The mother-in-law and the younger brother’s family had only temporarily moved in.

As long as she held the deed to those three large tiled houses, they wouldn’t give up.

Chen Shi lowered her voice and asked, “The aunts and uncles in the village are gossiping about it. My mother-in-law is worried that your mother-in-law will ruin your reputation.”

Yu Pozi had a bad reputation when she was young.

After becoming a mother-in-law, she was incredibly harsh and had conflicts with nearly every family in the village.

What Chen Shi mentioned was exactly what Yu Niangzi feared.

A few days ago, Liu Dajie had deliberately smeared her reputation.

Although Lu Shiqiu had quickly shot her down, rumors still circulated in the village.

Many people now looked at Yu Niangzi with suspicion.

Some lecherous men even looked at her with lascivious eyes.

She had been feeling uneasy these past few days, as if something bad were about to happen, so she stayed at home and didn’t even dare to go to the beach.

Yu Niangzi didn’t know what to do.

She turned and saw that her eldest daughter had fallen asleep, and her second daughter was also sleeping soundly with her arms tucked under her head.

Chen Shi helped Yu Niangzi move the children to the inner room.

The sky had darkened, and since Chen Shi had to get up early the next day to go to the beach, she went to sleep in the side room.

Yu Niangzi had hot water on the stove and was about to bring it to her, but Chen Shi waved her hand. “I already washed up. You should rest too.”

Yu Niangzi nodded in agreement.

Chen Shi slept lightly, and around midnight, she suddenly heard noises outside.

She immediately got up, put on her clothes, and peeked through the window, where she saw a figure sneaking along the wall toward the main house.

Chen Shi grabbed a pole from behind the house and was about to open the door when she heard Yu Niangzi shouting and rushing out with a stick, shouting, “Catch the thief!”

Chen Shi opened the door and saw Yu Niangzi chasing after the shadow.

Without hesitation, Chen Shi swung the pole, and the shadow tripped and fell flat on the ground.

The noise woke up the villagers, who got up to watch.

When they entered Yu Niangzi’s yard, they saw her and Chen Shi had tied up a shadow tightly, and a rag was stuffed in the person’s mouth.

The figure was sobbing and muttering something unintelligible.

“Who is this?” Someone held up a lantern and shone it on the person.

It wasn’t anyone from their village, and the face looked unfamiliar.

But some people recognized him. “Hey, isn’t this Ma La’er (Ma’s Second Son) from Ma’s Village behind the mountain?”

Others began asking who Ma La’er was.

To the right of Hongshu Village was Niangniang Mountain, and behind Niangniang Mountain was Ma’s Village.

Ma La’er was a notorious widower in Ma’s Village.

He had married two women, both of whom he had beaten to death.

He was particularly fond of drinking, and when he drank, he would go into a rage, wasting all the little money he had.

When his parents passed away and the family divided up the inheritance, Ma La’er squandered all the money and his life quickly fell apart.

Now at his age, he had no wife or children and lived like neither man nor ghost.

Yet, he never repented and kept trying to get close to widows.

The women around started gossiping, and none of them took charge of the situation.

They were simply discussing it without any clear decisions being made.

The buzzing conversation continued as Yu Niangzi and Chen Shi exchanged a glance, not knowing what to do.

At this moment, Yu Pozi and Lu Pozi entered the scene, followed by Lu Shiqiu, who was wrapped in Old Man Lu’s cotton jacket.

When Yu Pozi entered, the crowd automatically made way for her.

She immediately waved a metal spoon at Yu Niangzi, trying to strike her.

Chen Shi, quick on her feet, pulled Yu Niangzi aside.

Yu Pozi fell flat on her face, and the spoon flew out of her hand, landing on the ground.

Yu Pozi’s other two daughters-in-law quickly helped her up, but when she tried to hit Yu Niangzi again, Lu Pozi stopped her. “What are you doing, Yu Pozi? We just arrived, and you haven’t figured out what’s going on yet, but you’re already trying to hit someone? You think you can bully people just because Old Man Lu isn’t home?”

Yu Pozi, holding her waist, pointed at the figure on the ground and angrily said, “Do I even need to ask? This shameless man must have seen my son die and wanted to steal a man for himself.”

She turned to the others and shouted, “You all better keep an eye on your men. If she’s willing to go after Ma La’er, you can see how loose her waistband must be.”

Her words were malicious, and many women started to look at Yu Niangzi with disdain.

Lu Pozi spat on the ground. “Nonsense!”

She turned to Chen Shi, “You explain it!”

Chen Shi, holding the pole, motioned for everyone to be quiet. “My mother said someone might try to take advantage of Old Man Lu’s absence and occupy his house.

She was worried someone might do something crazy to harm Yu Niangzi, so she had me stay here. Ma La’er was caught by me and Yu Niangzi.”

Yu Pozi’s face turned red with shame, realizing that the implication was that Ma La’er was someone she had sent.

She immediately scolded, “You’re talking nonsense.”

Lu Pozi stepped in front of Chen Shi and huffed, “Don’t worry about it. My old man isn’t home, and I’m just a woman, not in charge. I’ll take him to the authorities to have them investigate the matter.”

