Zhao Fang frowned and shook her head desperately, "I... I'm not worthy to be Xiao Si's mother."
She never imagined that one day she would be among the adulterers; how could she possibly have the face to live in this world?
And then there's Eryun, who's going to take the imperial examinations for the lowest degree. If people find out what happened today, he'll probably be ridiculed and expelled from the exams.
She suddenly stood up and jumped into the Qingzhugou River behind her. If she died, she could at least preserve her innocence.
Qin Xiaozhou was startled, both angry and anxious. She waded into the river below, calling out to Qin Jinxiu, "Go and call Aunt Guo. If anyone asks about today's events, you can only say you don't know anything."
Zhao Fang had a large gash on her right forehead, and blood was streaming down her face. She was already unconscious when Granny Guo carried her up.
This is below the duck pen. The river is filled with water that flows down from the pond in front of the pen; it's filthy and smelly.
Wang Lan, leaning on her crutch, was extremely anxious. "What happened? How did she fall into the river out of nowhere?"
Qin Xiaozhou was furious. "Aunt Guo, could you please fetch some water for my mother-in-law to wash up and change into clean clothes? Grandma, where is the medicine powder that my uncle brought last time? Go get it."
Jinxiu, go find Uncle Dahe and ask him to go and find your aunt's husband.
Jinxiu's heart pounded like a drum, and she hurriedly ran to the orchard. At this time, Wang Dahe was fertilizing the chickens near the chicken coop.
Zhao Fang was quickly cleaned up and changed. Granny Guo was strong and carried her back into the house.
Zhao Fang woke up quickly and started crying again, covering her face, the bleeding from her wound continuing uncontrollably.
Qin Xiaozhou quickly asked Granny Guo to stop the bleeding. Fortunately, Li Changpu had brought some hemostatic powder with her last visit, so they could only stop the bleeding and bandage it up for now.
Qin Xiaozhou told everyone to leave and closed the door before asking, "What exactly is going on with Wang Shugen clinging to you? Mother-in-law, I'm not trying to catch you in the act or interrogate you, but I want to resolve this matter. The issue has already arisen, and it needs to be resolved."
Your attempt to escape will only escalate the situation. Soon the whole village will know you're injured, but how things turn out is up to us.
I've been married into this family for a year. I know what kind of person you are. You would never hook up with a scoundrel just because you're lonely. You've seen me handle so many things this year, and you still won't trust me even once?
Zhao Fang was stunned, and looked up in disbelief, "Xiao Zhou, you believe me?"
Qin Xiaozhou was embarrassed and spread his hands, "Why wouldn't I believe you? You're a perfectly fine person, you have money and a son, so what if you become a widow?"
Having had a father-in-law like that, even if she were desperate, she wouldn't actually seduce a scoundrel. Even if you've fallen for a man and want to remarry, it's not a big deal.
She had never met her father-in-law, but Wang Lan had said that Lu Yunfeng looked like his father, and their builds were not much different. Moreover, her father-in-law was good at hunting, had some education, was ambitious, and knew how to make money by hunting. He was much better than Wang Shugen.
Zhao Fang was shocked by Qin Xiaozhou's nonchalant attitude towards today's events, as if such a catastrophic event was not worth mentioning in her eyes. She stammered out the story.
Qin Xiaozhou's eyes darted around. "You mean he stole your hairband? And he used it against you?"
Zhao Fang felt utterly humiliated. "Yes, he threatened me, saying that if I didn't obey him, he would use the hairband to spread the word, saying it was evidence of us being together. Xiao Zhou, I'm so scared..."
Qin Xiaozhou patted her to comfort her, "Mother-in-law, listen to me. As long as you do as I say, I'll make sure Wang Shugen suffers the consequences."
She came out of the house.
Wang Lan rushed in and hugged Zhao Fang tightly, feeling heartbroken.
Seeing Qin Jinxiu anxiously looking around in the distance, Qin Xiaozhou beckoned her over and whispered a few words in her ear, "Did you remember what your sister said? Go quickly."
Qin Jinxiu's heart pounded wildly. She had a premonition that this time it would be the men who had done bad things who would suffer.
As soon as she arrived at the village chief's house, she loudly told him what had happened: "Grandpa Village Chief, my aunt was robbed and her head was injured. She was unconscious for a while before she woke up. My aunt said that the robber's name is Wang Shugen, and he stole one of my aunt's hair ribbons."
That hairband was from the embroidery room; it was embroidered with silver thread and worth two taels of silver. The thief ran into the woods north of Qingzhu Gully in the Western Hills. My elder sister asked me to ask Grandpa Village Chief to intervene.
"What?!?!" The village chief, who had finally started to recover a little over the past two days, almost vomited blood again. "Boss, go and see what happened! This beast actually dared to rob and injure people!"
Wang Li hurriedly instructed Wang Xiaoman to call Wang Shugen.
Wang Shugen's house was not far from the village chief's house. Wang Xiaoman quickly ran back and said, "Dad, Gouzi's mother said that Uncle Shugen is not home. He went to chop firewood in the woods north of Xishan."
Isn't that the place Zhao Fang was talking about? It seems this is true.
Wang Li had a headache. "Xiao Man, ask a few of your cousins to go find someone quietly, don't make a scene."
Someone in the village robbed something worth two taels of silver. What's the difference between this and banditry? Making a big fuss about it won't do the village any good.
After making the arrangements, Wang Li followed Qin Jinxiu to the Lu family home.
The doctor hadn't arrived yet. Blood was seeping from the cloth on Zhao Fang's forehead, and her face was pale. Wang Li asked her what had happened.
This time, Zhao Fang gave a detailed account: "I was thinking of going to the duck pen to feed the ducks when Wang Shugen came out from behind the woods behind the vegetable garden and started grabbing things. I fought with him, and he pushed me into the river. I hit my head and was unconscious for a while. It was Xiao Zhou who got up and saw that the back door was open and came out to check. That's when he called Sister Guo to pull me out of the river."
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