Chapter 67

Zhao Yongshen is no longer an option!

He’s already messing around with women before even getting married. How can Lingling have a good life if she marries him?

A beating is definitely not enough.

I’ll have the people from the old Tang family come over and give him a few more hits.

Since they can’t live together anymore, I need to make sure Lingling gets the best deal out of this.

“My brother-in-law’s family only has Lingling, an only daughter, raised in the palm of their hand. She wasn’t raised to be mistreated.”

Ye Hongmei laid out her terms: “The two wooden cabinets and the bed my sister-in-law bought for Zhao Yongshen in our house — I’m taking those back, and Zhao’s family needs to pay 200 yuan.”

“200 yuan? Why don’t you just rob them?”

“My son Zhao Yongshen was engaged to Tang Yunling, and they gave her 18 yuan as a betrothal gift.”

Ye Hongmei was firm: “Fine, I’ll have someone go to the neighboring brigade and bring my brother-in-law over. Since your family has been treating Lingling like this, let’s see what happens when the Tang family shows up.”

The Tang family in Xiangyang Brigade was united, with half the brigade sharing the Tang surname.

When it came to supporting their own, half the brigade would show up.

Zhao Yongshen’s mother had initially focused on this aspect, thinking that a widow and orphan like her wouldn’t be able to stand on her own. She was determined to marry into the old Tang family.

Before she thought of finding a city-bred educated youth to live off commercial grain, Tang Yunling seemed like a top-notch marriage prospect.

Now, the very thing that made Tang Yunling such a good match—the Tang family’s support—had turned around and backfired on her and Zhao Yongshen.

If they really angered the Tang family, it wouldn’t be resolved with just 200 yuan. Their home would be destroyed.

No matter how unwilling Zhou Xiaohong was, she had no choice but to agree to Ye Hongmei.

“Fine, 200 yuan it is.”

She gritted her teeth: “But there needs to be a written note that you’re not allowed to come to my house and cause trouble in the future.”

“Alright, we have an agreement then.”

Zhao Yongshen’s mother clenched her teeth and wrote a promissory note for the 200 yuan debt, specifying that after the money was received, the Tang family was not allowed to come to her house to cause any more trouble.

Brigade Secretary Yang looked at Zhao Yongshen and Liu Cuifang, both tied up like rice dumplings, and felt a headache: “Alright, it’s become this big, you should have your son Zhao Yongshen and Liu Cuifang settle their marriage early.”

Brigade Secretary Yang was trying to smooth things over, hoping to minimize the damage.

With the 200 yuan promissory note in hand, it seemed like the matter was about to end.

But then, Lu Baiwei spoke: “Wait!”

—

Lu Baiwei spoke up: “Wait!”

“Is this settled just like that?”

“Have you asked the person involved what they think?”

Tang Yunling was also getting quite angry.

But there was no way she could let Zhao Yongshen off the hook.

With the 200 yuan settled, and the money for furniture saved for Lu Baiwei, even though she was still frustrated, she had to let it go.

When she heard Lu Baiwei speaking out, she thought that Baiwei was referring to herself, and she froze for a moment.

She didn’t understand what Baiwei was up to, but she firmly supported her.

Because it was Baiwei who said there was something wrong between Zhao Yongshen and Liu Cuifang, and now it was clear that Baiwei was right.

“I’m going with Baiwei,” Tang Yunling declared.

Brigade Secretary Yang looked surprised: “Lingling, isn’t 200 yuan enough?”

“Zhao’s family can’t come up with any more money.”

“As for Zhao’s family’s compensation, forget about that for now, the old Tang family will come back and settle things with them later.”

Lu Baiwei looked at Zhao Yongshen’s mother, who had a somewhat smug expression, and a sarcastic cold smile curved on her lips.

You’re proud, huh?

You’ll soon regret this.

“The person I’m talking about is Liu Cuifang.”

“Didn’t you all notice, Liu Cuifang has been acting confused.”

Lu Baiwei’s reminder made everyone turn to look at Liu Cuifang, and sure enough, she had a dazed look on her face, totally off balance and not making sense.

She was still wriggling, discomforted and moaning in her bonds.

Her movements were too seductive.

The men watching couldn’t help but stare, their eyes widening.

While Brigade Secretary Yang was trying to smooth things over, Lu Baiwei quietly asked the aunt who had helped call for people earlier to go to the kitchen and search.

