Chapter 91: Argument, how can you arrange me like this?
However, Sister Shu's loach recipe wouldn't work at home. It uses sugar, and sugar is expensive. Most people wouldn't be able to afford it this way, and I'm sure Second Uncle's family only eats it once in a while.
Thinking of this, Lin Yushu blushed.
As the second aunt said, villagers do not eat loaches, eels and snails on a daily basis. In addition to the strong fishy smell, people also think these foods are "unclean" because they grow in mud and are considered dirty and unfit for consumption.
Furthermore, loaches and eels can eat insects and loosen the soil in rice fields, so people who rely on the land for their livelihood will not eat them, even if there are many loaches and snails in the fields.
He'd seen a thing or two about Sister Shu when she was teaching. She was a remarkable woman with her own ideas, unconcerned with outside opinions. Just like these "dirty things" only eaten by ducks and geese, she not only ate them but also cooked them deliciously. In the future, he wanted to learn from Sister Shu, to not care about what others thought; his own happiness was the most important thing!
Lin Shu didn't expect that Lin Yushu could enjoy eating loach and snails. She just ate them because she wanted to.
After the meal, Lin Shu slapped Zhou Ye's hand hard as he subconsciously tried to clean up the dishes, and then she and Lin Xiaopu each took a few bowls and plates to the bamboo water pipe to wash.
"It's OK if mother comes, you can go to the main room to teach." He Guixiang urged.
Lin Shu didn't fight with her, and said with a smile, "Mother, you haven't been going to chat with Third Aunt today. Maybe Third Aunt will come to visit soon."
"I'll leave after I wash these dishes. Our idle chat here will disturb you. It would be more convenient to go to your Third Aunt's house."
"What's the impact? Ah Ye's banging and banging in the yard can't affect us, but Ah Niang and Third Aunt's casual chat can affect us?"
He Guixiang still felt that it would be better for her to go find Zhang Qiaohua herself. After cleaning up the dishes, she took the bamboo basket where she kept her hemp and prepared to go find Zhang Qiaohua.
Unexpectedly, before anyone left the courtyard, the boy from Li Chunmiao's family started shouting outside, "Oh no, oh no, Sister Shu! Someone is ruining your reputation—"
Wang Yingen, who was as strong as an ox, rushed in and bumped into He Guixiang who was about to go out. He Guixiang was almost knocked down by him.
"Why are you so flustered, kid? Just tell me what's going on."
Wang Yingen scratched his head embarrassedly, "I'm just anxious, it's my mother who asked me to come here quickly to tell you the news."
"What did you shout just now? Who ruined Ashu's reputation?" He Guixiang asked hurriedly.
Zhou Ye heard the noise and walked over at a rapid pace, frowning and asking, "What happened?"
Lin Shu, Lin Xiaopu and Lin Yushu followed closely behind.
Wang Yingen looked up at Zhou Ye, shocked by his tall and burly figure at such close range. After coming to his senses, he immediately explained, "Uncle Zhao is making a fuss about splitting up the family business! This time, it was a big fuss. The village head was even invited over, and many people gathered to watch the fun. Then, the second daughter-in-law of the Zhao family started saying bad things about Sister Shu, saying that she had instigated Aunt Lin to make trouble, and Aunt Lin started arguing with her. Then, for some reason, some of the villagers who were watching the fun also started saying bad things about Sister Shu..."
Wang Yingen's words became a little disorganized at the end, but Zhou Ye understood.
The second wife of the Zhao family blamed Aunt Lin and A Shu for the fact that Zhao Lao San wanted to divide the family property, and some people in the crowd who disliked A Shu were fanning the flames.
Lin Yushu frowned upon hearing this and hurriedly said, "Sister Shu, there's no need to teach today. You should hurry over with Brother Aye to see what's going on. We can't let those one or two sarcastic women ruin your reputation."
Lin Shu was furious when she heard this, "Go, of course I have to go!"
Once a woman's reputation is ruined, it's difficult for her to get married in the future. Furthermore, other women in the village will constantly add insult to injury, as they already have a bad reputation. Over time, it becomes difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and others will believe it.
"Sister, I want to go with you too. I want to see which gossips are saying bad things about you!" Lin Xiaopu was also furious.
Since coming back, my sister has been kind to others and polite to everyone she meets. Some people even come to slander her, which is really infuriating.
