Song Yinhua drank quite a bit at the wedding banquet.

People kept toasting her.

After the old uncle finished his offering, Song Qiuxue made hers.

After Song Qiuxue finished offering her toast, Tang Su'e offered hers.

After Tang Su'e finished offering her toast, Tang Suxiang and Song Dazhuang, a married couple, offered theirs.

Everyone was very nice.

Song Yinhua, unable to hold her liquor, collapsed drunk at the table.

"My eldest sister is drunk, I'll help her to rest." Song Qiuxue called on Song Caixing to help Song Yinhua temporarily go to her parents' room to rest.

After entering the inner room, Song Qiuxue dismissed Song Caixing and sent her away.

She closed the door to the inner room, nudged Song Yinhua, and seeing that Song Yinhua was completely drunk, she searched Song Yinhua's body thoroughly several times.

There is no jade pendant.

"Are they still in the new house?"

Song Qiuxue got up and left. When she went out, she didn't see Song Yinhua half-open her eyes and look at her before closing them again to sleep.

A banquet table was set up in the main room, and two tables were set up in the courtyard.

The old uncle was sitting in the outer courtyard eating at the banquet when he saw Song Qiuxue bend down and say something to Qiao Guilan and Song Erzhuang before leaving.

He whispered a few words to Tang Su'e, who nodded and then got up and left.

Tang Youliang immediately guessed that they were up to something again.

Tang Su'e chased after Song Qiuxue out of the courtyard, called out to her, and asked if she was going to the bridal chamber.

"Godmother, I've searched my eldest sister's body, but the jade pendant isn't there. It should still be in her room. I'll go find it now while she's still sober."

"Qiuxue, come back immediately after you find the jade pendant. Don't spend the night there; it's not safe there."

Tang Su'e gave the instructions once, and then said nothing more.

She didn't tell Song Qiuxue that they had prepared a big gift for Song Yinhua at the new house.

The old uncle had also drunk quite a bit. When he heard Tang Su'e say that Song Qiuxue went to the bridal chamber to look for the jade pendant, he asked worriedly in a low voice, "Did you tell Qiuxue about that?"

“I told Qiuxue to come back as soon as she finds the jade pendant and not to spend the night there.”

The old uncle nodded and continued drinking and chatting with the others.

-

The new house at the foot of the mountain is mysterious and tranquil.

Behind the house are mountains, and fruit trees are planted on the open space next to it, as well as half-cultivated fields.

There is a small vegetable garden in the courtyard, as well as a large cement drying platform. A stone-paved path winds its way from the courtyard gate to the corridor at the entrance of the main room.

Song Qiuxue glanced at the idyllic cottages under the night sky, then took out her key to unlock it.

The black lock was found to be open.

She assumed Song Yinhua had forgotten to lock the door, so she pushed it open and went inside.

There was no electricity in the house.

Song Qiuxue entered the inner room in the dark, intending to find matches to light the kerosene lamp and search for the jade pendant.

Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed her tightly in the darkness.

"Ah!" Song Qiuxue screamed in fright as she was pulled onto the bed by those hands.

Then a second pair of hands pressed down hard on her struggling feet.

Both arms were held down firmly by a third and a fourth pair of hands.

...

"How many people were there in total?" the old uncle asked Tang Su'e after the banquet.

"Dafei said he found seven."

Tang Youliang asked in surprise, "What are you making Dafei do this time?"

“Youliang, why are you making such a fuss? We didn’t ask Dafei to do anything. It was Dafei who wanted to find someone to teach Song Yinhua a lesson. It has nothing to do with me and Dad,” Tang Su’e said.

Tang Youliang was about to inform Song Erzhuang and his wife when he was stopped by Tang Laotou and Tang Su'e.

Tang Su'e and Song Dazhuang went home with them and happened to hear them arguing.

Song Dazhuang ignored it all, pretending he hadn't heard anything.

Tang Suxiang went up to help persuade Tang Youliang to stop.

