"Even if something does happen, Ke Ruxiu is still our Xu family's daughter-in-law, and we should handle it ourselves. As for Niu Dadan..."
She turned to the village chief: "Village chief, although women who commit adultery should be drowned in pig cages, men should also be punished. I remember the last couple in the village who had an affair, the man was executed, wasn't he?"
The village chief nodded. Although he understood that the Xu family meant to take Ke Ruxiu back for punishment, he had no intention of letting Niu Dadan go.
Upon hearing that he was to be executed on the spot, Niu Dadan panicked instantly.
He hurriedly shook his head and said, "No...don't kill me! I...I didn't...have an affair with her. You've misunderstood!"
When he first discussed this matter with Zhou Yan, he never imagined that he would be involved because the Zhou family was targeting Ning Huan.
But now he has mistaken the person for someone else. Not to mention Ke Ruxiu's family, how will the Ke family handle this matter?
If the Xu family wanted to take their own lives, it would be as easy as saying a single word.
Hearing Niu Dadan say that, Ke Ruxiu quickly pulled Xu Xian aside and said, "Husband, did you hear that? He said it was a misunderstanding! There's really nothing between Niu Dadan and me!"
Xu Xian gently patted Ke Ruxiu's back and comforted her, "My wife, don't worry. I told you I believed you, and I knew you wouldn't do such a thing."
Bai snorted coldly and said to Niu Dadan:
“Even if it’s a misunderstanding, it’s a fact that you bullied my daughter-in-law. So many people in the village saw it. You not only ruined her reputation, but also disgraced the Xu family. So, Niu Dadan, you must be executed today no matter what.”
Seeing that the Xu family was determined to kill, Niu Dadan panicked.
He raised his head and shouted to Zhou Yan, "Yan Niang, they're trying to kill me! Please save me!"
"Yan Niang, please explain for me! I don't want to die!"
Hearing Niu Dadan call Zhou Yan by her nickname so affectionately, the villagers nearby murmured, "Why is Niu Dadan calling Zhou's second daughter by her name like that?"
"Could it be that there's something going on between these two?"
Hearing Niu Dadan call her that in front of everyone, Zhou Yan was startled and couldn't help but curse him inwardly as a fool.
He mistook someone for someone else and failed to handle things properly. Now he's even trying to drag himself down with him—what a useless piece of trash!
She said angrily, "Niu Dadan, watch your mouth! I don't know you at all, yet you call me so intimately. Are you trying to slander my innocence?"
Niu Dadan looked at Zhou Yan in astonishment: "Yan Niang, why do you say that? How can you say that we are complete strangers?"
Yao had originally come to watch the commotion at someone else's house tonight, but she never expected that Niu Dadan would get entangled with her daughter.
She yelled in a shrill voice, "You coward! Don't act like a cornered dog, grabbing any girl and wantonly ruining her reputation! You dare call her 'Yan Niang'?"
Niu Dadan, no longer caring about his previous conspiracy with Zhou Yan, hurriedly said loudly, "Mother-in-law, how can you say that about me?"
Madam Yao snorted coldly and said, "Who are you calling 'mother-in-law'? You think you're worthy to call me that? Even if you were reincarnated for ten more years, our Zhou family would never accept you as our son-in-law!"
Hearing Yao's words, Niu Dadan looked at Zhou Yan in despair: "Yan Niang, explain to everyone, explain to everyone quickly! I'm about to die!"
Zhou Yan coldly replied, "You daring bully, didn't you understand what my mother just said? What can I say for you now? Do you really want to defile another young woman's purity before you die?"
An old woman nearby muttered, "What Zhou's girl said is not wrong. Niu Dadan was always idle in the village and always causing trouble. As he grew up, he started to become more and more unruly and his mind became more and more crooked."
"And lately, whenever he's mentioned, it's always about which family's wife in the village has something going on with him."
"Who can argue with that!"
Another old woman chimed in, "After the argument with Jing'an's wife last time, I told my wife to turn around and leave if she saw Niu Dadan on the road. Who knows if he might cause any trouble?"
"That audacious ox, even if he's about to die, he'll still drag another girl down with him. What a terrible thing to do!"
Some villagers, unable to stand by and watch, said to the village chief, "We should put Niu Dandan to death right now!"
"Village chief, if this daring bull stays in the village even a moment longer, he might defile another girl's virtue. Why don't we just execute him on the spot!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yan's eyes lit up: if Niu Dadan died, then no one would ever discover that she had plotted to frame Ning Huan today and that she had an affair with Niu Dadan.
Thinking of this, she quickly chimed in, "Village chief, the aunties are right! Niu Dadan should be executed tonight! No...no...now! Execute him on the spot!"
Seeing that Zhou Yan not only kicked him when he was down, but also fanned the flames and demanded that the village chief execute him right now.
Niu Dadan felt a chill run down his spine. He sneered, "Zhou Yan, you're turning your back on me now, aren't you? You really want me dead?"
Hearing Niu Dadan's words made Zhou Yan's heart skip a beat for no reason, as if she knew what Niu Dadan was going to do next, but Zhou Yan was determined to deny that Niu Dadan was slandering her.
Sure enough, the next second, Niu Dadan said loudly, "Today's matter has nothing to do with Madam Xu. Tonight's incident was originally planned by me and Zhou Yan, the second daughter of the Zhou family. We originally intended to target Ning Huan, the third daughter-in-law of the Zhou family."
Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in chaos: "Did I hear that right? What was that audacious guy just saying?"
"Has Niu Dadan gone mad? Or did that auntie really guess right? Seeing that he's about to die, he's resorting to slandering another girl's innocence?"
"That would be incredibly unethical!"
"He's despicable for seducing other people's wives."
The village chief frowned: "Niu Dadan, don't talk nonsense."
Niu Dadan said, "Village chief, I'm not making this up. Zhou Yan and I often meet in secret at night, and it's been going on for quite some time now."
Ning Huan raised an eyebrow. She hadn't expected Niu Dadan to bring up his affair with Zhou Yan. Perhaps he was disheartened by Zhou Yan's betrayal. This saved her a lot of trouble.
When Zhou Lan overheard Niu Dadan revealing that he and her second sister had originally plotted to frame Ning Huan, she instinctively grabbed Ning Huan's hand and whispered in her ear, "Third sister-in-law, it's a good thing we were all together today and you didn't go out. Otherwise, Niu Dadan would probably have succeeded by now..."
She smiled gently and comforted Zhou Lan, saying, "Don't worry, eldest sister."
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