—

Earlier, while Brigade Secretary Yang was trying to smooth things over, Lu Baiwei quietly signaled to the aunt who had helped call for people to go to the kitchen and search.

Now, the aunt came over holding half a bucket of cold water. Lu Baiwei took the water from her, ignoring Zhao Yongshen’s mother who was trying to stop her, and tilted the bucket, pouring all the water over Liu Cuifang.

The cold water drenched her head and face, and Liu Cuifang shuddered, her senses sharpening significantly.

“What’s going on? Where am I?”

Her voice, when she shouted, sounded like a cat’s yowl.

It was unbearable to listen to!

It seemed like she was angry at Lu Baiwei for splashing water on her, and she shot a fierce glare at Lu Baiwei.

“You and Zhao Yongshen were caught together, and people from the brigade came to catch you in the act.”

Caught in the act?

Hearing this, Liu Cuifang broke out in a cold sweat.

She was now fully awake.

“No, no, that’s not it.”

Her fuzzy brain cleared, and she remembered: “Zhao Yongshen’s mother gave me a bowl of mung bean soup. I felt hot all over and my head got muddled.”

How could she marry a poor country boy?

She had purposely gotten close to Zhao Yongshen through Zhao Tiantian just to string him along, making him think there was hope, so he would break up with Tang Yunling.

That way, she could take out all the anger from the confrontation with Tang Yunling and Lu Baiwei.

But she never expected that while scheming against Zhao Yongshen, she would also be schemed against.

Now that Liu Cuifang had come to her senses, she realized she had fallen into someone else’s trap.

Yes!

That bowl of mung bean soup.

She had drunk that soup and had been drugged, making her head unclear.

“Zhao Yongshen’s mom gave me the mung bean soup. I was drugged.”

“Zhao Yongshen touched me, I didn’t agree. I pushed him away.”

“He wouldn’t listen to me…”

This can’t be happening!

—

No way!

I can’t let this be a waste of effort, and have everything backfire.

Unable to stop Lu Baiwei, Zhou Xiaohong started to panic.

Now that Liu Cuifang was saying she had been drugged, Zhou Xiaohong absolutely couldn’t admit it.

“You’re talking nonsense. It’s clearly you who seduced my son. My Zhao Yongshen is already engaged to Tang Yunling, and you’re meddling in it.”

Little master, there’s more to this chapter, please click to the next page to continue reading; the next part is even more exciting!

“You, a high-minded educated youth, who looks down on this and that, calling people country bumpkins, why did you have to get involved with my Tiantian? Isn’t it just to get close to my Zhao Yongshen?”

“You must have been attracted to my son because of his looks and had improper intentions.”

People from Hongqi Brigade thought Zhou Xiaohong made sense.

Furthermore, calling people “country bumpkins” was something Liu Cuifang could definitely do, and this provoked the local villagers of Hongqi Brigade. They all quickly believed Zhou Xiaohong’s words.

“Exactly, you look down on us rural folk. Why get involved with Tiantian?”

“Shameless seductress, stealing someone else’s fiancé.”

“A woman like her, corrupting our brigade’s morals, should be dragged to the threshing ground for criticism and education.”

At that time, “criticism and education” meant tying the person to a wooden platform at the brigade’s threshing ground, where a crowd would spit on them and throw things.

The humiliation was worse than death.

Liu Cuifang had seen it once and had nightmares for several nights afterward.

She was scared stiff, her face turning pale, and she swore, “I swear, it was Zhao Yongshen’s mother who drugged me in the mung bean soup. I never tried to seduce Zhao Yongshen.”

“My family eats commodity grain. My parents are both cadres. How could I look down on a country bumpkin?”

“I’m going to the commune to report Zhao Yongshen for being a hooligan…”

Lu Baiwei and Tang Yunling were in Hongqi Brigade checking whether the furniture was repaired or not. They hadn’t returned for so long, and He Ting was quite worried. He thought something might have happened to his wife and Tang Yunling, so he borrowed a bike from Tang Jinghe’s family to go look for them.

Tang Yunling didn’t want to go back to the brigade and spent a long time with her little fiancé.

Zhou Yanfeng also wanted to see what kind of man could handle a tough woman like Tang Yunling.

He stuck with He Ting and came along.