The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure-Chapter 49 - Get out of here, Mom!
49: Chapter 49 Get out of here, Mom!
(Revised)
49: Chapter 49 Get out of here, Mom!
(Revised)
“What are you shouting for?
Help her inside and get her changed into fresh clothes, do you want to disgrace us even more?” Li Dagui glared at his foolish wife, barely suppressing his rage.
First, he was furious that his daughter had no backbone; if she was so timid, how did she muster the courage to be with another man?
Second, it was his own daughter, almost strangled to death right outside his doorstep; the Wang Family had gone too far in disregarding his household.
But he immediately realized something was amiss, and quickly walked to his daughter’s window to ask, “Why did the Wang Family’s Fourth Child try to strangle you?
Did you say it was because of ‘that reason’?
Or do they already know?”
There was a silence inside the room before Li Jinzhi gave a small acknowledgment.
Li Dagui was near jumping with frustration, “Foolish!
How did I father such a shameless wretch!
You’re intent on ruining our Li Family’s reputation—”
Li Dagui was desperate; knowing the Wang Family was aware of the scandal, they wouldn’t let the matter rest.
If it meant protecting his family’s honor to cast his daughter to the Wang Family, indifferent to her life or death, he would have resignedly done so.
Yet he had raised his daughter with the hope of using her to forge a connection with the Wang Family, paving the way for his younger son.
Now that hope with the Wang Family was dashed, and if he abandoned his daughter, the connection with the He Family would likely also be lost.
How could he have his efforts be for naught?
Grinding his teeth, he realized the girl causing all this trouble must, for the time being, remain with them.
As Li Dagui paced anxiously in the courtyard, his daughters-in-law were also feeling uneasy.
Both were clever women, unlike Li Dagui who neglected his daughter; they had long seen that their stunning young sister-in-law was not the settling type.
With modest family conditions, their in-laws doted exclusively on the youngest son, expecting him to succeed academically and bring them fortune later.
They hoarded their wealth, begrudgingly spending any on anything but their youngest son, treating their eldest and second sons as if they were foundlings.
They were indifferent towards their sister-in-law, but in the past two years, she often wore new clothes and silver hairpins, frequently changing her decorative flowers and having become increasingly voluptuous.
Not to mention the sultry look in her eyes when she walked, a clear sign she had lost her chastity.
It remains unclear if their clueless mother-in-law truly didn’t know or just pretended not to.
Now that a scandal has come to light, are they panicking?
After all, they reaped no benefits from their sister-in-law’s favor on normal days.
The girl was cunning and selfish, hoarding all the good stuff for herself.
They’d never enjoyed any of her generosity, and now her scandal had brought them trouble.
Who would be happy about this?
Li Dagui was still worried, but soon, he wouldn’t have to worry anymore!
“Bang—” A loud crash, the courtyard door was smashed open.
A familiar voice thundered overhead like an explosion: “Heartless wretch!
Despicable harlot!
Li Dagui, you dared to let your daughter sneak around with men, bear a bastard, then you cower inside your house like a turtle?
Come out here to face me!
Li Jinzhi you vixen, little tramp, seductress—you secured an engagement with our Wang Family as if it was the grace of eight generations of your ancestors’ good karma, the high incense they must have burnt to earn it, and you still had the audacity to frolic with some stray man and get yourself pregnant!
A woman of such loose morals deserves to be drowned.
Show yourself, you whore!”
This shout shook the heavens and the earth, startling all the neighbors around.
There stood Old Granny Zhang at the doorstep of the Li Family, brandishing a kitchen knife in her left hand, its cold light flashing, while steadying a chopping board with her right hand, as she cursed loudly.
“Heartless poisonous woman, shameless wretch!
Your wily ways were always suspect, why else would He Family’s young bastard come to Qilidun and harass no one but you, you little whore?
The saying goes, flies don’t target eggs without cracks.
If you hadn’t been flirting and seducing, would anyone bother coming miles to tease you?
And to think you had the nerve to play the victim back then, crying and acting all unwilling!
It wasn’t reluctance; you had already rolled into bed with that bastard, hadn’t you?
Shameless hussy, are you heartbroken because my son beat up your paramour, prompting you to sic the He Family on us for compensation?
Evil-hearted wretch!
It forced our poor Laosi to take up half a year’s odd jobs to pay that debt.
Are you using that money for a coffin, or for an abortion, you slut!”
…
The nearby neighbors, somewhat befuddled, asked each other what had happened.
Hadn’t they heard that both families were preparing for a wedding?
How come they were discussing auspicious dates in the morning, only to be cursing and calling names in the afternoon?
What on earth was this drama about?
This was Lady Lin’s cue to make an entrance.
With a slap on her thigh, she sat down on the ground and began to wail, revealing in just a few words everything about Li Jinzhi’s affair with He Dawei for years, even getting pregnant and still refusing to break off the engagement, intending to put green hats on Wang Family’s Fourth Child.
The crowd was in an uproar.
Their gazes toward the Li Family were now filled with meaning.
Li Dagui, seeing that Old Granny Zhang standing at the door and scolding was not solving anything, as his family couldn’t even leave their house, realized that the Wang Family would be the only one dictating the narrative.
He hurriedly ordered, “Why not bring the people inside and talk it over?
Don’t you have any sense of shame?”
Li Dagui’s wife was already furious from listening, and hearing what her husband said, she rushed forward, cursing, “Old Granny Zhang, you bitch, you ruin my daughter’s reputation, I’ll never let this go!”
“Spit!
What are you, Wang Daxiu?
Giving birth to a whore of a daughter, and you think you’re right?
They say like mother, like daughter; it must be you who taught her to mess with men before marriage, didn’t you?
I still remember, before you got married, how cosy you were with several men in the village!
Then you hurriedly married Li Dagui—is it because you were carrying someone else’s spawn too?
Let me tell you, Li Dagui might be a coward, green and content to be a cuckold, raising someone else’s son, but my son won’t be that kind of fool!”
Li Dagui’s face went green as he heard this.
These words carried an alarming amount of information, not only shocking the onlookers outside but also the eldest son and daughter-in-law of the Li Family who were hiding inside their house.
The daughter-in-law looked outside, then leaned to the eldest son’s ear and whispered, “I’ve noticed you don’t much resemble your father, and he’s always looking down on you, finding fault with everything.
Could it be—”
The eldest son quickly put his hand over her mouth, “Are you crazy?
What if dad hears us, do you want to die?”
She fell silent, but a seed of doubt had clearly been planted in her mind.
Outside, Wang Daxiu, Li Dagui’s wife, let out a howl and lunged at Old Granny Zhang, “I’ll tear your damned mouth!
Spewing your nonsense and lies!
You’re the one who’s been unfaithful, you’re the one who got pregnant with some other man—”
Old Granny Zhang spat in Wang Daxiu’s face, “Pah!
Do you think everyone’s like you, flaunting your assets around the village, reveling wherever there are men?
Roaming about at night, who knows which man’s straw stacks or sorghum fields you’re rolling in?
Do you think your dirty little secrets are unknown?
I typically don’t stoop to exposing other’s shortcomings, but your Li Family has pushed us too far!
You expect us to swallow this indignity, watching your little vixen and her paramour live happily ever after?
Dream on!”
