Chapter 6

As soon as Jiang Tian finished speaking, everyone was stunned.

Village chief Lin Jingguo was the first to react.
“Jiang family’s girl, you’re… not stupid anymore?”

Jiang Tian nodded. “Village chief, after I married Brother Chen yesterday, I got better.”

The village chief found it hard to believe. “Truly?”

“Village chief, I really am not stupid anymore.”

Although Lin Jingguo thought it was unbelievable, the fact was right in front of him, so he had no choice but to believe it.

Jiang Tian then turned coldly toward Ma Yueying. “Auntie, my husband is inside eating right now. You claim I threw him into the back mountain last night—who saw that happen?”

Ma Yueying’s eyes bulged as she spat curses. “Auntie? I’m your mother-in-law now! You’ve no manners at all—truly a wretch with a mother who gave birth but didn’t raise her.”

The bystanders muttered among themselves.
“That’s right, just married and already denying her mother-in-law? Even if Xie Chen wasn’t born of Ma’s womb, she still raised him.”
“That’s unfilial!”

Chen Meiling wiped her tears and chimed in, “Third sister-in-law, when third brother was still at home, our first and second branches would send money every month for his treatment. And now that he’s just arrived in your house, how can you turn your back on us already?”

“Really?” someone asked.

Chen Meiling whimpered, “Of course it’s true. We’re all one family—we’ve always helped each other.”

Jiang Tian rolled her eyes inwardly. Sure enough, birds of a feather flock together—this family was full of gossips.

But she was no pushover.

Jiang Tian quietly pinched her palm, forcing out a few tears. “Village chief, my little brother and I have survived all these years thanks to everyone’s support. Being able to marry Brother Chen is my blessing. It’s just that…”

Chen Meiling quickly stepped forward. “Exactly! You just married my third brother and suddenly you’re cured. How can you be such an ingrate?”

Jiang Er, furious, wanted to charge forward, but Jiang Tian held him back.

The village chief could tell Jiang Tian had more to say. “Jiang girl, speak your mind.”

“Everyone knows my husband Xie Chen was born premature and weak. But…”

A few onlookers grew impatient. “But what?”

Jiang Tian’s gaze sharpened as she glared at Ma Yueying. “But my husband has been poisoned. The doctor said the poison has been in his body for many years. I just want to ask—did you really raise him well?”

“What? Poisoned?”

“Didn’t the Xie family always say he was weak because his mother went into premature labor? How is it poisoning now?”

“But the Xie family bought medicine from the county every month, didn’t they? Could it be it wasn’t medicine?”

Auntie Zhang squeezed to the front. “I saw it once. That basket wasn’t medicine at all—it was malted milk powder and meat, all good food.”

Chen Meiling protested tearfully, “The child was greedy so we bought him some malted milk powder. Do we need to report what we buy to you?”

“That’s right, buying things is none of your business.”

Jiang Tian sneered. Chen Meiling sure knew how to talk.

“We can’t question what you do with your things, but the fact remains—my husband has been poisoned. Did you poison him or not?”

A flash of panic crossed Ma Yueying’s eyes. “Nonsense! Just because you say my son was poisoned doesn’t make it true!”

Jiang Tian spotted the village doctor returning from the back mountain with herbs. She called out, “Doctor Liu!”

Wiping her tears, she pleaded, “Village chief, at this point I ask everyone to bear witness. I must find out what really happened to my husband all these years.

Doctor Liu is the heir of a renowned family of traditional physicians. Surely he can see whether my husband has been poisoned.”

Doctor Liu, who had practiced medicine for many years and owed kindness to Jiang Tian’s late father, naturally agreed.

Seeing Jiang Tian miraculously recovered, he was moved. “I’ll help you for sure. But girl, how did you get better?”

Jiang Tian bowed to him. “Thank you, Doctor Liu. But the most urgent thing is for you to examine my husband.”

The village chief nodded as well. He had been close friends with Jiang Tian’s father for years—this was a favor he would gladly grant.