When the group arrived at the Zhao family's door, they found that the courtyard gate was closed, but there were still many villagers gathered outside the closed courtyard gate to watch the fun. It was not long after breakfast at this time, and some men who were working in the fields stopped halfway to join in the fun.
As soon as Lin Shu arrived, she heard two or three women in the crowd talking about her in a sarcastic tone and arguing with Wang Yingen's mother Li Chunmiao.
"The guy who came back from Lin Er's hometown looked so smiling, but I didn't expect him to be such a troublemaker! Lin Zhaodi has been married to the Zhao family for so many years, and there have been arguments, but it has never come to the point of splitting up the family. How can they split up the family while the old couple of the Zhao family are still alive? How ridiculous!"
Li Chunmiao frowned and interrupted, "Alright, you guys are talking bad about a little girl behind her back, do you still have any shame? I've met that girl Lin Shu a few times, she's a very nice person."
"Mr. Wang, why do you always speak for this girl? Are you like Mrs. Zhao, who got some benefits from her? Have you been bribed by her?"
"What's wrong with me saying something? It's better than you guys going around saying bad things about a little girl when you've never even met her before, right?"
"We haven't seen each other, but Sister Gao has. Sister Gao, please tell me, what did this girl Lin Shu do the last time you rode in the carriage with her?"
This Sister Gao was the same Gao who rode the ox cart with the village head's eldest wife and Lin Shu when they went to the market last time.
Taking advantage of the crowd, Gao raised her voice to Li Chunmiao, "Sister Li, don't be fooled by this little girl. Last time, I rode an ox cart with her to the market in town. Not only did she give me a cold shoulder the whole time, she even called me 'Auntie' and deliberately called me old. She even acted innocent. Bah! I have good eyesight, and she thought I didn't know what she was up to!"
"Aunt Gao! How could you...frame me like this?" Lin Shu's voice suddenly interrupted.
With Zhou Ye's protection, she easily squeezed to the front of the crowd. Her eyes fell accurately on Gao, whose body was shaky, as if she had suffered a great blow.
Gao had never been afraid of arguments since she was little. Even a fierce woman like Lin Zhaodi couldn't win over her. Even now, when she met the person involved, she remained calm. "Hey, little Lin Shu, you're here to join in the fun too? Did you know that because of the fish you gave me yesterday, Zhao Laosan and Lin Zhaodi are arguing about splitting up the family business today?"
Lin Shu was stunned. "What? Uncle Zhao and Aunt Lin are really going to split up? Or is it because of the fish I gave them?"
"Stop pretending! Lin Zhaodi is so tough this time. You must have been the one who caused her to act so tough!"
Lin Shu's eyes welled up with tears. "Aunt Gao, why are you slandering me like this? I've been staying at the end of Tianshui Village since I returned, and I've only met Aunt Lin two or three times. Last time, I caught a lot of fish, so I gave Aunt Lin two small crucian carp. How could I have given the wrong fish?"
Gao opened her mouth to retort, but Lin Shu took a breath, stopped her, and continued, "And last time at the market, it was my first time riding in an oxcart, and the bumpy ride was uncomfortable, so I didn't look very happy. Aunt Zhang can attest to that. How did Aunt Gao make it sound like I was deliberately giving you a bad look? It was my first time meeting you, so why should I give you a bad look? In Tianshui Village, I treat everyone with the utmost kindness and never give anyone a bad look."
As she spoke, she glanced at a few women who looked vaguely familiar, perhaps women she had met once or twice. Tears welled in her eyes as she asked, "Aunts, did I ever give you a cold look when I saw you? I'm a stranger in Tianshui Village. I want to be kind to everyone and make everyone like me. How could I, how could I give someone a cold look? Aunt Gao, why do you say that to me? Sob…"
Seeing her crying, Zhou Ye's face darkened and he clenched his fists, but said nothing.
He knew that Ah Shu was intelligent and that she was just trying to defend herself, but she was also feeling aggrieved, which was why she started to cry while she was speaking.
She thought everyone in the village was nice, but there were always some people who didn't appreciate her kindness.
Several village women nearby couldn't bear to watch it anymore.
"Sister Gao, you're going too far. How can you make up something that didn't happen? I saw Miss Lin Shu once when I went to the back mountain to pick mushrooms. She called me auntie politely and smiled as beautifully as a flower. Why does her face darken when you mention her?"
