"sister in law?"

Zhang Fan called out, and Bai Rou'er immediately stopped the car. Sure enough, the figure turned around and it was Li Chunyan.

Li Chunyan was bent over by the weight of the basket on her back, her bangs were soaked with sweat and stuck to her forehead, and she was breathing heavily with her lips slightly open.

Zhang Fan jumped off the cart, grabbed the basket and carried it on his back: "Sister-in-law, why didn't you take an oxcart when you came back?"

Li Chunyan hesitated, then forced a smile: "Anyway, it's still early, taking an oxcart is too much trouble."

She glanced at Bai Rou'er and asked curiously, "Zhang Fan, who is this? Why are you riding in someone else's car?"

Zhang Fan's eyes darted around: "Sister-in-law, this is the kind person from last time."

Li Chunyan said with gratitude, "She is truly beautiful inside and out."

Bai Rou'er was still in a daze when she was praised like that. She blushed and said shyly, "Sister, you are very beautiful too."

On the way back to the village, Li Chunyan kept refusing because she thought it would dirty the car. In the end, Bai Rou'er and Zhang Fan pushed and pulled her into the car.

With the basket in the trunk, Li Chunyan felt the car was dirty and was very hesitant to sit inside, afraid that her clothes would get the car dirty. She said, "Miss, you'll have to go back and wash the car later."

Bai Rou'er smiled slightly: "Big sister, just call me by my name, Bai Rou'er. The car is for service, it's not as valuable as a person. Besides, big sister, where are you dirty? I'm dirtier washing dishes."

After a few words, Li Chunyan gradually relaxed. She felt that Bai Rou'er was like a fairy descended from heaven, beautiful, kind-hearted, and with a good personality.

“Miss Bai, you were the first friend Zhang Fan made after he became an idiot, and you didn’t look down on him for being an idiot.”

Bai Rou'er's eyes widened in surprise, and she subconsciously looked to Zhang Fan for confirmation.

Zhang Fan had an expression that said, "I already told you," and Bai Rou'er suddenly wondered if she was also an idiot for not realizing that Zhang Fan was an idiot.

Li Chunyan found someone to confide in and opened up about Zhang Fan's past excellence, how he was injured and became mentally challenged, turning from a promising college student into a mentally challenged person with the mind of a three-year-old child.

Bai Rou'er felt a pang of heartache, never expecting Zhang Fan's experiences to be so difficult.

If I had known Zhang Fan before, would this tragedy have been avoided?

Bai Rou'er gripped the steering wheel tightly, her knuckles turning white.

Later, the two talked about other topics, and unexpectedly, they hit it off immediately and chatted more and more happily. Eventually, they became friends.

After getting off the car, Li Chunyan warmly invited Bai Rou'er to come home for dinner.

Bai Rou'er: "Sister Li, I didn't bring any gifts. I'll visit you another day."

Li Chunyan's face immediately hardened: "Bai Meizi, are you looking down on me?"

Bai Rou'er shook her head repeatedly: "No, Sister Li, please don't misunderstand. I just didn't want to trouble you."

Li Chunyan pulled Bai Rou'er along, saying, "Since we're already here, don't be afraid of the high mountain. I'll carry you up."

Bai Rou'er waved her hands repeatedly: "I'm too heavy, you should walk by yourself."

Finally, Li Chunyan helped Bai Rou'er up the mountain.

Zhang Fan thought to himself that his sister-in-law had underestimated Bai Rou'er's fighting ability. She was someone who could walk two or three mountain paths while wearing high heels.

Halfway there, Bai Rou'er asked curiously about the large pit in the ground, "Why did you dig such a big pit here for no reason?"

Li Chunyan sighed: "This used to be a well, but now it's dried up."

Bai Rou'er: "I heard this year is a drought year, I wonder when it will rain."

Li Chunyan looked worried: "I don't know if we'll be able to harvest the crops smoothly this year."

To take care of Bai Rou'er, Li Chunyan deliberately slowed down her pace, and the two chatted the whole time, showing no signs of fatigue.

Back home, Li Chunyan was startled by the unexpected guests in the yard. She shielded Bai Rou'er behind her and said warily, "What are you doing here? You're not welcome here!"

Ma Ying smiled, but the smile was clearly forced, looking worse than a grimace.

"Sister-in-law, we're all family. If we don't keep in touch for a long time, we'll all become strangers."

A flash of anger crossed Ma Ying's eyes. Zhang Qingshan, leaning on his cane, stood beside her and said, "Zhang Fan and I are brothers. There's no such thing as a grudge that lasts overnight between brothers. We sincerely apologize today and will return the money to you."

He glanced at Ma Ying, who reluctantly pulled a dirty piece of cloth out of her bag.

Carefully opened, revealing neatly folded bills inside, the largest being a hundred-yuan note and the smallest a dime.

She counted them all and handed them over: "I received a thousand yuan in betrothal gifts before, and now I'm returning it all to you."

Li Chunyan snorted and took the money: "A family division is a family division. Let's not have any contact in the future."

Ma Ying was speechless and instinctively wanted to get angry, but Zhang Qingshan glared at her, so she could only suppress her anger.

She had used all the money she had previously earned to support her parents' family. She was worried that the mountain god would bring harm to the child, so she wanted to go back to her parents' home to get more money.

As a result, Zhang Qingshan thought she was going to run away and chased after her. Ma Ying thought Zhang Qingshan valued money more than her life, so she ran for her life.

Unexpectedly, she slipped and fell down the hillside. Zhang Qingshan went to save her, but he also fell down.

The two spent the night in the ditch, and were eventually rescued by passersby.

Ma Ying wasn't affected much, but Zhang Qingshan suffered.

His broken leg hadn't fully healed to begin with, and this fall caused the bone, which was still healing, to become dislocated again.

He was in so much pain that he felt like he was dying, that he wished he were dead.

He rested at Ma Ying's parents' house for a few days, enduring several days of humiliation.

Ma Ying's family looked down on him because he was now a useless person, and they made sarcastic remarks to him, even urging Ma Ying to divorce and remarry.

He felt that all of this was the punishment from the mountain god for offending Zhang Fan.

As soon as he was able to move around a little, he rushed over to apologize.

Ma Ying slept in the irrigation ditch for a night. There was still dew in the air when it got light, and she caught a cold and developed a fever. During that time, she had a dream in which a blue-faced, fanged demon was holding a sharp knife and was about to cut off her head.

Ma Ying was so frightened by the nightmare that she was in a daze and was anxious to come back and admit her mistake.

Her family didn't want to pay them back and kept delaying. With no other option, Ma Ying had to steal money to pay off the debt.

"Awooo~" Little Black, who had gone out for a stroll, pounced on Zhang Qingshan and his wife.

Hearing the commotion, Ma Ying looked over. When she saw Xiao Hei, she vaguely saw a wolf pouncing on her. She screamed and knelt on the ground, her body trembling like a leaf: "I was wrong, Mountain God, spare my life."

Zhang Qingshan didn't see clearly at all. Upon hearing this, he instinctively knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly to Zhang Fan, saying, "Brother, I was wrong. Please forgive me."

Zhang Fan smelled a foul odor, and upon closer inspection, he saw that yellow fluid was flowing between Zhang Qingshan's legs.

He said disdainfully, "Don't come here to bully us, get lost!"

Zhang Fan shouted it out in a childish tone, and Bai Rou'er's eyes widened in shock. The scene was full of dissonance.