Yu Pozi was truly panicked now.

Seeing her reaction, everyone understood that something fishy was going on.

The onlookers whispered among themselves, saying Yu Pozi was in big trouble this time.

The head of the Yu clan, holding a cane, stepped forward and said to Yu Niangzi, “Yu Niangzi, you’re also one of our Yu family. You know our family’s situation. If this goes to the authorities and ruins our family’s reputation, what will become of your three daughters? How will they ever get married? You need to think carefully.”

Yu Niangzi hesitated, clearly torn.

At that moment, Lu Shiqiu, who had been watching from the sidelines, pushed through the crowd. “Bah! You people think the Yu family still has a reputation to protect? My Lu family’s reputation outside isn’t even as good as yours. And now you dare use reputation to threaten her? You old hag, don’t you know how to do the right thing? Always favoring that wife of yours. I bet when you were young, you had your fair share of affairs!”

Everyone was shocked by Lu Shiqiu’s words.

Business and making money weren’t new to them.

However, the clan leader of the Yu family wasn’t an ordinary person.

By seniority, he should be an uncle or elder cousin to Yu Pozi.

If these two had any kind of relationship, it would be considered incestuous.

The Yu clan leader’s eyes widened in anger.

He was indeed not a man of high virtue and reputation; he had only taken the position of clan leader due to his seniority.

He often handled matters with bias, and many people in the clan had complaints about him.

But no one had ever openly accused him of being improper.

The younger members of the Yu family clenched their fists in indignation and glared at Lu Shiqiu. “Stop talking nonsense!”

“I’ll beat you up, you filthy mouth!”

These were all teenagers, and they were no match for Lu Shiqiu, an adult.

In no time, they were subdued.

The Lu family members came over to help and chased the children out.

Lu Shiqiu, undeterred, added fuel to the fire, “Why are you so worked up? What I said wasn’t wrong, was it?

If there’s nothing fishy going on between the two of them, then why would they bully a widowed woman with an orphan?

I have a bad reputation outside, but I’ve never bullied the elderly or the weak. But look at the Yu family.”

He pointed at Yu Pozi, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “This old hag openly took someone’s house, and where was the clan leader to uphold justice? And yet, she says there’s nothing suspicious? Who are you fooling?”

The Yu clan leader was so angry he turned pale.

The Yu family, fearing things might escalate, hurriedly lifted the old man and carried him away.

Yu Pozi, flushed with embarrassment, was furious.

In her youth, she had indeed been involved with quite a few men.

The older generation understood, but they had all kept quiet about it over the years.

However, now that she was older, no one had brought up her past affairs until Lu Shiqiu, with his big mouth, had exposed them.

What was worse, he was implying an affair with an uncle or elder cousin.

If this got out, Yu Pozi’s reputation would be destroyed.

Gritting her teeth, Yu Pozi lunged at Lu Shiqiu, “I’ll beat you, you little brat!”

Lu Pozi stepped in front of Lu Shiqiu to block her, shouting, “What gives you the right to hit my son? Do you think I don’t know about your past affairs?”

She then began to list all the men Old Lady Yu had flirted with when she was younger.

Women loved gossip, and these kinds of scandals were particularly sensitive.

On top of that, Old Lady Yu had been caught in an affair by the village women years ago, and many people knew about it.

The crowd began to murmur and comment.

“One affair is bad enough, but she had so many,” they said.

No one doubted that there was something going on between Yu Pozi and the Yu clan leader.

Instead, people began to recall odd behaviors between them.

Yu Pozi’s two other daughters-in-law were so embarrassed they wished they could disappear, sneaking away when no one was paying attention.

With no one to defend her, the situation grew even more chaotic.

In the end, Yu Pozi was beaten black and blue.

Lu Pozi, having so many helpers, didn’t get hurt, and she gloated, “What kind of person are you? Who doesn’t know in this village? You’ve never had any decency yourself, but you still slander your daughters-in-law. Someone like you deserves to be struck by lightning!”

She looked around, “Where’s Old Ma Er?”

Only then did people realize, and they all stepped back, seeing Old Ma Er lying on the ground with footmarks all over him.

During the fight, Old Ma Er had tried to slip away in the chaos but had been stepped on, injuring his spine, and he couldn’t get up again.

Lu Shiqiu helped him up.

Old Ma Er, barely alive, opened his eyes weakly and said, “I admit it. It was Yu Pozi who asked me to ruin this widow’s reputation.

I just wanted to take advantage of her, I didn’t plan to steal anything.

When I entered the yard, I hadn’t even pried open the door to the main hall before she caught me. Please let me go. I won’t do it again.”

“Let you go? I can’t make that decision,” Lu Shiqiu said, looking at Yu Niangzi. “What do you want to do?”

Yu Niangzi’s mind was in a mess.

She certainly wanted to punish the wrongdoers, but the Yu family’s reputation would be harmed, and what about her three daughters’ future marriages?

Lu Shiqiu saw the conflicted look on her face and waved his hand. “Alright. This is too big for you to handle. I’ll help you solve it.”

Without giving her a chance to plead, he grabbed Old Ma Er by the collar and dragged him out of the Yu family’s door.