Liang Maimiao and Xu Erlei rushed outside immediately.
Li An looked at Ye Yunniang, "Mother, let's go see."
"Alright." Ye Yunniang took Li An's hand and walked out of the courtyard gate, heading to Courtyard No. 1.
A crowd had already gathered at the entrance of Courtyard No. 1.
"Aunt Yunniang, come look over here!"
"Yunniang, come up here, you can see clearly from here."
Xu Erlei and Liang Maimiao were sitting in a big tree by the wall of Courtyard No. 2, waving to Ye Yunniang and Li An.
Ye Yunniang and Li An, mother and son, looked up at the mother and son in the tree and smiled simultaneously.
They wouldn't be climbing any trees.
"Yunniang, come watch from inside the courtyard." Someone inside Courtyard No. 2 waved to Ye Yunniang and Li An.
A familiar voice rang out. Ye Yunniang looked up at the person in the courtyard and froze.
"What are you standing there for? Come over quickly." The person inside beckoned.
"Sister Chunyao!" Ye Yunniang exclaimed in surprise. What was Chunyao doing here?
"It's me, come over quickly." Chunyao smiled and waved Ye Yunniang over.
Ye Yunniang led Li An into the courtyard.
"Here, stand here to watch." Chunyao took Ye Yunniang's hand and led her to the base of the wall between Courtyards No. 2 and No. 1. Two long benches and a ladder were placed there.
Without needing to be told, Li An climbed the ladder and leaned over the top of the wall.
Ye Yunniang stepped onto the bench beside the ladder. With one hand guarding Li An and the other resting on the wall, she peered into Courtyard No. 1. It was a lively scene.
Chunxing was chasing Ma Xiaokou with a kitchen knife.
Ma Xiaokou ran while shouting that he hadn't done it.
"If you didn't, then why would she say it's yours? Why wouldn't she say it's someone else's?" Chunxing didn't believe him.
"How should I know? That lunatic Hongyan, who knows what she's trying to do?" Ma Xiaokou had no good words for Hongyan. "We've been husband and wife for so many years, don't you know me by now? Am I the kind of man who fools around?"
Saying this, Ma Xiaokou felt very wronged.
Chunxing thought about it and agreed. Ma Xiaokou was a man who thought of nothing but being stingy and saving money.
Wait!
"If it wasn't you, then how does she know you have a mole on your back?" Chunxing said, raising the kitchen knife to swing at Ma Xiaokou.
"I don't know!" Ma Xiaokou yelled, frustrated and aggrieved.
"It's obvious. Someone must have told her."
"Right, someone told her." Ma Xiaokou nodded repeatedly.
"Who?" Chunxing brandished the kitchen knife.
"Well, don't you know?" Ma Xiaokou's retort made Chunxing laugh angrily.
"You think I would tell that bitch?"
Ma Xiaokou hurriedly shook his head. Definitely not.
"If not you, then who?"
"You figure it out." Chunxing said, waving the kitchen knife again.
Ma Xiaokou shrank back. "I can't think of anyone! I have a mole on my back. My parents and Xiaohui know."
"I certainly didn't say anything." Niu Dajiao stuck her head out from the kitchen and shouted.
"Who knows if you said anything or not?" Ma Xiaokou thought Niu Dajiao, with her big mouth always gossiping everywhere, could very well have been the one who let it slip.
A son's criticism is the most cutting.
"Ma Xiaokou, how dare you speak to your mother like that?" Niu Dajiao grabbed a broom by her feet and hurled it at Ma Xiaokou.
"Oh, my dear mother, please don't add to the chaos." Ma Xiaokou dodged both the broom and the kitchen knife, shouting towards the kitchen.
"Chunxing, how dare you hurt my son! Eldest son, divorce her!" Niu Dajiao stomped her feet in the kitchen.
Ma Xiaokou frowned. "Mother, stop meddling." She really knew how to stir the pot.
"Why listen to her? She's just a hen that can't lay eggs. It's been ten years of marriage, and not a single egg."
"I'd like to lay one, if only your son had the ability."