When Old Tang went back to his room to rest, he didn't forget to tell the others, "Wake me up early tomorrow, we have to catch them in the act."

-

In the bridal chamber, Li Wenxiu and Song Baogen had a quarrel.

When they were dating, they would occasionally have a few arguments, but they would quickly make up.

On their wedding night, however, neither of them was willing to compromise because of this conflict.

Li Wenxiu forbade Song Baogen from having any contact with Song Yinhua, fearing she would become a widow.

Song Baogen didn't believe these things and told her to stop going with Song Qiuxue to those shady swindlers. In a fit of anger, he revealed that Song Qiuxue had slept on their wedding bed.

Upon hearing that the wedding bed had been slept in by someone else, Li Wenxiu angrily argued with Song Baogen, which also alerted Song Erzhuang and Qiao Guilan.

Qiao Guilan slapped her son in exasperation, annoyed that he had told her about it.

The elderly couple tried to smooth things over in front of Li Wenxiu, but their words clearly sided with Song Qiuxue, which made Li Wenxiu very unhappy.

"Why can't we sleep on the floor? We can't just let anyone sleep on our wedding bed before the wedding; it's not good for me and Baogen!"

"It's just a wedding bed, why make such a fuss? Qiu Xue isn't an outsider, she's your sister-in-law and your classmate. If it weren't for Qiu Xue, you wouldn't have been able to marry my Bao Gen. My Bao Gen is tall and handsome. And look at you, what do you have to complain about Qiu Xue for?" Qiao Guilan saw that Li Wenxiu was going on and on, so she tried to control her.

Li Wenxiu was a new bride, and there were some things she was embarrassed to say. She didn't want to have a falling out with Song Qiuxue, since she would still be living at Song Qiuxue's house after her child was admitted to a university in the provincial capital.

Li Wenxiu gritted her teeth and had no choice but to endure it.

In Qiao Guilan's eyes, this meant that her daughter-in-law was easy to control.

After seeing her in-laws off, Li Wenxiu wanted to get closer to Song Baogen, but after the commotion that night, Song Baogen was in no mood for it at all and pretended to be drunk and refused to get up.

-

The sky gradually brightened.

Qiao Guilan was awakened by the knocking on the door, and she almost stepped on Song Yinhua and Song Caixing, who were sleeping on the floor.

"Something terrible has happened, Guilan. Someone saw several strangers run into your house last night and stay there all night."

The one speaking is Liu Sannai.

She loves gossiping most of the time.

She knows everything about everyone, from neighbors to neighbors.

"I also heard..."

"What else have you heard?"

Despite her advanced age, Aunt Liu became shy and said, "I also heard that kind of noise came from inside, and your eldest daughter was screaming so passionately..."

"You're talking nonsense!" Song Erzhuang roared at Liu Sannai in his gruff voice, "If you slander my daughter again, I won't be polite!"

"I heard it from someone else."

"Who told you that?"

“I heard it from your sister-in-law.”

Qiao Guilan glared angrily at Song Erzhuang, "What does your sister-in-law mean? Yinhua slept on the floor in our room all night. What does she mean by that? Last night at the wedding banquet, your sister-in-law said we should get along well and she wouldn't cause trouble anymore. Now that the wedding banquet is over, she's starting again?"

"Don't listen to this old woman, Third Mistress, stirring up trouble."

"When did I start anything? Your sister-in-law and the others have already gone to the new house to watch the commotion." Aunt Liu added sarcastically, "Your own daughter has done such indecent things, and instead of disciplining her, you're yelling at me!"

Song Yinhua then came out and asked, "Third Aunt Liu, how am I being indecent?"

When Liu Sannai saw Song Yinhua, she was stunned. "Weren't you in the new house at the foot of the mountain with several men...?"

Song Caixing: "My eldest sister drank too much at the wedding banquet last night, and we slept on the floor in my parents' room."

Qiao Guilan suddenly slapped her thigh, "Oh no, Qiu Xue stayed over there last night!"