Chapter 1 Wow! I went there more than once!
"I don't want to live anymore. With a man like this, what's the point of living in this life?"
"God damn it, Yuan Dashan! Three generations of your Yuan family have been nothing but good people. Now it's your turn, and there's no good bamboo shoot coming out of a bad bamboo!"
The July sun was scorching hot and shining brightly on the fields of Xiangjiawan. Amidst a pile of large straw hats crowded together, sat a woman wailing loudly, her voice shrill and her facial features grim.
It was the "double harvest" season, and at noon, everyone was preparing to go home for lunch, but unexpectedly there was such a drama. Everyone was curious and excited.
The woman was seen holding a pot of potion in one hand, which she claimed was mixed with "tick poison", and slapping her thigh with the other hand. Her sallow face was covered with sweat but few tears, and her mouth was wide open, as if she wanted to spit out a few curse words at once.
"Don't stop me, all of you, don't stop me. Just let me swallow the pesticide and then go to the ground to complain to the ancestors of the Yuan family!"
"You damned Yuan Dashan! You're not a human! How have I, Li Xianggui, ever wronged the Yuan family? I work so hard every day to run this family, and you're cheating on me, huh?"
Some women who usually got along well with her came forward, some pulled people away, some grabbed pesticides, and they tried to persuade Li Xianggui, who was so strong and resilient, but they couldn't stop her.
Someone looked around and didn't see the other protagonist of this incident, so he asked: "Why is Dashan's family in such a mess? What did Dashan do? Where is he?"
Someone immediately responded enthusiastically, "Dashan just left. He said he had a problem with his wife and was going home for dinner!"
"What's so confusing about this? He's about to drink pesticide, and he's still thinking about going home to eat?" Someone sneered, "I don't think he's doing a very good job as the temporary team leader. He can't even handle his own family affairs!"
Some people nodded in agreement, while others frowned and quickly asked their younger generations to go to Uncle Dashan's house to call him over.
At the foot of a small tree two meters away, three women were fanning themselves with straw hats while looking at Li Xianggui through the gaps in the crowd.
One of the women with a round face glanced sideways and sighed, "Well, if you ask me, family disgrace should not be made public. Li Xianggui made such a scene in front of so many people, will Dashan still be able to welcome her back?"
The other one with a pointed chin disagreed: "This isn't the first or second time she's done this. In my opinion, whether or not to make a fuss depends on what the matter is. If my man is also cheating on me, I'll teach him a lesson and see if he's embarrassed!"
"Hey, what do you think? Will Li Xianggui really drink this chlorpyrifos? She must be pretending, right?" The remaining man with droopy eyes stood on tiptoe to look into the crowd. "If she really drank it, someone would die! She's really reckless!"
"I think she really meant that. Li Xianggui is a cruel person when she gets violent. Maybe she really drank it on impulse." The round-faced man shook his head. He thought Li Xianggui was a little stupid. Why couldn't they just solve the problem at home with the door closed? Why did they have to make such a fuss?
However, these girls usually don't get along with Li Xianggui, so naturally they won't get close to her at this time.
"When she first got married, she lost an argument and even hanged herself!" Pointy Chin said exaggeratedly, "If Dashan's mother hadn't knocked on the door and ignored me, and quickly called for help to break it down, she would have been dead! I think she's serious this time!"
The other two nodded in agreement and stared at that place more seriously.
"Oh my! It's time to drink!" The man with drooping eyes slapped his thigh.
"Hiss! She's really depressed! Everyone else, hurry up and help her!" The man with the pointed chin clenched his fists.
"Oh no, luckily I didn't get to drink it! With so many people here, why can't we snatch the kettle from her hand?" The round-faced man frowned.
Pointed chin stared over there, eyes unblinking: "That's right, she's stronger than men! No one else can compete with her! Oh, why hasn't Dashan come yet!"
"That's right, your wife is not as important as eating? If he doesn't come, this matter can't be solved!" said the round-faced man.
"Here it comes, here it comes, on the way!"
