Chapter 502: Ni Ruiniang Strikes Back

Ms. Ni, furious, pointed at Village Chief He and scolded: "You old thing, stop spouting nonsense. My Brother Fang is a man who abides by the laws and customs; how could he possibly be arrested by a government officer?"

Village Chief He chuckled upon hearing this: "A man who abides by the laws and customs would not be involved in an affair before marriage and cause someone to become pregnant, would he?"

Ms. Ni’s face turned bright red with embarrassment as she defended: "What affair? My Brother Fang and Ruiniang are engaged, they are betrothed and not yet married."

"Shameless, to even say such a thing." Lu He Fu could no longer hold back, pointing at Ms. Ni and yelling: "Your Brother Fang is engaged to Miss Gu of the Gu Family, and yet behind their backs, he has the audacity to be engaged to another girl. Utterly disgraceful!"

Ms. Ni, confronted with the scandalous truth about her family, felt humiliated and could only shout louder, waving a kitchen knife: "Scram, scram, scram! This scholar’s wife will not stoop to argue with you farmers; get out of my shop right away."

"Screw you!" Lu Haozi’s wife charged and scuffled with Ms. Ni, crying out: "Give me back my Shuiwa and Zao’er, or I swear, we’re not done."

Ms. Ni, bewildered by the beating, quickly called for Mrs. Ni’s help: "Come and help me at once."

Mrs. Ni hurriedly picked up a broom from near the door and lashed out at Lu Haozi’s wife, and Lu Haozi rushed to her aid.

Village Chief He, seeing the kitchen knife in Ms. Ni’s hand and fearing that it might lead to a fatality, bolted to the counter and smashed the only two jars of wine they had.

Crash! With two sounds, the jars shattered, and wine spilled all over the floor, filling the room with its fragrance.

The Wan Family, recently impoverished to the extreme, had gotten those two jars of wine on credit from the Yao Family in town. Seeing Village Chief He smash the wine, Ms. Ni burst into hysterical crying, sitting on the ground wailing: "Oh no, my life is over! Bandits bullying us in the middle of the night; someone come quickly!"

Village Chief He had not expected that a scholar’s wife could behave in the same manner as a village shrew, gasping with fury, he pointed at Ms. Ni and said: "Don’t claim that a bunch of Old Masters are bullying you. Call out your Scholar Wan. We’ve come on a matter of life and death concerning our village; if you delay this matter with your theatrics, and a life is lost, your household cannot bear the responsibility."

Hearing this, Ms. Ni thought of the seven guests who had suddenly disappeared from her home and panicked, fearing that it might be the wrongdoing of those seven guests that had brought Da Feng Village people to her doorstep?

The more Ms. Ni thought, the more panicked she became, terrified that the seven guests might have committed some atrocity. To protect her own household, she desperately blocked Village Chief He and others from entering Wan Family’s inner quarters, nor did she allow anyone to fetch Scholar Wan.

Seeing the commotion escalate, Lu He Fu, worried that Wan Lifang would hear the noise and slip away through the back door, immediately took ten Lu Family People and guarded all entrances, the back door and corner gate of the Wan Mansion to prevent Wan Lifang’s escape.

...

Ever since Wan Lifang returned from Da Feng Village, he had been worried that Yang Laoda and the others would be captured and implicate him, thus he hid continuously in the old storehouse at home.

Although called a storehouse, it was actually already empty, nothing more than an unoccupied room.

And in this storehouse, aside from him, were the siblings Lu Shuiwa and Lu Zao’er.

Last night, after the people of Da Feng Village discovered Yang Laoda and the others had escaped into the mountains, he considered releasing Lu Shuiwa and his sister. Yet, fearing they might expose him and that the villagers, unable to capture Yang Laoda and his gang, would turn to him next, he had no choice but to tie up Lu Shuiwa and his sister and bring them home.

Wan Lifang had been in the storehouse for a whole day and night, now both thirsty and hungry, he could no longer endure and warned Lu Shuiwa and his sister: "I am going to get something to eat. If you don’t want to starve to death, then behave for your young master, understood?"

