Thinking back to the deeds of Old Dame Wang, Nanzhi shuddered, harboring doubts that Li Zhu might not be her biological daughter. Even a tiger wouldn't eat its offspring; could a real mother do such things?
"Mom, eat this, it's delicious."
Seeing Nanzhi shudder, Gougou thought his mother must be hungry and extended his small hand to feed her some pork cracklings.
"Gougou, be good, mom won't eat. If you eat this piece, you won't be able to have any more today," Nanzhi said with a smile.
"Okay, I'll save it for later." Gougou nodded and when he ate, he did so in small bites, afraid that taking bigger ones would mean finishing the day's portion all at once.
Fortunately, the courtyard walls were high, so Nanzhi wasn't worried about them getting in. She just had Gougou stay quietly in the room while she moved all the grains into a small cellar in the backyard, leaving only a bag of 100 catties of brown flour and enough food for five to six days.
Tomorrow, she would have to take Gougou back to her parental home.
With plans in mind, Nanzhi began to prepare dinner, her mouth watering at the thought of the seasonings she had bought.
From the day she had arrived, she had only been eating food with merely salt and oil, even more miserable than the diet meals she had before. Now that the situation at home had improved, she deserved to treat herself.
However, thinking about the people outside, Nanzhi put aside the idea of cooking with pork cracklings.
The aroma from cooking with pork cracklings would waft far, and if Old Dame Wang found out there were such things in her home, she would surely try to snatch them away.
Originally, she had thought to treat herself and Gougou today, but considering the current situation, she decided against it, opting only to steam a pot of plain rice and braise some potatoes.
Ms. Wu and Old Dame Wang, who had been cursing outside, were already parched and breathless, sweating profusely in the sweltering heat.
Generally, people in the village seldom bathed, and it wasn't a problem if they didn't sweat, but once they did, a sour odor would waft around them.
As the sky darkened, Li Zheng, worried about the safety after nightfall, directed the villagers to gather their belongings and leave. The procession of over a hundred households leaving was quite a spectacle.
Nanzhi's yard was close to the edge of the village, so on their way back, everyone could see Ms. Wu and her mother-in-law, wheezing from their exertions.
"Ms. Wu, why aren't you at home cooking with your mother-in-law? What brings you to Ms. Lin's house?"
Li Zheng eyed Ms. Wu and Old Dame Wang, whose faces had turned several shades darker. Neither of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo was any good, and he didn't know what sins the Li Family had committed in a past life to end up marrying such women.
"Li Zheng, Li Zheng has returned. You must stand up for us," Old Dame Wang brightened up upon seeing Shen Dashan leading the villagers back and immediately began to plead her case, no trace of her previous brazenness.
"Stand up for you? Stand up for what?" Li Zheng responded to Old Dame Wang's plea with a cold laugh.
"What could possibly require the mediation of a lowly official like me?"
Hearing Shen Dashan's words, the crowd that had gathered around fell silent.
Who didn't know about the affair with Li Zhu?
Old Dame Wang had forced a marriage in the neighboring village and made trouble frequently. In the end, she drove her own daughter to her death and then demanded compensation. Li Zheng had tried to intervene, urging her to calm down, only to receive a slap in the face in front of everyone from the neighboring village.
Afterward, she even boasted that Shen Dashan, as a petty Li Zheng, had no authority over her.
Since then, words had spread that daughters from Lihua Village were not to be married, and naturally, households with daughters resented Old Dame Wang. But what could they do?
This incident had been four years past, and by unspoken agreement, everyone had acted as if it never happened.
Now, with Shen Dashan breaking the silence, the wiser ones understood that Li Zheng could no longer tolerate the Li Family.
Wang Pozi's face also stiffened. In her lifetime, she couldn't even count how many people she had offended. Initially, it had been Shen Dashan who stopped her from seeking compensation. Yet, her daughter, whom she had raised for nineteen years, died in vain, and she hadn't gained a single benefit. How could she be content with that?
Thinking of the shiny silver that didn't make it into her purse, she had been driven to desperation when she did those things.
Afterward, she worried that Shen Dashan would make things difficult for her family, but as time passed, nothing happened, so she assumed it was all behind her.
