The doctor said the two children didn’t have heatstroke, that they were probably just tired from the hot sun, and that resting indoors would be fine. If that didn’t work, they could eat some candy. Although Xu Xiuyun felt a bit strange about it, she didn’t think it mattered much and still let the two children rest at the clinic. The two kids didn’t know what to do next and were feeling a bit lost when they saw Xu Ziyan run in. Their eyes immediately lit up, looking at her expectantly.
The people who had followed her in started muttering to themselves. Wasn’t it said that Xu Ziyan was tormenting the kids? Making them wash clothes, stand in punishment, and now heatstroke? So why did it look like the kids weren’t scared of Xu Ziyan at all and were actually looking forward to her coming?
Xu Ziyan stepped forward to check on the two kids. “Are you two alright? I told you to play by the gate. If you left, you should have said something. I thought you were lost! You scared me to death!”
Xu Xiuyun’s expression froze. What did that mean? Opening her mouth and saying the kids were lost, was she accusing her of stealing children? She sighed and stepped forward. “Xiao Yan, don’t blame them. What do children know? They were lying on the ground saying they had heatstroke, which gave me a fright. It’s not that I want to say this, but on such a hot day, you…”
Xu Ziyan cut her off. “If you don’t know how to talk, then shut up. The children don’t understand, but you don’t either? You just take my kids away whenever you feel like it? Those who know might say you’re kind-hearted, but those who don’t would think you’re deliberately trying to harm me. If I had gone into the mountains just now looking for the kids and fallen down the slope, wouldn’t that be on your head?”
These words made everyone empathize. After all, they were the ones who had just helped search. They immediately started criticizing Xu Xiuyun.
“In this sweltering heat, we searched the mountains for ages, and it turns out you took them.”
“I even went into the river to dredge, scared I’d fish them out. Gave me a real fright.”
Xu Xiuyun hurried to explain, “At the time, the children had heatstroke. I was just worried about them and didn’t think that much.”
Xu Ziyan asked the doctor, “Did they have heatstroke? How come my cousin is so sure they did? They look perfectly fine to me.”
The doctor repeated the diagnosis. Xu Ziyan pulled a few pieces of candy from her pocket and stuffed them into the children’s hands. “I know that. You shouldn’t get too much sun in summer, so I told them to go play in the shade by the main gate. I even went inside to find them some candy to eat, afraid they might feel dizzy. I had the candy out, and then the kids were gone. Isn’t this just causing trouble for nothing?”
Xu Xiuyun said, “It was them who said…”
Fang Nan tugged on Xu Ziyan’s clothes and said, “Second Aunt, Fang Nan felt dizzy at the time and asked Auntie if Fang Nan had heatstroke.”
Fang Bei nodded happily with the candy in his mouth. “Fang Bei felt so sleepy and uncomfortable. Second Uncle said if you feel bad, go to the clinic, so Fang Bei asked Auntie if we were going to the clinic.”
Hearing this, everyone was even more surprised. “So the kids didn’t even faint? They were just sleepy, felt a bit dizzy. A piece of candy really would fix that. What’s going on with Xu Xiuyun?”
Xu Xiuyun said urgently, “I saw Xiao Yan had been punishing them for too long and thought they really had heatstroke. I didn’t expect…”
Xu Ziyan gave a cold laugh and cut her off again. “Xu Xiuyun, you’re really something. So you heard me talking? That means you knew my parents and I were all at home, right? My two kids were at the main gate. If they fainted or whatever, you could have just shouted, and we would have known. If they really needed to go to the clinic, wouldn’t we take them? Who do you think you are, acting like hot stuff?”
Earlier, on the way, Sixth Aunt had told everyone she helped carry the kids over. Now, hearing this, everyone felt even more that something was off. Right, if something happened to the kids, if Xu Xiuyun was worried, she should have shouted. Even if no one was home at the Fang residence, the neighbors would have come out. Moreover, Xu Xiuyun knew there were three adults at the Fang house. Why did she carry one and hold the other, walking to the clinic herself?
Walking like that was laborious and slow. If there was really an emergency, it would be delayed. It would have been better for a parent to carry one each and run over. In a real hurry, the Fang family even had a bicycle. What was she doing? No wonder Xu Ziyan thought the kids were lost.
