“So you can’t do it, then?” Cheng Yao planted her hands on her hips. “If you don’t have what it takes, what are you doing here running your mouth? Get lost!”
She had already been feeling irritated because Zhan Haoting had been unusually distant toward her that evening, and now she had found the perfect outlet for her frustration.
Feng Xianxian’s face turned from green to white. She flung back her sleeve. “Y-You’re being unreasonable and impossible to talk to!”
Everyone thought she was ridiculous. Who was the one who had come here looking for trouble in the first place?
Someone said, “Madam Feng, why don’t you move along? The people from the main branch are all working themselves to the bone, yet you haven’t lifted a finger to help. All you know how to do is wag your tongue.”
“Yao’er, don’t bother with someone who only knows how to stir up trouble. You saved our lives—you’re our benefactor.”
“Only the main branch truly cares about everyone. The second and third branches are all selfish, despicable people who kick others when they’re down.”
Feng Xianxian nearly fainted from anger. “I was standing up for you, and not only do you refuse to appreciate it, you turn around and curse us…”
“Shut your mouth.” Zhan Jinmo spoke coldly.
What an idiot. Did she really think she could single-handedly win an argument against dozens of people in the entire group?
Did she think she was Cheng Yao?
Feng Xianxian’s face went pale, and her eyes instantly reddened.
“It’s bad enough when other people insult me, but even you are criticizing me?”
Zhan Jinmo turned his face away, too lazy even to look at her.
She moved in front of him again and questioned him through her tears. “You once said you would love and protect me for the rest of your life. You said that no matter what I did, you would like me, that you would always tolerate me. But now, you’re not even willing to look at me anymore?”
Zhan Jinmo lifted his eyes. His icy gaze was like that of a man looking at something disgusting.
He did not even need to answer. Second Madam Zhan, who had drunk two bowls of chicken soup and regained some clarity, panted as she slowly said, “Madam Feng, could you stop being foolish? When you two pledged yourselves to each other, you were living in comfort and luxury. Now you’re being exiled, and everyone has to use all their strength just to survive. Who has the leisure to flirt and whisper sweet nothings to you?”
Feng Xianxian bit her lower lip as tears dripped down her cheeks. She felt utterly humiliated.
Someone in the group said sarcastically, “They say love can fill your stomach. Some people really can’t stand going a single day without making love and romance their entire world.”
“She can’t compare to Yao’er in the slightest. Yao’er takes such good care of her husband and even brews ginger soup to save people.”
“A pretty vase with nothing but looks is useless. Whoever marries her is doomed.”
Listening to those mocking remarks, Feng Xianxian felt as though thousands of needles were stabbing her heart. The pain was so intense that she wished she could pick up a knife and stab every one of them to death.
Just then, a slender, fair hand quietly took hers.
She looked up and met a pair of pure, bright eyes filled with sympathy.
“Third Cousin-in-law, don’t stoop to their level.” Shao Yutong’s voice was soft and gentle. “I understand you.”
Those words became the final straw that broke Feng Xianxian. With a loud sob, she collapsed onto Shao Yutong’s shoulder and burst into tears.
“That’s enough!” Cheng Yao was truly fed up with her. “If you want to cry, go cry outside. Otherwise, if you attract the bailiffs, you’ll bear the consequences yourself.”
The moment she said that, everyone truly grew angry.
“Feng Xianxian, just try crying again!”
“Get out!”
She was already so miserable, yet they were still shouting at her. Feng Xianxian felt utterly wretched, but all she could do was cover her mouth and sob quietly.
Her weeping only made the already-dejected group hate her even more.
“All you ever do is cry, cry, cry! What terrible luck!”
“How did the Zhan family end up taking such an awful woman as a daughter-in-law?”
Shao Yutong had wanted to win Feng Xianxian over, but in a situation like this, she moved her lips a few times and ultimately did not dare to speak up for her.
While hurriedly brewing the ginger soup, Cheng Yao kept an ear out for movement outside.
Her senses were several times sharper than everyone else’s. She could detect even the slightest disturbance outside.
Aside from several bailiffs drinking and eating dried meat, there were also several presences lurking around the house, some strong and some weak. Other than hidden guards, she could not think of what they might be.