"Yes, I've also met Miss Lin Shu. She's very polite. I was worried at first that she'd be too naive after returning from the capital, but she doesn't think our village is bad at all. She calls everyone uncle or aunt whenever she meets them."
In addition to these village women, the uncles and aunts that Lin Shu had greeted also joined in the conversation.
Seeing more and more people talking to Lin Shu, Gao's face darkened. "What if she deliberately called me 'Auntie'? How can I be called 'Auntie' at my age?"
Lin Shu wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her fingertips. "Aunt Gao called herself 'old lady', so I thought she looked young but was older than me, so she called you 'Auntie'. I never thought that this misunderstanding would make Aunt Gao hate me so much."
At this point in the argument, everyone basically believed Lin Shu.
Gao was indeed very pretty when she was young, and was considered one of the most beautiful women in Tianshui Village. But as she grew older and gave birth to several children for her husband's family, her face began to sag, and she looked much older. Her appearance became increasingly unsightly, and she could no longer be called beautiful. Therefore, Gao hated it most when people told her she was getting old.
But Gao was a strange person. She wouldn't allow anyone to say she was old, but when she quarreled with someone fiercely, she would just call herself "old mother" all the time.
This girl Lin Shu must have been resentful towards Gao for calling her "Auntie", so she exaggerated the situation behind the scenes and took advantage of the fact that Zhao Laosan and his wife were arguing about the separation of the family property to frame Lin Shu.
"You, you little bitch, you're talking nonsense!" Gao was furious. Lin Shu's pretentious demeanor was clearly meant to annoy her. How could it become careless when she said it?
Lin Shu didn't refute it, but acted weak and said aggrievedly, "Aunt Gao said I was talking nonsense, so that's all. But the matter of Uncle Zhao and Aunt Lin splitting up cannot be pinned on me."
Seeing that everyone was on the side of this bitch, Gao was so angry that spit flew everywhere. "Okay, let's talk about what happened on the ox cart. How can this matter of Lin Zhaodi's family division have nothing to do with you? If you hadn't been fanning the flames behind the scenes, why would Lin Zhaodi want to divide the family for no reason? I came early today, and the gate to the Zhao family courtyard was still open. Zhao Er's wife said it herself that you were the one who took care of Lin Zhaodi, and Lin Zhaodi was whispering in Zhao San's ear."
Lin Shu looked bewildered. "But Aunt Gao, I've never spoken to Aunt Lin alone. When did I fan the flames? Last time I delivered the fish, A'ye and Xiao Pu were there, and I left right after I delivered the fish."
Gao snorted coldly, "Zhou Ye and Lin Xiaopu are both your own people, so of course they will side with you."
Lin Shu's eyes, which had just been wiped dry, filled with tears again. "Aunt Gao, why are you holding on to me? A'ye and Xiao Pu are family, but Zhao's second sister-in-law is definitely not one of my family, right? Zhao's second sister-in-law was there at the time, and she knew everything Aunt Lin and I said. How can she put the blame on me? Call her out later, I want to confront her face to face!"
Gao's heart began to falter when she heard this. Zhao Erjia's words were said in a fit of rage, and it was unclear how much truth there was in them.
As for the matter of Lin Shu giving Lin Zhaodi fish, she also heard it from others.
After being unable to justify her argument, Gao replied, "That was said by Zhao Erjia. Go confront her yourself!"
Lin Shu frowned and said, "So, just because Zhao Ersao said this casually, you believed it and then framed me?"
"I, I... She's a wife of the Zhao family. How could she not know what her sister-in-law Lin Zhaodi did?"
Everyone: That’s it?
Seeing that everyone was looking at her with increasing dissatisfaction, as if the troublemaker had become her, Gao became even angrier. Thinking of what Ma said about this bitch hugging and kissing Zhou Ye in broad daylight, she was about to attack him from another angle, but at this moment, Zhou Ye suddenly spoke.
"Aunt Gao, please don't speculate. The division of the family was Uncle Zhao's idea. It has nothing to do with Aunt Lin, let alone Ah Shu."
As soon as Zhou Ye said this, the focus of the gossip shifted instantly. Among the villagers who were listening attentively, someone immediately asked, "Aye boy, how did you know? Did Zhao Laosan mention it to you? What's going on? Tell me quickly, why would Zhao Laosan want to split up the family business? When did he tell you?"
Zhou Ye's usually dull and flat voice suddenly had a hint of chill in it. "A Shu said that before she even came to Tianshui Village."
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