As soon as Niu Guanfu finished speaking, the whole audience erupted in uproar.

The aunts stared at Ling Huanwu with wide eyes in disbelief. Those distant relatives who had been mistreated by Ling Huanwu before seemed to have found an outlet for their anger. These educated women started spewing vulgarities.

"She claims to have graduated from Gangcheng Girls' High School, but the teaching is nothing special. She had no men around her when she was in school, but now she's crawling around in groups of men. She's filthy!"

"That's right, Er Gou, you should hurry up and file for divorce. A woman like that would be thrown into a pig cage in ancient times!"

“There are red armbands outside. Let’s hurry up and call her in. She’s so shameless. She looks like a vixen. Will she die if she doesn’t have two men in one night?”

The aunts and uncles all chimed in, wanting to use the most vulgar language to attack Ling Huanwu.

The passersby who came to the hospital for treatment all spat and pointed at Ling Huanwu, and some men even lingered on her with lewd eyes.

Ling Huanwu took a step back, hardly believing her ears.

The honest and simple-minded widower in front of me is actually lying through his teeth!

The story of Niu Guanfu finding a bag of cloth coupons from the cooperative and returning them all intact is known throughout the surrounding villages.

Therefore, no one would think that such an honest person would lie.

“Old Niu, your dead wife is still watching over you and your child from heaven. You have to take responsibility for your words and can’t lie through your teeth!”

Ling Huanwu's voice was icy as she pressed him, word by word, "Do you have some hidden reason to tell me? But you absolutely cannot wrong someone. Do you know the consequences of that?"

The widower felt guilty and turned away, his eyes reddening. He covered his eyes with his hands, which were stained black from working, and tears streamed through his fingers.

But to others, his appearance made them think that Ling Huanwu was using his job to threaten the widower.

Those relatives who had just vented their anger stood up to protect the widower, pointing at Ling Huanwu and cursing, "You slut, how dare you threaten an honest man! You caused this fire, so you have to take responsibility for your actions!"

Everyone was talking at once, their saliva could drown them out.

Finally, Chu Mei stepped forward, her face full of disappointment. "Er Gou, your wife did this. You have to set an example for your comrades. This woman caused the cooperative huge losses because of her affair. She has to be arrested immediately!"

Faced with this overwhelming malice, Ling Huanwu finally noticed that Zhou Jiuzhen behind her hadn't moved for a long time.

In this meticulously planned attack on her, he was actually the one who suffered the most.

Ling Huanwu didn't even have the courage to turn around and look at him.

Song Yaoyao, who was hiding outside the crowd and secretly watching the situation unfold, laughed wildly in her heart as she watched Ling Huanwu being targeted by everyone and unable to raise her head.

In her previous life, she was like a rat in a gutter, pointed at and gossiped about as a slut.

Finally, in this life, Ling Huanwu also experienced the same situation as her in the previous life, being condemned by everyone.

Just when she thought everything was settled, she met Zhou Jiuzhen's gaze as he looked around.

The man's hawk-like gaze almost burned through her, making her heart skip several beats.

Fortunately, Zhou Jiuzhen quickly looked away, but at the same time he took a step forward, met everyone's gaze, and tightly held Ling Huanwu's hand with his ten fingers. The words he said the next second shocked everyone.

"Huanwu would never cheat on me with another man! I believe her!"

Before Chu Mei and the others could open their mouths to refute him, Zhou Jiuzhen's booming voice once again resounded throughout the entire hospital floor.

“The light in my room was on all night last night. When Comrade Song came to see her, she could barely walk, and I had to help her out the door,” he said, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, his words clear and unashamed of his words. “She’s in such a state, would she go looking for other men? Two of them? Do you all think I’m dead? What do you mean by ‘other men’? She’s so skinny, she can barely handle one of me, let alone other men?”

The entire audience erupted in uproar, stunned by his words.

The girls who had been peeking around to listen to the commotion all shrank back, their faces flushed.

The experienced aunties' eyes lingered on Zhou Jiuzhen, finally settling on Ling Huanwu with a hint of jealousy, as if to say, "You brat, you're eating so well!"

Ling Huanwu, facing the stares of those around her, lowered her head and her ears turned bright red.

She never expected that this scoundrel would bring up this whole thing just to prove her innocence.

Zhou Jiuzhen gripped Ling Huanwu's hand tightly with his hand hanging by his side, his sharp gaze fixed on Su Haiting, "Today, you all openly stood here slandering my wife, it's hard for me not to suspect that one of you started the fire at the cooperative!"

The seven aunts and eight cousins ​​who had just been so arrogant and spouting wild rumors, along with Su Haiting and the others, all turned pale and waved their hands in denial, saying, "We didn't do it, how could it be us!"

Chu Mei, as the leader, almost couldn't catch her breath. "Er Gou, you can't talk nonsense. We are all your family. You can't make false accusations and set fire to public property. Now people are injured. Are you going to send them to prison? Have you thought about what will happen to your father?"

"You say they are my family, Huanwu is your daughter-in-law, and my wife, but have you ever thought about what I should do?"

Zhou Jiuzhen's eyes were bloodshot, and a tear slowly slid down his cheek. Those childhood memories he didn't want to think about swallowed him up like a raging flood.

He was originally thinking of giving his mother, who gave him life and raised him, a chance and of forgiving her.

Now, she has repeatedly crossed his bottom line, and all the little affection they had for each other over the years has vanished in this moment.

"I'm saying this for the last time today, Aunt Chu, when you can truly accept Huanwu, then I will accept you too!"

After Zhou Jiuzhen finished speaking, he ignored Chu Mei's swaying body, grabbed Ling Huanwu, turned around and left, leaving Su Haiting and the others alone in the hospital lobby, where they were pointed at and gossiped about by passersby.

"This mother-in-law is so vicious, making up stories about her own daughter-in-law like this."

"And this woman, is she the one the mother-in-law has her eye on? Is she deliberately framing her to ruin the relationship between the couple? She's shameless. Doesn't she realize that the other woman was much prettier than her?"

"Exactly, these relatives are so clueless. That woman who was just slandered is really pitiful, having to deal with such a large family. Luckily, her husband is a reasonable person..."

In the blink of an eye, the group of onlookers who had just been criticizing Ling Huanwu suddenly reversed their tune, spitting directly at Chu Mei and Su Haiting, who then covered their faces and fled the hospital as if escaping.

The cooperative women who had come along earlier looked guilty, exchanging self-reproachful glances. "How could we doubt Director Ling? Battalion Commander Zhou is so outstanding, how could she possibly be with another man?"

"That's right, the cooperative is President Ling's lifeblood, how could she burn it down just to find a man..."

The aunties chatted amongst themselves, and the second auntie, with her sharp eyes, spotted Song Yaoyao in their work clothes in the crowd and shouted out loud.