Wrapped in the handkerchief was a small mirror, only the size of a palm, perfectly square, with a picture of two naked figures fighting on the back.
Chuntao's heart skipped a beat, thumping against her chest like two jumping rabbits.
This must have been left by the dark figure last night! Who on earth was he?
Chuntao couldn't guess, but she was clear as a mirror in her heart that it was definitely not Zhou Zhijun.
Zhou Zhijun had already done that to her; he did whatever he wanted without any scruples, and there was no need for him to put such "shameless" things under her window.
Was someone framing her? Putting such a thing under her window to solidify the evidence of her affair with a wild man!
The more Chuntao thought about it, the more afraid she became, not knowing how to deal with this thing.
"Sister-in-law!" Footsteps suddenly came from the yard; it was Wang Xiaohong.
Chuntao quickly wrapped the mirror tightly with the handkerchief and stuffed it into her close-fitting underwear pocket.
She steadied her breathing and walked out of the outhouse. "Xiaohong, you're up?"
"Yeah! I just went into the room and saw the bed collapsed. What happened?" Wang Xiaohong asked, blinking her eyes.
"Two bed legs split, and it collapsed last night!" Chuntao replied.
"I'll go ask Uncle Zhijun later if he has time to come and fix it for us!" Wang Xiaohong said, turning into the kitchen.
Chuntao's heart, however, was in a tangle. Who exactly put this thing under the windowsill?
Those men in the village looked at her as if they were looking at fat meat for the New Year, their eyes glowing green, always saying some shameless vulgar words. Could it be them?
Zhou Ergan? Zhou Zhaodi? Or Huang Meili? Or someone else?
Chuntao's heart was as messy as a tangled ball of hemp rope.
After breakfast, Wang Xiaohong went to call Zhou Zhijun, and saw him sawing wood from a distance.
"Uncle Zhijun, what are you making?"
Zhou Zhijun looked up at her, "I'm going to make two stools!"
"The bed legs at my house are broken, and I wanted to ask you to help fix them!"
"Okay, you go back first, I'll be right over!"
As soon as Wang Xiaohong left, Aunt Zhou took a notebook from under her pillow. "The New Year is getting closer, I have to go to Liu Cuilan to collect the debt!"
"The road is slippery, walk slowly!" Zhou Zhijun knew his mother's ability, but she was getting older and her legs were not agile, so he added, "I'll let Xiaohong and Hongxia go with you!"
When Zhou Zhijun arrived at Chuntao's house with the wood and tools on his shoulder, Chuntao was washing dishes in the kitchen.
Wang Xiaohong led him into the room, and Zhou Zhijun saw the broken wooden bed collapsed on the ground, knowing in his heart that he had tossed too hard that day.
He had long planned to make a new bed for Chuntao, a stronger one, and sawing the wood just now was for this matter. When Wang Xiaohong asked, he casually said he was making stools.
"This bed is old, and the wood is rotten! Even if I fix it, you can only make do with it.
If there is wood, it's better to make a new one!" Zhou Zhijun said while working.
"We don't have any wood at home, those trees were divided by my mother!" Whenever Liu Cuilan was mentioned, Wang Xiaohong got angry. For a man, she didn't even care about her children.
"I have wood at home, I'll make a new bed for you another day!" Zhou Zhijun said lightly.
Wang Xiaohong's eyes suddenly lit up. "That's great! Then my sister-in-law can sleep in a new bed!"
Zhou Zhijun was really a good person, and Wang Xiaohong was grateful to him from the bottom of her heart, but always taking advantage of others, she felt a little embarrassed. "Uncle Zhijun, you have helped our family too much..."
"You silly girl, what are you talking about! We are neighbors and relatives!"
Indeed, Chuntao was Aunt Zhou's goddaughter. Thinking of this, Wang Xiaohong felt much more at ease.
Wang Xiaoming also came over to give Zhou Zhijun a hand, but Chuntao dawdled in the kitchen washing dishes and didn't come over for a long time.
"Xiaohong, go call Hongxia and help your great-aunt go to your mother's place!" Zhou Zhijun ordered.
"Why?" Wang Xiaohong asked in confusion.
Zhou Zhijun glanced at her and didn't answer directly. "The road is slippery, you two help your great-aunt, don't let her fall!"
Seeing that he didn't want to say more, Wang Xiaohong didn't ask further and turned to look for Zhou Hongxia.
Walking to the kitchen door and seeing Chuntao still busy, she called out, "Sister-in-law, Uncle Zhijun is fixing the bed in the main room, you go take a look later! Uncle Zhijun also said he wants to make a new bed for you!"
On one side was Zhou Zhijun's coveting, on the other was Wang Jieshi's suspicion, and now a "small mirror" popped up; Chuntao's heart was a mess.