At this point, Chunxing realized something. "Ten years. You couldn't get me pregnant, so how did Hongyan get pregnant? Tell me, are you doing it on purpose?"
Ma Xiaokou also realized. The child in Hongyan's belly definitely wasn't his. Now he wasn't afraid of being laughed at anymore. "The doctor already said I can't have children. Hongyan is lying."
"So it's you who can't have kids!"
"Chunxing has borne the blame and insults for Ma Xiaokou all these years."
"No wonder Chunxing had no children. And she was always so grumpy. The Ma family never said anything."
"What could they say? Being able to marry Chunxing was thanks to the virtue accumulated by Ma Xiaokou's grandparents."
"If it's not yours, then whose is it?" Someone was more interested in Hongyan.
Many of the women looked at their own husbands and sons.
Suspicion arose instantly.
Niu Dajiao thought of the orchid-patterned silver bracelet on Hongyan's wrist. "Ma Kouzi, you heartless bastard. Pushing your bastard child onto your son."
The onlookers: ...Wow, so that's how it is.
As she spoke, Niu Dajiao charged towards Ma Kouzi, who was sitting in a corner weaving baskets.
Ma Kouzi was already resentful towards Niu Dajiao over the kicking incident.
Seeing Niu Dajiao dare to hit him, he showed no mercy and shoved her hard.
"So what if I slept with her? What are you going to do about it, Niu Dajiao? Behave yourself, and I'll let you stay in the Ma family. Otherwise, get back to wherever you came from." As he spoke, Ma Kouzi kicked Niu Dajiao, who had fallen to the ground, twice.
"Father, don't hit Mother!" Ma Xiaokou stepped forward to stop him.
"Get out of the way." Ma Kouzi had no good expression for Ma Xiaokou either. "Useless thing who can't continue the family line. I really raised you for nothing. I should have drowned you in the chamber pot back then."
"Father, what kind of talk is that?" Chunxing helped Ma Xiaokou up, not allowing her father-in-law to speak to Ma Xiaokou like that.
Protected by Chunxing, Ma Xiaokou looked deeply moved.
"Chunxing, you're so good to me."
"You're my husband, of course I'm good to you. If we can't have our own, we'll adopt a couple of children. As long as we treat them well, they'll take care of us in our old age too." Chunxing had made up her mind and decided to adopt children.
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Ma Xiaokou was filled with emotion. He had always been afraid Chunxing would leave him.
"I forbid you to raise someone else's bastard!" Ma Kouzi was stubborn. He had his own biological child, why should he raise someone else's?
"If you forbid it, then we'll split the household." Chunxing had long wanted to stop living with Ma Kouzi and Niu Dajiao.
One was stingy, the other a gossip, both were annoying.
"How dare you!" / "You can't split up!" Both Ma Kouzi and Niu Dajiao were unwilling to divide the family.
"It's all your fault, you old ghost!" Niu Dajiao blamed Ma Kouzi.
"I just slept with a woman, stop your damn nagging." Ma Kouzi was utterly disgusted with Niu Dajiao.
"Ma Kouzi, you slept with my woman, and you're still acting pretty bold." Wang Qiang's sinister tone sent a chill through the lively crowd.
"I..." Ma Kouzi's courage faltered.
Wang Qiang walked into the courtyard as the crowd parted for him.
"Ma Kouzi, sleeping with my woman doesn't come for free."
"What do you want?" Niu Dajiao rushed forward.
"Mother, don't speak." Ma Xiaokou pulled Niu Dajiao back. In his view, his father had done wrong and should bear the consequences himself.
Ma Kouzi seemed to remember something and straightened his back. "You couldn't make Hongyan happy, she was willing to come to me."
"Adulterers, putting it so nicely." Wang Qiang was furious. He clenched a fist and swung it at Ma Kouzi.
His punch was intercepted by Ma Hui.
"Wang Qiang, my father did wrong. I apologize to you on his behalf. Whatever compensation you want, our family will give it." Ma Hui's attitude was very good.
"My woman was slept with by your father, and she's carrying his bastard. You think a simple apology and compensation will settle this?" Wang Qiang couldn't swallow this anger.
"Wang Qiang, I ended up like this because you forced me into it."
