Chapter 72: The Scoundrel Runs into the Living King of Hell

When Fang Yuan spoke, the whole scene fell silent. After all, everyone was waiting to see how this new daughter-in-law would handle things.

If the young wife got angry and started a ruckus with the Lu family, things wouldn’t end well for them.

Everyone was secretly cursing Li Meng’s family for being so shameless—what did any of this have to do with the new daughter-in-law?

Of course, most people were also eager to see how the second Lu daughter-in-law would deal with the in-laws of the eldest Lu daughter-in-law.

Who didn’t know that the Fang family’s tigress wasn’t someone to mess with? They all wanted to see how the tigress would handle these troublemakers.

Li Meng’s eldest sister-in-law, embarrassed and angry, snapped, “Your family’s in the wrong here. No matter what you say, you’re not in the right.”

On one side, Li Meng’s mother was rolling on the ground, wailing and crying; on the other, Li Meng’s sister-in-law was arguing non-stop. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were working together seamlessly.

Fang Yuan sneered, “Do I, Fang Yuan, look like someone who reasons with just anyone?”

She swung a pole at them. If Li Meng’s sister-in-law and mother hadn’t dodged quickly, they’d have been hit for real.

Li Meng’s eldest brother was so scared he took several steps back. This woman was no pushover—she’d start swinging without so much as a warning!

Fang Yuan said, “Haven’t you heard who I am? If I, Fang Yuan, don’t have my eye on the money in your pocket, you should be thanking your lucky stars. And you dare to mess with me? You’ve got guts.”

Not seeing Li Meng anywhere, Fang Yuan was a bit disappointed. “Your daughter’s behavior—I haven’t even come looking for you about that yet. Since you’re here today, let’s talk. What’s going on?”

A neighbor, Sister-in-law Sun, chimed in, “A scoundrel’s finally met her match.”

Lu Chuan pulled Fang Yuan’s leg off the stool. “Stand up straight when you talk.”

Fang Yuan glared at Lu Chuan. “Why are you so fussy?”

Fussy? Compared to the Li family, who’d come looking for trouble and to extort them, Fang Yuan looked like the real bully—and the whole village was watching.

But Fang Yuan really was a bully. She called out to Lu Chuan, “Get some people over here. Have Xiao San and the others surround them. If the Li family doesn’t give me a clear explanation for what their daughter did today, they’re not leaving.”

No one knew where Lu Xiao San popped up from, but he said, “Don’t worry, sister-in-law. I’ve already sent someone to the commune to get the officials. Let them come and reason with these people.”

Fang Yuan replied, “Reason with them? You can’t reason with scoundrels like these! Why bother? Just surround them for now. I’ll treat you all to a meal later.”

Lu Xiao San was a bit taken aback by his second sister-in-law’s boldness. “Really surround them? Not just scare them?”

Fang Yuan rolled her eyes. “Scare them? In your dreams. They came here to hand over money—how could I just let them leave?”

Lu Xiao San remembered how Fang Yuan had managed to squeeze money out of Li Meng before. He slapped his thigh. “Quick, surround these outsiders! I’ll buy everyone popsicles later.”

The Li family hadn’t even started making a scene yet, and they were already flustered by this turn of events. Why were they being surrounded?

Li Meng’s eldest sister-in-law scrambled to her feet. “What are you doing? Why won’t you let us leave? This is illegal!”

She seemed to forget that they’d come here to cause trouble and hadn’t planned on leaving so easily.

Fang Yuan said, “Don’t think you’re the only ones waiting for me—I’ve been waiting for you too.”

She was so aggressive that Lu Chuan didn’t even have a chance to speak—this wasn’t his area of expertise anyway.

Li Meng had stolen Fang Yuan’s man, and Fang Yuan hadn’t kept it a secret. Right in front of the whole village, she said openly, “Your family did this. A verbal apology isn’t enough for me. So, what now?”