After washing the dishes, she dawdled for a while before slowly moving to the main room.
Zhou Zhijun was busy and didn't look up at her, saying, "This bed won't last long even if it's fixed, I'll make a new one for you when I have time!"
"No need! This one will do!" Chuntao said in a low voice.
Zhou Zhijun didn't reply, but Wang Xiaoming spoke up, "Sister-in-law, my brother's bed is also small, let Uncle Zhijun make a new bed and you sleep in it first! Later when we have wood, we'll return it to Uncle Zhijun!"
Of course Wang Xiaoming knew the estrangement between Chuntao and Wang Jieshi. He felt sorry for Chuntao and never thought of letting her squeeze into the same bed with his brother.
Wang Jieshi lay in the next room, hearing the words over here clearly, hating it so much his teeth itched, but he could only hold it in without making a sound.
He was now a cripple, and if it weren't for Zhou Zhijun, this family probably wouldn't have been able to hold on.
He was very contradictory in his heart, wanting to tear his face with Zhou Zhijun on the one hand, but unable to do without his help on the other.
He secretly planned that after the New Year, he would implement that plan and let Chuntao get pregnant with another man's child, just to disgust Zhou Zhijun.
Besides, Wang Xiaohong and Zhou Hongxia helped Aunt Zhou and walked all the way to Wang Haichao's house in front of the village.
Wang Haichao and his brothers were huddled in the room playing cards, and didn't even bat an eyelid when they saw Aunt Zhou and the others coming over.
"Where is Liu Cuilan?" Aunt Zhou asked loudly.
Liu Cuilan was snuggled in bed making shoe soles. Hearing Aunt Zhou's voice, her heart skipped a beat, knowing that this old woman had come to collect debts, and quickly threw the shoe soles aside and got under the covers to pretend to sleep.
"Liu Cuilan, come out! If you don't come out, I'll take your family's cow!"
Aunt Zhou glanced at the cowshed; the old yellow cow was tied inside, enough to offset her debt of more than four hundred yuan.
Liu Cuilan panicked when she heard this, but she still didn't make a sound, just pricked up her ears to listen to the movement outside.
Wang Haichao stood up slowly. "Aunt Zhou, what are you doing?"
"What am I doing? Liu Cuilan owes my family more than four hundred yuan. The New Year is coming, and I'm here to collect the debt!"
"This cow belongs to my family. Liu Cuilan owes money, you can't take my cow!"
"Wang Haichao, tell Liu Cuilan to come out! This matter has nothing to do with you!" Aunt Zhou said as she barged into the room. "Liu Cuilan, don't play dead with me!"
She lifted the curtain of the inner room and saw Liu Cuilan lying on the bed as expected.
"Liu Cuilan, I'm here today to collect the debt. I told you a long time ago that if you don't have money, I'll take your family's cow to pay off the debt!"
Liu Cuilan knew she couldn't pretend anymore, rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Don't blackmail people, I don't owe you money!"
Aunt Zhou handed the notebook in her hand to Zhou Hongxia. "Hongxia, read it to her!"
The notebook laid it out plainly: exactly when the money was borrowed, how much was taken, and what it was used for. Every single transaction was recorded in meticulous detail.
As Liu Cuilan listened, her heart clenched tighter and tighter, but she stubbornly refused to admit it out loud.
Wang Xiaohong simply could not watch this any longer and could not help but speak up, "Mother, over the past few years, Uncle Zhijun has helped our family out so much with both money and labor. It is not easy for him to earn a living either. Since we owe him money, we absolutely have to pay it back!"
"Wang Xiaohong, are you really my daughter? Why are you taking an outsider's side? I went through so much hardship to raise you, and now that your wings are fully grown, you turn around and speak for outsiders!"
"I am just telling the truth. Paying back debts is the natural and right thing to do!" Wang Xiaohong said, stiffening her neck in defiance.
"Liu Cuilan, I do not want to waste my breath on you either!" Aunt Zhou turned around and headed straight for the cowshed, preparing to take the cow. Wang Haichao and his brothers quickly blocked her path.
"Old woman Zhou, if you want to take the cow away today, you will have to step over the bodies of us four brothers!" Wang Haihu roared, his eyes completely red.
Aunt Zhou had lived for decades; what kind of people had she not seen? These brothers were nothing but bullies who preyed on the weak and cowered before the strong. They could not scare her in the slightest.
"Hongxia, go get the cow!" Aunt Zhou picked up a thick stick of firewood from the ground and pointed it at the men. "Get out of the way! Otherwise, this old woman will not show you any mercy!"
Just as her words fell, a miserable moo suddenly echoed from the cowshed.
Startled, everyone turned to look, only to see that the old yellow ox had somehow snapped its reigns. Its front legs reared high into the air as it charged violently straight toward Aunt Zhou.
