reached home, she was stopped.

“Qin Shuo’s wife.”

The person who stopped her was Liu Chunli, carrying a basket in her hand.

Xu Jiaojiao had a bad feeling when she saw this.

And she was right.

“I have some eggs here. Thank you for saving my Yaya today.”

Liu Chunli’s eyes were still red, and she handed the eggs to Xu Jiaojiao while speaking.

“Don’t be silly, take them back and nourish yourself.”

How could Xu Jiaojiao accept her eggs?

She had already heard Liu Chunli’s gossip in the fields that day.

She was a woman with a hard life, married to a man in the village who was the only son in his family for three generations, but she ended up having three daughters.

Her mother-in-law was also a formidable woman, and she directly abandoned two of the daughters.

These days, it was hard enough to feed their own children, who would pick up someone else’s to raise?

The abandoned ones, their fate was imaginable.

Liu Chunli cried until her eyes were almost blind, but what could she do?

That man was a scoundrel, even the Women’s Federation couldn’t do anything about him.

She finally gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, but she lost a lot of blood and almost didn’t survive.

The baby she was carrying to the field to work today was the girl of the twins.

“Qin Shuo’s wife, please take them. Without you, my Yaya…”

As she spoke, Liu Chunli patted the daughter she was carrying on her back in fear.

She was useless, she couldn’t protect her two daughters.

If she lost this one too, she didn’t know how she would go on living.

“You rotten thing! Taking my son’s eggs to give away?”

Suddenly, a furious roar came from ahead.

Xu Jiaojiao turned her head and saw a tall, thin middle-aged woman charging towards them with a fierce look on her face.

Seeing it was her mother-in-law, Liu Chunli’s face changed, and she couldn’t help but tremble.

Huang Guihong was about to cook an egg for her son when she realized the basket of eggs was gone.

Thinking about what she had heard people say in the afternoon about someone saving that little girl, Huang Guihong guessed that she had taken the eggs to give away.

She rushed over in a hurry, just in time to see her giving eggs to someone.

“This was given by my family…”

Although Liu Chunli was afraid, she still chose to resist.

“What family, you are from our Wang family! Are you getting bold? Dare you take eggs from the house to give away?”

“She saved my Yaya, I couldn’t not repay her kindness.”

“A little girl, dead is dead.” Huang Guihong didn’t care.

It would be better if that little girl wasn’t there, so she wouldn’t have to compete with her grandson for milk.

As she spoke, she was about to go forward and grab the eggs back.

But Liu Chunli, as if determined, dodged with the eggs, and Huang Guihong missed her chance.

Immediately, her eyes turned red with anger, she reached out and viciously slapped the girl behind Liu Chunli.

A baby who hadn’t even reached a month old, how could she withstand such a slap?

Liu Chunli couldn’t dodge, seeing the slap about to land, her eyes widened in despair.

“Don’t hit her!”

Her voice just fell, and another scream of pain came.

The expected slap didn’t land, instead, Huang Guihong was holding her hand and howling and jumping.

“Help! Someone is trying to kill a child!”

Xu Jiaojiao retracted her hand and shouted at the top of her lungs.

“You shameless woman! You were the one who stabbed me!” Huang Guihong was furious.

She rushed forward and reached out to push the woman down.

Xu Jiaojiao didn’t dodge, the silver needle between her fingers was tightly held, ready to give her another jab.

But before she could stab, a large hand grabbed her wrist.

The next moment, she was pulled next to a tall figure.

It was Qin Shuo!

Huang Guihong pushed empty air, and she almost fell face-first because she used too much force.

She had never suffered such a loss, her eyes were red with anger.

Turning around, she was about to charge again, but she met a pair of icy cold eyes.

“Assaulting a baby, you have already committed the crime of intentional injury!”

Xu Jiaojiao heard Qin Shuo say seriously.

“Don’t talk nonsense! I’m hitting my own granddaughter, what law have I broken?”

Huang Guihong didn’t believe it, her granddaughter, even if she was beaten to death, was still her own business.

The onlookers didn’t believe it either, how could beating your own child be against the law?

“A granddaughter is not your private property, you can’t hit her just because you want to! Also, I will report your abandonment of two granddaughters, resulting in their deaths, to the police.”

Hearing the word “police,” Huang Guihong was really scared this time.

But she still refused to admit defeat and said, “You, you don’t scare me, I’m not scared of anything.”

“Then try it.”

Qin Shuo was a soldier by background, just standing there, he had an indescribable aura.

Seeing him looking serious, Huang Guihong immediately cowered.

She cursed under her breath, but her feet were like greased lightning, and she disappeared in a flash.

Seeing the evil woman run away, the onlookers all applauded.

Xu Jiaojiao looked at Qin Shuo with admiration, “You’re still the one with the solution.”

If she had known it would be so easy to scare her away, she wouldn’t have bothered.

Xu Jiaojiao silently put the silver needle back into the system.

This was a self-defense tool she had gotten from the system, some were soaked in medicinal water, some were not.

The one she had between her fingers was the one that wasn’t soaked.

But her compliment didn’t get a response from Qin Shuo, instead, she heard Liu Chunli’s panicked voice.

“You can’t report to the police!”

If she reported to the police, her life would be over, her husband would beat her to death.

Xu Jiaojiao: …

Finally, she knew how those two children died.

With such a weak mother, and such a vicious grandmother, it would be a miracle if they could survive.

But it was her choice, Xu Jiaojiao didn’t want to get involved in their affairs.

She nodded, turned around and was about to leave.

But the next moment, she was stopped again.

“Take these eggs back!”

Xu Jiaojiao: …

“No need, keep them for yourself.” Xu Jiaojiao didn’t want to take them in the first place.

After such an incident, it was even more impossible for her to accept them.

After a few back and forth, she finally pushed the basket of eggs away.

Xu Jiaojiao ran as fast as she could!

Behind her, Qin Shuo’s brows were furrowed.

The two of them returned home one after the other, the yard was still bustling with activity.

The sound of children playing, adults scolding, full of the warmth of life.

“You’re back? Wash your hands and come eat!”

Wang Fengmei wiped her hands on her apron and called out. Then she turned to her grandson and scolded.

“You’re always so naughty, you’ll only learn your lesson when you bleed! Otherwise, you won’t know to be afraid!”

Only then did Xu Jiaojiao see the five or six-year-old boy, his knees were all bloody.

He must have scraped himself somewhere.

He didn’t dare to say anything when he was scolded by the adults, he looked listless.

What child doesn’t get bumps and bruises? Wang Fengmei didn’t take it to heart.

She reached out and touched the eaves.

After a while, she pulled out some cobwebs mixed with dust from the eaves and directly applied it to the child’s wound.

Xu Jiaojiao: …