Muniang looked at Erliang with admiration. Who said her husband was foolish? He was clearly very clever! Muniang chuckled. "Nanny Zhang, I know this matter has made it difficult for you to save face, but you didn't need to fabricate such talk to slander me. My husband and I don't have an easy life. Please don't make things harder for us."
Upon hearing this, the villagers suddenly had an epiphany. It turned out that Nanny Zhang couldn't stand being called a gossip, so she deliberately made up a lie to tarnish Qiao Muniang.
Nanny Zhang was so angry that she reeled backward, having never seen someone counter-accuse so righteously!
"What I say is the truth! If your mother hadn't asked me to look at your face and casually inquire about your birth date and time to help arrange a marriage for you, why would I bother going all the way to your shabby home?"
But Muniang said, "Nanny Zhang keeps claiming that she came to our home on behalf of my mother to arrange a marriage for me. But the matchmaker's fee is not a small amount. Everyone knows just how poor our family is. People who can barely find a meal to eat every day wouldn't have a single copper to spare, let alone extra money to pay a matchmaker. If my mother truly wanted to find a match for me, she would have just asked someone from the village to see if there was a suitable match."
"Your mother promised me a fee of one silver "yuanbao" for my services, and, and, this half "yuanbao" is the deposit she put down!" Nanny Zhang immediately took out a half "yuanbao" piece of silver from her bosom and held it up high.
Muniang curled her lips, "My mother is truly generous, giving away a whole silver "yuanbao" so willingly. Our family forages for wild vegetables in the mountains daily and depends on the charity of the villagers to get by. That one "yuanbao" is equivalent to our family's expenses for a whole two years!"
"Exactly!" Erliang also hummed. "You casually bring out a piece of broken silver and think it serves as evidence, without even considering if it's reasonable."
Li Cheng joined in, "Who in the village doesn't know about Muniang's family situation? They're just a mother and child on their own, with Mrs. Lin being ill. Muniang has no strength, no land, no silver, and their meals are just wild vegetable soup mixed with black bread, which we all provide. How could they casually afford to spare one silver "yuanbao"?"
Nanny Zhang's face turned green, "How would I know where Mrs. Lin got the money from? But this silver, it was given to me by her!"
"Then how do you prove that this silver came from my mother-in-law!" Erliang retorted unapologetically.
"I... I..." Nanny Zhang's face turned red, but she couldn't squeeze out a single sentence. It was supposed to be a clear-cut fact, but now, with just a few words from this couple, it was completely misrepresented! Yet, she really had no way to prove it unless the silver could speak for itself!
"Hmph!" Annoyed, Nanny Zhang flicked her sleeves, picked up the basin from the ground, and walked away in defeat, not even bothering to finish grinding the beans.
Muniang tightly gripped Erliang's hand, flashed him a sly smile, and then pulled him towards the villagers. "Some misunderstandings occurred these past few days and caused everyone trouble. Frankly, it was all due to my pride that I hid the details of my marriage, resulting in this confusion. Now that everything is out in the open, it doesn't seem to matter anymore. I hope you won't hold it against us."
Li Cheng hurriedly said, "It's not your fault. It's clearly our fault for listening to that loose-tongued woman's nonsense, which almost ruined your reputation."
"That's right, that's right. We've experienced Nanny Zhang's mouth before. It's one thing for her to gossip, but this time she went too far," the villagers chimed in to support Muniang.
Muniang smiled, holding Erliang's hand as they stepped forward. "I forgot to introduce him. This is my husband; just call him Erliang."
Erliang beamed, "I am my wife's husband."
The villagers looked at Erliang's simple-minded expression with inevitable sighs in their hearts, but still took care to maintain Muniang's dignity, all greeting her with smiles.
Muniang noticed the villagers' discomfort. In ancient times, fools were not considered auspicious, and it was normal for everyone to be concerned, but she did not want Erliang to face these peculiar gazes. Although he only had the intelligence of a six- or seven-year-old, he was keenly perceptive and could clearly see the looks in other people's eyes.
"You all carry on with your work then, we're going to dig up some wild vegetables on the mountain, so we'll be leaving first," Muniang bid farewell and turned to leave with Erliang.
Li Cheng watched them leave, lost in thought, "Such a nice girl, sigh, what a pity."
Li Qinghe pinched him hard on the arm and whispered in his ear, "Brother, stop having all these wild thoughts and get on with grinding the beans, others are waiting to use the millstone."
Li Cheng jolted back to reality as if his private thoughts had been seen through, a blush spreading across his slightly dark cheeks, and he hurriedly started turning the millstone.
Li Qinghe sighed. If it weren't for this sudden misfortune, Qiao Muniang might have become their sister-in-law. She could plainly see her brother's affection for Muniang, but now, such matters couldn't even be mentioned for fear of stirring up messy rumors.
The mountain path was rugged, and Muniang, frail as she was, began to gasp for breath after a few steps, whereas Erliang moved with ease. Erliang wanted to carry her up several times, but Muniang, considering the wounds on his body, declined, so they had to stop and go.
The hawthorn trees Muniang had found last time were not far and were just near the foot of the mountain. In about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, they found them, the branches red and gleaming, with many fruits fallen to the ground. Muniang ran over excitedly, "Erliang, hurry and fill the sack, let's take them all."
Erliang, as if he had never seen such things, casually picked one from the tree and tasted it. The sourness made his teeth chatter, and he complained, "Wife, this tastes so bad, why do we bother with it?!" As he spoke, he spit several times on the ground.
Muniang laughed, "Of course it's not tasty if you eat it like this, all sour and astringent. We need to process it first."
Erliang frowned and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, the sour taste still lingering in his mouth. It was too unpleasant to eat, but seeing that Muniang was already busy picking hawthorns, he didn't question her and just followed her lead in picking them.
Muniang simply found a long stick and struck the tree several times with force, causing the hawthorns to fall down with a rustling sound. Erliang found it amusing and took the stick from Muniang, "Let me do it."
With Erliang's strength, it only took him a few strokes to knock most of the hawthorns off the tree. Muniang, looking at these bright red hawthorns as if they were gleaming gold ingots, felt an immense joy, and quickly bent down to pick them up and throw them into the sack.
After they were busy for a while, they had filled two large sacks, and Muniang's basket was full too, so they stopped and carried the hawthorns back home.
Mrs. Lin, looking at the large pile of hawthorns, was astonished, "Muniang, what are you doing with so many hawthorns? They're sour and astringent and hard to swallow."
Muniang smiled, "Mother, don't you worry, I have my ways."
Erliang had already started a fire in the kitchen, and Muniang brought out a large basin, poured half a basin of hawthorns and half a basin of water, rolled up her sleeves, and sat on a stool to start washing the hawthorns. Mrs. Lin wanted to help, but Muniang firmly sent her inside. Her illness couldn't be aggravated by the cold water; any lapse of attention that caused her condition to deteriorate would be very bad.