Zhilan's mother couldn't remember a single time in her life she had been this humiliated. Her legs quivered as she felt disgrace not just in her own village, but now in another's village as well.
Even though Tang Zhinian decided not to pursue, the villagers didn't agree. How could they accept it when a child had been beaten up in someone else's village? Being already irate due to the recent flood, their resentment had only grown stronger.
Zhilan's mother was from Sha Village, which was on higher ground and thus the houses were in good shape. Yet, even well-built houses had been severely damaged by the flood. Everyone in the village was trying to recover their losses. Zhilan's mother thought of her son-in-law, no, her former son-in-law. She wondered if she could exploit the situation somehow.
Everyone in the villages around knew about Tang Zhinian and his brother making quite a sum of money from their coriander plantation.
