Fang Nan spoke clearly and quickly explained the whole story from beginning to end. By the time Xu Xiuyun realized something was wrong and ran out to stop him, it was already too late.
Song Jiao saw her and immediately demanded she back her up. “Mom, tell them! You saw it, didn’t you? It was Xu Ziyan who deliberately made them wash the rice and pick out the stones, she was deliberately bullying them! They said I was lying and framing them, but I wasn’t lying!”
Everyone looked at Xu Xiuyun. Xu Xiuyun took a deep breath, her face showing surprise. “I just said, ‘So they’re so meticulous when picking stones for their meals.’ Jiao Jiao probably misunderstood and thought my sister was… uh, no, she misunderstood and thought my sister was being mean to them. After all, Jiao Jiao usually just plays and has never done this kind of work.
It’s normal for a child not to understand. Everyone, please don’t take it to heart.”
She then smiled at the children. “Little Nan, Little Bei, don’t be angry. Auntie will give you some candy.”
Fang Nan and Fang Bei shook their heads. “We have candy Mom gave us.”
Song Jiao, however, shoved Xu Xiuyun away angrily. “How could you? You’re taking their side! I’m never talking to you again!” After saying that, she ran back into the house, crying.
Xu Xiuyun gave everyone an awkward smile. “She’s still young. I’ll go comfort her.”
“Stop right there.” Xu Ziyan came out of the house, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. “What, you think you can just spread rumors and walk away? Using a child to spread lies, do you have no bottom line at all? All day long, with every word you imply that I abuse children and that I’m a wicked stepmother. Seems to me the one who’s truly bad for children is you, right? What kind of person who truly loves a child would use them to spread gossip, turning her into a gossipmonger? Ruining my reputation isn’t enough, now you want to ruin Song Jiao’s reputation too?”
Xu Xiuyun’s face changed. If the matter had been brushed aside ambiguously, everyone would have just chalked it up to a child babbling nonsense. After all, such things happened often; kids overheard adults talking and went out repeating things. But with Xu Ziyan pointing it out so explicitly in public, the matter became troublesome. If she couldn’t explain it clearly, Song Dongbo would definitely be angry.
Xu Xiuyun sobbed. “Does one improper thing I did mean I’ll be harped on for the rest of my life? Last time, I was worried about the children and sending them to the clinic was me being too hasty and not handling it well. I apologize to you, okay? I really didn’t and have no reason to cause trouble for you. What good would that do me, I…”
“Oh, there’s plenty of good. The benefit is letting everyone see I’m the wicked stepmother, highlighting that you’re the exceptionally good stepmother. Just like before, highlighting how kind, virtuous, diligent, capable, gentle, and amiable you are. Naturally, everyone likes you more, your life becomes easier, and your vanity is greatly satisfied.”
Xu Ziyan didn’t give her a chance to speak, mercilessly continuing, “From now on, stop staring at my house. Did I eat your family’s rice? Whether we pick stones or not, is it any of your business? Even if I only ate stones and threw the rice away, you’d have no right to interfere. We’re both neighbors, how come Old Lady Lin on the other side of my house isn’t as meddlesome as you? And we’re even relatives.
Judge things by their results. From childhood till now, all my bad reputation has been connected to you. You’re not innocent. Everyone here is smart. You can fool them for a year or two, but you can’t fool them for a lifetime. Isn’t that right, everyone?”
“That’s right! The masses have sharp eyes! We’ve been through so much, what can’t we see? How come no one else says these things, only you and your child go around calling her a wicked stepmother? What a coincidence.”
“Exactly, why are you so meddlesome? What are you always peeking into their yard for? If I saw it, I’d think the two kids were playing while washing rice. How did you know they were picking stones and being so meticulous? That means you watched for a long time. Why are you always watching them? Mind your own business.”
