The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 136 It's Not a Honey Trap

Tong Huaqiong's lips twitched.

Gu Taohua's insults were truly unrestrained.

The crowd looked at Granny Yan and then at Xu Si, their eyes filled with contempt.

Logically speaking, Tong Dajiao was old enough to be Xu Si's mother, and she was a widow. Even if she still had her charms, Xu Si wouldn't lay a hand on her.

Besides, Tong Dajiao is not someone to be trifled with, and she also has a stepson and two biological sons, making a total of three sons.

Xu Si, who neither provokes black nor white, deliberately provoked Tong Dajiao.

Many villagers believed that this was a honey trap set by Tong Dajiao in a dispute with Granny Yan over land, which resulted in the crippling of Granny Yan's beloved Xu Si.

Despite what everyone thought in their hearts, they were all delighted.

They felt that Tong Dajiao was doing a service to the people.

As long as Xu Si is not eliminated, the young women and wives of Qinghewan will never have a moment's peace.

But now, after hearing what Tong Huaqiong said and Gu Taohua said, everyone guessed that today's incident was probably not a deliberate plot by Tong Dajiao against Xu Si.

This was because Granny Yan and Xu Si, mother and son, saw that Tong Dajiao's shop in town was doing well, so they conspired to smear Tong Dajiao's reputation and then force her to marry Xu Si in order to take away her shop.

"Xu Si is still young, Tong Dajiao is old enough to be his mother, she even has grandchildren. Would Xu Si really do something like this for the sake of the shop?" a young man muttered softly.

Anyway, he wouldn't do that.

"You say you're young? Why can't you? Xu Si is young, but does youth mean you can spend money? Tong Dajiao's shop is making a fortune every day. Granny Yan is always talking badly about Tong Dajiao behind her back. Isn't that just jealousy? Don't underestimate the allure of money. Some people make their teenage daughters become concubines to eighty-year-old men for money. Why can't Xu Si have his eye on Tong Dajiao? So what if she's a young man who's older than him? So what if she becomes a grandfather as soon as she enters the door? What are those things compared to money?" An old woman glanced at the young man and sneered. "Besides, with Granny Yan's despicable character, what wouldn't she do? Maybe she's already planned it all out. She'll make Tong Dajiao marry Xu Si, and if all else fails, she can use her mother-in-law's money to force her to her death. Then the shop will be hers."

As soon as the old woman finished speaking, an old man next to her shook his head and said, "As the saying goes, wealth can move people's hearts."

So, in a coordinated effort, they beat Granny Yan to death and Xu Si, who had only staged this whole haystack incident in order to seize Tong Huaqiong's pastry shop.

The three brothers, Gu Dahan, Gu Dashu, and Gu Jingzhe, turned ashen-faced as they listened to the crowd's discussion.

Well, Xu Si, you want to be their adopted father now? How can we tolerate this?

The three brothers exchanged a glance, and were about to beat Xu Si up again, but were pulled apart.

"I might as well just die!" Tong Huaqiong cried, wiping away her tears.

"Mother, you mustn't do something rash. Father is already gone. If you do something rash, what will happen to this whole family?"

While Liu Yue'e was speaking to Tong Huaqiong, she was also wiping away tears at her father and uncle.

The implication is that the Gu family is small and powerless, and we, the Liu family, must seek justice for my mother-in-law.

If her mother-in-law loses her reputation and justice in the village, she will have no face left in the village.

"Mother-in-law, don't worry, with me, Liu Tiechui, here, I will definitely get justice for you." Liu Yue'e's father reassured Tong Huaqiong, his face ashen, and said, "Why haven't the Xu family head and the village chief arrived yet? Do we have to go and invite them with an eight-bearer sedan chair?"

"Are the Xu family patriarch and the village chief going to do anything about it? If not, we'll send Xu Si to the authorities," Liu Yue'e's uncle, Liu Tielian, added.

Gu Jingzhe's face was ashen as his mind raced. He saw Liu Tielian's son, Liu Tong, standing behind Liu Tielian. He quietly walked over and whispered a few words to Liu Tong. Liu Tong then left the crowd, ran home, hitched up a donkey cart, and headed towards the next village.

"The village chief is here."

"The Xu family patriarch has arrived."

Someone shouted, and everyone automatically made way.