Lu Zao’er, barely three years old, was already terrified and confused, sobbing softly with her mouth gagged.

Seeing this enraged Wan Lifang, he raised his hand to slap Lu Zao’er, but Lu Shuiwa hastily blocked with his body, nodding fervently at Wan Lifang to show he understood and would obediently comply.

Wan Lifang kicked Lu Shuiwa in a fit of anger. After calming down, he quietly opened the storeroom door, slipped out unseen, then locked it with an iron chain, discreetly making his way back to his courtyard.

Ni Shiliu was at home tending to Ni Ruiniang and hurried to greet Wan Lifang upon his return, "Young Master, you’re finally back. I was so worried. If you didn’t come back, I wouldn’t know how to explain it to the mistress."

Ms. Ni had asked at least five times today where Wan Lifang had taken the group of guests. Ni Shiliu answered as Wan Lifang had instructed her, but Ms. Ni did not believe it, criticizing, "A group of distinguished guests from Jiangnan, why would they go to the countryside for fun? Are they looking for misery?"

As soon as he entered the house, Wan Lifang rushed to the table and devoured the remaining half of a coarse grain cake, then guzzled down half a teapot of water. After that, he ordered Ni Shiliu, "Go fetch something delicious from the kitchen for me, the young master. I want meat, I want rice. Hurry! I’m starving to death."

Ni Shiliu, always obedient, immediately went to the kitchen to fetch food for Wan Lifang.

But the Wan Family was so poor that they could barely make ends meet, and meat dishes were reserved only for entertaining important guests. With none of the guests present, there was no meat bought today, so Ni Shiliu only brought some eggs, a bowl of sweet potato porridge, and a few coarse grain cakes.

Upon seeing this, Wan Lifang was furiously dissatisfied, swearing as he ate the eggs and sweet potato porridge, then stormed off with a coarse grain cake in hand.

Observing that Wan Lifang had just returned and was already leaving again, Ni Shiliu quickly asked, "Young Master, where are you going? The mistress has been asking about you several times today. You can’t be absent from home anymore."

Wan Lifang turned back and roared, "Shut the hell up! Where I go is none of a servant’s damn business!" And with that, he ran off to the storeroom without looking back.

Ni Shiliu was scolded and, feeling wronged, began to cry. But her mother had told her that she was to marry the Young Master and become his maid, a position that depended on his favor, and she must not offend him, even if it meant smiling through beatings and scolding.

Yet, Ni Shiliu’s heart still ached with grievance.

Ni Ruiniang was still locked up in Wan Lifang’s room, and upon hearing the commotion outside, she made muffled noises from within.

Hearing this, Ni Shiliu entered the inner room to ask, "What’s the matter? Do you need to use the toilet again?"

Ni Ruiniang did not nod but kept making muffled noises. Annoyed by the disturbance, Ni Shiliu had no choice but to remove the cloth gag from Ni Ruiniang’s mouth.

Ni Ruiniang quickly asked, "Shiliu, has only Wan Lifang returned? What about Nanny Yao and the others?"

Ni Shiliu frowned and said, "Miss, the Young Master said not to tell you anything about his affairs. He says you’re restless, hold a grudge against him, and might harm him."

In her heart, Ni Ruiniang cursed Ni Shiliu for being foolish. Wan Lifang didn’t take her seriously at all, and yet she still obeyed everything he said. But she didn’t show it and cried instead, "Shiliu, you know how I’ve felt about my cousin all along. I’ve been heart and soul with him since we were young. How could I possibly harm him? Besides, I’ve given myself to him and even carried his child. If I harmed him, what good would it do me? Who else could I possibly marry?"

Upon hearing this, Ni Shiliu thought it made sense.

Ni Ruiniang continued, "The ones who want to harm my cousin now aren’t me, but Nanny Yao and the rest... Those people are notorious bandits. They wanted to involve my cousin in wrongdoing. I suspect they’ve done their misdeeds and now they’ve run away, leaving my cousin to return alone. If the government can’t catch Nanny Yao and the others once this leaks, they will definitely come after my cousin."