She pointed at Han Shi with undiminished momentum: "Ask her, Jiang Shi is usually gentle and kind, what did she do to make Jiang Shi so angry that she disregarded her pregnant body and came to fight her."
Lin Fugui looked at Han Shi again. Goodness, this old woman hit hard. Look how badly she beat her. If she hadn't pointed at her, he wouldn't have recognized that the person on the ground was Han Shi.
Seeing Han sitting on the ground crying her eyes out, Lin Fugui called out, "Lin Dayong, tell me, what exactly happened?"
“Village chief, I really don’t know what happened. We were just chatting in the house when Jianguo’s wife came to our house with a shovel and made a scene. Look, she even smashed my washbasin. That’s why my wife went up and fought with her.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang's mother forgot all about crying and shouted, "Bullshit! You don't know why I came? Ask her how badly she sold me in the village, and she even went to Er Ya to spread rumors. I should tear her mouth apart!"
"Who told you I said that? Do you have any proof? What's wrong? Has someone exposed your hypocritical mask? Are you ashamed now and insist on blaming me for this?" Madam Han stopped wailing and pointed at Jiang's mother with her hands on her hips.
Old Mrs. Shen stepped forward: "You don't want your hand anymore, do you, Old Mrs. Han? If you don't want it, I can help you."
Han quickly withdrew her hand, hid behind Lin Fugui, and craned her neck to say, "Old Mrs. Shen, I'm standing up for you. Look at your Lin Er, he's usually so honest he doesn't dare to utter a word, and he doesn't dare to say a word even when his wife has someone else outside."
Lin Jianguo chimed in, "Who said my wife is having an affair? Did you see it?"
"Who saw it? If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. Whoever did it knows what they did. I wonder who it is. She's so old, a mother of several young children, and she's still entangled with a teenager. She even has the nerve to come to me and cause trouble. Bah! Bah! Bah!"
Jiang's mother couldn't hold back any longer. She broke free from Er Ya's hand, went up to Han Shi, and slapped her twice, angrily saying:
"You admit it was you who said it, right? The person you saw was my boss, Er Ya's friend. And if you had looked closely the day you saw him, you would have seen my second son and my daughter there too. You didn't even bother to find out the truth, and you started framing me as soon as you got home."
Er Ya added, "If you don't believe me, I'll have Brother Qian Lu come over tomorrow, and I'll show you what happens when you dare to frame my family."
She added casually, "His father is the town mayor. If his father finds out that a rural woman is arbitrarily accusing his son, do you think he'll arrest you and detain you for a long time?"
Upon hearing this, Han was a little frightened. Had she offended an official? She was already angry about Jiang's lie about the mushrooms on the mountain, which had caused her to catch a cold and take medicine for several days.
That day, she happened to be at the market and saw Jiang talking to a young man. She didn't notice if Lin Jianguo was nearby. She got excited when she got back and said those things. She got more and more carried away and exaggerated a little.
If that young man really was the mayor's son, then he had offended a big shot. Ignoring his injuries and with his face swollen like a pig's head, he hurriedly stepped forward, took Jiang's mother's hand, and said with a forced smile:
"Look, second son's wife, it's all because your aunt has a bad mouth and doesn't know how to keep things quiet. I apologize to you. I'm sorry, please don't let this matter reach the town mayor."
Old Mrs. Shen shoved Lin Fugui aside and grabbed Han's clothes, saying, "You're spouting nonsense without any basis in reality. I know what kind of person my daughter-in-law is. You're still making things up about her. Are you asking for trouble?"
She didn't mention that she had already gone to see Lin Jianguo once, and that she didn't believe what he said, and planned to go to his house tonight after Jiang's mother returned to properly ask her about her matter.
Er Ya said coldly, "You ruined my mother's reputation. Is an apology enough? Besides, my mother is pregnant. You made her sick. Can a simple apology make up for it?"
"What else do you want from me? You can't expect me to die here today, can you? Fine, I'll die right here and now!" She then pretended to go outside and throw herself into the river, but the onlookers quickly grabbed her.
This person is completely unreasonable; she won't listen to reason. We have to teach her a lesson she won't forget. After thinking for a while, Er Ya said:
"Don't go around talking about dying here. We don't want you to die. Just stay under the big tree and explain to everyone you meet that you're making things up about my mother. Otherwise, we'll go to the mayor and have this matter settled properly."
Han was initially reluctant to agree, but after seeing Lin Dayong winking and signaling to her, she gritted her teeth and thought she should just agree. It was just a matter of losing face, right? It was better than offending someone and going to jail. She was about to nod in agreement.
Grandma Shen jumped in: "That won't do. It's not enough to just apologize. There's no such thing as a free lunch. My daughter-in-law has suffered such a great injustice. Not only do you have to explain to everyone, but you also have to compensate our family with five yuan. So that next time you want to ask for something, you'll think about how you lost that five yuan."
For the sake of momentary pleasure, she not only lost face but also had to pay compensation. Han was now filled with remorse. If she found out who had told them about her, she would make them pay back the five yuan with interest.
Looking at Old Mrs. Shen standing to the side, with her sleeves rolled up, she seemed determined to smash up her house if she didn't pay up today.
She could only grit her teeth and go inside to get five yuan, which she handed to Jiang's mother: "Second son's wife, you've been wronged today. I apologize to you again and give you five yuan to buy something to nourish your body."
Jiang's mother initially hesitated and didn't want the money, making it seem like she was there to extort money. Er Ya went up and took it, and before she could even struggle, she pulled hard and finally managed to get the money out of Han's hand.
Money delivered to our doorstep is money wasted; next time, even if we gave her three times the courage, she wouldn't dare say a bad word about our family.
Lin Fugui, seeing that the money had been paid and the matter was settled—as long as things didn't escalate too much, it was no longer his concern—said:
"You can all leave now. Anyway, the matter has been clarified. You are not allowed to mention the second son's wife again. It was all a misunderstanding. Han has already explained it. Alright, you can all go home now."
"Grandpa Village Chief, thank you for making this trip today. Come to my house for a drink another day when you have time."
To be continued!
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