Who would have thought that Shen Dashan would suddenly bring it up today?
Thinking of the consequences, Wang Pozi's face gradually turned pale, and she didn't open her mouth again.
"Li Zheng, you can't protect that young widow this time!" Ms. Wu, completely oblivious to the shift in the atmosphere around her, had a face energized by excitement, resembling a fierce demoness.
"Everyone listen! That young widow has caused a lot of harm," Ms. Wu shouted to the villagers around her, and then pointed at the tightly closed door.
"It's that young widow! She found something good on East Mountain and didn't tell us, causing my father-in-law to encounter a snake while up in the mountains. He's still bedridden at home! The doctor from Jishi Hall said that without a tael of silver, there's no way to properly heal his leg!" She said this while pretending to be grieving.
Shen Dashan glanced at Wang Pozi, who had fallen silent, then turned to look at the theatrically grieving Ms. Wu, "Then tell me, what good thing did Ms. Lin find?"
"This..." Ms. Wu's eyes shifted, coveting the chestnuts on the mountain. If the villagers all knew, wouldn't there be less for her to collect?
"She found a patch of wild vegetables on the mountain! Whose life is easy nowadays? She just follows that despicable... Gougou, the two of them cannot possibly eat so much, yet she refused to tell us. If she had shown us the way, my father-in-law wouldn't have encountered a snake."
As all the villagers returned with Li Zheng, those following behind saw that Li Zheng had stopped at Ms. Lin's door, and they all crowed around. Hearing Ms. Wu's words, everyone's hearts sank.
At noon today, everyone gathered at the entrance of the village, and in front of everyone, Li Zheng announced that yesterday, Ms. Lin had taken Gougou to East Mountain to gather wild vegetables and had accidentally discovered the Chestnut Forest.
Everything edible on West Mountain had already been picked clean, so naturally, nobody dared to go to East Mountain.
Isn't it because someone was once bitten by a wolf and died on East Mountain?
Now that Ms. Lin, a widow with an orphan, had discovered the Chestnut Forest, her first action was to inform the villagers. Who could ignore their conscience and speak ill of her?
Looking at Ms. Wu's demeanor, it seemed that the Li Family must have learned about the Chestnut Forest. They sneaked up to East Mountain in the middle of the night and encountered a snake, and from the looks of Ms. Wu's words, the old man Li's injuries must have been quite severe.
Before Shen Dashan could speak, Aunt Qin beat him to it, "You're rather amusing. A while ago, your Shi Tou found a bird's egg, yet I didn't see you sharing any with Ms. Lin. Now that she has found wild vegetables, she has to notify you?"
"Who among us who goes to the mountain and gets a bump or a scrape doesn't take care of it themselves? Your family, on the other hand, gets bitten by a snake on the mountain, and you come running to Ms. Lin demanding money. You and your daughter-in-law sure have a lot of nerve. What's next? If you choke on water, will you demand money from the one who dug the well?"
The village aunties who understood the situation also started to question. This incident had resulted in the villagers owing a favor to Nanzhi. If they sided with Wang Pozi now, it would show a lack of conscience.
Since their men couldn't speak up, the women would do it instead.
"You, you!" Ms. Wu, looking at the crowd, started to shake. She couldn't understand how these people, who normally only cared about their own affairs, were now siding with the widow.
She glanced back at her silent mother-in-law and tugged at her sleeve, "Mother! Speak up! Last time, Gougou was just bleeding a little from our Shi Tou's beating, and that young widow extorted a hundred wen from us. Now father-in-law's leg is almost beyond saving, Mother!"
Wang Pozi seemed to come back to her senses, ignoring Ms. Wu and just looking at Shen Dashan with an embarrassed expression, "Li Zheng, I am going back now."
Ms. Wu's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she heard this. When had her mother-in-law ever been afraid? Why would she pull her away today when they had such a good opportunity?
"Mother..."
Before Ms. Wu could finish, Wang Pozi had already run back to her house in a panic. Ms. Wu wanted to speak further, but the cold gaze from Shen Dashan made her tremble, and quickly she hurried inside the house.