Granny Yan sat up and straightened her back.

The clan chief and village head came to support her. As the largest surname in the village, the Xu family can be said to have a voice everywhere in Qinghewan. Even the Liu family, the second largest surname, has to avoid the Xu family when they encounter them.

As the village head of the Xu family, Xu Yong naturally sided with the Xu family.

Xu Si's tyrannical behavior in the village and Granny Yan's rampant mischief were both inseparable from the village chief's usual favoritism and attempts to smooth things over.

"Uncle Kun, Uncle Yong, look at Si'er, his lineage is cut off! Widow Tong is going to cut off the Xu family's bloodline!" Granny Yan cried, grabbing the trouser legs of clan chief Xu Kun and village chief Xu Yong with one hand each.

Xu Kun, the head of the Xu family, stood with his hands behind his back, his face ashen.

"What's going on?" Village Chief Xu Yong glanced at Xu Si, whose head was swollen like a pig's head on the ground, and smiled faintly at Tong Huaqiong.

Tong Huaqiong thought to herself, "Screw you, what are you doing acting like a big shot here?"

The Liu family members had been trying to invite them for so long before the two finally arrived.

They just thought that Xu Si wouldn't be the one to suffer, so they would drag it out as long as possible.

Now that they've arrived at the crime scene and discovered that it's the Xu family who's been wronged, they're starting to act like big shots and interfere.

Xu Yong's tone seemed calm, but it carried a condescending interrogation attitude.

Tong Huaqiong was extremely displeased. She immediately channeled her inner Tong Dajiao, let out a howl, pounced on Xu Yong, pushed Yan Pozi aside with her buttocks, grabbed Xu Yong's clothes, and smeared tears and snot all over him.

“Village chief, you’ve finally arrived! If you hadn’t come, I was planning to hang myself at your doorstep. Look what Xu Si has done! I was turning over the wheat in the threshing ground early this morning, and those four scoundrels Xu Si were groping me.”

“Everyone saw it. Ever since Old Gu died, I’ve kept the Gu family’s door tightly shut, afraid people would say that a widow’s door is always full of gossip. I was so careful, but I couldn’t stop Xu Si on the threshing ground. Xu Si tried to harass me, but he didn’t succeed. However, people are spreading rumors behind my back. Do I still have any reputation left? Do my son still have any influence in the village? Do my daughter still have any business in town? Do my grandson still have any business to attend to? Village chief, you have to give me an explanation today. Do you want me to hang myself at your doorstep or drown in Granny Yan’s well?”

"Oh dear, who knows how people will talk about me behind my back in the future? They can make something out of nothing, let alone the fact that everyone knows Xu Si harassed me. Oh, Lao Gu, why did you die so young, leaving us, a widow and her children, to be bullied?"

Tong Huaqiong howled while wiping her snot on the village chief.

He almost clung to the village chief.

The village chief knew that Tong Dajiao was not someone to be trifled with, but he didn't expect her to be such a tough nut to crack. He tried to pry her hands apart but couldn't.

"Oh dear, Granny Yan and her son are deliberately trying to ruin my reputation just to seize my family's land and shop. What's the point of me living if I'm being bullied like this? I might as well just die!" Tong Huaqiong wailed even louder.

Tong Huaqiong glanced at the old woman Yan, who had been pushed away by Tong Huaqiong, and saw her sitting in front of the village chief, grabbing at his trouser legs with both hands. Tong Huaqiong stomped on the old woman Yan's hands, crying and cursing as she jumped up and down.

Each kick landed hard on Granny Yan's hand.

"Ouch, I'm going to die, my hand!" Granny Yan screamed like a pig being slaughtered.

Tong Huaqiong stubbornly stood still, pressing down firmly.

The village chief was almost breathless from the noise from Tong Huaqiong and Granny Yan, and his ears were ringing.

"Shut up, all of you!" The village chief roared, unable to pull Tong Huaqiong away.

Then he gestured to the wife of the Xu family who had come with him to pull Tong Huaqiong away.

"Who dares to touch my mother?" Gu Taohua roared, startling the Xu family's daughter-in-law who had come along.

"No, Widow Tong, please don't cry, Mother Dashu."

"Sister-in-law, please stop crying."

The village chief frowned and addressed Tong Huaqiong and Granny Yan.

(End of this chapter)