Zhou Qing was a man whose depth and foresight in viewing matters surpassed Liu Shi’s, so he wasn’t unkind to Li Weiyang. He followed the principle of always leaving some leeway in all matters, so every time he returned home, Li Weiyang would have a few good days.

The firewood in the stove had burned out. Li Weiyang opened her large eyes misty with moisture, thought for a long while, and finally climbed up slowly. Just as she was about to lift her sore and numb arms, a voice suddenly came from outside the door: “Dead girl, you’re slacking off again! Hurry up and clean the kitchen! When I come back, I’ll check whether you’ve been lazy!”

Li Weiyang slowly looked at the little girl standing at the door with hands on hips, glaring angrily. This young girl was only one year older than herself, yet she was a full half-head taller. Not only was she tall and large, her features were originally quite pretty, but her face wore such a sour and harsh expression that it diluted her natural beauty.

Zhou Xiulan stared at Li Weiyang’s delicate face full of jealousy, snorting coldly in her heart. As she walked out, she turned back to instruct her: “Remember to scrub the pot clean, and the floor too—there can’t be any water! Clean the stove top as well!”

Li Weiyang stood in the cramped kitchen, looking at the other’s retreating figure, and suddenly smiled. Using half a double-hour, she finally finished scrubbing all the pots and bent down to begin wiping the floor.

At this moment, Zhou Lanxiu suddenly poked her head through the window and said: “Can you even clean it properly like that? You need to kneel on the ground to wipe! Don’t you even know that! Oh, and there’s no water left in the water vat. Later, go fetch a load of water! Did you hear me?”

Li Weiyang reached out to wipe the sweat beads from her forehead and chin, then continued working.

It had always been this way. As a farmer’s daughter, Zhou Lanxiu also had to work, but she always found every possible way to push all tasks onto Li Weiyang, then would turn all of it into her own credit, going around telling others everywhere how hard she worked, having to care for a noble young lady who couldn’t do anything. Not only that, by the time Li Weiyang could go eat, only one or two cold steamed buns remained, and only a little residual soup was left in the pot. The former Li Weiyang had always cried while working, but the current her didn’t take it to heart at all. No matter how hard the work, she could endure it.

That evening, Zhou Qing didn’t stay home for dinner but was invited by the village chief to be entertained. Someone like him, a steward—the Li family in Pingcheng didn’t know how many such people they had, but in a village like this, he was quite an impressive figure.

Li Weiyang knew Zhou Qing loved his wine. Each time, he wouldn’t return until drinking until midnight, which gave her an excellent opportunity. When deep night fell, Li Weiyang calculated the time, quietly clutched the red silk ribbon she had deliberately kept from washing clothes that morning, quietly rose, opened the door, walked to the fence, tied the red silk ribbon on the fence, then looked for a long while, smiled faintly, turned and swiftly returned to her room.

At midnight, she suddenly heard a sound from the back door. Li Weiyang cocked her ear to listen and heard rustling sounds. She turned over, acting as if she had heard nothing.

Just then, Zhou Qing returned drunk, but saw a tall male figure flash past in his own room. His heart sank, immediately sobering from the wine. He grabbed a wood-chopping knife from outside and kicked open the room door with a bang.

This sound startled everyone in the entire courtyard. But Li Weiyang closed her eyes, quietly listening to the commotion outside. Suddenly she heard a sharp slap, as if someone had been heavily struck across the face, then heard Zhou Qing curse: “You vile woman! While I wasn’t home, you actually brought a wild man back! How shameless! What? You don’t know? I clearly saw a figure dash out from your room, yet you still have the nerve to say you don’t know. I suppose even if I were killed someday, you’d also say you didn’t know.” Another two sharp slaps followed. The person being scolded was clearly Liu Shi.

Not waiting for Liu Shi to defend herself, Zhou Qing shouted again: “Kneel down! I insist you confess who that wild man is! If you don’t tell me, tonight you die.” He heard Liu Shi crying and pleading bitterly: “I’m wronged! How could I do such a disgraceful thing!”