Xu Ziyan added, “I never noticed before how scheming and sharp-tongued you are. In just this short while, you’ve spread the word that I’m abusing the children. What, trying to show how much better a stepmom you are?”
“I didn’t…”
“You didn’t? Then why did you say all those things to Sixth Aunt? My parents are right here. Let my parents say why I punished the kids!” Xu Ziyan crossed her arms and stepped aside, revealing the old Fangs.
The old Fangs thought back. At first, they both thought Xu Ziyan was using washing clothes as an excuse to punish the kids. But what did Xu Ziyan say later?
“Xiao Yan was angry because the kids dirtied their clothes and didn’t admit it, trying to get away with it. She told them that if they did something wrong in the future, they had to say so and weren’t allowed to try and avoid it.”
Everyone was stunned. Was this something Xu Ziyan said? Their impression of Xu Ziyan was very poor. This girl had stolen chickens and dogs since she was little, cursed her parents, snatched food from her cousin, framed her older cousin, and even used tricks to marry Battalion Commander Fang. She was also bad to the children. Could she say something so reasonable? If that was really the case, then there was nothing wrong with it. Wasn’t that how every family disciplined their children?
Fang Mother looked at Xu Xiuyun, somewhat puzzled. “You heard Xiao Yan say these things to us, right? So why did you say she punished the kids because they didn’t wash the clothes well?”
Xu Xiuyun was speechless. That was just Xu Ziyan’s excuse. Were these two old folks actually believing it? Were the villagers believing it? Before she could think of how to smooth things over, Xu Ziyan said coldly, “Since we were little, you’ve loved badmouthing me everywhere. Oh right, you don’t say it directly. You’re just like this time, pretending to do a good deed, and then ‘accidentally’ telling others, and then they start cursing me, spreading my faults everywhere.”
Sixth Aunt, hearing this, shrank back, her face red. Xu Ziyan said, “Xu Xiuyun, no need to explain. Facts speak louder than words. Everyone, think carefully. You think I did this and that, but did you see it with your own eyes? Who saw it? Isn’t it all hearsay? Where did the hearsay come from? Didn’t it come from Xu Xiuyun? From now on, be more careful. Don’t let her use you as a tool every day. Watch out, or you’ll be the next me, stepped on by her to make herself look good.”
“I’m not! I never did that…” Xu Xiuyun’s eyes reddened as she hurriedly explained.
Xu Ziyan took the two children’s hands and walked out. Seeing Xu Xiuyun cry, the two kids felt a bit bad and looked back to say, “Sorry, Auntie. We shouldn’t have said to go to the clinic.”
Xu Ziyan tugged them. “It’s fine. What do you kids understand? Right and wrong are matters for adults.”
Now Xu Xiuyun couldn’t even explain. Could she blame the two kids for feeling unwell and wanting to go to the clinic? She was the one who said ‘what do children know’. Now those words came back to stab her. No matter how she put it, she was the one who handled things improperly, taking the kids away by herself right outside the Fang family gate.
A “bad person” doing one good deed is easily forgiven, while a “good person” doing one bad deed easily sees their image collapse. Now, to the villagers, the two cousins were exactly like that. Moreover, as everyone discussed it, they realized no one had actually seen Xu Ziyan do bad things with their own eyes. After all, things happened inside the home. Who could go into the Xu house to see?
So how did the news get out? Family shame shouldn’t be publicized. Old Mrs. Xu and the others never said Xu Ziyan stole money. Xu Ziyan’s parents never said she cursed them. Right, it was Xu Ziyan’s younger cousin who said outside that Xu Ziyan always stole his food. That was nothing; other families also had kids snatching each other’s food.
Then there was Xu Xiuyun. Some girlfriends saw she was wronged and asked if Xu Ziyan had bullied her. She told them not to ask, said nothing, but the girlfriends were convinced the fierce Xu Ziyan bullied her. Under persistent questioning, Xu Xiuyun vaguely said she had been framed, but she kindly took the blame, believing her younger cousin would definitely change.
With more stories like this, everyone seemed to know every bad thing Xu Ziyan did at home. Her reputation grew worse and worse. By the time she was of age, no one wanted to matchmake with her. Who wanted a troublemaker? Later, when Battalion Commander Fang was pestered by Xu Ziyan, it further confirmed her bad image. But looking at it today, the Fang family’s two children and two elders seemed to get along quite well with Xu Ziyan. They even spoke up for her. It didn’t look at all like the impression that the Fang family despised her and that she made trouble everywhere.
