"Hahaha—if this gets out, people will laugh their heads off. Going to Nanfeng Pavilion just to drink tea?"
"How is this any different from my old man saying he goes to brothels to listen to music but doesn't pick up any girls? Bah, he doesn't even bother to think before he lies."
"It might actually be true! After all, Meng San Niangzi was so poor that her trouser pockets were patched several times."
"..."
The crowd chimed in, belittling Meng Qingluan to the point of despair, before turning their attention to Chen Yan, their eyes filled with disdain.
"It's only natural that a guy from a brothel would lie."
"What kind of person goes into what kind of bed? That's so true."
Shen Yan scrutinized them one by one, his eyes chillingly calm. He stood tall and elegant in the courtyard.
"Whether I go to Nanfeng Pavilion or not is none of your business," Meng Qingluan sneered. "You should spend your time minding your own business."
The group exchanged glances and fell silent for a moment.
In their memories, Meng Qingluan, though she followed a group of hooligans, was a cowardly and weakling.
Normally, if anyone in the family speaks loudly to her, she is too frightened to move, let alone get into an argument with them.
Meng Qingluan is weak, and the villagers would deliberately curse her if they were unhappy. She is just a punching bag. But today, she actually confronted them for the first time.
Meng Qingluan then pointed to one of the women.
"If your man is no good, don't bring it up and embarrass yourself. It's like a rotten radish hanging on your lips. You may not find it smelly, but I find it disgusting."
"And you, what kind of good person do you think you are? My husband works at Nanfeng Pavilion, that's true, but he's only good for serving tea and water. Your man... I don't even want to mention him."
After being bombarded with her rant, the group was both angry and speechless.
Aunt Meng gritted her teeth and said, "Meng Qingluan, I won't argue with you, you're just a junior. You have to get out of here today. This house belongs to my family from now on."
Meng Qingluan stepped forward, "How dare you! This was left to me by my parents, what does it have to do with you?"
Aunt Meng tapped her ear and said, "Don't try to renege on your debt. I've raised you for so many years, and I'm only using this house as collateral because we're relatives. If you don't know what's good for you, don't blame me for turning my back on you."
Meng Qingluan rolled her eyes at her, "Are you like a thousand layers of lasagna? Let's see how many faces you can flip."
"Okay, okay."
Aunt Meng was furious and ordered Uncle Meng, "What are you still standing here for? Didn't you hear what she said? Hurry up and go and ask the village chief to come and settle this matter!"
Uncle Meng didn't dare to reply and turned to run out.
The village chief was dragged over by Uncle Meng in no time. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw two groups of people who were at each other's throats and got a headache.
As soon as Aunt Meng saw the village chief enter, she cried out, "Village chief, you must do me justice!"
The village chief stepped back and into the courtyard, casually glancing at Chen Yan standing next to Meng Qingluan.
What's going on?
Aunt Meng pointed at Meng Qingluan and said, "Village chief, you be the judge! I raised her for ten years. Yesterday she got married, and I thought she had grown up and it was time for her to repay our kindness in raising her. But instead of being grateful, she hit me."
Aunt Meng pulled Meng Abao over again and pointed at his head.
"Look, she even hit my Abao! Look how badly the child has been hurt!"
The village chief frowned and stroked his beard. "Meng San Niangzi has always been like this. You are family, so you should know her better than I, an outsider."
The village chief's words were blatantly stating that Meng Qingluan was of extremely poor character, which was not surprising.
Meng Qingluan asked in return.
What does "always been like this" mean?
“You…” The village chief choked.
Meng Qingluan continued, "I used to mess around all day. But when have I ever caused any trouble? When have I ever argued with anyone?"
“You’ve always been like this. You take advantage of the fact that I have no parents and no one to rely on to bully me. I don’t like to argue with you, but you take advantage of me and not only throw mud at me, but also bully me.”
Meng Qingluan's words were all pearls of wisdom and the truth. The village chief was speechless after being questioned by her, and it took him a long time to finally manage to utter a single sentence.
"You're a woman, spending all your time in and out of the Nanfeng Pavilion, and you don't even allow us elders to say anything to you?"
Meng Qingluan smiled and said, "It's normal for men to frequent brothels, so why can't women go to Nanfeng Pavilion?"
"Besides, I was just drinking tea and listening to music at Nanfeng Pavilion," Meng Qingluan changed the subject, a smile playing on her lips. "It's quite normal for women to frequent Nanfeng Pavilion, but if men were to..."
The village chief's face stiffened, and he interrupted.
"Alright!" He turned to the crowd and scolded, "It's not a big deal for Madam Meng to come and go from Nanfeng Pavilion. What are you all talking about? If you have something to say, say it. Stop with this nonsense."
The women were bewildered, unable to understand why the village chief's attitude had changed so drastically.
Aunt Meng hurriedly said, "Whether she goes to Nanfeng Pavilion or not is none of our business. I just want this room. Please make these two move out immediately."
"On what grounds?" Meng Qingluan asked again.
"Uh...yes, why?" The village chief asked loudly, his hands behind his back.
Aunt Meng was taken aback, then pointed at Meng Qingluan, "I raised her, so she should give me the house to live in. If she doesn't want to give me the house, she should give me money, otherwise this matter is not over today."
“Impossible.” Meng Qingluan said firmly.
"If you don't give it to us, we'll go to the yamen!" Aunt Meng threatened.
"Okay, let's go," Meng Qingluan grabbed her aunt's wrist and tried to pull her out.
"When I get to the yamen, I'll have to give you a good talking-to and tell you how you've raised me all these years. After all, I remember all the great kindness you've shown me, Aunt."
“In the dead of winter, you drove me out to sleep in the cowshed. Afraid that I would eat too much of your grain, you poured pig feed on me. You took the money left by my parents and even brought my pig to your house to slaughter and eat. Over the years, I have been so grateful for your great kindness that I have barely survived.”
"I'm going to tell all this to the magistrate. I want to see if I'm convicted of disloyalty and filial impiety, or if you're convicted of child abuse and beaten to a pulp?"
Aunt Meng clung tightly to the door frame.
"Let me go! Your aunt was just joking with you. Look at you, how could you take it seriously?"
The women who were watching were already furious after being yelled at by the village chief, but when they saw Aunt Meng change her expression and smile apologetically at Meng Qingluan...
Not only did they fail to vent their anger, they also emboldened Meng Qingluan's arrogance, making the group even more furious.
I rolled my eyes, turned around and left, too lazy to care.
Meng Qingluan let go of her and jumped to Chen Yan's side. "Auntie is really funny. She's so old, yet she still jokes with me."
This was the first time Aunt Meng had felt so aggrieved. She couldn't help but punch Uncle Meng hard, blaming him for not helping her deal with Meng Qingluan.
“Village chief, I don’t need the house. But I’ve worked hard all these years, even if I haven’t done anything particularly meritorious. Besides, Meng Qingluan owes me ten taels of silver, which she should repay, right?”
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