After eating, Qi Zhenzhen took a stroll around the apricot grove, exchanged a few words with Uncle Qian, and checked on the progress of Gu Chengyang's work. Everything was going smoothly, so she headed straight for the Song family's house.
On the way, she encountered the same women who had glared at her with deep animosity last time.
"Sisters-in-law, I don't recall ever offending you," Qi Zhenzhen stopped and said, feeling helpless.
She didn't want to bother with these people, but their gazes were so venomous, as if she had committed some heinous crime against them. Seeing them stare at her with such malice, she worried that if this continued, they might even resort to harmful actions. It was better to ask what was going on and get to the bottom of it.
"An ungrateful wretch!" one of the women, named Huaihua, spat on the ground and said fiercely.
"Exactly, heartless and cruel."
"The most venomous are women's hearts. If a young girl like her is like this, who knows what she'll be like in the future."
They were already accusing her? Qi Zhenzhen felt helpless. Why didn't they just say why?
"I don't remember offending any of you. If I recall correctly, Sister-in-law Huaihua, your husband is working with Changshan to build houses!" Qi Zhenzhen asked. "Your husband is an apprentice, but he's very capable, so Brother Changshan discussed giving him wages. So, the wages I paid have actually bred enemies?"
Huaihua faltered. She had always thought her husband received wages because of Changshan's merit. Now, hearing this girl say it was with her approval? Thinking of her husband's happy face when he came home every day, Huaihua regained some semblance of reason. If she caused her husband to lose this job, it would be difficult to explain.
But she had already accused her. It seemed useless to backtrack now.
Fortunately, another woman spoke up, "Don't act like you're the benefactor of the entire village just because of a few small favors. If it weren't for Xinghua Village taking you in, where would you be today? Your family is so wealthy, yet you still need everyone to work for you to get paid. If you truly had good intentions, you should have just distributed money to everyone directly."
Qi Zhenzhen was dumbfounded, utterly bewildered by this woman's logic.
What did she mean that because she was wealthy, she should give money to everyone? What kind of twisted logic was that?
Even more infuriating was that this woman spoke with such righteous conviction, as if she were the most reasonable person in the world.
"Who do you think you are?" Qi Zhenzhen asked, her anger turning into a laugh. "Am I stupid, or are you? I advise you to go home, lie down on the kang, and sleep. After all, only in a daydream can what you're thinking of come true."
The woman's face turned red with anger. "As Xue Lian said, you truly are black-hearted and rotten!"
Xue Lian? Bai Xue Lian?
So these women were confidantes of Bai Xue Lian? Coming to her defense?
She hadn't paid attention to Bai Xue Lian's whereabouts when she was in the county town. Had she returned to Xinghua Village?
Li Shan was sentenced to prison. If she wasn't staying home to take care of her pregnancy, what was the point of her causing trouble like this?
"I'd actually like to know what Bai Xue Lian said," Qi Zhenzhen asked with amusement.
"You caused Li Shan to go to jail. She's a pregnant woman, all alone and with no one to rely on. And you still ask what Xue Lian said? Have you no conscience? Doesn't your conscience hurt?" the woman exclaimed indignantly, as if her own husband were the one in prison.
"Did Bai Xue Lian tell you why Li Shan went to jail? No need to ask, she probably didn't. Why did Li Shan and Bai Xue Lian go to the county town for no reason? It was because they had ill intentions and wanted to extort my aunt. The result? They tried to steal a chicken but ended up losing the rice, implicating themselves. As for me, not mentioning this matter in the village after returning was out of consideration for her being pregnant. Unexpectedly, she's the villain suing the victim." Qi Zhenzhen said sarcastically, "If you don't believe me, you can go ask Bai Xue Lian for confirmation. Of course, if she said something like this, she certainly won't admit it. Matters in court are not something we common folk can discuss. If you're curious about what happened, you can always go to the county yamen and ask."
Knowing the cause of the matter, Qi Zhenzhen couldn't be bothered with these women and walked away.
"If what this girl said is true, then we, we..."
"Xue Lian doesn't seem like someone who lies, does she?"
"Have you forgotten? She's the one who drove away Madam Lin. Li Shan is not a good person if he can abandon his wife. We shouldn't be used as pawns. The Qi family is now a prominent family in the village. If we anger that girl, will we benefit?"
Qi Zhenzhen vaguely heard the women talking and pursed her lips. They weren't completely foolish.
Upon arriving at the Song family's house, the village head Song and Grandma Song tearfully thanked Qi Zhenzhen. In their eyes, if Qi Zhenzhen hadn't been present and offered her analysis in the Xun family's matter, the Song family would have been helpless against the Xun family in court, and Song Mingze would have been ruined by Xun Wan Niang for nothing.
"Grandpa Village Head, Grandma Song..." Qi Zhenzhen drew out the end of her words. "If you keep saying that, I'll be too embarrassed to stay here. Why should our two families be so distant?"
Grandma Song wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Yes, yes, we're family, not distant."
After chatting with the elders for a while longer, Qi Zhenzhen finally managed to extricate herself and went directly to Song Mingyue's room.
"You're not loyal at all!" Qi Zhenzhen chided. "You almost couldn't handle it just now."
"It's not that I'm not loyal. If someone bullies you, I promise I won't stand by and do nothing. My grandparents are thanking you, and how could I stop them? You don't know, my grandparents haven't slept well for the past two days, worrying about the Xun family's power and my cousin's health. If you hadn't seen through the Xun family so clearly and gone with them, the consequences would have been unimaginable! And what you told my mother, that no news is good news, finally put my grandparents' minds at ease," Song Mingyue said with a smile. "Of course, they should thank you properly."
Qi Zhenzhen gave Song Mingyue a look. "Enough, you clearly just want to see me make a fool of myself."
They teased each other for a while, and when Yu Shi came in, they both sat down properly.
"Someone from the neighboring village who works in the capital sent a message saying that your paternal uncles and Mingze have settled down at the Hundred Herbs Hall in the capital and plan to stay for half a month," Yu Shi said with a happy expression. "They said that the attending physician there has a way to help Mingze recuperate. Zhenzhen, you were right."
Qi Zhenzhen was also very happy to hear this. Song Mingze had always been seen as the hope of the Song family. If he were ruined, the Song family would undoubtedly be severely hit, and Qi Zhenzhen did not want to see such a thing happen.
"Auntie, misfortune can sometimes be a blessing in disguise," Qi Zhenzhen said. "After experiencing this, Mingze's future will surely be bright."
Yu Shi nodded happily. "You two play, I'll go tell your Grandpa Village Head and Grandma Song, so they can be completely at ease."