Chapter 35: Bias and Calumniation
Translator: Antonia
As was known to all, buffalos were used for carriage or farming, so beef was very expensive. Unless there was no other way out, no villagers would kill a buffalo to get the meat. In addition, the current laws forbade the killing of buffalos. Therefore, the beef selling on the market was all from official slaughterhouses. An ordinary folk couldn’t easily get the access to buying beef.
Sister Zhao seized her little son by the ear, cursing to the two sons. Hearing Mo Qianxue’s well-reasoned words, Zhao Ergou well all out and jumped up, “It’s our own business. Why should we tell you bad woman?”
Mo Qianxue was indifferent towards his rogue insolence and replied unhurriedly, “Just tell us where you got the beef.”
“Can’t we buy it in downtown?”
“On that day, you strolled around at the dock for a day, which could be testified by many fellows. And your wife was at my house; sister Fang and Guihua are the witnesses. As for your two children, they were playing with other children in the village.
None of your family went downtown. Can I ask who brought the beef to you from downtown? Beef is rare goods costing at least seventy cents per kilogram. Can I ask where you got the money to buy it? And…”
Mo Qianxue demonstrated a stern serious face, stating questions increasingly sharp which finally let the Zhao couple shut down.
“Elder Wanger and dear fellows. I suspect that my beef and medicine was stole by them.”
“You…you’re doing wrong to me!” The Zhao couple said in unison.
“Oh? Then why don’t you tell us who brought the beef from downtown to you? I think you stole it from my house. My poor husband, he was in poor health…. Even heaven doesn’t forgive you and punished you by giving you the disgusting disease! I beg heaven didn’t expect that you two not only don’t repent your deed, but instead came to bully me…”
Each of Mo Qianxue’s words was like a knife to cut their skin. Zhao Ergou and his wife were daunted by the pressure she produced, turning totally speechless in shock.
The on-lookers were all shaking their heads disapprovingly. A few chatty women already began their heated gossiping.
“I don’t believe the mean Zhao wife would willing to buy beef…”
“Me either. That woman even wants to pluck off the features if a bird flies by. She must have stolen the beef from Mrs. Ning…”
“Poor Mrs. Ning. Her beef was stolen and she herself was also calumniated…”
“That hideous woman never does good things…”
“Right. They suffered the filthy disease as punishment…”
Words of blaming and accusation sent to the ears of the Zhao couple, and Mo Qianxue nodded, satisfied. Go for wool and come home shorn! This time, the couple was well-punished.
“Since you don’t deny, I think you admit your crime.” Mo Qianxue coughed. All turned silent. She, in a blue gown, now became the focus.
“The beef is three kilograms, worth two hundred cents. You have to pay me! The herbal medicine cost three hundred cent. You have to pay me too! Besides, my husband’s medicine got delayed by your deed, so you must compensation him with ten taels of silver as his nutrient supply. I’m always a tolerant person, so you don’t need to kowtow to me, but you defamed me. if you kneel down and apologize, I’ll just forgive you…”
Mo Qianxue listed requirements one by one slowly. Before she finished yet, the couple’s faces turned dark purple.
“You, you, you…you greedy woman! We have no money. We only have lives. Just take it…” Zhao Ergou rushing towards a tree with his head as the vanguard.
“Heaven, Mrs. Ning is trying to kill us…” Sister Zhao lay down again, pretending to be dead.
“Silence!” Elder Wanger knocked the pipe on the chair to create a loud rattle. All people went quiet.
“Alright! Mrs. Ning. It was indeed their fault. Today, I’ll open the ancestral hall and let them kneel there for a couple of hours to reflect themselves. You, on the other hand, as a woman, how can you be so aggressive? Where is your feminine virtue? Where is your feminine…”
No compensation, no appeasement, but only blatant accusation. All this hit Mo Qianxue’s heart like ice. She sneered. Did the woman lying on the ground have any feminine virtue?
This elder Wanger was biasing.
After all, this Zhao Ergou’s wife was one of daughters of the Wang family.
Mo Qianxue had already known from inside and out the background of this sister Zhao. Zhao Ergou was a folk from the village of Zhao clan. His original family had too many sons, and sister Zhao wasn’t a daughter-in-law that was easy to get along with, so less than two years after they got married, she had fight with sisters- and mother-in-law for many times.
The life couldn’t continue in harmony and there happened to be a vacant house in the village of Wang clan, so after she cried and begged her dad, the village head agreed to let her and her husband move in. Then her life was much more comfortable than living with a mother-in-law.
Although there were many people with surnames other than Wang living in the village as well as among village elders, the village head surnamed Wang and among all elders, elder Wanger was the oldest and ranked highest. Therefore, when it came to serious affairs, Wang people had the final say.
Elder Wanger had long determined to get the tofu recipe. Since they’ve made the situation so ugly, and this Mrs. Ning was too intolerant, then don’t blame him to act relentlessly. He didn’t believe that he, as an elder of three generations and in the area of Wang village, couldn’t deal with a girl from outside and a fleeing teacher.
“Mrs. Ning, you as a woman should just focus on making tofu. If you go downtown for business negotiation, it’ll indeed be shameful for you to constantly show up in a public place. In the future, the village will be in charge of business connections. You just stay at home and make tofu. The village will grant you enough benefit. It’s settled!”
Even a powerful dragon cannot crush a snake in its old haunts! At this moment, Mo Qianxue’s heart plunged again. Here, she must compromise. She could ignore and even refuted what Zhao Ergou had said, but she must do as elder Zhanger requested.
If elder Wanger had made up his mind to do this, she could do nothing but to agree helplessly, because he was able to seal the village entrance and forbid Baiyunju from coming in. He was also able to forbid the villagers from providing her with beans, and…
The village head and elder Gaosan looked awkward, and tried to conceal the embarrassment by concentrating themselves on drinking tea.
Elder Li and elder Fang were waiting to watch the up-coming drama.
Elder Wanger looked fierce.
Zhao Ergou and sister Zhao looked complacent.
Sister Fang wanted to speak for her but was stopped. Sister Guihua lowered her head.
In the crowd, some felt pitiful and sympathetic and others were happy to see the drama…
Mo Qianxue had no one to turn to…
“Since when my family business has to be decided by someone else?”
The cello-like voice came from outside the yard. It wasn’t very loud, but firm and autocratic.
All the eyes turned to the yard door. The crowd automatically stepped aside to make way for him. Ning Shaoqing paced in, his hand lapping on the back.
The thin delicate lips were slightly closed. In a black gown and with elegant and noble pace, he walked slowly to her, not angry but overbearing.
“Why does Mr. Ning come back from school at this time?” Daunted by his freezing existence, elder Wanger was a little scared.
Ning Shaoqing looked impassive. The chill shooting from him seemed able to freeze people’s heart. He was completely different from the modest and courteous gentleman he used to be, “She is my wife. I’ll monitor her in terms of feminine virtue and appearance. How can I bother you?”
The bright clear eyes met with the muddy ones of elder Wanger, making the latter tremble involuntarily. The ruthless presence had long been crashed by the cold.