Yang Guangzong and Widow Chen were getting very close.

Ye Caiping and Ye Hufen had already hidden outside.

Hearing the commotion inside, Ye Hufeng's face darkened.

Although I was already utterly disappointed in Yang Guangzong, I was still disgusted and angry to hear that he was doing this with another woman.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the commotion inside subsided.

"Pah! He used to say he was short because he hated me, but now that he's with another woman, it's all the same!" Ye Hufeng said with a look of disdain.

Ye Caiping covered her mouth and laughed.

The two waited a while longer until they heard snoring coming from inside. Ye Caiping said, "It's almost ready."

Ye Hufen quickly took out a tinderbox and lit the dry straw that was placed on the fence of Widow Chen's outer courtyard.

When the fire was almost extinguished, Ye Caiping and Ye Hufen hurriedly walked away and hid behind a large tree not far away.

Ye Siquan, who had been waiting at a distance, rushed over and banged on his neighbor's door, shouting, "Fire! Fire!"

"What? A fire?" The neighbors were all startled awake by his shout.

One by one, the lights in the surrounding houses came on.

The villagers came out, throwing on their clothes as they asked, "Where is the fire?"

"Here, here!" Ye Siquan pointed to Widow Chen's house.

When the villagers looked, they saw that Widow Chen's outer courtyard was already engulfed in flames.

"Quick! Quick! Quick! Put out the fire!"

The villagers rushed home, some grabbing buckets and others basins, and kept splashing water.

The fire in the outer courtyard was extinguished in no time.

Before everyone could even breathe a sigh of relief, Ye Siquan shouted, "Be careful, the house might be on fire too! Come on, let's go inside and check!"

Ye Siquan, leading the group, shouted and kicked down the gate.

At this critical moment, the villagers didn't care about distinguishing between truth and falsehood; they grabbed buckets and rushed into the room.

Yang Guangzong and Widow Chen were sleeping soundly when they suddenly heard a commotion outside.

The two had already woken up and were rubbing their eyes, still half asleep.

With a loud bang, Yang Guangzong, still half asleep, yelled, "Who is it? Can't a person get any sleep?"

The villagers who rushed in to put out the fire were all stunned, standing there staring intently at the bed.

There were two people sitting naked on the bed; they were Yang Guangzong and Widow Chen.

"My goodness, there really is fire!" the villagers exclaimed.

The two were stunned for a moment before they reacted and screamed.

Before the two could even cover themselves, Ye Hufen had already rushed over with lightning speed.

He reached out and lashed out with two large whips, making the two men see stars and faint instantly.

"Yang Guangzong, Widow Chen, how could you do such a despicable and shameless thing! What a terrible sin!"

Ye Hufen roared, then sat down on the ground with a thud and started crying.

The villagers were all shocked. Good heavens, what is all this about?

A female cadre was rescued from the fire!

The villagers were excited and gossipy, but mostly they felt sympathy for Ye Hufen.

Ye Caiping and Ye Siquan both came over.

"Oh my god, how could this happen?" Ye Caiping covered her mouth, looking shocked.

"We haven't even left yet! This scumbag did such a disgusting thing right under our family's noses!" Ye Siquan roared.

"I've always suspected that Widow Chen and Yang Guangzong had an affair, but I never imagined it was true," an old woman said.

"Who wouldn't guess? Look at Yang Duobao, he looks five points like Widow Chen. She even recognized her as her godmother. They've practically laid their guts out; everyone knows what's going on. It's just that they haven't caught her in the act yet, there's no evidence."

"We finally caught them today. What do we do now?"

As they spoke, everyone looked at Ye Hufen.

The old woman hurriedly pulled Ye Hufen aside and sighed, "Little Swallow's mother, what are your plans now?"

But Ye Hufen covered her mouth, crying so hard she couldn't catch her breath and couldn't say a word, looking heartbroken.

Ye Siquan roared, "What do we do? Of course, we send them to see the clan chief and have them drowned in a pig cage!"

The villagers looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

This was the first time they had encountered something like this.

“The village chief’s house is quite far from here, and we haven’t received any news yet. It’ll be dawn in two hours. Why don’t we tie them up first and decide what to do tomorrow?” said the older woman.

"Fine." Ye Siquan nodded angrily.

Ye Caiping handed over the rope she had prepared beforehand, and Ye Siquan quickly tied the two men up.

"I'll guard these two. Eldest sister and younger sister, you two go back and rest for a bit. Come back when it's light."

"Okay, thank you for your help."

Ye Caiping helped Ye Hufen as they left Widow Chen's house step by step amidst the villagers' sighs.

Ye Hufen walked with her head down, thankfully she had a handkerchief covering her mouth, otherwise her laughter would have been seen by others.

"Be more reserved, don't let others find out," Ye Caiping whispered to her.

...

The next morning, just as dawn broke, the story of Yang Guangzong and Widow Chen spread throughout the entire village.

At this moment, all the villagers were gathered outside Widow Chen's house.

Village Chief Yang was an old man in his sixties. He frowned and gave Ye Hufen a reproachful look.

After such a shameful incident, instead of helping to cover it up, the daughter-in-law tied the man up. The whole village knows about it now. She's truly inconsiderate!

Thinking about it, Village Chief Yang felt a splitting headache. The one who caused this scandal was surnamed Yang! And it was his distant relative!

What a disgrace! How should we handle this situation?

"Little Swallow's mother, how do you plan to handle this matter?" Village Chief Yang asked Ye Hufen.

Ye Hufen frowned. Although she had already made up her mind, her younger sister said she couldn't bring herself to say anything about it.

Ye Caiping said, "My eldest sister just suffered a shock and is in a lot of turmoil. She almost committed suicide last night."

"Hiss..." The villagers all looked at Ye Hufen with pity.

"Waaah..." Ye Hufeng even cried out twice in cooperation.

He rubbed his eyes, and they immediately turned red and tears streamed down his face.

Damn it, this ginger juice is so spicy it stings my eyes!

"That's why my older sister wants to ask you, the village chief, to uphold justice," Ye Caiping said.

Village Chief Yang rolled his eyes at Ye Caiping: "Young lady, this is a matter for our village, please don't say anything more."

Given Ye Hufen's current situation, he should be easy to handle; he doesn't need a clear-headed person to guide him.

"What does the village chief mean?" Ye Caiping showed him no respect whatsoever, sneering, "If it's just a matter for your village, I wouldn't bother with it!"

"But Ye Hufen is my eldest sister! What, just because a married woman has been wronged, we, her family, don't even have the right to stand up for her?"

Upon hearing this, all the aunties and young women present looked at Village Chief Yang, their eyes filled with disapproval.

They are all married-out women! If we don't let the Ye family get involved today and set this precedent, their maternal families won't be able to support them if they are bullied by their husbands' families in the future.

Village Chief Yang then realized that he had offended all the women in the village, and his face turned pale.