Could it be that what they usually heard was fake? Was it dirty water Xu Xiuyun splashed on Xu Ziyan? That was too terrifying!
Thus, Xu Xiuyun’s image of a vile person became just a plain image. Although not yet good, people tended to think she wasn’t bad either. Otherwise, why did her in-laws, parents, and stepsons get along with her? They weren’t masochists.
On the contrary, Xu Xiuyun’s image of a beautiful and kind-hearted person collapsed completely. Today, no one else would have handled things the way she did. It really looked like she was deliberately trying to frame Xu Ziyan. They were cousins, neighbors, and both stepmothers. Didn’t folks often say Xu Ziyan was a wicked stepmother and Xu Xiuyun was a rare good stepmother?
Maybe it really was like Xu Ziyan said, Xu Xiuyun was deliberately stepping on her to elevate herself. Everything fears comparison. With this comparison, weren’t more and more people praising Xu Xiuyun? Thinking deeper, in the past, the Xu family only had these two girls. The worse Xu Ziyan’s reputation, the better Xu Xiuyun’s reputation became. Otherwise, how could they have arranged a military officer fiancé for Xu Xiuyun back then?
It was just that Xu Xiuyun was unlucky; her fiancé died. Otherwise, just based on their reputations in their maiden family, the gap would have widened as soon as they married. Country folks didn’t have so many twists and turns in their thinking. Thinking of this, they felt goosebumps rising and looked at Xu Xiuyun with suspicion.
Xu Xiuyun was so anxious she cried, but the more she explained, the faker it seemed. After all, her previous image was of someone who endured wrongs silently. Why was she so eager to explain now?
As soon as Xu Ziyan and the Fang family returned home, they heard the system broadcast. 【Congratulations, Host, for completing the plot: Berate Xu Xiuyun, making the villagers doubt her character. Reward: 1 skill point.】
Xu Ziyan was stunned. 『Which part of the plot is this? Let me see… Oh, this is the plot where Fang Lihai returns to the village, gets gored to death by a wild boar, I discover Xu Xiuyun went up the mountain, suspect she lured it down, curse her out, and end up getting locked up. Huh? So even though the villagers locked me up, they still had some doubts about Xu Xiuyun? That makes sense. Wild boars don’t just come down the mountain randomly. People should be suspicious.』
Fang Father and Fang Mother’s faces turned pale. This was the second time they heard their son would be gored to death by a wild boar. He was their only son left. If they had to bury their child again, how could they bear it? Right, the Great Immortal’s inner thoughts said they couldn’t bear it, fell ill in bed, and then their daughter-in-law took the money and ran, and they died of illness.
They looked at Xu Ziyan. Now that the Great Immortal had possessed their daughter-in-law, those things probably wouldn’t happen, right?
The two children also looked at Xu Ziyan with hopeful eyes. The fairy would definitely save Second Uncle, right?
Xu Ziyan was very happy to have completed so much plot at once. She turned her head and found all four of them looking at her. She was startled and said awkwardly, “Well, uh, I keep my word. Today, you all did as I said, so I definitely won’t hit or scold the kids from now on. Don’t overthink it. I just noticed Xu Xiuyun is always watching our family. I thought she was up to something and wanted to seize the chance to expose her true colors. You saw just now, I didn’t wrong her, right?”
The four nodded. Xu Ziyan was happy again. The start was better than she imagined. The family was willing to listen to her, making things easier for her. If they had opposed her, she probably would have just laid down and waited for the world to collapse. This was probably also related to her good luck. Because she was lucky enough, everything went smoothly today. Even Sixth Aunt’s appearance happened to help her.
So Xu Ziyan waved a hand. “Kill a chicken and stew it. Add some small mushrooms and potatoes, serve it with white rice. Today, let’s eat something good. Don’t worry, tomorrow I’ll figure out how to go out and earn money.”
Fang Mother was a bit reluctant to kill a chicken she had raised herself, but then she thought the Great Immortal might be a weasel spirit that loved eating chicken. She immediately trotted to the backyard to catch a chicken. She had to feed the Great Immortal until it was full. Then the Great Immortal would save her son!