Lin Erxi followed behind his mother, and as soon as he heard his uncle's name, he rushed to the front. Lin's sister-in-law had already seen what was going on.
Her face was very pale, and she stopped Lin Erxi, who was about to rush over: "This is not something a young lady like you should see. Go find your second aunt."
Seeing her mother's grave expression, Lin Erxi knew something was wrong and quickly ran back to find Song Anxin.
"My dear daughter, what's wrong with you? Didn't I tell you to come find me and your father? How did you end up lying here with Song Tongsheng? Oh dear, what a terrible thing..."
Aunt Fang cried out loudly, as if afraid others wouldn't know that the two of them had slept together.
Song Anbang slowly woke up to the noise around him, feeling a sharp pain in the back of his head. He instinctively reached for it, only to feel a chill on his body—his clothes?! Looking up, he saw a crowd of villagers surrounding him.
Lin Fengyao, being small, quickly squeezed next to Song Anbang: "Uncle, what happened to you? Why are you lying here?"
Song Anbang looked bewildered and quickly pulled his clothes up, saying, "I don't know either. I just woke up and found myself lying here."
"Pah! You ruined my daughter! I didn't know you were a scholar; I never imagined you would do such a despicable thing!" Aunt Fang said.
Liu Fangtou also charged at him aggressively: "Song Tongsheng, since you have ruined my daughter, you must marry Xiuhong!"
Sister-in-law Lin quickly squeezed to the front and shouted, "Anbang wouldn't do such a thing. Don't talk nonsense. Fengyao, quickly help your uncle up."
Aunt Zhao chimed in from the crowd, "Yes, Song Tongsheng is usually so well-liked that even the young girls in the village wouldn't give him a second glance. How could he do something like this?"
In the villagers' eyes, Song Anbang was a very good scholar. He was approachable and didn't care about the tuition fees; he was willing to teach their children to read. Most importantly, although Song Tongsheng had a handsome face, he was always upright. When the village girls spoke to him, he would keep a distance of three feet, let alone do anything to molest a woman.
The villagers all said:
"Yes, yes, Song Tongsheng would never do such a thing."
"I also believe in Song Tongsheng's character..."
"Even if we were to do this, we wouldn't choose Liu Xiuhong, would we? She's been married before."
Upon hearing this, Liu Xiuhong, who had been pretending to cry, could no longer hold back her tears and said angrily, her face turning red, "It was Song Tongsheng who dragged me into the bushes. He violated me. Didn't you all see that he wasn't wearing any clothes?"
Song Anbang was helped up by Lin Fengyao, and his clothes had already been straightened. His refined and handsome face was contorted with embarrassment. Just as he was about to speak, a familiar voice came from outside the crowd.
"Oh, so does that mean if a girl was with a man who wasn't wearing clothes, you can say that he abused her?"
It was Song Anxin who arrived. Lin Erxi rushed over to the riverbank and told her that Song Anbang seemed to have had an accident. She immediately came over and heard Liu Xiuhong's voice. She knew that this matter was not simple.
She knew her younger brother better than anyone; he was incredibly oblivious to matters of the heart. If he were to do something like that, it would be as if the sky were falling.
When the villagers saw Song Anxin and his group arrive, they all made way for them. Song Anbang then addressed them:
“Mother, elder sister, I did not abuse Liu Xiuhong. I could never have done such a thing. I swear to God.”
Song Anxin nodded: "I believe in you."
“Uncle, we all believe in you,” said Lin Fengnian and the other children.
"I believe you too." She knew her son Anbang's temperament better than anyone, and the old lady said to the villagers with a firm expression:
"My son Anbang would never do such a thing!"
Seeing this, Aunt Fang's face turned very ugly, and she questioned, "Fengnian's mother, Aunt Song, are you trying to protect Song Tongsheng?"
Before Song Anxin and the others could react, she immediately sat down on the ground, kicked her legs, and began to cry and shout:
"Oh my god... This Lin family is bullying us Liu family because we're not of the same surname... They ruined my daughter and they won't admit it... This is outrageous!"
When Aunt Fangtou's son heard that his older sister was in trouble, he rushed over. Upon seeing the situation, he immediately wanted to rush out to stand up for his older sister, but was stopped by his wife.
You Sheng and Di were very puzzled: "Why are you stopping us? Can't you see that the older sister is being bullied?"
The two sisters-in-law exchanged a glance. Although their parents-in-law hadn't told them, given the temperament of their eldest sister-in-law and the fact that their parents-in-law had secretly gone out with her today, they were certain that it wasn't Song Tongsheng's fault.
Since things had already escalated to this point, as daughters-in-law of the Liu family, they naturally couldn't stand against their parents-in-law. So they pulled their husbands' heads down and whispered something in their ears.
Liu Yousheng's eyes widened in shock. How could his parents help his sister do such a foolish thing? The two of them were caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to go or not, and were eventually pulled away by their wives.
Many of the villagers who were watching were not of the Liu family, but some were also of the Liu family's own surname. Upon hearing what Aunt Fang said, they all expressed their indignation:
"Yes, Aunt Lin, how can you be so sure Song Tongsheng wouldn't do such a thing? Your Lin family shouldn't be protecting Song Tongsheng from bullying us outsiders..."
Sister-in-law Lin chimed in, "Pah! What have we Lin family ever done to you? Don't spout this nonsense. Feng Nian's uncle didn't do it, and that's that."
Lin Erxi also spoke up for Song Anbang, saying, "Anbang's uncle would never do such a thing. It must be that Liu Xiuhong wanted to marry Anbang's uncle, so she did it on purpose."
Song Anxin thought to herself, "Erxi, you've hit the nail on the head!"
Liu Xiuhong was always very attentive to Song Anbang, so how could she not see through this little trick?
When the villagers saw that they were all cursing each other's own families, they immediately split into several groups and started cursing each other. The main groups were the Lin family and the Liu family, plus a group of people from other families who had a grudge against the Lin family. Of course, there were also neutral people who tried to mediate. People from other families, like Aunt Zhao and Granny Han, had pretty good relationships with everyone in the village.
How could such a thing be complete without Lin the Drunkard? Drunk and slurring his words, he led the way: "You outsiders! We, the Lin Family Village, gave you a way to live, and you dare to curse us! You filthy, maggot-eating scum, you're not even worthy to carry my shoes..."
Just as the insults were getting increasingly vulgar and they were about to come to blows, someone shouted, "Stop arguing, the village head is coming!"
Lin Lizheng still held some prestige in the village. The villagers usually got along quite well, but someone had instigated them, and in a moment of anger, they had let loose with their words. When they heard that the village head and some others had arrived, they realized what was happening and gradually fell silent.
Only the heavily drunk Lin was still cursing ahead: "Go to hell, so what if I curse at you? Go ahead and hit me..."
As Lin was walking up, a welding torch hit him on the head. The drunkard Lin yelped in pain, sobering him up considerably. He stomped his feet, rubbing his head, and said:
"Who is it?! You actually dare to hit me?! You're asking for trouble!"
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