"Xiangxiang’s father, you heard it too, our Zhenzhen didn’t do what that brat accused her of. Let’s just move on from this!"
Old Mrs. Mu was eager to defend her daughter and quickly shot a glance at Mu Zhenzhen, hoping she’d leave quickly.
To her surprise, Mu Zhenzhen wasn’t appreciative at all.
She said, "Dad, did that brat say sothing in front of you? I knew it was her. She’s the biggest liar in the whole family. I’m going to find her."
Mu Zhenzhen was ready to fight as she anxiously rushed outside.
"Mu Zhenzhen, do you really think I’m that foolish? You say you didn’t accompany people to drink and eat, then tell , where did you get these fine clothes?"
"Don’t tell you bought them with your own money. Where would you get the money?
At Zhuangzi’s house, your clothes were taken, as well as your money and jewelry. You clearly have no extra cash.
You tell , how is selling your charms, smiling, and drinking with people any different from those prostitutes in the brothels? You’re utterly disgracing our Old Mu Family."
Mr. Mu’s aggressive words were extrely harsh and left Mu Zhenzhen with no escape.
Mu Zhenzhen was about to explode with rage, just at the thought of her father comparing her to those in the brothels made her furious.
"Dad, what are you saying? How can you compare to the prostitutes in those places, who sell their bodies?
Let be honest with you today, I don’t think what I did is shaful. I’m not selling my body. If you think I’m disgraceful, I can’t help that.
Don’t think I don’t know that you’re afraid I’ll ruin my brother’s reputation. I, Mu Zhenzhen, walk a straight path and have nothing to fear from gossip."
"Is what you’re saying even human? You’re not ashad, you take pride in it instead.
Old lady, tie her up for , and from now on, she’s not allowed to go to town. When she’s married, you can let her out."
Mr. Mu was dead serious this ti; he insisted on disciplining his daughter. Old Mrs. Mu stood frozen, not daring to move.
He called for the sons who were watching the commotion outside.
"Danian, Dazhong, what are you standing around for? Tie her up for !"
"Got it!" Mu Danian and Mu Dazhong readily agreed, and as soon as Mr. Mu spoke, they sohow found a wrist-thick hemp rope.
Mu Zhenzhen had been freeloading at ho for so long, not working a day, yet eating and using better than everyone else.
Mu Danian and Mu Dazhong had long disliked her, so when they exchanged a glance, they decided to be ruthless.
It should have sufficed to just tie her up, but the two deliberately pinched Mu Zhenzhen’s skin from behind.
Soon Mu Zhenzhen was crying out in pain.
The two behind her continued, and she plaintively called out to Old Mrs. Mu, "Mom, my second brother and Fifth are hitting , it hurts! My back is swollen!"
"Old man..." Old Mrs. Mu called out.
Mr. Mu refused to relent. "If you dare to plead for her again, then you might as well leave the Old Mu Family, pack your things and go back to your own family!"
...
...
Yu Si Niang fed the pigs and chickens, but still felt deeply puzzled.
Her own pigs were nothing like those two pigs; they wouldn’t eat and lay there half-asleep.
So, as soon as she got ho, she told her daughter about it.
"Mom, you an the pigs seem off?"
Mu Shuangshuang frowned. Logically, it shouldn’t be like that; these pigs were caught from Wang Erma’s place, and if Mu Dazhong had seen anything wrong, he should have said so.
After all, everyone in the village knew that once sothing was sold at Wang Erma’s place, there was no returning it.
So, villagers didn’t catch piglets from Wang Erma’s place because they were expensive and unreliable.
"I don’t know, but they aren’t eating well. The two piglets in the sa trough don’t even fight for food.
And that’s not all, the chickens your Fifth Uncle brought back are even scarier. They’ve grown rough feathers and soon they’ll be crowing."
Mu Danian left with only one hundred and twenty coins, the chickens he could buy would be no better than the ones from the third branch. They wouldn’t be any better.
Also, given Old Mrs. Ge’s good relationship with Lu Yuanfeng, she wouldn’t give her subpar items.
Mom, just keep this in mind, and from tomorrow, don’t feed the pigs and chickens. It just doesn’t seem right.
"I won’t feed them; not for anything in the world."
Yu Si Niang was also afraid sothing would happen. If sothing did, Old Mrs. Mu would definitely make her husband divorce her.
"That’s good!" Mu Shuangshuang was secretly pleased, thinking that if her mother was this easy to persuade, she shouldn’t have given Old Mrs. Mu another chance to intervene.
After Yu Si Niang stopped feeding the chickens, a few days passed, and soon it was Qixi.
Early in the morning, Mu Shuangshuang delivered so popcorn and cold noodles, hurrying back from town to ho.
Today, Mu Shuangshuang was the protagonist at ho.
It was both her birthday and the Qixi Daughter’s Festival.
On the road, Lu Yuanfeng was quieter than usual, but he stole glances at Mu Shuangshuang more often than normal.
Several tis, he was about to speak but then stopped himself.
Mu Shuangshuang couldn’t hold back any longer.
"Fengzi, is there sothing on my face? Is it dirty, or what?"
Being stared at like a zoo animal made Mu Shuangshuang uneasy.
Little did she know that Lu Yuanfeng had made a gift for her and didn’t know how to bring it up.
"Shuangshuang, are you going with the village girls to pray to the moon tonight?"
A Qixi tradition is praying to the moon, hoping to et a good husband under the moonlight.
"I won’t, because there’s no moon tonight!" Mu Shuangshuang said.
"Ah, no moon?" Lu Yuanfeng was anxious; if there was no moon, what should he do?
"But don’t worry, there should be stars tonight. Who knows, we might even catch a shooting star."
She had no interest in moon-gazing, but shooting stars were another story.
Though Lu Yuanfeng didn’t know what a shooting star was, seeing Shuangshuang so excited made him look forward to it too.
Upon reaching Er Gui Village, the girls who rarely made public appearances ca out, each dressed in new festival clothes, as lovely as flowers.
In contrast, Mu Shuangshuang wore her usual ragged clothes, looking so plain amidst the crowd it was startling.
Lu Yuanfeng suddenly regretted not buying Shuangshuang a new outfit at the town earlier, but he didn’t know her size.
After much internal debate, they found themselves at Shuangshuang’s house.
"Fengzi, co over for dinner tonight. I’ll make sothing tasty," said Mu Shuangshuang.
"Sure, I’ll see if I can find sothing in the mountains later."
Being a festival, just a little bit of at wouldn’t do.
Lu Yuanfeng was eager to head into the mountains, and Mu Shuangshuang also had things to attend to, so after a brief chat, they each went ho.
At ho, Yu Si Niang wasn’t there; upon inquiry, it was learned that Old Mrs. Mu had called her away to make sothing nice.
Mu Xiangxiang from the Old Mu Family was her age, and Qixi definitely included her, but why should her mother be helping with that?
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