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After returning home, Ruyi developed a fever that night. Fortunately, the physician had already prepared medicine for her. The Fang Family, Li Family, and Auspicious took turns watching over her throughout the night, placing a cloth soaked in cool water on her forehead to reduce her temperature. By morning, the fever had finally subsided, but it had exhausted the family members, especially Auspicious, who all had dark circles under their eyes and felt resentful.
Ruyi was sent back to her family due to trouble she caused; it wasn't as if she returned triumphantly. It was already a blessing that they didn't despise her, yet she still made the whole family restless and incurred expenses. Auspicious merely complained, while the Fang Family and Li Family were clearly angry.
"Mother, we are so tired we can barely stand. Can't we let Second Sister and Third Sister-in-law take turns with us?" said Li Family, regretting not having moved out at that moment.
Wang Clan scolded, "You complain about being tired after just one night of taking care of her? If you expect to care for us Old Couple in the future, you won't last long! Three people can't take care of one person? I see you're not tired; you're just not putting in enough effort!"
Fang Family said, "Mother, don't be angry. Second Sister-in-law and Sister Four are meticulous; they will surely take good care of her. Besides, they have better lives now and might bring some good things for Ruyi's health. It pains me to see Ruyi like this!"
Auspicious chimed in, thinking it unfair that she had to stay here while the other two didn't have to help out.
Wang Clan found this reasoning valid; having more people care for Ruyi would make her feel more secure. However, before she could say anything, Xie Shengcai interrupted. "Calm down! Auspicious, as Ruyi's sister, it's your duty to look after her! The eldest daughter-in-law and the third daughter-in-law live nearby; why bother those who live far away? With you four here, can’t you manage one person lying on the bed? Stop complaining!"
"If you go looking for them, I'll send them back too! You'll have to keep an eye on Ruyi without a break!" After saying this, Xie Shengcai turned and left. It seemed that all those who could provide peace of mind were separated from those who couldn't; it was truly frustrating. They were already somewhat distant from the second and third families; if they continued to cause trouble, things would only get worse. After all, he was still his son.
Wang Clan was quite angry but felt helpless; the old man usually kept quiet but could be stubborn as a mule when he decided to be.
"Water, I want water," Ruyi woke up at that moment. Wang Clan immediately called someone to feed her water. She wanted to do it herself but upon seeing her daughter's face tremble with pain in her heart; it hurt to see such a beautiful flower reduced to this state.
After drinking some water, Ruyi regained some energy. After a moment of confusion, she remembered what had happened and struggled to touch her face. The pain made her cry out loud; tears flowed down and stung her wounds even more. In a frenzy of pain, she struggled to get up but collapsed back onto the bed again, screaming and writhing in agony—her appearance was truly terrifying.
Wang Clan instructed Auspicious and the others to hold Ruyi down while they tried to persuade her not to move.
After some time of struggling, Ruyi finally lay still as if lifeless. Her eyes were bloodshot, and combined with her face smeared with medicine making her look grotesque—it was genuinely frightening. Even her own mother couldn't bear to look at her; after a day and night of watching over her, both sisters-in-law and sister finally mustered enough courage to glance at her.
"Mother, I'm innocent! I'm innocent! I didn’t have any secret dealings with Gao Dalang! No! Someone tricked me into going there! Someone wants to harm me! Mother! Mother! I want to catch that person! I want to tear them apart!" At first low in tone, Ruyi's voice grew louder until it became a sharp scream that echoed throughout the courtyard.
Upon hearing this, Wang Clan rushed over and asked urgently, "What did you say?! You were wronged? Who tricked you? Tell me quickly; I'll have your brothers support you! Was it that Gao Dalang who deceived you? It must be that brat! Nod your head if that's true; I'll have your brothers smash his house! Then make him confess his crimes!"
Auspicious interjected: "Mother, if Young Master Gao believed Ruyi's words, would she end up like this?"
The Li Family also said, "With Ruyi in this state, no matter what she says to Young Master Gao, he won't take her back."
Upon hearing this, the Wang Clan fell silent. They thought, yes, with Ruyi in this condition, Young Master Gao would know it was a mistake and would not want her back. He wouldn't think he had wronged her; Young Master Gao never believed Ruyi from the beginning.
However, the Fang Family said, "At least if we can clarify things, we won't offend the Gao Family, and they won't cause us trouble. Ruyi, tell Sister-in-law who exactly harmed you? What happened? How did you end up with Gao Dalang?"
Ruyi replied, "It must be that vile person from the Su Family! I did meet Gao Dalang, but we never went to that garden! Someone knocked us out and took us there! It must have been that dead woman Su Yuanchun; she hates me because my young master favors me and wishes I were dead. So she had someone keep an eye on me, and when they saw me with Gao Dalang, they came up with this scheme! I want to kill her!"
Auspicious scoffed and said, "So you did meet Gao Dalang? What were you meeting him for? Are you foolish? Don't you fear being seen and having your words twisted?"
The Li Family chuckled and said, "No wonder we heard that Gao Dalang and his wife are always arguing; it turns out he's thinking about you. Ruyi, you're so clever; how could you do something so foolish?"
Ruyi remained silent and glared at them. Yes, she did meet Gao Dalang, but she never intended anything serious with him. She only hated Gao Dalang for backing out of their engagement and making her look bad. She wanted to toy with him a bit, give him hope only to let him down in the end. She thought that by then she wouldn't care about him anymore; he wouldn't dare offend the Gao Family and would be left in silence with his grievances. But she never expected to end up harming herself!