A clear, young voice, with a slightly rising tone, took over the conversation smoothly.
Three pairs of eyes involuntarily shifted their focus. Who was it? Why was he so calm when answering the conversation?
After seeing the person coming, the three of them were stunned.
What caught my eye was a pretty, fair and tender face, lips as red as henna, and a pair of big eyes that were not bent but smiling, very lively.
Wow, it turned out to be Xiang Yao, the only daughter of their former captain Xiang Liangsheng.
Xiang Yao saw that the three of them were looking at him, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Aunts, stop staring at me. Tell me, what happened between Aunt Xianggui and my Uncle Dashan? Why did she drink pesticide? And what about the hanging?"
She had just finished half of the work assigned to her today when she saw a lot of people chattering and crying here. She didn't even bother to wash the mud off her feet and rushed over.
Hearing the three aunts talking about "messing around" and "hanging themselves", I immediately chose this camp.
The three aunts looked at Xiang Yao's bright eyes full of curiosity and couldn't help but smile awkwardly.
Unexpectedly, their private gossip was overheard by a teenage girl.
There are some things that are okay for women to say in private, but it is inappropriate to say them in front of an unmarried girl.
"Nothing, nothing. You're just a little girl, don't ask about such things." Pointy Chin licked his lips and gave a perfunctory smile, "Hurry back and eat!"
Xiang Yao felt in his pocket and pulled out a handful of peanuts. "Hey, aunties, just tell me what you want to say. I'm a grown-up, there's nothing I can't hear! Come on, everyone, have some peanuts to fill your stomach first!"
These days, every family is extremely poor, and these peanuts look round and plump, which is particularly pleasing to the eye.
Each of the three people picked a handful of peanuts and happily stuffed them into their pockets, waiting to go home and feed them to their children. Seeing that she was really curious, they didn't chase her away.
"It's not a big deal. When she hanged herself, it was because the new daughter-in-law and her sister-in-law didn't get along well. They quarreled over who got more food and who got less. The man refused to take her side, so she got distracted for a moment!" The woman with drooping eyes summed up the past in one sentence.
"Aunt Yuezhi, you understand everything so well!" Xiang Yao praised, cracking open a peanut and pouring it into his mouth. He turned his head to look at Yang Xiaohong, who had a pointed chin. "So what about this matter now? Did you also quarrel with our Uncle Dashan?"
"That wasn't just a simple quarrel. I heard that it was your Aunt Xianggui who saw your Uncle Dashan and Widow Zhang on the other side of the mountain having an affair!" Yang Xiaohong said in a low voice.
The round-faced man named Zhang Laidi added, "More than once!"
"Hiss—" Xiang Yao took a breath, her eyes widened, and she shook her head, "Uncle Dashan, this matter is not easy to solve."
"That's right!" said Yang Xiaohong.
"Aunt Xianggui, she wouldn't really drink pesticides, would she? That wouldn't be fun..." Xiang Yao was a little worried.
Whether a couple is cheating or quarreling, it is not a rare thing, but if someone dies, it is a big deal!
"What are you afraid of? There are so many people stopping her! How can she really drink it? She has done this kind of thing more than once or twice. Besides the time she hanged herself, the year after that she also—" Yang Xiaohong's eyes slanted, she stopped talking, patted the arm of the person next to her, and reminded excitedly, "Here she comes, here she comes, Dashan is coming!"
Without caring about old gossip, four pairs of eyes instantly united and looked at the crowd.
Everyone tacitly left a path for Yuan Dashan, allowing him to go in and talk to Li Xianggui, all of them talking enthusiastically.
"Dashan, you have to persuade your wife!"
"Yeah, if there's any problem, just solve it. Why would you drink pesticide? Go and try to persuade him!"
Yuan Dashan's face turned ashen, and he felt that Li Xianggui was embarrassing him. Just as he opened his mouth and was about to speak, he saw Li Guixiang quickly get up from the ground, shake off the hands that were holding her, rush up and scratch Yuan Dashan's face.
