They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 204 Retribution is Coming
Yang Ming's lips trembled, and his throat still hurt. He wanted to speak, but the faint sound he made was almost inaudible under the barrage of the Yang family.

Liang Lizheng stopped the Yang family members, saying, "Don't argue, I'll ask them one by one."

"Village head—"

"Sister-in-law Hua, let me ask you something first. Your noise is giving me a headache. I can't figure out what's going on all day. Be quiet and listen to what Yang Ming has to say."

"he is the one--"

"How about I leave?"

When Liang Lizheng said those words with a stern face, it meant that he was already angry, and very angry at that.

Neither Aunt Hua nor the Yang family dared to utter a sound.

Liang Lizheng walked away. No matter how the Yang family asked, it sounded like they were being bullied. If Yang Ming's words were in their favor, the villagers would not believe them at all. This mudslinging would never be cleared.

"Fine, fine, go ahead and ask. I want to see what kind of nonsense he'll come up with."

Liang Lizheng: "Everyone, please be quiet. Yang Ming, you go ahead and say something."

Yang Ming's lips moved, his eyes reddened, and his expression was one of grief and indignation. He endured the burning pain in his throat and said in a hoarse voice, "Zhichun has helped my father and me a lot. I never expected that it would cause Aunt Hua to have all sorts of wild thoughts, saying that Zhichun and I are spreading rumors about each other! If this kind of thing gets out, wouldn't Zhichun's reputation be completely ruined? If it weren't for her help, my father and I don't know what kind of life we ​​would be living now. I can't repay kindness with enmity!"

"But once rumors start circulating, there's no way to defend myself. What can I do? I can only prove my innocence by dying!"

Everyone was shocked and turned to look at Aunt Hua.

Aunt Hua was also dumbfounded, never expecting this to be the reason!

Liang Lizheng was furious: "Sister-in-law Hua, I told you that your mouth would cause trouble sooner or later. What did Ren Zhichun ever do to you? How can you slander someone for no reason?"

Everyone loathed him.

"That old hag's mouth, oh my!"

“If it weren’t for the fact that her whole family is fierce and domineering, I would have torn her mouth apart long ago.”

"She's always gossiping and always thinks she's right. You can't argue with her twisted logic. Isn't that infuriating? Ugh!"

"What a terrible thing! How can she say such things? Doesn't she fear retribution?"

"That's right, if retribution comes on her whole family tomorrow, then God will have eyes."

Aunt Hua was furious, ashamed, and embarrassed. She glared at Yang Ming and said, "What are you pretending for? You didn't really want to die at all. You just wanted to harm our whole family, didn't you? If you really miss, why didn't you hang yourself in the middle of the night? Why did you have to wait until dawn when our whole family was about to get up before you hanged yourself? You did it on purpose! You deliberately tried to harm us!"

Yang Ming coughed violently and said in a trembling voice, "My Xiao An is still so young, of course I don't want to die, but if I don't die you won't shut up. I have no choice but to take a gamble. If I die, then I'm dead, and you can't smear Zhi Chun anymore. If I'm lucky enough to survive, then this matter can be clarified, and that's fine too. If you, if you keep talking nonsense, I, next time, I really will hang myself at your doorstep in the middle of the night."

"you!"

"Nonsense, Sister-in-law Hua. You'd better watch your mouth from now on. What nonsense are you spouting?"

"Exactly! If people spread rumors about things that have never happened, who will dare to do good deeds in the future?"

“It’s not that I look down on people, but there’s no one in our village who is good enough for Zhichun.”

"Zhichun is now rich, has a big house, and a younger brother-in-law who is so well-educated. She's destined to enjoy a life of happiness. Even if she remarries, can she just marry anyone? What kind of man can't she choose?"

Xu Zhichun arrived at this time.

Everyone couldn't help but look at her, their gazes filled with complex emotions.

Xu Zhichun felt inexplicably uneasy. What kind of looks were these? Why did everyone look at her so strangely? She'd heard that Uncle Yang Ming was going to commit suicide? What did that have to do with her?
Xu Zhichun racked his brains but never imagined that he would inexplicably encounter such a huge problem that seemed to fall from the sky.

"Knowing Spring."

Aunt Liang sighed, took Xu Zhichun's hand, and briefly explained the absurd and ridiculous story to her.

Everyone offered their own words of comfort to her.

"Aunt Hua is a chatterbox, just ignore her."

"Just ignore what she said, don't take it to heart."

"Zhichun, we all know what kind of person you are."

Xu Zhichun's expression changed as she looked at Aunt Hua, "Aunt Hua, just because I hired Uncle Yang Ming and Xiao An to do some work, you're spreading these kinds of rumors?"

Aunt Hua opened her mouth, probably feeling too embarrassed to admit it and trying to salvage the situation, and said angrily, "There are so many people in the whole village, why did you have to hire this father and son? How can you blame anyone for that?"

“Even if I didn’t hire them and hired someone else, you would still say the same thing. Since I can hire others, why can’t I hire them? Are they bad people? Or are they dishonest? Or are they cunning and deceitful? Or are they physically incapable of doing the job?”

Yang Xiaoan hurriedly said, "No! Absolutely not! We can do anything, and we can do anything well!"

Xu Zhichun: "That's right. I knew you could do a good job, which is why I hired you. Besides, we're all from the same village. Seeing that their family wasn't doing so well, I thought it was wrong to lend a hand. Is that wrong?"

Aunt Liang sighed, "What's wrong with this? It's just your kindness!"

"Yes, sigh."

"Why is it that good deeds are not rewarded?"

"Some people just can't stand seeing others do well."

The year Yang Mingshu's wife, Bai Shuilian, eloped with someone, she not only took all the money the family had saved, but also secretly sold most of the family's grain and two acres of paddy fields.

After that, Yang Mingshu's family only had less than one and a half acres of paddy fields.

The yield of paddy fields in this era was very low, less than 300 catties of dry grain per mu. After paying taxes, how much was left?

Bai Shuilian emptied the house and left, leaving the father and son in a miserable state. They have not recovered from this ordeal for years.

Everything is gone, how can we recover?
The year Bai Shuilian left, they couldn't even eat enough food to last until the New Year, so they had no choice but to borrow.

Fortunately, Uncle Yang Ming was a good person and hardworking, and those who sympathized with them were willing to lend him some money.

But if they do that, they'll have to pay back the money as soon as Shinya arrives.

While repaying the debt, they also had to keep a little bit to eat with coarse grains, vegetables, and wild vegetables, saving every penny. They couldn't bear to eat even a single egg, let alone meat. It took them four years of hardship to finally repay all the borrowed grain.

But after that, life was still very difficult. With such a small amount of land, how could one live a good life? It was just a matter of struggling and sometimes going hungry.

It wasn't until Xu Zhichun started hiring them to work that the father and son were able to have enough to eat and get a new set of coarse cloth clothes. Only then did they feel that their lives had seen the light and that they had hope for the future.

Even so, it's still something that people can't stand.

They maliciously smeared innocent people, just for a moment of pleasure, they want to completely destroy them.

Happy Chinese New Year, my darlings! May the New Year bring you all the best and may you prosper!
(End of this chapter)