Xu Ziyan added, “And what you just said was also insinuating. What did you mean ‘Song Jiao thought I was again… again what?’ You just wanted everyone to think I’ve always bullied the children, right? If you have evidence, bring it out. If you have witnesses, find them. Today, you make it clear for me. Which of your eyes ever saw me bully a child?”
The villagers chimed in. “Don’t Fang Nan and Fang Bei know who’s good and who’s bad? Fang Bei is only five, and he still defends his mom so fiercely. That shows Xu Ziyan treats him well. Xu Xiuyun, did you ever actually see her bully the children? Speak up.”
Fang Bei lowered his head with a slight twinge of guilt. The one he was defending wasn’t the original stepmother, but the Fairy Mom. But since the person next door was bad, he didn’t need to explain. It was good if he could help Fairy Mom. Maybe Fairy Mom would give him sweet candy again.
Thinking of this, Fang Bei ran to Xu Ziyan’s side and grabbed her hand. Seeing this, Fang Nan also stood beside Xu Ziyan, though since he was older, he was too embarrassed to hold her hand.
Seeing this, the villagers had even more to say. “Look at that, see how much the two kids like Xu Ziyan? Meanwhile, Song Jiao doesn’t seem that close to you. She just said she’d never talk to you again.”
Xu Xiuyun was caught in a dilemma, her face shifting through expressions. Seeing everyone staring at her, demanding an answer, she could only say through tears, “I never said my sister bullied the children. I never said that to anyone.”
Xu Ziyan picked up the thread. “Right, you just said a few ambiguous sentences, letting others misunderstand and think I bully children. And when I finally come to settle accounts with you, you just say ‘I never said that’ and shift all the blame and wash your hands of it. You’re really good at this.”
Sixth Aunt stepped forward angrily. “Isn’t that just it? That day Xu Xiuyun took the two kids to the clinic. I asked her what happened, and she said the kids had heatstroke from washing too many clothes, and that Xu Ziyan wasn’t satisfied with how clean they were and made them stand in the hot sun as punishment.
She didn’t outright say Xu Ziyan bullied the children, but you all judge for yourselves, wasn’t that the meaning of her words? I misunderstood at the time and even scolded Xu Ziyan for being vicious, saying wasn’t this just tormenting people? I even said how could two sisters from the same family be so different?
Xu Xiuyun heard that and didn’t refute it, wasn’t that just tacit agreement? What was I supposed to think? I naturally thought Xu Ziyan was bad, always bullying the kids.”
Everyone knew about that incident, but this was the first time they heard these details. They immediately erupted.
“Xu Xiuyun, you’re too much of an actress! You were using us as your weapons! We’re fellow villagers, how could you be so wicked?”
“She has too many schemes. We can’t play these games with her. Let’s stay away from her from now on.”
“Looking at it this way, who knows how many times she’s misled us like this before? Everyone, remember this. From now on, don’t believe what Xu Xiuyun says. Be careful you don’t get sold out and end up counting the money for her.”
Sixth Aunt said with lingering fear, “Isn’t that exactly what happened to me? That day I almost got into a fight with Xu Ziyan. Luckily, I found out the truth, otherwise I would have wronged a good person and made an enemy for no reason.”
She was genuinely afraid. Originally, the villagers all thought Xu Ziyan had shamelessly latched onto Battalion Commander Fang. The fact that Battalion Commander Fang left on his wedding day also showed he didn’t like this wife. So they all looked down on Xu Ziyan. Combined with Xu Ziyan’s terrible reputation, they usually spoke about her without restraint, feeling self-righteous about protecting the Fang family children.
But Xu Ziyan wasn’t that kind of bad person. She got along quite well with the old and young of the Fang family. When Battalion Commander Fang came back and saw his parents and children were so close to Xu Ziyan, would he still hold a grudge about the past? He would definitely live a good life with Xu Ziyan. Then Xu Ziyan would be the battalion commander’s wife, an official’s wife.