The villagers buzzed around, whispering, “How shameful! They’ve got some nerve, coming here to extort money.”

Someone else muttered, “They’ve run into the queen of extortion herself. Now their dirty laundry’s out in the open.”

Li Meng’s sister-in-law’s face turned beet red. “You’re making things up!”

Fang Yuan retorted, “Making things up? What, your daughter didn’t break off the engagement? You didn’t bring people to smash up the Lu family’s house? Or your daughter didn’t go on a blind date with a commune official? Or is it that your perfectly good daughter just threw herself at someone else for no reason?”

With those harsh words, the circle of women watching outside exploded with excitement—they were even more animated than the people fighting in the middle. That’s the power of gossip.

Over on the side, Gong Er said to Zhang Xiaole, “See? I told you about this, but you wouldn’t listen. Lu Chuan got screwed over by his brother and had no choice but to marry Fang Yuan.”

Zhang Xiaole scowled. “No one’s stopping you from shutting up.” He felt sorry for Lu Chuan—just when the rumors had died down, the eldest Lu daughter-in-law’s family was stirring up trouble again.

They were all here to back up Lu Chuan. They couldn’t let outsiders push him around.

Zhu Xiaosan, ever the schemer, said, “Isn’t this the eldest Lu brother’s problem? Why isn’t he here?”

Exactly. Everyone in the village knew Lu Chuan had sacrificed his own marriage for his brother. Now the eldest Lu daughter-in-law’s family was here, but the eldest brother himself was nowhere to be seen. That was truly shameful.

Gong Er, never one to hold his tongue, said, “What a coward.”

Li Meng didn’t want her eldest brother to come, but he knew that if he didn’t show up, he’d lose face and wouldn’t be able to hold his head up in the village.

As soon as he arrived, he heard those words.

Li Meng protested, “Who are you talking about? Who says we wouldn’t come?”

She went over to pull her sister-in-law aside. “Brother, sister-in-law, you and Mom making a scene here won’t get us anywhere. I told you already, I have no money.”

Li Meng’s sister-in-law made it clear, “You don’t have money, but your younger uncle does. He’s made a lot in the commune. He should take care of this.”

It’s not thieves you have to fear, but people who covet what you have. Now they had their eyes on him.

Fang Yuan had already dumped a bucket of slop over them. “Lu Chuan doesn’t care about this mess, but if it’s my business, you’d better believe you’re going to deal with it.”

Li Meng, now covered in slop, protested, “Who are you throwing that at? Can’t you tell friend from foe?”

Fang Yuan replied, “I threw it at you, of course.” Then she added, “Your family raised a daughter who did something so shameful. Come on, let’s hear it. Pay up.”

She didn’t waste any words.

Li Meng’s sister-in-law said, “Pay what? What’s it got to do with us? I came to get money from you!”

Fang Yuan shot back, “Nothing to do with you? Then why are you here? You think you can just leave after coming here? Pay for the things you broke at the Lu house, pay for your daughter stealing my fiancé—how can you just walk away from what you’ve done? Asking me for money? Dream on.”

Li Meng’s sister-in-law, a notorious scoundrel herself, said, “We don’t have money, and we’re not paying. You… you can’t extort money from us.”

Fang Yuan replied, “This isn’t extortion—it’s compensation. No money? That’s fine. You must have furniture at home. How did you get here? By bike? Donkey cart? Ox cart?”

She turned to Lu Xiao San. “Doesn’t matter what kind of cart—go keep an eye on it for me.”

Li Meng’s sister-in-law tried to stop Lu Xiao San from leaving. She couldn’t let this woman get any ideas. “Are you a bandit? What about the law? That’s a borrowed cart—I can’t give it to you.”

Fang Yuan said, “No problem. If I came to your house for money, you’d have to borrow money to give me, right? This is much simpler. Next time you come, borrow an ox cart. Maybe then we’ll call it even.”

(End of Chapter 72)"