Song Erzhuang, who was about to enter the courtyard, called out to Qiao Guilan from outside the courtyard.
Tang Suxiang greeted Song Erzhuang with a smile, her attitude friendly and amicable.
When he saw Qiao Guilan off from the courtyard, he smiled and told her to come back and play again tomorrow.
Qiao Guilan felt embarrassed to refuse, so she agreed on the surface.
On her way home, Qiao Guilan saw a basket of cucumbers and greens in Song Erzhuang's hand and asked him a question.
Song Erzhuang replied irrelevantly, "Don't go to your sister-in-law's house tomorrow, we have a lot of things to do at home."
"What's wrong?" Qiao Guilan asked.
He had always tacitly allowed her to do things for his older brother's family, hoping to maintain a good relationship between the two families.
"I told you not to go, so don't go!" Song Erzhuang said, as if he were sulking.
"Why are you taking your anger out on me again?" Qiao Guilan came over every day to help her sister-in-law take care of the children, but she also suffered a lot of humiliation. She was full of resentment and got angry when she saw her husband taking his anger out on her as soon as he came back.
"I wasn't taking my anger out on you. What time is it? Other families are having dinner together, didn't you see? Why are you still hanging around there instead of going home?"
"Is it that I don't want to go back? Your sister-in-law asked me to help feed Erniu's daughter before I go back. Besides, what would I do if I went home? Listen to Grandma Zhou cursing?"
"Did the old lady scold again today?" Song Erzhuang asked.
“As soon as you step out, Grandma Zhou stands at the intersection and curses our little Si’er. She curses Yinhua and Baogen too, but not as harshly as she curses Xiao Si’er.” Qiao Guilan felt aggrieved and wiped her tears with the corner of her clothes. “What sins have I committed? Everyone is bullying our family.”
Tang Suxiang looked down on her, asking for her help while simultaneously criticizing her; she knew all too well.
Old Mrs. Zhou curses and swears every day, making fun of her daughter for being a "broken shoe" and seducing men. How can she, as a mother, feel good about that?
Song Erzhuang, holding a basket of cucumbers and greens, also sighed.
I don't know how life has turned out like this; nothing seems to go right.
When she got home, Qiao Guilan accidentally saw a hanging rope hanging from the beam in the girl's room and screamed in fright.
Song Caixing couldn't keep it to herself.
Song Erzhuang and Qiao Guilan then learned that the Fourth Sister had been depressed during the day and almost committed suicide.
Thinking about how she almost hanged herself from the roof beam during the day, Song Caixing cried out in fear.
My heart was filled with grievances and panic.
Qiao Guilan knew that Old Lady Zhou's insults were so vulgar and offensive that even she couldn't bear to listen to them, let alone a sixteen-year-old girl.
“Dad, you have to think of something. Our Caixing hasn’t been violated. She’s not dirty.”
Song Erzhuang also looked worried. "I'm going to go to Grandma Zhou's house to explain to her that the swindlers failed."
Song Yinhua found her father's words laughable.
“Dad, several aunties and older women from the village were at our house the day Caixing had the accident. They clearly knew that Caixing hadn’t been violated, but look at what’s going on in the village now! Grandma Zhou lives next door, how could she not know about this?”
"Yinhua, stop talking, this is all your fault!" Qiao Guilan had been blaming her eldest daughter for the past few days. "If you hadn't come back that day, none of this would have happened."
Song Yinhua never expected her mother to say such a thing: "If I hadn't come back, I wouldn't have been able to save Caixing, the swindlers would have succeeded, and Caixing would have really been in trouble."
"How can you be sure he's a fraud?" Qiao Guilan still held onto a sliver of hope. "That master exorcised evil spirits and brought good fortune to so many people in the village, and everyone else was fine, but your family had problems."
"The master is right, you are an evil spirit, sucking away the family's good fortune..."
"Mom!" Song Yinhua interrupted, "Are you still so stubborn? He's a fraud!"
"Whether he's a fraud or not, Mom doesn't know. What Mom knows is that the master's prediction was right! If you hadn't gone to Grandma Zhou's house and caused trouble, and stolen the old hen from Grandma Zhou's chicken coop and sold it, why would Grandma Zhou keep bothering our family?"
"Mom, that old hen originally belonged to our family. In the past, Grandma Zhou caused us a lot of trouble."
