Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

Among the crowd, some people whispered among themselves. Aunt Liu leaned close to Tang Susu's ear and whispered about Widow Lan's background: "This Widow Lan is the daughter-in-law of the Yu family in our village. The Yu family is small to begin with. Her parents-in-law passed away a long time ago, and her husband also passed away two years ago. She is left all alone, raising three children and farming more than 20 mu of land."

"There are too many fields and not enough laborers. How can a woman like her manage all the work? So she often relies on her looks to ask the men in the village to help with the work. Many women in the village hate her. A while ago, her affair with Yang Houcai was exposed. The villagers cursed her in public several times, saying that she was shameless."

Tang Susu nodded, her gaze falling on the kneeling widow, Lan, who was trembling with sobs, clinging tightly to the woman's legs: "Aunt Yu, please, I really don't need to see a doctor, and I don't have the money for one. Please let me go!"

The woman whose leg was being held was Aunt Yu. She frowned and said with feigned concern, "Niece-in-law, don't be stubborn. Your health is the most important thing. I'll cover the medical expenses. You must come with me to the doctor, otherwise, you'll completely disgrace the Yu family!"

"Why is she going to the doctor?" Aunt Liu leaned closer and whispered, "Around the time of the grain harvest, people were saying she was pregnant. Everyone guessed it was her and Yang Houcai's illegitimate child. How could she dare to go to the doctor? Wouldn't the truth be exposed if she did!"

The surrounding villagers were also in an uproar, and the discussions grew louder and louder, with extremely harsh words being spoken.

"Shameless! She's still restless after her man dies, and she's even pregnant with a bastard!"

"This kind of woman should be driven out of the village; she's a disgrace to Yangqu Village!"

"Those who commit immoral acts should be severely punished!"

Seeing that the time was ripe, Aunt Yu suddenly shook off Widow Lan's hand and publicly confronted her, her voice booming and echoing throughout the area under the banyan tree: "Lan! You are unmarried and pregnant, a disgrace to the Yu family! Today, I will take back these nearly thirty acres of land belonging to the Yu family, and you are not allowed to touch them again!"

She stared at the limp widow on the ground, her tone firm: "Either you come with me now to see a doctor and prove your innocence; or you come with me to the ancestral hall and ask the elders to decide your fate and give the whole village an explanation!"

The blue widow suddenly raised her head, her face streaked with tears and hatred, and roared, piercing through her thoughts: "Stop pretending to be kind! You don't care about me at all; you just want my family's land! Ever since my husband left, you've been eyeing these fields, and now that you've finally found an opportunity, you want to drive me and the children out. How cruel you are!"

As the two were arguing, the sound of a child crying came from afar. Widow Lan's three children rushed over. The eldest boy was only nine years old, and the youngest was only three. Seeing their mother kneeling on the ground being surrounded and scolded by people, they were so frightened that they burst into tears and rushed to Widow Lan's side, hugging her legs tightly.

"Mom, Mom, what's wrong? Why are they scolding you?" the boy asked, crying.

Widow Lan hugged the children tightly, wanting to shield them from the gazes of the crowd, but Aunt Yu stepped forward, grabbed her hair, and held her firmly, preventing her from leaving: "Don't even think about running away! This matter must be settled today. Either you get medical treatment, or you hand over the land. There is no third option!"

"Let go of my mother! Let go of my mother!" The three children cried and tried to grab Aunt Yu's hand, but Aunt Yu pushed them away and they fell to the ground.

In the chaos, several busybodies forcibly dragged the village doctor, Dr. Zhang, over. Dr. Zhang looked helpless and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "I'm not going, I'm not going. I can't get involved in this kind of family matter. Don't make things difficult for me!"

Despite being pushed and shoved by the crowd, Dr. Zhang was pulled into the crowd.

Upon seeing this, Aunt Yu immediately released Widow Lan's hair, forcibly grabbed her hand, and handed it to Doctor Zhang: "Doctor Zhang, quickly take her pulse and see if she is really pregnant, give our Yu family an explanation!"

Widow Lan desperately tried to hide her hands, her eyes filled with panic, but she was no match for Aunt Yu's strength.

Just as Dr. Zhang's fingers were about to touch her wrist, Widow Lan suddenly erupted, breaking free from Aunt Yu's grasp and shouting, "Yes! I'm pregnant! The child is Yang Houcai's!"

The crowd fell silent instantly, then erupted into an even louder murmur.

Widow Lan wiped away her tears, her eyes resolute: "Yang Houcai promised me that he would marry me after he divorced Iron Shovel Mother! Bring Yang Houcai here. As long as he marries me, I can marry him legitimately. This won't be considered an illicit affair, nor will it be a disgrace to the Yu family!"

