Unable to hold back any longer, she finally spoke up to Fang Miaojun:

“Sister-in-law, listen to yourself! It’s easy for you to say when you’re not the one suffering. Our third household has always worked the hardest and eaten the least. We’ve put up with it, but now it’s the middle of the night, and we still have to go out to collect pig grass? Who in their right mind would be happy about that?”

The hot weather had already put Wang Xiuying in a foul mood, making her feel stifled and irritable.

And now, the first household had walked right into her fury.

She figured she might as well let it all out—worst case, she’d leave with nothing but the clothes on her back.

Just like the fourth household had done.

She didn’t believe for a second that her entire family would starve to death just because they left the main house.

Hearing this, Fang Miaojun fell silent.

Seeing this, Wang Xiuying continued with a sly smile: “Not to mention, the betrothal gift for your eldest son’s engagement is going to cost dozens of taels of silver. Just that alone is unfair to our second household.”

She kept a smile on her face as she spoke.

Wasn’t this the era of fake politeness? Well, two could play that game.

“Oh, my dear third sister-in-law,” Fang Miaojun replied easily, “Tianyi going to the academy was approved by both Father and Mother. That decision was never just ours. As for gathering pig grass, that’s the second household’s responsibility. Since you’re bringing it up, why not ask the second sister-in-law directly?”

With a single move, Fang Miaojun deftly pushed the burden onto the second household.

She was always skilled at these things.

“So, that means second sister-in-law will be handling the pig grass tonight,” Wang Xiuying immediately turned to Chen Sixi and said.

Tonight, she had no intention of backing down.

After all, she had given birth to sons for the Zhang family.

She had both sons and daughters—why shouldn’t she stand tall?

In the past, life had been tolerable because the fourth household had been around to balance things out.

But ever since they moved out, the first and second households had been suppressing them.

Did they really think she was as easy to bully as Jianxiu?

Chen Sixi, seeing how quickly the argument had shifted to her, immediately retorted:

“Hey, third sister-in-law, what are you trying to say? Are you looking for a fight today?”

“I’m just stating facts,” Wang Xiuying said bluntly.

One way or another, she was going to get to the bottom of this tonight.

She was certain that this family was hiding something from them. If she didn’t figure it out now, her household would suffer even more in the future.

Not far away, Zhang Zirong saw the commotion and realized that if they didn’t explain things soon, this argument would never end.

And besides, fighting in public like this was just embarrassing.

As for the fourth household, he didn’t care about them.

He had never been close to them, and Zhang Zixuan had been paralyzed for years—there was no brotherly affection left.

But the third household was different.

They were not only the most hardworking in the fields, but also the most diligent overall.

Thinking this through, Zhang Zirong put on the demeanor of the eldest son and turned to Wang Xiuying:

“Don’t say the third household gets nothing. Tonight, we’ll give your family extra rations—each of you will get an extra piece of meat. That should be fair enough, right?”

He thought that would settle the matter.

But to his surprise, Wang Xiuying just stared at him thoughtfully after hearing his words.

“Big brother, this meat… it wasn’t bought by our own family, was it?”

Not far away, Zhang Zifu perked up at this question.

It wasn’t unreasonable for him to suspect something.

After all, they had just been grumbling earlier about the wild boar meat from the fourth household at the edge of the village.

It was hard not to think about the source of this meat.

Zhang Zirong stiffened at the question and replied stubbornly:

“That’s none of your business. Just say whether you want to eat it or not.”

“Zirong, listen to yourself. Third Brother has been working hard lately—what’s wrong with letting him have a few extra pieces of meat?” Fang Miaojun interjected.

“Did I say there was anything wrong?” Zhang Zirong shot back. “I just want to know if you’re planning to stand up for that cripple from the edge of the village again.”

As soon as he said this, Zhang Zirong suddenly clamped his mouth shut.

He even smacked himself twice, as if punishing himself for saying something he shouldn’t have.

“What have you done?” Zhang Zifu demanded.

“Third Brother… this… you can’t just say things like that!”

Before Zhang Zirong could finish, Zhang Zifu had already turned and started walking toward the edge of the village.

“Zifu… Zifu… where are you going? Listen, don’t do anything rash!” Zhang Zirong called after him.

Wang Xiuying also frowned.

Judging by their reactions, it was clear they had done something shameful.

She thought about Zhang Zixuan’s paralyzed legs and how earlier today, she had heard that Jianxiu had taken the children to town.

When she connected the dots, it was hard not to see what had happened.

Without hesitation, Wang Xiuying hurried after Zhang Zifu toward the village outskirts.

“Big brother, look at them—”

“Ignore them,” Zhang Zirong said, feigning calm. “That cripple won’t last much longer anyway. By the time they get there, he’ll probably already be a corpse.”

Though he spoke with confidence, his heart was racing.

But then he remembered that their mother and third brother were still at the scene. No matter what, they wouldn’t let Third Brother make a scene.

Thinking this, he felt slightly reassured.

He didn’t realize how serious the situation had become.

In his mind, even if Zhang Zixuan died, it had nothing to do with them.

After all, their mother would never let Third Brother expose the truth.

And in this village, people dying was normal.

Even if someone was beaten to death, most people wouldn’t report it to the authorities.

Besides, their family was the only one who knew about this.

If their mother really did kill her own son, wouldn’t that just be considered a family matter?

That sort of thing happened all the time in the village.

However, Fang Miaojun felt uneasy.

If something really had happened to Zhang Zixuan, their mother might be able to explain it away.

And maybe they wouldn’t face consequences themselves.

But what about her son Zhang Tianyi’s future?

That was no small matter.

Thinking of this, Fang Miaojun quickly stepped forward and grabbed Zhang Zirong’s arm.

“Husband, what if something really did happen? If this affects Tianyi’s future, it’ll be a disaster!”

Sure enough, at these words, Zhang Zirong panicked again.

But he quickly regained his composure and said, “What does this have to do with our household? We don’t know anything about it.”