Offending Xu Ziyan would be like offending Battalion Commander Fang. Battalion Commander Fang was the most accomplished person in the village. Forget about trying to climb up and gain some benefit, you shouldn’t offend him. It was all Xu Xiuyun’s fault for misleading her, nearly harming her. Sixth Aunt’s gaze at Xu Xiuyun was sharp enough to cut.
Xu Xiuyun never imagined that a small, spur-of-the-moment trip-up would develop into this. It was like throwing out a small stick to hit someone, only to have a knife come swinging back at her.
She truly tried to steal a chicken only to lose the grain, and lose the lady and her escort on top of it.
What else could Xu Xiuyun say? She could only sob, “I didn’t. I’m just shy by nature. Sometimes I don’t know how to respond, so I stay silent. I really didn’t deliberately harm anyone.”
After saying that, she ran into the house, crying loudly as if she had suffered immense injustice.
The villagers scoffed and said to Xu Ziyan, “Don’t worry, we all believe you. We definitely won’t listen to her nonsense. But you too, all these years, being misunderstood and not saying anything. If you had explained to everyone earlier, you could have exposed her long ago.”
Xu Ziyan smiled. “The innocent need not explain themselves. Back then, with all those family matters, if I was the only one running out to explain, how could everyone believe me? No one would have testified for me. It’s not like now, where the two kids are willing to help me.”
Everyone thought about it, and it was true. Before, the rumors were all about how Xu Ziyan was in her maiden family. That old Xu family was so biased. If Xu Ziyan had come out to explain, the Xu family would have said who-knows-what about her. Last time, it was clearly Xu Xiuyun in the wrong, but didn’t they still help Xu Xiuyun and tell Xu Ziyan to get lost? It even led to splitting the family, showing just how biased they were.
Everyone comforted Xu Ziyan. Xu Ziyan then said, “I’d like to ask everyone for a favor. Help me raise the courtyard wall, high enough that you can’t see into the yard. I’m really scared of her watching me every day.”
Very few people in the village built brick walls; most used fences, as building walls was expensive. However, the Fang family had an officer, so they were well-off. They had built a wall a few years ago. Now, to avoid being watched by a neighbor, raising it a bit higher was nothing, a special circumstance.
Several strong laborers immediately agreed to help. The matter was settled. Everyone chatted at the main entrance for a while longer before dispersing.
【Congratulations, Host, for completing plot points: Sowing discord between Xu Xiuyun and her stepdaughter, damaging the relationship between Xu Xiuyun and Song Dongbo, ruining Xu Xiuyun’s image in the village, hypocritically deceiving the villagers, raising the courtyard wall. A total of five plot points completed. Reward: Five skill points.】
Xu Ziyan felt slightly awkward. These bad deeds were indeed done by the original host; after all, she was the villainess. Although the original host didn’t know Xu Xiuyun’s true face, having grown up under the intense ‘control group’ halo, she resented Xu Xiuyun from the bottom of her heart and, of course, couldn’t bear to see Xu Xiuyun do well.
So the original host intentionally or unintentionally tripped Xu Xiuyun up. Of course, in the original plot, Xu Xiuyun found ways to turn things around, letting everyone know the truth and making them despise the original host even more.
Xu Ziyan’s expression remained calm. She thought to herself that to complete missions, one needed a thick skin. Since those plot points hadn’t happened yet, she might as well treat them as non-existent. Anyway, she was Xu Ziyan now, and she wouldn’t do those wicked things. Even her dealing with Xu Xiuyun was just speaking the truth.
As for deceiving the villagers, the original host was the one who, after Fang Father and Fang Mother fell ill later on, pretended to be anxious and privately borrowed money from several people, then ran off with the family’s money. As for her, of course, she was clearing her name. After all, the past things weren’t done by her. She still had to continue living here, and reputation was important. So she’d thicken her face and clear her name, while incidentally moving the plot along.
See, she completed five plot points at once. She really was a little clever devil.
Sure enough, after increasing her intelligence, completing missions became more resourceful.