Chapter Ten: Farce

  The widow was already notorious for her quarrels, and now she had made a scene at the Qi Xingwen's house. Everyone thought it would be fun to watch, so they followed Qi Xingwen and his wife back to their home, saying they wanted to bear witness.

  Today they encountered so many annoying things. Qi Xingwen and his wife were already in a bad mood, now they have to follow him home, no matter what, it's hard to get excited about that.

  As soon as I arrived at the gate, I heard Xing's widow's ups and downs of scolding: "Poor me! Her ruthless father left early, leaving us orphans and widows to be bullied by others! My good daughter was ruined by that ruthless wolf cub, and our land was also dug up by pigs. This is going to drive us orphans and widows to death! Come, Lixiang, mother will take you to jump into the river and die, it's cleaner to die!" As she spoke, her hand stretched out towards Lixiang.

  Lixiang was scared by her mother and kept shrinking behind Qiang's back.

  Qī Qiáng looked at her terrified little face, thinking of the warmth in his arms just now, and suddenly felt that as a man he should take responsibility, protecting Lì Xiāng. He said to Xíng's widow: "Mother, don't blame Lì Xiāng, we truly like each other, please consent to our relationship."

  As soon as these words came out, everyone was in an uproar. Was this admitting that they had privately colluded with each other? From then on, the way people looked at them was somewhat different.

  Xing's widow had also thought of dying, she only had this one daughter to rely on her future marriage to help support her. But she had set her sights on Qiang, a scoundrel who didn't do honest work and was always sneaking around.

  Today they were discovered by others and told her again. After weighing the pros and cons, she pulled them to make trouble at Qi Qiang's home.

  If she doesn't give her an explanation today, she'll really have no choice but to drag Lixiang into the river. But Qiang is also foolish, he took the responsibility himself and still wants to drag Lixiang down with him, they will definitely be convicted of colluding in secret, and Lixiang will be looked down upon for the rest of her life.

  Xing's widow felt the gaze of the crowd, secretly thinking it was not good, so she pretended to be crazy and ignorant, not understanding Qi Qiang's words, still scolding in a loud voice: "My good daughter, where can't you let people take care of? She was ruined by someone like this! Her father, I'm sorry for you! I helped you raise your daughter well, but she was remembered by that rascal, if I had known it would be like this, I would have relied on her to raise her!"

  Liu had been angry in her heart, and now hearing Xing's widow's tone, she thought that her daughter was a treasure, but her son was that scoundrel who had an evil intention towards the beautiful young girl, and had ruined her family's daughter. She hated it even more in her heart. Who didn't know? Her own Lixiang loved to put on makeup and powder every day and throw herself at Qiangzi, so who actually ruined whom was still uncertain!

  "What you're saying isn't quite right, what's this about your daughter being eyed by some rascal? Who doesn't know that your Lixiang has a crush on my Qiangzi? How can you think of shifting the blame to us? I'm telling you, no way! Liu had long since looked down on this widow Xing, always dressing up like a seductress and swaying around the village, hooking men's souls while pretending to be noble, really thinking everyone is infatuated with her!"

  As soon as Liu said this, Xing's widow's face turned black, knowing that she couldn't pretend to be stupid anymore. If she continued to pretend, the reputation of being a seductress would definitely fall on her own head. Just as she was about to retort, Qi Qiang preempted her.

  "Mother, I really like Lixiang, just let me marry her. Didn't you say that if I helped you with the sale of the house, you would agree to anything? I want to marry Lixiang." Qiang also realized at this moment that he couldn't let Lixiang's reputation be ruined. His mother didn't like her anyway, and if she dragged this reputation along, his mother would definitely not agree to let her into their family.

  It's better not to mention this matter. As soon as it was mentioned, Liu was even more furious. "I'd rather die than let that girl into our family!"

  Lixiang saw Liu's strong attitude, while Qi Qiang was weak and soft, she felt angry and anxious in her heart, regretting not listening to her mother's words and finding such a spineless person.

  Lixiang emerged from behind Qijiang, and only then did everyone notice that her clothes were disheveled. They also took a look at Qijiang, who didn't look much better off. In an instant, they knew what had happened earlier. The look in their eyes betrayed their disdain.

  Rika naturally felt their gaze, but now was not the time to worry about that. If she couldn't settle things today, her whole life would be ruined. So she knelt down resolutely.

  Xing's widow saw Lixiang kneel down, her heart was anxious, this one kneel made the morale low, afterwards even if entering the door also will be grasped by Liu's family tightly.

  Ms. Liu was indeed delighted that Lixiang could retreat without harming the reputation of her family's strong son, and she could magnanimously let her off.

  "Auntie, I know what I did today was wrong. I admit it's all my fault. Please don't blame Qiangzi... sobbing uncontrollably."

  Qī Qiáng was stirred by her words, a good woman willing to bear a bad reputation just to protect him, how could he not be moved. He supported Li Xiang and tried to pull her up.

  Lixiang raised her head and looked at him with tearful eyes, which made Qizhong's heart skip a beat.

  "Brother Qiangzi, I hope to meet you again in the next life." As soon as she finished speaking, before anyone could react, she crashed into the table with the Guanyin Bodhisattva statue.

  The table was made of wood cut down from Dapeng Mountain. The trees on Dapeng Mountain are generally very old, so the wood is very thick and hard. Lixiang bumped into it and her head started bleeding, and she fainted.

