A Maid's Survival Story in a Noble Family Mansion? Rich Landlords Are More Appealing.

Liu's mother choked abruptly, only then realizing what she had said in her haste.

Her expression changed, and she quickly changed her tune, avoiding the topic, and started arguing again, "It's your Chen family that's despicable. You hit people just because you don't like us. You did it, and you can't deny it."

"We're lying?" Chen Yancheng laughed angrily. "You say we beat people up? That's baseless accusation. We'd be accusing you of slander. My family was home all night yesterday, busy taking care of the sick. We didn't have time to go to your village and do something dirty."

"Taking care of a patient?" Liu's mother sneered as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world, pointing at Chen Yancheng's burly body, "Your whole family are as strong as oxen, what are you talking about taking care of a patient? You're kidding me, I think you're just making up excuses because you have something to hide."

"My second aunt fainted by the woodpile yesterday. Tianchuan brought her back. She had a high fever all night and we even had to get Grandpa Wu to come and treat her. It was a whole night of trouble. They and the people around here can all testify to this."

His words were resounding, and seeing that a commotion had broken out, the villagers all gathered around. At this moment, the surrounding families nodded in agreement after hearing Chen Yancheng's words.

"That's right, the Chen family did call a doctor yesterday, and it made quite a commotion; we all heard it."

Liu's mother was speechless, her face turning red and white in turns. The men from Shuangmiao Village who had brought her, who had been so aggressive, now looked suspicious and whispered among themselves.

Judging from the situation, the Chen family must have had something to do at home last night, and they don't seem like they would be able to spare the time to go to Shuangmiao Village to beat people up.

Grandma Chen stepped forward, her aged voice carrying a heavy, sorrowful tone: "The Liu family, you keep accusing us of beating people, but you can't produce a single piece of real evidence. On the contrary, it is my Chen family who wants to settle accounts with you properly. Just two days after your family came to our door, my granddaughter lost ten taels of silver."

My second daughter-in-law went back to your Liu family yesterday to demand an explanation, and what happened? You forced her to stay away from home, and she almost froze to death in a woodpile in the wild. Now she is still lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), her life hanging in the balance, and we don't know how much money we'll have to spend on her medicine.

"Your Liu family stole from your relatives first, then persecuted your married daughter, and now you dare to turn around and cause trouble at our door? Do you really think our Chen family is made of clay, to be molded at your mercy?"

This series of questions, well-reasoned and supported by evidence, immediately caused an uproar among the onlookers, who looked at the Liu family with suspicion. Especially the few Shuangmiao villagers who had come with them to seek justice; they clearly hadn't expected there might be more to the story.

"My goodness, there's such a show?"

"No wonder Aunt Chen is like that. She was heartbroken by her family. She didn't get her money back, so she doesn't dare to come back."

"Ten taels of silver? If the Liu family really takes it, they're really despicable."

"I think there might be something fishy about this assault. Isn't the Liu family just making a false accusation?"

Surrounded by accusations and suspicious glances, Liu's mother blushed. "Who stole your money? Do you have any evidence? This is a frame-up."

"Slander?" Chen Wanxing took a step forward gently. Her eyes were slightly red, and her face showed just the right amount of grievance and disbelief. Her voice was not loud, but it was enough for everyone to hear.

"Grandma Liu, I really don't understand what you mean. I'm just a weak woman, and I finally managed to come back from outside. I did bring some savings with me, but since I got home, I've locked the doors and windows and haven't lost a single needle or thread. How come, of all times, on the very day your family came to congratulate us, the ten taels of silver I kept in my chest disappeared? No other outsiders have come into the house..."

As she spoke, she picked up a handkerchief and dabbed at the corner of her eye. Her whole body trembled, and she looked frail and delicate, as if she had suffered a great injustice. Even her voice trembled, making her very pitiful.

"My second aunt is kind-hearted and values ​​family ties. Yesterday, she went back specifically to ask if the children had taken it by mistake. If so, she would return it and let it go. But what happened? My second aunt never came back. We worried all night, and in the end, we found her frozen unconscious in a woodpile in the fields outside the village."

She turned to the crowd, tears welling in her eyes: "If it weren't for Brother Tianchuan's chance discovery at night, my second aunt... my second aunt would probably be... like this. We consulted doctors and medicine, spent the whole night, and spent countless amounts of money and effort to pull her back from the brink of death. Now she's still lying on the kang (heated brick bed) with a fever and delirium."

With each word she spoke, the Liu family members' faces paled a little more, and the pointing fingers and whispers of the onlookers grew louder.

"Good heavens! To drive a married daughter so far that she's afraid to go home and nearly freezes to death in the wilderness? Is this even human?"

"Exactly! If he had nothing to hide, would he drive his own daughter to this point?"

"I think they probably took the money; otherwise, why would they be so guilty?"

Chen Yanche also angrily retorted, "We haven't even gone to settle accounts with your Liu family for my sister's death, yet you dare to falsely accuse us of assault? You stole from your relatives, forcing my second aunt to be unable to return home and nearly losing her life, and now you want to turn the tables on us? Does your Liu family think we, the villagers of Xiahe Village, are all alone?"

As soon as he said this, the able-bodied young men from Xiahe Village who had already gathered around objected, standing up one after another: "That's right, do you think we Xiahe Village people are easy to bully?"

"Coming to our village to cause trouble? You people from Shuangmiao Village, what do you want?"

"Your hands are filthy, yet you have the nerve to cause trouble?"

The situation quickly shifted from the Liu family seeking justice to Xiahe Village collectively confronting the enemy. The men from Shuangmiao Village, seeing the tide turning against them—Xiahe Village outnumbered them and, judging from what they heard…it seemed the Liu family was in the wrong first?

They exchanged a glance and involuntarily took a step back; they couldn't afford to wade into this mess.

Liu's mother was both angry and anxious. Seeing that public opinion was overwhelmingly against her and that even the villagers she had brought looked suspicious, she was filled with shame and anger. She completely abandoned all pretense of civility and turned her anger directly on Chen Wanxing, pointing her finger at her and hurling insults at her.

"It's all because of you, you troublemaker, you jinx, that you've thrown dirty water on our Liu family and are now trying to extort money from us."

"Pah! You're just an unwanted old maid..."

She used extremely offensive language, spewing profanities and attempting to confuse right and wrong and suppress Chen Wanxing's arrogance with the most vicious personal attacks.

When she spoke, Chen Wanxing quickly lowered her head, her shoulders hunched slightly, her eyes reddened visibly, and her hand holding the handkerchief trembled slightly.

As if unable to bear such slander and insults, yet unable to refute because the other party was an elder, she could only stand there helplessly, tears welling up in her eyes, on the verge of sobbing.

Her weak and pitiful appearance, bullied by her elders but not daring to speak out, instantly aroused the sympathy and indignation of the onlookers in Xiahe Village, especially the women.

"That's so unfair! How can you talk like that?"

"That's right, Wanxing is such a good girl, beautiful and filial, and she's been so sensible these past few days since she came back."

"They're dishonest themselves, yet they dare to insult other girls? The Liu family is truly shameless."

Just as the crowd was in a fit of rage, and Chen's father and third uncle were about to step forward to argue, while the Chen family's sons were also about to rush forward and fight, a dignified voice came from outside the crowd: