Fang Jingru paused for a moment, then replied, "I'll go visit them."

This made Su Limin even more puzzled. "Qiao Qiqi and Lu Xiufen don't get along. Everyone in the village knows that. You didn't know that?"

Seeing that the other party was still quite wary, Fang Jingru smiled and said, "I know, that's why I wanted to go and see."

Su Limin looked at the smile on the other person's face and became even more puzzled.

Sudden!

A possibility suddenly flashed through her mind!

Remembering that many people in the village said that Qin Huai wanted to divorce Qiao Qiqi after finding his relatives, and realizing that the person in front of her might be Qin Huai's family member who had come to investigate what kind of person Qiao Qiqi was, she immediately had a flash of inspiration.

It's common knowledge that Lu Xiufen dislikes Qiao Qiqi, so naturally she wouldn't say a good word about her.

If this person is indeed Qin Huai's family member, wouldn't listening to Qiao Qiqi's bad words strengthen their resolve to divorce?

Thinking of this, Su Limin immediately asked excitedly, "Are you a member of Qin Huai's family?"

Fang Jingru thought for a moment.

Qiao Qiqi calls herself aunt, so it's not wrong to say that she's Qin Huai's relative, right?

Thinking this, she nodded. "Yes."

Seeing that she had guessed correctly, Su Limin excitedly pointed to the road behind her and said, "Just follow this road to the end, then turn left. The house at the end of the road is Lu Xiufen's house. She has a dairy goat in her yard. It's easy to find!"

"Okay, thank you." Fang Jingru didn't miss the ill intent in Su Limin's eyes, but she still walked forward.

After moving to a place where Su Limin couldn't see her, she asked a villager and, after confirming that Su Limin wasn't lying to her, she went over.

At this moment, Zhao Yuxiang was sitting on a chair in the yard eating sunflower seeds. In front of her, a small figure was standing in the yard, sweeping the yard with a broom.

Mingming was already exhausted from sweeping under the scorching sun, but she still had to endure Zhao Yuxiang's constant nitpicking: "You didn't sweep that clean enough, sweep it again. Don't try to get away with it. Let me tell you, if you don't sweep it clean, I won't give you any food tonight!"

Lu Xiufen's face was deathly pale. After being exposed to the sun for an hour, she was swaying unsteadily, and her lips were cracked from not drinking water all day.

Unable to bear it any longer, Lu Xiufen straightened up, propped herself up on the broom, and said pitifully, "Can I have a drink of water before I sweep? I'm so thirsty."

"What water? Drink after you finish sweeping!" Zhao Yuxiang spat out the sunflower seed shell in her mouth and rolled her eyes. "Do some clean work, and you're always trying to slack off. Don't think I don't know."

Lu Xiufen felt a wave of dizziness and looked at the patch of ground at Zhao Yuxiang's feet.

I just swept that patch of ground clean, but now it's covered in sunflower seed shells.

Besides that, there's a dairy goat by the courtyard wall that keeps pooping. She's swept it up three times already, but now there's another pile of black sheep droppings.

The two kept pulling, and no matter how many times she swept, the result was the same.

Lu Xiufen wanted nothing more than to throw the broom away and quit, but when she thought that her other two sons' homes wouldn't accept her either, she could only swallow her anger and endure it.

With her body swaying precariously, she gripped the broom with both hands and slowly began to sweep again.

Seeing that she was obedient, Zhao Yuxiang snorted coldly, but continued to mock her relentlessly: "Don't think I don't know that you went to the second and third sons' places behind my back. Let me tell you, if you could leave, I would be more than happy! It's a pity that you are so useless. Over the years, you have broken the hearts of your other two sons. Neither of them wants you."

Lu Xiufen suddenly felt a little dazed, thinking about the ridicule she received when she secretly went to the second and third brothers to beg. At this moment, she finally felt that she deserved what she had done.

Zhao Yuxiang spat out a mouthful of sunflower seed shells and continued, "I don't keep idlers here. Since you can't leave, you'd better work hard and earn your own food. If you dare to slack off again, I'll starve you for three days! I'll let you starve to death!"

Lu Xiufen finally couldn't take it anymore and couldn't help but look up and retort, "Eldest sister, since I moved in, when have I not worked? I've been doing countless chores from morning till night. Have I said anything? Besides, even if you only consider how many things I used to send to you from the third brother, you can't treat me like this!"

"How have I treated you? Have I left you cold or starved you? Think before you speak, and don't make baseless accusations!" Zhao Yuxiang stood up angrily, hands on her hips, when she saw Lu Xiufen daring to criticize her.

She was tall, and Lu Xiufen was more than a head shorter than her. When she saw Zhao Yuxiang stand up, a sense of oppression immediately overwhelmed her, making her face turn pale with fright, and some parts of her body began to ache...

Lu Xiufen was about to speak when she suddenly noticed a figure at the door. Looking up, she instinctively called out, "Qiao Qiqi..."

Upon closer inspection, something else seemed off.

Although this woman looks quite similar to Qiao Qiqi, she appears to be older.

"Who are you?" Zhao Yuxiang also saw the person at the courtyard gate, and immediately stood up and walked over.

Fang Jingru had actually been listening outside the courtyard gate for two minutes. Seeing the age of the two people, her gaze finally fell on the old woman holding the broom, and she asked, "Excuse me, are you Qiao Qiqi's grandmother, Lu Xiufen?"

A hint of doubt flashed across Lu Xiufen's eyes, but she still nodded, "Yes, that's me."

After saying that, she immediately asked, "Who are you? How come you look so much like Qiao Qiqi?"

"My name is Fang Jingru, and I'm from Beijing. I have a few questions I'd like to ask you. Would it be convenient for you to come out and chat with me for a bit?"

Upon hearing that she was from Beijing, Zhao Yuxiang's eyes lit up immediately.

Lu Xiufen was constantly pressured to work at home and didn't hear the rumors in the village, but she did hear that Qiao Qiqi was lucky. As soon as she married Qin Huai, Qin Huai's relatives in Beijing took her back to their hometown.

So when Zhao Yuxiang heard that Fang Jingru was from Beijing, she subconsciously assumed that she was a relative of Qin Huai.

Although she didn't know why she looked so much like Qiao Qiqi, she immediately smiled and said, "Miss Fang, right? Hello, I'm Qiao Qiqi's aunt. What brings you to my mother-in-law's house? I'm the one in charge here, so you can just tell me directly."

Fang Jingru saw through Zhao Yuxiang's greedy gaze and said calmly, "I have a few questions to ask Old Madam Lu, but it has nothing to do with you."

After saying that, Fang Jingru looked at Lu Xiufen again, "Would it be convenient for you to come out with me now?"

Lu Xiufen's mind raced. Although she hadn't heard the rumors in the village, she could tell at a glance that Fang Jingru was wearing nice clothes, and the woman's demeanor didn't seem like that of a rural person; she was clearly from a big city.

Her mind raced for several seconds before she weakly leaned on the broom and said, "I can go out with you, but I'm so hungry and thirsty that I don't even have the strength to speak."