“What am I afraid of? Even if it’s reporting to the authorities, I’m not afraid.”
The night was deep and dark; Yu Tingwan’s words were firm enough to strike the ground and make a sound.
“What? You want to report to the authorities?”
Wouldn’t it be good if Yu Tingwan obediently accepted her fate!
Xu Mother rushed over: “If you dare to harm our second son, I’ll skin you.”
But before she could touch Yu Tingwan, she was blocked by Li Lian, who was the closest.
Li Lian pushed her away and cursed: “If you want to go crazy, go back to your own village and go crazy! You think this is your house?”
“Daring to act like this under our noses, do you really take the girls of Xilin Village as easy to bully?”
As that shout landed, the villagers all picked up the tools in the yard and surrounded the Xu family.
Xu father panicked: “Are you people trying to beat us?”
He was old and slept lightly.
When Xu Fen left the kitchen quietly, he had already woken up. But from beginning to end, he hadn’t stopped it.
Right now he was angry at Xu Fen for being useless. Can’t even handle a woman.
Xu family’s eldest son looked gloomy on the face, shielded his wife behind him, and considered himself as lowering his stance:
“Wan-niang, if you’re unwilling to marry, we won’t force you. I’ll let second brother apologize to you. Don’t keep holding onto this matter.”
Yu Tingwan countered: “If I castrated Xu Fen and then turned around to apologize to him, do you think that’s acceptable?”
The situation looked like it was about to deadlock.
The village chief sized up Yu Tingwan. Facing the situation without panic — this kind of calmness was rare.
He put his hands behind his back: “It’s already dark, so forget rushing on the road now. Wang-shi, tomorrow morning, the Xu family must leave.”
Wang-shi frowned.
She was a bit unwilling.
Once they left, she’d be the one working again.
But what the village chief said, she didn’t dare to refute.
The faces of the Xu family all changed drastically.
“No, we can’t live in our house. Where can we go?”
“The weather is this cold — isn’t this just telling our whole family to go die?”
Li Lian didn’t want to hear them cry about father or mother anymore: “Well that’s your problem then!”
Some villagers chimed in:
“You came seeking refuge while down on your luck — if the whole family was honest, that’d be one thing, but instead you’re full of schemes.”
“Even if Wang-shi is willing to let you stay, we’re not agreeing. Relatives like you — if it were me, I wouldn’t want to associate for a lifetime.”
“Then just go die! Save the trouble of ruining another family’s daughter.”
At this moment, the lizheng looked at Yu Tingwan, pondered for a moment, then spoke.
“Wan-niang, after all, this is a scandal.”
“I know you’ve suffered grievance, Xu Fen had wicked thoughts but in the end didn’t succeed. Now he’s also injured like this, the yamen won’t take care of it. If this gets big, it won’t be good for you either.”
“These years, how your uncle has treated you, there’s no need for me to say. You may not care about outsiders pointing fingers at you, but you still need to think for him and for Yaozu.”
“You’re a good child, surely you wouldn’t make things difficult for them.”
“This matter, we as outsiders really aren’t in a position to handle. How about this — let’s put it aside for now. When your uncle returns, whatever way he wants to deal with the Xu family, I definitely won’t stop him.”
Yu Tingwan wasn’t surprised that the lizheng wanted to smooth things over.
Well, after all, it wasn’t his daughter who was involved — he couldn’t truly empathize.
She was just a girl whose parents had died. How could she compare to a scholar?
She wasn’t so stupid as to clash head-on with the lizheng who managed Xilin Village.
Her face lowered halfway, seeming to be hesitating.
The lizheng saw that she had been sharp and pressing just a moment ago, but now looked like she was willing to let go, so his expression softened too.
“Is there any difficulty?”
Yu Tingwan pressed her lips together.
“I can’t stay in the Hu family anymore.”
“First the Dong family, now the Xu family, what’s next?”
Her concern wasn’t without reason.
The lizheng was also disappointed in what Wang-shi had done.
Let alone Yu Tingwan not feeling at ease — even he didn’t feel at ease.