"Yuan Dashan, you're a heartless man who deserves to be struck by lightning!" She spread out her large, fan-like hands, revealing her sharp nails, and gnashed her teeth. "If I die today, you won't have an easy life. If I don't die, you won't have an easy life either!"
Seeing this, Xiang Yao couldn't help but take two steps forward, sighing -
"Wow, wow, wow, this is the Nine Yin White Bone Claw! Auntie is really good at it!"
Look at Yuan Dashan, before he could react, several long blood marks appeared on his face.
Xiang Yao touched her face and thought, "Tsk tsk, it hurts just looking at it."
Yuan Dashan gritted his teeth and raised his hand: "Li Xianggui!"
Li Xianggui raised her face and said, "Hit me, hit me all you want, hit me in the face! Yuan Dashan, not only did you steal my wife, you also wanted to kill me! You are not a human being!"
Yuan Dashan choked and felt everyone's eyes on him. He felt burning all over, and his face was hot and painful. He had to suppress his anger and put down his raised hand.
"Xianggui, I've explained it countless times. There's nothing wrong between me and Zhang's sister-in-law!"
He raised his voice a little, trying to make sure everyone onlookers could hear clearly: "A few days ago, Mrs. Zhang told me that the beams in our house were damaged by insects and asked me to go and take a look. I was busy working in the fields during the day, so I had to go at night!"
Some people nodded secretly, agreeing with this explanation.
As the temporary captain, Yuan Dashan is the one that everyone should look for if there is anything going on in the room.
Although Widow Zhang's husband died, she did not return to her parents' home and did not remarry. She is also a member of the production team. She asked the team leader to help take a look. What's the big deal?
Li Xianggui cried, "Then why did you go there twice? Why did you only come out when the cock crowed today? Wouldn't it be enough to go there once to check the beams? I think that bitch Zhang Meiyun is having an affair with you!"
There was a commotion in the crowd, and everyone looked at Yuan Dashan differently.
Wow! I went there more than once! Yuan Dashan is really something!
Yuan Dashan's face turned blue and white, white and blue again. If there was a crack in the ground, he really wanted to crawl into it.
But in front of so many people, he had no choice but to continue patiently repeating what he had said countless times: "The first time was to check the beams. Last night, I was going to take some time to help them fix it to prevent it from collapsing and hurting someone. But it was too dark and I couldn't see clearly, so I went back. This morning, when it got a little brighter, I rushed over to help them fix it! How many times do you need me to tell you? Why don't you believe me?"
Everyone nodded again.
Oh, so that's how it is. There's nothing wrong with it.
The team is currently working on the double harvest season, so we have to get up early and stay up late every day, racing against the weather. Who has the time during the day? We have to do everything at night! But there is no light at night. Widow Zhang can't even afford a kerosene lamp, so of course we can't see clearly. We need daylight to repair the trees.
But, although Yuan Dashan said this, who knows if he went too early or was already at the other person's house last night?
Someone came up with an idea: "How about we go and see if the beams at Mrs. Zhang's house have really been repaired? There should be some evidence of repairs!"
"That's right! Let's just go to her house and take a look! Then we'll have something to say whether it's true or not! Otherwise, if Dashan's wife keeps making such a fuss, there's no end in sight!"
"Let's go, let's go and take a look!"
"Don't be so anxious and angry, Dashan family. It's not too late to make a fuss after you finish watching it!"
A group of people echoed the sentiment, and even Li Xianggui loosened her grip on the kettle, a look of bewilderment on her face.
Xiang Yao frowned slightly: "It's not a good idea to just rashly go to someone else's house to check, right?"
Yang Xiaohong glanced at her and said, "You are just a child, you don't understand. Things like this need to be clearly distinguished. Otherwise, your uncle Dashan and his wife will have a lot of trouble!"
Xiang Yao blinked her eyes and said, "Aunt, I'm not worried about Uncle Dashan and Aunt Xianggui, I'm worried about Aunt Zhang..."
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