A jinx, me? But I bring good fortune to my whole family!

Wang Guixiang's wailing was so shrill that it drew out half the villagers.

In winter, it gets dark early, and everyone goes to bed and wakes up early. Now, everyone has been woken up by the noise, and many people are rushing over here wearing cotton-padded coats.

"What happened?"

"It sounds like it came from Gu Jianguo's side."

People gathered outside the Gu family's courtyard wall, pointing and whispering about Wang Guixiang, who was rolling around in the snow.

Wang Guixiang's face was badly swollen, her eyes were swollen into slits, her cotton pants were covered in mud and had holes, and she was crying and wailing while holding her sprained ankle.

"This is outrageous! Gu Jianguo and his family are bullying us!"

"I just came to see my poor niece, and they pushed me off the wall and set rats and wasps on me to sting me! My life is so miserable!"

She cried while stealing glances at the villagers who were watching. As more and more people gathered, she cried even harder.

The captain, his face dark, squeezed through the crowd, a large pipe in his hand.

"What's all the noise about! Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night?!"

The brigade leader glanced at the mess in the yard, then looked at Wang Guixiang, his brows furrowed.

"Whose family are you? You look unfamiliar. You're not from our Red Star Brigade, are you?"

Upon hearing this question, Grandma Gu and Zhang Aidi, who were hiding behind the crowd, felt a pang of anxiety and shrank back, afraid of being recognized.

"I recognize her!" a woman in the crowd shouted. "Isn't that Wang Guixiang, the daughter-in-law of the Lin family from Niulan Village? What's she doing in our village?"

The captain's face turned even uglier.

"You're not from our village, so what are you trying to do, shouting all morning?"

Wang Guixiang panicked, her eyes darting around, but she continued her performance.

"I...I'm here to see my niece! My poor niece, Nuannuan!"

She pounded her chest and cried bitterly.

"My poor brother and sister-in-law passed away early, leaving behind a child. I finally found out the child was here and wanted to come see him. But those 'Gu family' not only took my child away but also won't let me see him. I, as the eldest aunt, am heartbroken!"

The way she said it made it seem like she had suffered some great injustice.

The villagers, unaware of the truth, actually believed it, and their expressions toward Gu Jianguo became somewhat strange.

"Oh, so they're the child's relatives..."

"Building a country like that is a bit unethical."

"That's right, she's still my aunt no matter what."

Gu Jianguo trembled with anger as he listened to the discussions outside.

He limped out, leaning on the doorframe, his cane poking at the snow.

"Wang Guixiang!"

Gu Jianguo's roar was so loud that it drowned out everyone else's voices.

"How dare you say Nuannuan is your niece?"

His eyes were frighteningly red as he stared intently at Wang Guixiang.

"Then tell me, since she's your own niece, why did you leave her alone at the bottom of the cliff behind the mountain in the middle of snow! If my wife hadn't been kind-hearted and rescued her, she would have either frozen to death or been eaten by wolves!"

The crowd immediately descended into chaos.

Everyone stared at Wang Guixiang in shock.

Selling one's granddaughter is already inhuman enough, but to abandon one's own niece?

The brigade leader knew about this; he had even gone with the team to look for the child. His face immediately darkened.

"Is what Gu Jianguo said true?"

"No! No!" Wang Guixiang waved her hands frantically as she saw the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. "I didn't! That brat ran away while playing, and I've been looking for her for ages. I'm so upset!"

She tried to argue, but Nuannuan, who was in Gu Jianguo's arms, suddenly poked her little head out.

The little girl still had tears on her face, and her big eyes were red; she looked very pitiful.

She pointed her little finger at Wang Guixiang and spoke in a childish voice, her tone filled with grievance and fear.

"You wicked auntie, you're lying!"

"You told Nuannuan that day that her parents were waiting for her at the bottom of the cliff, and asked her to go find them."

"And then...and then you pushed Nuannuan down! You said you were going to feed Nuannuan to the Big Bad Wolf!"

The child's voice was innocent, but what he said startled everyone present.

If an adult says this, some people might doubt that it's made up.

How could a five-year-old toddler possibly make up such a vicious lie?

Hearing Nuannuan's words, Grandma Gu was so angry she almost choked.

She glared fiercely at Wang Guixiang, who was not far away, and cursed her in her heart.

This good-for-nothing idiot! He can't even handle a little girl!

Wang Guixiang was so taken aback by Nuannuan's words that she almost couldn't catch her breath, and her face turned bright red.

"You...you're talking nonsense! You little jinx, you're slandering me!"

"I didn't slander you!" Nuannuan snuggled closer to her father, crying even louder. "You even tricked me with candy today, saying you'd take me to the woods to catch birds. You just wanted to sell me!"

"Sell it!"

The moment those two words were uttered, the crowd stirred again.

Gu Jianguo sneered, raised his hand, and opened the handkerchief that Ye Qing had just picked up in front of everyone.

A few candies wrapped in colorful wrappers fell into his palm.

"Everyone, take a look!"

Gu Jianguo held the candy up in front of everyone.

"This is the candy she was going to give my Nuannuan! She said it has a chocolate center and tastes even better than the ones from the supply and marketing cooperative!"

"But this is no good! It's laced with a sleeping potion! If a child eats just one, they'll be fast asleep!"

Gu Jianguo's words caused the situation to spiral out of control.

"My God! Drugged candy? This is child abduction!"

"How vicious! Is this person even human?"

"He must be taken to the police station! This kind of person should be arrested and shot!"

The villagers were furious, and they all pointed at Wang Guixiang and cursed her.

Wang Guixiang panicked. She hadn't expected things to be exposed so quickly, and they had even gotten hold of the drugged candy.

"I didn't! That candy was just ordinary candy! You're making baseless accusations!"

She was still making a last-ditch effort.

"Regular sugar?"

Gu Jianguo took two steps forward and looked at her.

"Fine, since you're being stubborn, let's go to the commune and the police station right now!"

"Let the police officers from the local station come and test whether there's any poison in this candy! And let them question you thoroughly: you're from Niulan Village, what are you trying to do, bringing poisoned candy to our Hongxing Brigade in the middle of the night?!"

"I'll see if you can still be this stubborn when we get to the police station!"

Police station!

These three words made Wang Guixiang's mind go blank.

She collapsed instantly, all color draining from her face.

Go to the police station? Then she'll be completely finished! Human trafficking is a serious crime!

She looked at Gu Jianguo in horror, then at the angry villagers around her, her body trembling uncontrollably.

"No... I can't go to the police station... I..."

In her panic, she instinctively looked in a certain direction within the crowd, her expression pleading for help.

Ye Qing observed coldly the whole time, not missing a single move she made.

He followed the direction Wang Guixiang was looking and came face to face with someone who was dodging.

It's that old woman!