Zhou Lin didn't open his shop last time, so he went early to pick up Xu Yue and take his younger siblings out to see the lanterns.
Zhou Quan also brought the two elders of the Zhou family to his shop, preparing to take them and Zhuzhu out to see the lanterns.
Li Mai, however, didn't want to go out because of the crowds, so she rested on the second floor of the shop, occasionally going out to look around.
She booked a large private room at the Lu family's restaurant next door, and the family planned to eat there for lunch.
A few days ago, Zhou Xing said that she would bring the children and her parents out to see the place today, so Li Mai asked Zhou Quan to go and invite Xu's parents.
After Zhou Quan accompanied his parents and Zhuzhu on a walk around, he went to the back street to call everyone over for lunch.
When Zhou Quan arrived, the two elders had just returned from their stroll outside. Zhou Quan stepped forward, bowed, and greeted them.
Afterwards, seeing that there were still quite a few people buying lanterns, Zhou Quan told Xu Shun that he had made a lunch reservation at Yingxianglou and invited his family to come over.
Xu Shun agreed and said it was possible.
Zhou Quan glanced around the shop, his eyes asking if it was alright with so many people around.
Xu Shun smiled and said, "It's okay, just close the door. We can open it again when we come back after we finish eating."
Zhou Quan nodded, glancing at Xu Shun from head to toe. "Brother-in-law, be careful lately."
Xu Shun looked at him in surprise, "What do you mean?"
“There’s a dark aura surrounding you. I’m worried someone wants to kill you,” Zhou Quan said. Not only was there dark aura, but his brother-in-law’s soul was also tinged with red, a sign that disaster was about to befall him.
Xu Shun paused, "Last night, someone set fire to the two rooms where I kept my bamboo, burning some of my bamboo. Doesn't this fulfill what you said?"
Zhou Quan frowned. "Who is it? Do you suspect anyone?"
Xu Shun nodded and expressed his suspicions.
Zhou Quan scoffed, "Then you should be careful. I think you should talk to your older brother about this. With so many losses, how can you just ignore it?"
"Yes, I know. I'll talk to my older brother about it when I get back tonight," Xu Shun replied.
"Well, you should be careful too. The dark energy hasn't dissipated yet, so there might be other calamities ahead," Zhou Quan reminded him.
Xu Shun agreed.
At lunchtime, the whole family was together, chatting and laughing. The four elders sat together, and the Xu family elders kept praising the Zhou family elders for being so lucky, as their children were all so sensible and capable.
Li Mai was busy feeding her older sister and the children, occasionally exchanging a few words with Zhou Xing.
After Zhou Quan returned, he told her about what happened at the Xu family last night.
Li Mai said to Zhou Quan at the time, "I think if my older sister and her family want to make this bamboo weaving business a success, they should move to town. It would be better to stay away from those two families and avoid seeing them."
Seeing that the eldest sister's family is doing well in business, both families will definitely be jealous and envious. They will eventually run out of money.
Zhou Quan said she would talk to her brother-in-law about it sometime and see what he thought.
That evening, when Xu Shun returned home, he bought five cans of tea and gave them to the five neighbors who had helped him put out the fire the night before.
The neighbors were overjoyed to receive his tea, and said apologetically that they had only been busy for a short time.
Xu Shun remarked with emotion, "Sometimes, having a good neighbor is truly a blessing for a lifetime."
After returning home, Xu Shun asked Dongdong to invite Xu Da over.
The two brothers talked for a while in the south room, and then Xu Da went back.
After he returned home, he remained calm. That night, after Bai Shi went to sleep, Xu Da opened the wardrobe, found Bai Shi's dress, and saw that there was a spot on the right cuff that was obviously snagged by something, with several threads of fabric missing. He then closed his eyes tightly for a moment.
The third brother was right, and he completely believed that the fire at the third brother's house was set by the Bai family.
Xu Da sat up for most of the night, never imagining how such a kind girl could have ended up like this.
Since she married into the Xu family, she has never done any hard or heavy work. Her brothers take care of the work in the fields, so she has never been asked to do it. At most, she helps everyone weave bamboo products, which is sitting work. It should be much easier than the work of women in the village.
For the sake of the two sons she had given him, he had always respected her greatly. Even though there had been such a commotion when they separated the family property last time, in the end, seeing that she later humbled herself in front of him and said that she knew she was wrong, he chose to forgive her. Since things had already come to this, the family still had to live their lives well.
He was puzzled; why was she doing this?
Finally, at dawn, Xu Da made a decision.
As dawn broke, Bai woke up as usual, preparing to get dressed and make breakfast. Turning her head, she saw Xu Da standing on the ground, holding a rope and coldly watching her.
Bai was startled and cursed, "What are you doing? You scared me to death! My leg still hurts today after watching the lantern festival yesterday."
Xu Da coldly replied, "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."
Upon hearing this, Bai's hand trembled, and the button she was about to fasten came undone.
She looked up at Xu Da and noticed the rope in his hand. She turned pale with fright. "Xu Fei, what are you going to do?"
Xu Da coldly took two steps toward the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed). "I'll give you two choices. One, tell the truth yourself, go and apologize to Lao San, and give him our bamboo forest as compensation. In that case, I'll let bygones be bygones and let you continue to be the mother of my two children."
"The other one, if you deny to the death that you started the fire, then I'll have the third brother report it to the authorities. If the magistrate sentences you to a few years in prison, we'll leave it at that. I'll just turn around and find a younger mother for the two children."
"You're talking nonsense! Who said I set a fire? Whoever said that, I'll tear their mouth apart!" Bai was immediately enraged and shouted that she was going to go and cause trouble for Xu Shun.
Xu Da looked at her with a deep gaze, "So you're just not going to admit it? Then let's go to the authorities."
After saying that, he was about to go forward and tie her up.
Bai was terrified and screamed, "Xu Fei, you're trying to kill me! Yi Gao, Yi Cheng, come save your mother! Your father is going to strangle her!"
Bai was terrified and screamed for her two sons to come to her rescue.
However, Xu Laoda had locked the door to the two sons' house from the outside early in the morning, so even though they heard their mother screaming for help from inside, they couldn't come to her rescue.
When Xu Da saw that she still dared to call him "son," he flew into a rage and lashed Bai Shi's face with a rope. "If you call me that again, I'll kill you right now. Don't you know what you've done? Or have I wronged you?"
"Since you don't want to settle this privately, then let's go to the authorities. I'll also invite my parents-in-law over and ask them how the Bai family raised such a heartless wretch." With that, Xu Da, still not satisfied, went up and slapped her twice.
Bai was terrified and burst into tears, trying to call for her sons to come and save her.
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