Chapter 2: Escape

“I call bullshit! What the hell do you think you’re chatting about, naked in the haystack, just the two of you? Shameless piece of trash!” Widow Sun’s curses came in a relentless torrent, her dark fingers jabbing straight at Wanyu’s forehead. “Listen here, Wanyu, you really don’t pick and choose, do you? That limp fish Wang Zheng could be your father, and you still open your mouth for him? You’re not picky at all, and you call it ‘just talking’? Ha! You think everyone’s as gullible as that idiot Wanshun?”

Wanshun: … Why the personal attack? I’m not stupid. I’m actually really smart.

Wanyu opened her mouth, desperate to explain.

But Wanshun cut in first: “My foster sister already explained, it was just talking, the rest is all your nonsense. Don’t think we don’t see through you—you’re jealous of my foster sister, jealous that she’s prettier than your daughter, better at finding men than your daughter. You’re deliberately smearing her name, trying to ruin her so she can’t get married and ends up with your fool of a son. I know all your tricks! Dream on! Like a toad lusting after a swan—she’s going to marry into the city and become a lady of means!”

Wanyu was on the verge of tears—she hadn’t, she wasn’t, she never said any of that—but she couldn’t get a word in.

Widow Sun was so enraged she burst out laughing, flinging the spatula in her hand. She pointed at Wanyu’s widow’s face, the skin of her own face twitching with fury.

“Me, jealous of her? What a joke! That little tramp who’ll take anyone—what’s there to envy? If she hadn’t been shouting it everywhere, I wouldn’t have known she was the one rolling in the haystack with Wang Zheng. A shameless whore, talking about getting married? Spare us. Don’t go ruining others. And you call my son a fool? At least he’s got standards and won’t touch something old and rotten. Even if she threw herself at us, the Yang family would call it bad luck. Why would I ever want her? Are you trying to make me laugh myself to death so you inherit my land?”

Widow Sun was huffing and puffing, truly beside herself with rage. Not satisfied, she pressed on without letting anyone get a word in.

“And you dare call me a liar? If Wanyu dares to pull her pants down and prove it, I’ll eat shit standing on my head if that big red birthmark isn’t on her backside. If it’s not there, I’ll do it.”

With things said this far, if Wanyu didn’t strip, she’d never clear her name.

Wanshun gave Wanyu a kick: “Foster sister, do it, we’re not afraid.”

Wanyu was shocked—are you a pig?

Widow Sun sneered, “Go on, strip.”

“Do it, do it…” The lazy bachelors eager for drama jeered from the sidelines.

Cold sweat beaded on Wanyu’s forehead; she was shaking with anger.

“If you won’t do it, I’ll help you,” said a burly woman storming into the crowd, grabbing Wanyu by the hair and throwing her to the ground.

This was Wang Zheng’s wife, Li Meimei—a fierce, hot-tempered woman. She pinned Wanyu down and yanked at her trousers like a ruffian taking what she wanted.

Wanyu broke down, screaming, “It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me, let go, stop! It was Wanshun, Wanshun seduced Wang Zheng, it has nothing to do with me!”

She was babbling nonsense, probably scared witless. Unlike her past life, the timing and circumstances were all wrong; this time, no one would believe Wanshun was to blame.

Wanshun feigned disgust: “Foster sister, I can’t stomach old meat, not interested.”

“Smack!” A slap sent Wanyu’s head spinning.

“Slut, still trying to drag others down? It could only be you!” Wang Zheng’s wife, Li Meimei, was truly merciless; she knocked out Wanyu’s teeth.

A chill hit Wanyu’s lower half—she squeezed her legs together, heart sinking.

The onlookers’ blood was up, especially the old bachelors.

“You bunch of whores, let go of my Xiaoyu!” Wanyu’s mother roared, charging into the fray.

The women of the Wan family followed, fierce and unyielding, only to be pinned to the ground and rubbed in the dirt by the women of the Li family—one and all, young and old, taken down together.

The Wan men tried to help, but the Li men blocked the way. Old Li, the butcher, broad and burly even in his sixties, hefted his gleaming butcher’s knife and grinned at Wan’s father. “What, want to try me?”

The four Li brothers, all butchers, stood before the Wan brothers, imitating their father with cold, mirthless grins. “Want to try?”

The Wan brothers, who moments ago had puffed out their chests, immediately deflated, and Wan’s father shrank back as well.

The Li brothers sneered. “Cowards.”

Wan’s mother was ground into the dirt, pitiful as a slaughtered pig, but with one last burst of strength she broke free, dashing out of the crowd and shouting at Wanshun, “Idiot, come help!”

Wanshun’s spirits lifted—she bared her teeth and yelled, “Coming!”

She charged into the melee, dragged the stripped-bare Wanyu out, and plunged into the crowd of bachelors.

“Foster sister, run!” she called, leaving behind the men’s lewd catcalls and Wanyu’s pitiful screams.

Wan’s mother reached out in rage, only to be yanked back in by Li Meimei’s gang.

Widow Sun skipped and shouted with glee, “Look, look, the red mark on Wanyu’s backside! I wasn’t lying!”

“Really?” Everyone turned to stare at the birthmark on Wanyu’s bare rear.

Wanyu, naked as the day she was born, was dragged through the crowd by Wanshun…

“Aaaah—”

…

“Crash!” An old blue-and-white porcelain cup shattered into pieces.

“Look at what you’ve done!” Wan’s father thundered, pointing a finger at Wanyu. “You can’t even handle a little tramp—what use are you?”

Wanyu’s face was ashen; she’d been beaten and humiliated all day, shaking with fury. Shame hardly touched her, a testament to her thick skin. She blamed it all on that wretch Wanshun—she’d never let her off. And that bitch Li Meimei—once she had Wang Zheng, she’d make her pay.

“I never thought the little tramp would suddenly turn on me.”

Back then, Wanshun would never have gone out of her way to target her, never would’ve made such a scandal and left her with no way to save face. She had changed.

Wan’s father slammed the table, gritting his teeth. “You never thought—there’s a lot you never think of! Useless! You can’t even control a little tramp—what do we do now?”

He’d lost both dignity and face. From now on, he’d be too embarrassed to go out, and the thought infuriated him even more.

Wanyu pressed her lips together.

Wan’s mother moved closer. “Forget the rest for now—what about the Wang family?”

Wang Zheng was an educated youth sent down to Fuan Village. He was a perfect model of the good-for-nothing scholar—lazy, slippery, and always looking for the easy way out. Within a week of arriving, he’d married into the Li family, then headed by the village party secretary, living off his wife and in-laws.

When the college entrance exams resumed, he dreamed of abandoning his wife and son to return to the city as a scoundrel. But the Li family, and Li Meimei in particular, were not to be trifled with. No matter what he tried, he never managed to get away, and he was still stuck in the village. Though he’d aged, his ambition hadn’t died. He still longed to return to the city, never let go of his airs, and always acted superior.

He lived off his in-laws and wife, and yet he wasn’t faithful—he flirted everywhere he went, trading on his status as an educated youth and city dweller to seduce fools like Wanyu who dreamed of marrying up. He painted grand pictures of life back in the city, making promises he’d never keep, and had his admirers utterly devoted to him.

Those dreams weren’t just for others—he believed them himself. Only by doing so could he maintain the illusion of being a city man, always above the rest, sly and conniving, believing he’d return one day.

And so Wanyu and her family, risking the wrath of the Li family, still tangled with this useless old man, thinking that if Wang Zheng rose, so would they. In truth, they were all just fools, deceiving themselves with empty dreams.