Chapter 57 : Confrontation

Chen Qiuxiang, who was beaten black and blue and asked to pay compensation, suddenly realized, yes!

Isn’t the reason she spread all these rumors because Jiang Li’s cousin, Jiang Hongmei, gossiped about her?

“It was Jiang Hongmei. She made it sound very convincing. I just spread it based on what she said!”

Chen Qiuxiang didn’t want to lose money, two dollars could buy two kilograms of pork.

“If anyone should pay compensation, it should be Jiang Hongmei. What does it have to do with me? I was being schemed against and used!”

Jiang Li snorted coldly. As expected, Jiang Hongmei couldn’t stay quiet for even a few days before causing trouble.

“Why should I believe you? Go find Jiang Hongmei and confront her.”

At that moment, Jiang Hongmei, who was sorting dirty clothes in the house, sneezed, feeling a sudden chill down her back. She looked cautiously at Zhuang Guoliang, who was snoring on the bed.

Luckily, he turned over and fell back asleep.

Jiang Hongmei sighed in relief, her eyes falling on the backpack in the corner of the room. She reached in and felt the smell of lard mixed with pig blood.

Sure enough, Zhuang Guoliang had gone to sell pork again yesterday.

Then he must have money.

She looked around and carefully searched for the dirty pants Zhuang Guoliang had thrown under the bed, but found nothing.

No money in his jacket pockets.

She touched all the bricks in the house and even looked in the rat’s nest in the corner.

Not a penny. Could it be that Zhuang Guoliang had it on him?

She sat on the edge of the bed and noticed a bulging bag around Zhuang Guoliang’s waist.

Her heart started to race, and Jiang Hongmei couldn’t help but reach out to touch him. But as her fingertips landed on Zhuang Guoliang’s waist, his cold eyes snapped open, locking onto hers.

Zhuang Guoliang grabbed her wrist harshly, and Jiang Hongmei couldn’t struggle. She heard the sound of her wrist cracking. “Guoliang, let me go. My hand hurts so much…”

“Why? I haven’t done anything to you for a few days, and now you’re craving men again? You can’t help yourself and want to climb into my bed?”

Zhuang Guoliang’s face was full of mockery. He shoved Jiang Hongmei to the ground, turned over, and stood up. His words were full of ice, “Take it off!”

Jiang Hongmei’s face flushed with tears as she collapsed on the ground, unable to move.

Seeing that she didn’t respond, Zhuang Guoliang dragged her across the floor and started tearing her clothes off. Jiang Hongmei struggled subconsciously, “Let me go.”

“Why, are you pretending to be a chaste woman in front of me now? How did you climb into my bed that day? How slutty you were in bed, have you forgotten?”

Zhuang Guoliang didn’t hold back at all. He had no sympathy for this evil woman who forced him to marry her and ruined his life.

Soon, Jiang Hongmei was completely naked, but Zhuang Guoliang sneered and pushed her onto the bed. “Do you think I would touch you? I find you disgusting!”

He grabbed his pants and walked out without even closing the door.

Jiang Hongmei was left alone, shedding tears of humiliation and despair.

She barely covered herself with the bed sheet and picked up her torn clothes to try and mend them. Just then, two children rushed in from outside, with Zhuang Xiaobao holding an egg in his hand.

“Hey, I told you to feed the chickens! If you stay in bed any longer, I’m going to beat you.”

Zhuang Xiaoyu also asked, “Stepmother, do you have anything to eat?”

Without waiting for Jiang Hongmei to respond, she immediately went up and started rummaging through the dowry box Jiang Hongmei had brought.

The quilt and money inside were thrown out. Jiang Hongmei rushed over to stop her, “Xiaoyu, don’t touch my things.”

Seeing the stack of money wrapped in a handkerchief, Zhuang Xiaoyu’s eyes glinted, and she smiled deliberately, “Stepmother, you should leave quickly, or grandma will be angry.”