"Hahaha, marry you?" someone mocked. "Yang Houcai has a wife and children, how could he possibly marry you? At most, he'd take you as a concubine. You really think you can be his legal wife?"

"Exactly! Yang Houcai has done something wrong, he's trying to hide like the plague, how could he dare to come forward and take responsibility?"

"What a foolish woman, getting scammed and still helping him count the money!"

The jeers from the crowd pierced the heart of Widow Lan like knives. She turned her head sharply, her gaze fixed on the woman in the crowd who had remained calm throughout – Iron Shovel Mother, Yang Houcai's wife.

Like a madwoman, Widow Lan rushed over, grabbing Shovel Mother's clothes tightly. Her expression was ferocious, her eyes filled with hatred, and she roared hoarsely, "Shovel Mother! Why won't you speak? I've begged you so many times, begging you to divorce Yang Houcai. You clearly hate him, you clearly don't want to be with him anymore, so why won't you make room for me?"

"Did you do this on purpose? You just want to watch me and the baby in my womb die, don't you? How cruel you are!"

The woman with the shovel remained expressionless, abruptly shaking off her hand. Her tone was cold and forceful: "Even if I can't live with him, even if I live a life of widowhood, I will never make room for you! The child in your womb is a bastard, proof of your shamelessness!"

Her heart was filled with hatred: ever since Widow Lan and Yang Houcai had an affair, Yang Houcai had neglected his family. She and her children were sent to live in a dilapidated house, where they were hungry and cold. All of this was caused by Widow Lan!

After saying that, the shovel-wielding woman stopped looking at her, turned around and left, her steps firm and without a trace of lingering affection.

Seeing this, the surrounding villagers nodded in agreement, most feeling that the woman with the shovel had done something satisfying: "That's exactly how you should confront her!"

"It's the Lan clan's shamelessness that makes them dare to ask others to step down!"

Tang Susu stood in the crowd, silently watching all of this, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

She felt that the Blue Widow had a really twisted worldview. She was the one who destroyed other people's families and interfered in other people's marriages, yet she still had the audacity to demand that the legal wife step down, as if she were the victim.

She couldn't understand why Widow Lan, who could have raised her children well on her own, even if it was hard, would choose to rely on an irresponsible man like Yang Houcai, entrusting her life to someone else and ending up in this situation.

What she felt most sorry for were the three children of the Blue Widow.

They have no father, no grandparents, and their mother is so unreliable. Now, their clansmen are greedy for their family property and want to exterminate them. How difficult their future will be.

Just as Tang Susu was silently lamenting, the Blue Widow suddenly broke down. Taking advantage of everyone's inattention, she whirled around and crashed into a large banyan tree, screaming, "I can't live anymore! I might as well be dead!"

The situation was extremely urgent. Tang Susu reacted very quickly, almost instinctively rushing forward and tightly hugging the blue widow's waist from behind.

With a "bang," the Blue Widow's forehead slammed into Tang Susu's abdomen. Tang Susu groaned in pain but still didn't let go.

"Don't be foolish!" Tang Susu gritted her teeth, her tone firm. "You've made a mistake, but it doesn't warrant death! You're still young. As long as you repent and raise your child well, everything can start over. Don't gamble with your life!"

The widow, exhausted, collapsed to the ground and burst into tears, lamenting her hardships: "My life is so hard... My husband died young, and I, a woman alone, have to raise three children and cultivate over twenty acres of land. You have no idea how difficult it is!"

"My clansmen are indifferent, no one is willing to help me. I had no choice but to ask a man for help. I was forced into this! I didn't get pregnant willingly. Yang Houcai lied to me, my clansmen harmed me. I have nowhere else to turn, I can only die..."

Her cries were so heart-wrenching that they made people's hearts ache, and the surrounding chatter gradually subsided.

Just then, a woman dressed in coarse cloth stormed into the crowd, spotted the Blue Widow lying on the ground, stepped forward, and slapped her hard across the face.

"You shameless wretch!" The woman trembled with rage, pointing at the widow Lan and shouting, "How could I have given birth to such a shameless daughter, who has disgraced the Lan family! From now on, I have no daughter like you, and you should not acknowledge me as your mother. The children are not allowed to acknowledge you as their unreliable mother either!"

The blue widow's head was turned to the side by the blow, and clear finger marks appeared on her face. She looked at her mother in front of her, her crying stopped abruptly, and her eyes were filled with despair and numbness.