Inside the room, Zhou Qing spat heavily in Liu Shi’s face and said: “Wronged?! Who would wrong you! Who has a grudge against you to wrong you!” Then he began beating her indiscriminately.

How could Liu Shi let this rest? She grabbed Zhou Qing’s sleeve and began to shove him.

Zhou Qing cursed while growing increasingly furious. He grabbed Liu Shi’s hair, dragged her to the ground, kicked and beat her, cursing: “You’ve lost all face for the Zhou family name!”

Liu Shi did have someone outside, but she only ever tied the red silk ribbon behind the fence when her husband and son weren’t home, and only then would he come. Today she hadn’t tied it—how could that man have come! She had been quietly letting him out through the back door when her husband returned! Her heart now felt pierced by ten thousand arrows, unable to catch her breath. Seeing Zhou Qing beat her so viciously, she simply ran outside. Zhou Qing cursed: “You vile woman, come back here!”

Chasing into the courtyard, he grabbed Liu Shi’s hair. Only hearing Liu Shi wail once, she fell to the ground. Zhou Qing was about to beat her again when Zhou Jiang rushed out, saying: “Father, Father, please don’t make a scene, please don’t make a scene! How could Mother do such a thing? Whatever it is, go back inside to discuss it, go back inside!”

Hearing this, Liu Shi immediately understood her son’s meaning. She immediately began crying loudly, determined to make a big scene so Zhou Qing would be wary: “You drank wine outside, your eyes were blurred and you saw wrong, yet you come to wrong me for no reason!”

Zhou Qing laughed coldly: “Wrong you?! Bah! Today I only drank half a jin of wine—not enough to make my old eyes so dim I can’t tell men from women! I never imagined that at your age, you’d still engage in such affairs. All these years I’ve been away, who knows how many times your lover has come. Yet you still pretend to be proper before me!”

“Fine, you don’t believe me? Then I’ll die for you to see! When I die, it will be because the Zhou family forced me to death!” Liu Shi was a shrew. She immediately jumped up and rammed her head toward the wall. Zhou Qing was quick-eyed and grabbed both her hands, cursing: “Who are you trying to scare with death?” With a casual motion, he threw her to the ground, stepped on her chest with one foot, growing angrier as he thought about it. He turned back, pulled out a door bolt, and beat her viciously ten or more times.

Liu Shi’s pig-slaughtering wails transmitted over. Li Weiyang turned over again, the corners of her mouth curving slightly upward. This was called reaping what one sows—evil done cannot be undone.

The neighbors nearby all heard the commotion here and opened their doors to come out. Ma Shi and Zhou Lanxiu in the room had naturally heard long ago, but Ma Shi was the daughter-in-law—how could she dare come out to watch her mother-in-law’s humiliation? Zhou Lanxiu wanted to come out to save her mother, but looking through the window at her father’s ferocious and menacing appearance, she didn’t dare move at all.

Zhou Jiang, seeing the commotion around them, hurriedly blocked Zhou Qing and said loudly: “Father, you’ve drunk too much! In the middle of the night, don’t make trouble and wake all the neighbors!” Speaking thus, he stepped forward to seize the door bolt, pushed Zhou Qing aside, and said in a low voice: “Father, let’s talk this through. If you must use your hands, go back inside the room. Being seen by the neighbors like this is unseemly!”

Zhou Qing glared viciously at Liu Shi. He had already beaten her until she could barely breathe, yet still wasn’t satisfied. He kicked Zhou Jiang viciously: “With me not home, you can’t even watch the household properly! Disgraceful! Quickly help her inside!”

Zhou Jiang suppressed his anger, went up to lift the half-dead Liu Shi. Liu Shi was a shrew through and through—even barely able to get up, her mouth still cursed and muttered about being wronged, crying continuously. A moment later, Zhou Qing’s voice roared: “Shut up! In the middle of the night, what are you wailing about!”

Instantly, the world became quiet—

Hearing all this, Li Weiyang couldn’t help but laugh.