Hearing the sounds of Zhao Xiangyu throwing things outside, Jiang Hongmei’s hair stood on end. She quickly ushered the two children out, put everything back where it belonged, and went outside.

As soon as Wu Meili went outside, she was criticized. She stopped sweeping the yard with the broom and said, “Some people are just shameless. They avoid work and tire us honest and diligent ones. I wish I had it as easy as my fourth brother and his wife, just waiting for food with their mouths open every day.”

Cheng Yanyan covered her mouth and laughed, occasionally taking out a dried peanut from her pocket and chewing it, “Who says that’s not true?”

Jiang Hongmei was furious, but there was nothing she could do. Under Zhao Xiangyu’s fierce gaze, she could only feed the chickens and pigs.

“Let’s go. I want to confront Jiang Hongmei face to face. It’s not my words. Why should I pay for it?”

The noise outside was getting louder. Jiang Hongmei stuck her head out and looked outside. She was nearly scared to death.

Chen Qiuxiang walked in front, followed by Jiang Li and her mother-in-law, as well as many villagers and team leader Qi Yupeng who came to watch the scene.

Jiang Hongmei subconsciously dropped the chicken feeder in her hand and tried to hide back in the house, but Wu Meili grabbed her and said, “Fourth brother’s wife, where are you going? You haven’t finished your work yet!”

After just a short delay, Chen Qiuxiang and her group entered the yard. As soon as she saw Jiang Hongmei, Chen Qiuxiang immediately lunged at her and grabbed her collar.

“You schemed against me to use me as your pawn, and you deliberately said in front of me that Jiang Li was cheating at Dashuping. In reality, you’re just jealous that your sister married well!”

Chen Qiuxiang became much smarter after she realized what was going on and quickly figured out the key point.

Jiang Hongmei stammered and denied it, “How is that possible? I never said such a thing! Don’t talk nonsense!”

Chen Qiuxiang grabbed Jiang Hongmei by the neck, “Well, you bitch, you’re not admitting it. The other day, you told me you sacrificed your relatives for justice, that you couldn’t stand Jiang Li’s dishonesty and her deceiving Qi Shaoqiang, so you stood up and exposed her true nature.”

“Do you have evidence? Who saw it?” Jiang Hongmei, unwilling to be outdone, grabbed Chen Qiuxiang’s hair.

“You said it, right? I say you’re just trying to slander me!”

The two women started fighting and rolling around in the yard, covered in chicken droppings, pulling each other’s hair. Jiang Hongmei, originally no match for Chen Qiuxiang, was able to fight back because Chen Qiuxiang had just been beaten black and blue and was weakened. Out of anger, Jiang Hongmei actually fought on equal terms with her.

In the end, both women were in a bad state. They were scolded by the team leader to stop and each was given fifty lashes.

“Chen Qiuxiang, you’re so old but still gossiping like this. And you, Jiang Hongmei, you already have a bad reputation, but you’re still hiding and making a mess out of it.”

“There will be a meeting tomorrow, and all four of you must come up and make self-criticisms. Especially you, Jiang Hongmei. You should write a more profound self-criticism. If the masses are not satisfied, you’ll pay it.”

“Captain, I can make a self-criticism, but I can’t pay for this!”

Chen Qiuxiang felt like a blunt knife was being dragged across her flesh. “You have to pay for this gossip. I’m not the only one who said it. Jiang Hongmei also said it.”

Qi Yupeng glared at her and said, “You were gossiped about, and someone heard it. There are witnesses. You said Jiang Hongmei said it, but she didn’t admit it, and there’s no witness either. The compensation is still two dollars per family, so hurry up.”

“After all the trouble this morning, aren’t you going to work?”

Chen Qiuxiang gritted her teeth and took two dollars from the pocket of her underwear. Tao Xiaofeng went home and paid the money.

Sun Xiufang rolled over and said she had no money. “My bastard husband gambles all day long. We don’t even have enough rice to eat. How could I pay?”