The Fang Family said, "Ruyi, you can't just guess it's the Su Family without evidence; no one will believe you. You must have told Young Master Gao this too, right? He doesn't believe you either; if he did, you'd be in a different situation now."
Ruyi gritted her teeth. Yes, Gao Zhengping didn't believe her because Su Yuanchun was at home at the time. He thought she was trying to bite back before dying. But she firmly believed it was Su Yuanchun who set her up that day when no one knew where she went. Only Su Yuanchun could have orchestrated such a scheme against her! She blamed everything on Su Yuanchun and felt a surge of anger thinking about how Su Yuanchun looked down on her like she was just a weed.
Seeing Ruyi silent, the Wang Clan felt disheartened as well. They thought their girl had been framed but had no evidence to prove it. Even if they suspected Su Yuanchun was behind it, confronting her wouldn't yield any good results. Given Ruyi's current state, it was clear there was no way to salvage anything. She sighed and advised Ruyi to focus on recovering first; they could deal with other matters later.
Ruyi thought to herself that she would not let this go easily. Living like this—neither human nor ghost—was enough for her; those who harmed her shouldn't expect to live comfortably either.
The affair between Ruyi and Gao Dalang couldn't be hidden for long; soon everyone knew about it. They all felt that the Xie Family had raised such a disgraceful daughter. Fortunately, the Xie Family and Xie Youshun were relatively well-liked in the village, which prevented them from being ostracized in Xiaqiao Village. However, the Xie Family preferred not to speak much when out and about due to embarrassment.
Gao Dalang's situation was even worse than Ruyi's. His wife returned to her family with relatives in tow. Upon seeing Gao Dalang's condition, they immediately caused a scene. When Gao Dalang's wife's family discovered what had happened to him, they spoke with her; she immediately demanded a divorce with their support. They quickly packed up her dowry and left with the divorce papers in hand. The Village Chief's hair turned half gray from worry as he watched his son face potential extinction of his lineage.
Xiao Lihua felt sorry for Ruyi too; although it was self-inflicted, she was still her sister-in-law. Seeing Xie Youshun without a smile made her feel uneasy as well. She visited Ruyi several times and brought some silver and supplements as a gesture of goodwill. The Zi Clan also visited with gifts but neither helped care for Ruyi since they didn't want to deal with the stress.
Ruyi didn't want Xiao Lihua visiting either; seeing her made her angry because it was Xiao Lihua who prevented her from marrying Zhao Linting. If she had married Zhao Linting, how happy would she be now? How could things have turned out like this? It was also because of Xiao Lihua offending Su Yuanchun that Su Yuanchun hated her so much and set her up like this! Unable to retaliate against Su Yuanchun now, Ruyi directed all her hatred towards Xiao Lihua instead.
Xiao Lihua listened to Ruyi's accusations against her in disbelief. She thought how good Ruyi was at making excuses for herself; if she hadn't schemed against Zhao Linting, how would she have ended up meeting Gao Zhengping? If she hadn't entered the Gao Family, how could Su Yuanchun see her as a thorn in her side? How could she have fallen into such a predicament? Everything stemmed from her own vanity ruining herself while blaming others—truly pitiful!
Time flies quickly, and summer is almost over.
As the weather gradually cools down, Xiao Lihua no longer keeps her two sons at home; she lets them go out to play. Boys need to run around more to grow strong. Now, her two sons look like little pine trees, and Xiao Lihua is very satisfied. She doesn't ask for them to be well-read; she only wishes for their health and longevity.
Xiao Lihua went to visit Yumiang. She really liked Yumiang's son, a chubby little boy named Xiaobao, who became Xiao Lihua's godson.
Just as she arrived at Yumiang's doorstep, she heard Yang Cao calling her. Seeing Yang Cao approach with an angry expression, she smiled and asked what was wrong.
"What else could it be? My sister-in-law is back. I didn't think much of it before, but now she's getting more and more arrogant. I'm her sister-in-law, yet she treats me like a servant! I came out to get some fresh air; otherwise, I couldn't help but want to curse her."
"Don't be upset. Come with me to see Yumiang. I'm making a pair of little tiger head shoes for Xiaobao; let's take them for him to try on."
"I'll see. You just want to get a good look at this kid for some good luck. Who knows, maybe you'll have a son too. You don't know how my sister-in-law has the nerve to mock me for not having a son after being married for so long. She didn't have this kind of guts before; I really don't know what's gotten into her now, acting like she's guaranteed to have a son herself. It all depends on whether she can have one! I couldn't hold back today and ended up saying a couple of things to her; she wasn't even angry! Being her sister-in-law is really frustrating!"
Yang Cao sighed. After many years of marriage, she had only given birth to Xiao Yue, which had always been a sore spot for her. Now that Yumiang finally had a son, she hoped to have one too.
"You will definitely have one; don't rush it. The more anxious you are, the harder it will be."
Xiao Lihua advised her while listening to Yang Cao's complaints about Li Jinfeng and wondered how Li Jinfeng had changed so much. When did this change happen? Suddenly, Xiao Lihua thought of the gold ring that Li Jinfeng lost in the spring, and her brow furrowed involuntarily.
The author has something to say: Finally wrote a bit more, but logging in was a hassle; I hope this goes through smoothly.
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