Second watch, asking for pinks.

*****

Lady Zhou usually curses quite harshly, but those are nothing compared to the ferocity of the sentences she just uttered. Everyone in the room couldn’t help but look at Lady Zhou, and when they realized she was serious and truly furious, they couldn’t stay calm.

Some immediately began to persuade Lady Zhou, asking her to calm down and talk things over. Others advised Lady Gu to quickly comply with Lady Zhou and apologize to her.

Among them, it was rare to see Lady Chiang showing an anxious expression, softly urging Lady Gu.

Lady Gu ignored Lady Chiang’s words, merely holding onto Lian Duo tightly, while lifting her head to look at Lady Zhou.

The two women’s gazes met in midair. Lady Zhou’s eyes were fierce, and even Lady Gu, who had always shown a gentle demeanor towards Lady Zhou, now stared at her without a hint of retreat.

Lian Manman watched from the side, secretly puzzled. Lady Gu’s temperament was the complete opposite of Lady Zhou’s. Lady Zhou was the type who expressed everything on her face, while Lady Gu always maintained the appearance of a virtuous daughter-in-law, a magnanimous sister-in-law, and a filial daughter-in-law. She habitually avoided direct confrontation, preferring to strike in the shadows. Lady Zhou’s comment about her being sweet on the lips but bitter at heart wasn’t unjustified.

Facing Lady Zhou, no matter how difficult the situation was, Lady Gu had always shown patience and never directly confronted Lady Zhou, let alone engaged in such a hostile stare down.

Now, Lady Gu’s unusual behavior must be related to this recent trip to the Song Family in the county, Lian Manman thought.

Lady Gu must have realized Lian Huahua’s situation at the Song Family and felt that the last hope of escaping Lady Zhou’s torment and the hard life of a tenant farming family had vanished. Thus, Lady Gu had lost her reason to endure any longer and decided to smash the pot rather than fear its breaking?!

She also understood why Old Master Lian and Lady Zhou insisted on keeping her and Lian Shouxin around. The old couple was increasingly unable to control the people in the Upper Room. They clearly understood this, which is why they wanted them to stay and support them.

Why bother, when things have come to this, still insisting on everyone living together without splitting the family, Lian Manman thought.

As Lady Gu showed her sharp claws and faced off against Lady Zhou, who would win or lose? Lian Manman slightly adjusted her position, making herself more comfortable on the heated bed, while paying attention to everything happening in the room.

"Don’t you dare glare at me with those big eyes." Lady Zhou and Lady Gu had been fiercely staring at each other for a while, neither willing to back down, and Lady Zhou continued to curse, "So what if I divorce you? In another family, you would have been divorced long ago, no need to wait until now! I regret it, being soft-hearted earlier, and should have divorced you when you first showed signs of trouble. If I had divorced this bringer of misfortune earlier, things wouldn’t have come to this. My Xiuxiu wouldn’t have suffered."

"Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking. There’s nothing bad you wouldn’t do." Lady Zhou said, then turned to look at Lian Shouxin and Lian Manman, "Old Fourth, Manman, you know about our family’s matters, but there’s what you don’t know. Over there in Taicang, it was her..."

Lady Zhou pointed her finger at Lady Gu.

"She gossiped about me with outsiders, set traps for me, pushed me aside to marry a concubine for your father, and drove me back. All her dirty tricks in the dark. Now you see her like this, as if she wishes to eat me alive. If she’s not divorced, she’ll surely ruin me. Just this family of over ten people is not enough for her to harm."

"And this girl Duoduo, lazy and sly, is just like her mother, all cut from the same mold, with a sharp heart, a wolfish heart. She’s long been no good; keeping her around is just waiting for her to ruin the family reputation, leaving the Old Lian Family’s daughters unable to show their faces!"

"A sharp heart" is a local slang here at Thirty Mile Camp, roughly describing someone who doesn’t say much but is malicious, vicious, and in simple terms, sinister.

Lian Manman glanced at Lady Gu and Lian Duoduo, her heart inevitably stirred. Lady Zhou’s words about Lady Gu and Lian Duoduo, although partly rooted in personal vendetta, were also somewhat reasonable.

Otherwise...

Lian Manman’s eyes shifted slightly, just about to speak when Lady Gu suddenly fell to her knees with a thud, and began kowtowing repeatedly to Lady Zhou.

"Duoduo, quickly kowtow to your grandmother." Lady Gu forcibly pulled Lian Duoduo down to kneel as well.