She decided to leave them alone for the time being and focused on dealing with Zhang Dapeng, who had come looking for trouble.
Another quarter of an hour passed. She sensed that the group of bailiffs was about to disperse, and by then the ginger soup had all been handed out. She quickly told Zhan Haochen and Xiao Fu to move the earthenware pot, bowls, and ginger into another room. They doused the fire with water, shoveled up the ashes, and threw them out the window.
The others were still standing there blankly when she urged them anxiously, “The bailiffs forbid us from lighting fires. What are you standing around for? Hurry up and destroy the evidence like I did!”
Only then did those who had lit fires spring into action.
Zhang Dapeng had drunk several ounces of liquor, and all the lustful heat in him had nowhere to go. When he thought of Cheng Yao again, he could no longer restrain himself and hurried inside.
Cheng Yao was curled up in a corner beside Zhan Haoting, seemingly half-asleep.
In reality, she had secretly stored the earthenware pot and everything else in her space. Not even a trace of ash remained. She had erased every sign of what they had done.
Zhang Dapeng entered carrying a torch, its light casting a grotesque shadow across the wall.
Like a mad dog, he sniffed around everywhere, catching the spicy sweetness of the ginger soup.
He headed toward the room where Cheng Yao had hidden the pot and ginger, and everyone’s hearts rose into their throats.
Strangely, however, he acted as though he had discovered nothing and came storming back out.
“Did you light a fire behind my back again? Did you brew ginger soup?” he roared. “In this remote wilderness, there’s the smell of hot food! Do you take me for a blind man? Or a deaf man?”
An eerie silence filled the house. The only sound was the mournful howl of the cold wind passing through the broken windows.
Everyone was thinking the same thing: Thank goodness he was blind and hadn’t seen any of it.
Hongxiu spoke, her voice timid and aggrieved. “Please investigate fairly, sir… We’ve been chewing cold steamed buns and drinking muddy water the entire way. Since you forbade us from lighting fires, we’ve been trembling from the cold without daring to make one. Where would hot food come from? Perhaps… you’re simply so hungry that your nose is playing tricks on you?”
Zhang Dapeng’s eyes froze for an instant, then his anger intensified. The tip of his knife struck the ground with a clang, sending a tiny spark flying.
His eyes swept over every face like an eagle’s. There was fear, numbness, and resentment—but not a single trace of guilt.
The corners of Cheng Yao’s lips curved upward. For the first time, everyone was standing on the same side. No one had backed down or held the others back.
Good.
Zhang Dapeng fixed his gaze on her. Seeing her curled up as though she might burrow straight into a crack in the wall, he gave a cold snort. “You’re putting on quite a convincing act! If I catch you doing it again, I’ll chop off both your hands on the spot!”
He did not dare touch her, because Zhan Haoting was awake at that moment, his gaze terrifyingly calm as he looked at Zhang Dapeng like a dead man walking.
The footsteps gradually faded away, and the glow of the torch disappeared beyond the doorway.
Cheng Yao slowly sat upright. There was no trace of weakness left in her eyes—only cold, lucid clarity.
After night fell, the entire group finally quieted down.
Everyone found a corner that was slightly less damp and curled up, sinking into a deep sleep.
Yet before long, movement began stirring throughout the house, as if the entire residence were a monster awakening from slumber.
First came a series of dull knocks from the west side room—thump, thump—as though someone were tapping on rotten wood with their knuckles. A bailiff carried over a lantern to investigate, but all he saw were mottled webs covering the walls and a few broken roof tiles scattered across the floor.
But the moment he returned to the main room, he seemed to hear a woman’s sobs again.
The sound was faint and lingering, wrapped in the chill of the night wind as it slipped through the cracks in the door, making everyone’s skin prickle with fear.
A young prisoner needed to relieve himself. He had just reached the courtyard gate when he suddenly caught sight of the wooden plaque above it twitching—not swaying in the wind, but jerking as though someone had given it a shove from behind. The remnants of the character “Feng” still visible on the plaque seemed to glow with an eerie green light in the moonlight.
Terrified, he let out a scream and scrambled back into the room.
The noise woke many of the others. When they questioned him, he could only point toward the gate, unable to get a word out.
