Page 120

Boss and his wife were naturally terrified, but neither of them were as quick-witted as Laosan and his wife when they heard about the two hundred taels of silver, they immediately snapped to their senses.

Lin Jiazhong shouted twice beside his father, and then called out to Lady Yang twice—one just closed his eyes without speaking, while the other simply shook her head, saying coldly, "I wasn’t the one who smashed things, and I wasn’t the one who led the charge in catching the cheater. I don’t have any silver!"

Seeing his mother’s demeanor, Lin Jiazhong also cursed under his breath, calling her an old thing.

Just yesterday, he had seen his mother secretly give money to Laosan for his two grandchildren to buy sweet cakes.

Now when it was time to pay up, she started acting poor!

Just wait, once his two sons were successful in their studies and became officials, this old thing could forget about sharing any of their success!

"It was Laosan’s house that caused the destruction!

You should pay for the silver!" Lin Siyu muttered a few words to her mother, and Lady Ma’s eyes darted before she started shouting at Li Feng’e.

After all, her daughter was destined to enter Master Magistrate’s household now, she would no longer need to suck up to this calculating and shrewish woman, so she might as well tear off the fa?ade today.

Li Feng’e was no pushover either, snorted and said, "I told them to smash things, so what? But big sister, you should know, if it wasn’t for you swearing that you saw Little Disaster Star cheating, would we have come to catch the adulterer?

Hmph, in the end, this whole mess is your fault!

You should be the one to pay the silver! "

"You shameless thing, you smashed it, you should pay!"

"You’re the shameless one! You sold your daughter, you have no shame!"

"You told me to sell her! You harlot!"

"I told you to sell her and you just did? You’re not shameless, you’re an idiot! A blockhead!"

The two sisters-in-law got more and more agitated as they spoke and at some point, they had become entangled with each other, one tearing the other’s hair, the other pulling on clothes, one kicking, the other kicking back, and they started fighting.

Lin Siyu couldn’t keep up her young miss act anymore, she rushed forward and grabbed Li Feng’e’s hair, pulling it fiercely while continuously cursing, "It’s all your fault, all your fault!"

Having never engaged in physical labor, Li Feng’e was quickly overpowered by Lady Ma and her daughter, and Lin Siyu managed to pull out several clumps of her hair.

Lin Jiaxiao, seeing his wife being beaten, also charged in, grabbing Lady Ma’s hair and swinging her around.

Lin Jiazhong had never fought before and didn’t know where to start when his wife was being hit, he just clapped his hands at the side, shouting loudly, "Let’s talk this out, a gentleman uses his mouth, not his fists!"

However, no one who had seen red from fighting was listening—they were still going at it fiercely.

The men who had been involved in the smashing and were about to sneak away couldn’t help but return to watch the excitement continue, occasionally cheering but without a single one stepping in to break up the fight.

Lady Yang did want to stop the fight, but what could an old woman do? She could hardly separate them. Lin Jianling was already feeling unwell, and seeing his family start fighting, he swayed unsteadily. Had it not been for his sheer willpower, he would have probably collapsed already.

Lin Yuan had stopped caring; it was their own people fighting among themselves, saving her the trouble of intervening.

Just look at how viciously they fought—Li Feng’e’s delicate, soft face was scratched with several nail marks, and the usually haughty Lin Siyu had her clothes exposed without even realizing it.

Oh, despite the fine clothes on the outside, the undergarment beneath even had patches!

"What are you all doing, what are you doing! Let go, let go!" The old village chief was furious as he pointed at several women, ordering them to pull the fighters apart. Aunt Wang’s eyes darted around as she snatched the hoe from her son’s grasp.

While loudly calling out "Stop fighting, stop fighting," she covertly kicked Lady Ma, pinched Li Feng’e, and even jabbed Lin Jiaxiao’s body several times with the hoe.

Her strikes were heavy, and each victim assumed the blows were from their opponent, which made them jab even more fiercely. Lin Jiaxiao ended up pinching his sister-in-law’s arm till it turned purple.

Seeing them fight with increasing ferocity, Aunt Wang chuckled to herself.

It was only when more women came over to break up the fight that she began to help pull people apart.

But even as she did so, she took the chance to twist Lady Ma twice in the confusion.

If it hadn’t been for Lady Ma’s big mouth babbling nonsense, Lin Yuan’s family wouldn’t have been bullied today!

Lin Yuan watched the whole scene with great enjoyment, almost ready to clap her hands in applause.

Li Feng’e, clutching tufts of her hair that had been ripped out, glared hatefully at the gleeful Lin Yuan and shouted, "Little Disaster Star! What are you laughing at! You did it on purpose. If you’d told us earlier that the tofu wasn’t yours, we wouldn’t have smashed it!

No way, even if we have to pay silver, you’re also liable! You can’t just count our share!"

"Right, you also owe a share!" Lady Ma, covering the bruise on her arm, joined Li Feng’e’s outcry and added, "You have to pay the bigger share! The bigger share!"

Faced with such outrageous relatives, Lin Yuan was at her wits’ end whether to cry or laugh, "Aunt, Auntie, the cheek of you to say that! When you all barged in here ready to dunk me in the pig cage without letting me say a word, why should I remind you that the tofu wasn’t mine?

Okay, even if I did remind you, would you have believed me? Would you?"

Lin Yuan spread her hands innocently, as if everything had nothing to do with her, although she had indeed intentionally not warned them.

Naturally, the Lin family would not believe her.

If Little Disaster Star had said the tofu wasn’t hers, they would have only thought she was lying, and they would have smashed the tofu even more thoroughly.

However, these words they would not utter, after all, two hundred taels of silver were at stake, and they could not pass up on such a ripe opportunity for extortion.

"Believe you! It’s your fault for not telling us!"

"Right, had you told us, we wouldn’t have smashed it! You deliberately kept quiet so we’d have to pay silver!"

"It’s all you, this was a trap you set for us! You must pay the bigger share! You pay fifty, oh no, one hundred taels!"

"One hundred and fifty taels!"

Looking at the hideous faces of these so-called relatives, Lin Yuan truly wished she could take a kitchen knife and chop them all down!

She indeed had this thought and actually made a move to grab the knife, but the moment she turned towards the kitchen door, she saw that someone had suddenly appeared.

His complexion was as fair as jade, without a hint of scholarly frailty, the broad brows and large eyes adding to his authority.

Only the mischievous smirk at the corner of his mouth betrayed his trouble-making nature.

"It’s you! What are you doing in my house?" Lin Yuan’s brows furrowed tightly. She remembered losing a considerable amount of silver the first time she met him and hadn’t expected to encounter him in her home today, especially appearing out of nowhere.

The corners of his mouth curled up, his eyes brimming with shrewdness and scheming, "You guess."