"Then you can't argue with Grandma Zhou. If you don't offend her, would she curse you so horribly? And Master, if you hadn't beaten him up like that, would our family have been so unlucky?"
"mom……"
"Stop arguing!" Song Erzhuang roared, giving Song Yinhua an unpleasant look.
Song Yinhua could tell from her father's displeased look that he was also blaming her.
Whether in her past life or this one, she never knew her father had ever looked at her with such a resentful and displeased gaze.
Song Erzhuang turned to Qiao Guilan and suggested, "How about we catch two old hens and send them to Granny Zhou, explaining to her that Xiao Si'er wasn't abused and isn't a slut, and ask her to stop scolding him?"
"I'll go catch the old hen right now," Qiao Guilan agreed with both hands.
This was the only solution the couple could think of, and it had always been their way of doing things.
"No, I disagree!" Song Yinhua blocked Qiao Guilan's way. "Doing this will only make you look down on more!"
“Yinhua, you’re not married, so you don’t understand. For your parents, the most important thing is that the whole family is healthy and safe. It’s just two old hens. Next year, Mom will go to the market and buy some more chicks to raise.”
"Mom, is it about the old hen? Can't you see? Grandma Zhou is deliberately bullying our family because she thinks you and Dad don't dare to do anything to her!"
"That's all your fault!"
Qiao Guilan and Song Erzhuang insisted on catching an old hen and delivering it to Old Lady Zhou, hoping to use this opportunity to improve their relationship with her family.
Qiao Guilan now feels apprehensive whenever she sees Grandma Zhou.
Like a mouse seeing a cat.
As long as it brings temporary peace, she would be willing to give up not only two hens, but even the only sow in the house.
"Dad, they bully your whole family so brazenly because they think your family is poor, you're cowardly, and you're weak!"
"They did it on purpose!"
"If you rush around giving gifts to curry favor with her now, it's like telling her that you're useless and can't do anything about her. She can bully you without getting into any trouble, and she'll even benefit from it!"
"If everyone in the village follows suit, how much stuff will we have to give them? Will we ever have a peaceful life again?"
"What are you saying!" Song Erzhuang didn't understand and didn't want to listen. He just wanted to quickly beg for Zhou Laotai's forgiveness so that she wouldn't cause any more trouble for his family.
Qiao Guilan originally wanted to catch two old hens, but fearing that Old Lady Zhou wouldn't like them, she grabbed all the remaining old hens in the coop and put them into her pocket.
Song Yinhua snatched the bag away, stopping them from being so shameless.
"Dad, Mom, Grandma Zhou is causing trouble for our family not because we did anything wrong, but because she thinks we are easy to bully and that nothing will happen to us if we bully our family!"
"Do you think that if we send a few old hens to Grandma Zhou to beg her not to bully our family, she will stop bullying us?"
"I don't have time to argue with you. I don't know what you're talking about!" Song Erzhuang impatiently gestured to Song Yinhua to quickly hand the bag containing the old hen to Qiao Guilan. "Quickly give the old hen to your mother. The Zhou family should be having dinner now. Your mother and I will be back soon."
"I said, you're not allowed to go!" Song Yinhua resolutely refused to budge.
Qiao Guilan looked anxiously at Song Erzhuang, "Erzhuang, look at your eldest daughter's stubborn temper. She's caused so much trouble. If it weren't for her, would we have to beg people like this? Caixing almost died today. Are we really going to let our family fall apart because of her?"
Song Erzhuang personally took charge.
Song Yinhua was determined not to let them act like scoundrels.
Qiao Guilan said angrily, "That girl Yinhua will behave after a beating!"
Snap!
The hot-tempered Song Erzhuang suddenly slapped Song Yinhua, causing blood to flow from the corner of her mouth.
Song Erzhuang snatched the bag containing the old hen and said, "Honey, let's go."
"Spineless coward!" Song Yinhua cursed angrily.
"I'm your father! What did you just say to me?" Song Erzhuang suddenly exploded, rolled up his sleeves, and was about to grab a carrying pole. "I'll beat you to death today, you little brat!"
Qiao Guilan grabbed Song Erzhuang tightly, "Let's go to Grandma Zhou's house first, or she'll be asleep by the time it gets late."
After the two left, Qiao Guilan asked, "Honey, don't you think our eldest daughter has become unusually old-fashioned in her speech?"
Song Erzhuang: ...
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