“This matter is easy to handle. Before your uncle returns, just live at my house.”
Though it meant an extra mouth to feed at home, when Hu Dazhu returned to take Yu Tingwan away, it wasn’t like they’d be taken advantage of for nothing.
But Yu Tingwan didn’t agree.
The moment she moved out of the Hu family, she hadn’t planned on going back again.
Living in the lizheng’s home meant having to deal with a whole family — coming and going wouldn’t be convenient. She also didn’t want to owe favors.
Seeing her hesitate, the lizheng then said: “If you’re afraid of causing trouble, there’s an old empty house in the village. Though it’s old and in disrepair, if cleaned up, it can still be lived in.”
That night, Yu Tingwan moved into the old house.
Perhaps because they pitied her — after the fall, her walking wasn’t that steady — the villagers offered help on their own accord.
Besides dry firewood and a few clothes, and the wild fruits Yu Tingwan picked up outside to stave off hunger, she didn’t have much luggage packed.
Though she had lived in the Hu family for many years, the traces she left behind were very shallow.
Granny Fan looked on and said with a tone of strange yin-yang energy [“阴阳怪气” (yīn yáng guài qì): sarcastic, passive-aggressive or strangely mocking tone.]: “Someone who didn’t know might’ve thought you lived in the firewood shed.”
“Looks like Wan-niang’s days in the Hu family weren’t that good either.”
As soon as Wang-shi heard this, she almost wanted to strangle her.
This is the countryside — just having a place in the house cleared for her to sleep was already not bad.
It was dark. Yu Tingwan couldn’t see the road clearly. She feared the cold and only kept her head down following the group.
There was an injury on her leg, so she didn’t walk quickly.
The old house was far away and very run-down, but the light next door was on — someone lived there.
“This is the place.”
The lizheng opened the lock with a key and let everyone in.
The old house hadn’t been lived in for a long time. Spiderwebs covered the place, and the dust was thick.
It was just one small room, but Yu Tingwan was already very content.
Since they were already there, the villagers weren’t in a rush to leave. They simply got to work helping clean — every one of them moved quickly.
The window was hanging on by a thread, creaking in the cold wind, but someone fixed it up simply.
Granny Fan leaned over.
“Wan-niang, I have a nephew…”
She had just started when the plump woman beside her cut her off.
“Granny Fan, be a decent person. Your nephew’s a mute, and you want to introduce him to Wan-niang?”
Granny Fan flipped out: “What’s wrong with being mute!”
If it weren’t for the fact her nephew was mute, she wouldn’t even be interested in Yu Tingwan!
She grabbed Yu Tingwan’s hand: “Child, I really think you two are a good match.”
Yu Tingwan: …
Thanks, I guess.
Everyone pricked up their ears and looked this way.
Granny Fan: “There are also advantages to not being able to speak.”
Yu Tingwan sincerely asked, “What advantages?”
Granny Fan choked: …
Yu Tingwan could only helpfully answer for her.
“In the future, if we have disagreements, he wouldn’t even be able to argue with me.”
Granny Fan: “Right, right, right!”
Yu Tingwan forcefully pulled her hand back.
Granny Fan was not discouraged: “I have another nephew.”
The plump woman: “Can you shut up already.”
“That other nephew of yours is even worse. Mentally not all there, already twenty-eight and still wets his pants.”
“Last time you were washing his underpants, he turned around and ran out bare-assed.”
“I saw it — that thing of his is as thin as a needle.”
Country folks speak without any restraint.
Yu Tingwan, though she had no experience in such matters, still knew that ordinary husbands and wives had to do intimate things.
The Hu family was small. Every time Hu Dazhu and Xu-shi made noise in their room, it would disturb her rest.
Not to mention there were plenty of stray dogs in the countryside — Yu Tingwan had also seen male dogs mount female dogs…
Just thinking about it made Yu Tingwan’s scalp go numb.
Thin isn’t good?
Otherwise, wouldn’t it hurt a lot?
After it’s done, people would even think he hadn’t gone in.
Yu Tingwan was inspired.
If she had to find one, she’d find a thin one!