  Xing's widow was the first to wake up, crying as she went over to hug Lixiang, crying so hard that she almost fainted. Qi Qiang was also startled awake by her cries and hastily moved to her side, his hands trembling with fear as he dared not touch Lixiang.

  The old man remained calm and shouted: "Quickly go find some grass and ash."

  Zi Xingwen also calmed down from this commotion, looking at Liu with a blaming gaze. On the way back, they had already vaguely guessed what was going on and had discussed that Liu would be the one to take the lead, after all, he was a man and it wasn't good for him to flirt with Xing's widow. But she was fine, as soon as she spoke, she almost drove someone to death. If this person really died in his house, even if he was in the right, he would become wrong.

  Liu was also confused by Lixiang, usually looking at the soft and weak little girl, did not expect to have such a fierce personality, and still protecting her son like this. Looking at her lying on the ground with non-stop bleeding from her head, she felt very complicated inside.

  Mr. Qi didn't want to see the scene of Zhen'er being sold, so he went down to the ground early and had lunch sent by Zhen'er's grandmother in the field. They also vaguely heard some rumors related to their own family while working in the field, and they rushed back without even collecting their things. As soon as they entered the door, they saw that the courtyard and the main room were crowded with people, and they could still hear heart-wrenching crying sounds.

  "What's going on?" Qi Lao Tou's calm voice sounded in everyone's ears, and people turned their heads to see him, making way for him. Qi Lao Tou also walked into the hall unimpeded and saw the chaotic scene before his eyes.

  "People have become like this, how can they still be lying on the ground? Hurry up and carry her into the house." Old Qi gave the order, and only then did Qi Qiang react, he hastily picked up Lixiang and carried her to his house.

  Liu had wanted to stop him, but was deterred by Old Qi's glare. In his heart, however, he was still displeased - how could he possibly take an unmarried woman into his own bed?

  Xing's widow had wanted to follow the past, but thinking that Lixiang had already applied fragrant ash to her forehead and was no longer bleeding, if she didn't take advantage of the situation to settle this matter now, later on it would be a case of "the night is long and the dreams are many". So she stayed behind and knelt down in front of Old Qi.

  "Old master, you must take charge for my family's Lixiang. As a widow, I'm relying on this daughter alone, and now she's been to the gates of hell, I really owe her an apology."

  "Old Xing's family, you get up first, we have something to discuss. The children are all grown up and have their own thoughts, it's normal, don't blame yourself. I will definitely give you an explanation for today's matter." He then asked Qi Xingwen to go fetch a rattan stick.

  Liu's heart skipped a beat, just as he was about to speak up for Qi Qiang, but was pulled back by Qi Xingwen. This old man clearly had the best solution, just now Li Xiang made such a fuss, everyone would definitely be biased towards her side, besides, this kind of thing is always the girl's fault. Now that the old man has beaten Qi Qiang, it's like giving everyone an attitude, and when this gets out, people won't all be biased towards Li Xiang's side either. From now on, things will be easier to handle.

  "Feng'er, go and accompany Lixiang, let your brother come out." Qi Feng'er shuddered when he saw the rattan stick. His father had just laid a heavy hand on him, and his body was still burning with pain. Hearing the old man's words, he quickly ran to Qi Qiang's room to call him out.

  Qī Qiáng watched as his grandfather held the rattan stick, and his heart felt a sense of trepidation. In recent years, it was always his parents who were in charge at home, and he had almost forgotten how fierce his grandfather could be. Now that he saw him holding the rattan stick, he suddenly recalled the terrifying scenes of his grandfather beating people.

  Tengtiao was dragged by Qizhong, he jumped and hid, crying out: "Mother, mother save me, father will beat me to death."

  Liu felt a sharp pain in her heart, what kind of sin had she committed? Her dear daughter and son were both beaten with a rattan stick today.

  Zi Xingwen saw that Lao Yezi was almost out of breath and quickly stopped him, fearing that if they continued to fight, things would get out of hand.

  Finally, Qi Qiang was carried back home. His house was occupied by Lixiang, so Liu Shi had to arrange for him to live in Qi Qiang's second uncle's house.

  These years, although Qixing Wu and his family didn't come back, they still spent the New Year together. Qi Zhen'er's grandmother liked her second uncle very much, so she kept their house for him and regularly went to clean it. The house was very clean, and Qi Qiang lived there comfortably.

  Next, Old Qi gave a explanation to Mrs. Xing: "My son Qiang, you also saw him grow up, although he's mixed with some bad crowds, his heart is still kind and he truly likes your daughter Lixiang. Today I'll take the initiative to be the matchmaker for him and your daughter Lixiang, what do you think?"

  Mr. Qi's words were polite and saved Lixiang's face. Besides, now that things have turned out like this, what else could she do?

  Xing's widow hastily said: "They are young and have this idea, we as parents can't help but go along with them. I also think Qiangzi is not bad, but the three matches and six etiquettes must still be done properly. My family only has Lixiang one child, I also cannot wrong her."

  Liu saw that she had proposed this condition and was about to get angry again. Fortunately, her family was willing to give a quilt to cover her shame, Xiang Lixiang should be grateful, and still dared to ask for three matches and six gifts.

  Mr. Qi nodded without batting an eyelid, his face even breaking into a smile as if he was genuinely happy for the young couple, as if those shameful things had never happened at all. The onlookers couldn't help but sigh in admiration, "Ginger is still spicy even when it's old."

  The matter ended with a grand finale, and everyone reluctantly dispersed, still discussing it in twos and threes.

  After seeing off the crowd, Old Qi's face also turned dark.

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