“Alright then. Since the Xie family claims Xie Chen isn’t poisoned, let Doctor Liu check. He’s well known in several villages—surely you’ve no objection?”

Auntie Zhang chuckled. “No problem! Doctor Liu cured even my kids’ fevers. Let him take a look.”

Others, eager for drama, echoed, “Yes, let him check.”

Ma Yueying shot Jiang Tian a vicious glare but said nothing.

Inside, Xie Chen, uneasy, walked slowly out. Seeing the crowd at the door, he grew anxious, worried Jiang Tian and Jiang Er would suffer.

“Brother Chen!”

Hearing the sound, Jiang Tian quickly rushed up to support him.

He asked worriedly, “Are you alright?”

She shook her head. But when he noticed her red, tear-stained eyes, he knew she must have been wronged.

Glancing at his mother and Chen Meiling, he understood they must have come to stir up trouble. “Mother, second sister-in-law, why are you here?”

His mother’s eyes turned red. “We’re here to seek justice for you! Your second sister-in-law saw your wife throw you into the back mountain last night. Isn’t that true?”

Xie Chen covered his mouth with a cough. “After the wedding yesterday, Tian Tian has been caring for me at home. I never went to the back mountain.”

In fact, his mother had planned to take back the ten yuan from yesterday, thinking the sickly boy would give in for the sake of family ties. Who knew this brat would side with that wretched girl instead.

She was about to speak again, but Doctor Liu stepped forward first.

“Young man, let me examine you.”

After a few minutes, Doctor Liu shook his head gravely. “His pulse is deep, hidden in the bones, firm and unmoving, taut and prolonged. His breath comes three to a cycle, extremely slow.”

No one present understood what that meant.

“Doctor Liu, how is it?”

Doctor Liu sighed heavily. “He has been poisoned for many years. The toxin has already reached his organs. Originally, he was nearly a dying man, but now… there are signs of improvement.”

Jiang Tian knew it was probably the spiritual spring’s effect, though she couldn’t reveal that.

She looked up. “Doctor Liu, yesterday I gave him a bit of ginseng. Could that be what helped?”

At once, Doctor Liu’s eyes lit up. “Ah, that explains it.”

Jiang Tian seized the moment to cry out, “Village chief, you all see it now. My husband has been deeply poisoned. If not for the ginseng my father left behind, I’d already be a widow!”

“Could it be the Xie family poisoned him?” someone whispered.

“Then Jiang Tian was almost tricked into being a widow. If Xie Chen hadn’t eaten that ginseng, she’d be accused of bringing death to her husband—and the Xie family might even use that as an excuse to extort money.”

“Who’d have thought the Jiang siblings had such a treasure as ginseng?”

“Her father was the best carpenter in the village back then, wealthy too. It’s believable he left behind such things.”

“Could it be the Xie family planned to…”

The unfinished words were clear to everyone.

The Xie mother and daughter-in-law tried to slip away quietly, but Auntie Zhang barked, “Xie family! Where do you think you’re going? After mistreating him all these years, you think you can just walk away?”

She dragged them forward and pushed them into the crowd’s view.

The village chief’s face darkened. “Xie family, did you really poison him?”

Of course, they denied it. Ma Yueying rolled her eyes, then dropped to the ground, weeping. “How could we dare poison him? We’re just poor peasants—where would we get poison? We’ve fed and clothed him all these years. That’s the only reason he grew up.”

Doctor Liu’s face turned cold. “This poison was likely contracted in the womb. Besides that, his body is gravely depleted, plagued by cold sickness. Without that ginseng, he wouldn’t have lasted many more days. Is this how the Xie family claims to have cared for him?”

“In the womb? Then someone poisoned him when his mother was pregnant?”

“How vicious! They didn’t even spare a child.”

“No wonder he’s skin and bones—was he abused?”

Auntie Zhang snorted. “I bet all the good food went to Jindan and Jinhu instead!”