Li Qingmu was blocked, and a hint of delight flashed imperceptibly in his deep eyes.
The two of them exited one after the other, seeing the door being pounded loudly. Long Yue pouted, showing disdain.
She stepped forward but instead of facing the front, she circled to one side of the door latch, pretending to pull it.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Li Qingmu agilely dodge to the side.
This... this man is very cunning!
"Click!"
"Bang!"
A figure lunged straight in.
"Ouch!"
Aunt Liu was having a great time banging, but she stumbled in, rolling twice on the ground before stopping. Just as she clutched her sore forehead, ready to get up and start scolding, Long Yue spoke first.
"Yo~ Did a wild boar from the mountain rampage into the village? Look at my door panel, you've almost battered it to pieces. You can't leave without paying for it!"
"Pfft!"
A small snicker came from the side. Li Qingmu reached out and pulled his fourth brother out from the haystack, squinting and smiling, "Did you cause trouble again?"
"Boo hoo hoo..."
The little guy shook his head vehemently, with his mouth covered. Li Qingmu nodded, "Looks like you're guilty then."
"...Third Brother, I was wronged. I finally caught a wild rabbit. As I walked past their house, his son Pang Hu saw it and tried to grab it. I refused, and then a fight broke out, and I ended up scratching him..."
He muttered softly, but his voice was soon drowned out by Aunt Liu's loudspeaker.
"Compensate your big head ghost, this old lady is going to make you pay! That little brat has got some nerve, even daring to hit people?!"
Aunt Liu came here to ask the Li family for compensation, but she hadn't even started complaining when she was instead asked to pay for the door, which infuriated her into cursing and spinning tales.
Mrs. Li Zhou cautiously stepped out, timidly asking, "Sister Liu, what's going on? Let's talk this through peacefully..."
"Talk, my foot! Your family's fourth hit my little Tiger, and now that little minx of yours did this to me, and you still want me to talk pleasantly? No more nonsense, compensate immediately! The scratches on my son's arms, plus my forehead's bruise, it's three taels of silver, not a copper coin less!"
Mrs. Li Zhou shivered at the claim: "Thre... three taels... Sister Liu, that's daylight robbery..."
"What? Trying to avoid a debt? Are you forcing me to bring my vegetable knife into this?"
Hearing her repeatedly refer to herself as the "old lady" while calling her a little minx, Long Yue wouldn't allow her to be so arrogant. She rushed up and dragged Aunt Liu by the hair, hitting her against the wall.
"Three taels of silver? I reckon for you and your son, a trip to the clinic would cost at most thirty copper coins! Here, let me help a bit more and bash your head and face open to match up to three taels altogether!"
Long Yue had astonishing strength. Caught off-guard, Aunt Liu was yanked towards the lime wall, terrified out of her wits.
"Ah, ah— no, don't! Mrs. Li Zhou, control your daughter-in-law. Oh dear, this little shrew, Evil Woman Li, Qingshui Village bully! Help—"
"Ha, since you know I'm Evil Woman Li, yet you still dare to come up, who else would I beat if not you?"
Aunt Liu howled miserably, while Long Yue just sneered, pinning her head against the wall, her strength making Aunt Liu's head ache, just like the tightening spell on Monkey Sun, painful enough to wish for death.
Who are you trying to scare with those claws? Just a paper tiger!
Recalling how she was reviled as "Evil Woman Li" in her past life, yet she'd merely had a bad temper, where did 'wicked woman' come into it? Now, in this new life, Long Yue felt it necessary to live up to that nickname.
Aunt Liu, trembling in fear, looked at the wall just inches away, bursting into tears to Mrs. Li Zhou, "Mrs. Li Zhou, if you don't control your daughter-in-law, you're trying to make a murder out of this, save us, neighbors, help..."
"Third daughter-in-law's, let her go, don't really make something happen..."
Seeing neighboring villagers gathering already, Mrs. Li Zhou turned pale with fear, hurriedly pressing Long Yue to release her.
Long Yue hadn't really meant to hurt her, just wanted to scare her, who'd known she couldn't take a scare.
She released the other, saying icily, "Scram! Come around causing trouble again, and you won't need this head anymore!"
"You..." Aunt Liu held her head, hurting terribly, furiously pointing at Long Yue and swearing, "Little hussy, mark my words. This isn't over, this old lady will make sure you come to a bad end sooner or later!"
Finishing her curses, she feared Long Yue would strike again, so she quickly scampered off.
Once she left, Mrs. Li Zhou panicked, on the verge of tears: "What... what should we do? That Sister Liu has a big family, if it gets serious..."
Long Yue frowned, seeing her wringing her clothes hem as she spun in helpless circles, irritably stewing. This world ran on a law of the jungle: the weak get consumed, and if you aren't tough, others would exploit you till you couldn't fend for yourself.
"Mom, Aunt Liu was picking a fight on purpose. Their Pang Hu was at fault first."
Little brother A qiu poked his small head from behind Li Qingmu to say, only to be pushed back, "Why didn't you step up before?"
Li Qingqiu mumbled weakly, "She's strong, I'm not as fierce as Third Sister-in-law."
"Hmm, then eat more, get strong enough in the future to face against her."
"Third Brother, our family doesn't have that much food."
Long Yue knew Li Qingmu said this to ease the atmosphere, to keep Mrs. Li Zhou from worrying too much. But little brother wasn't cooperative, making it awkward.
Mrs. Li Zhou continued fretting, wringing her clothes, while Li Qingmu said, "Mom, don't worry. When they come looking later, let them deal with me."
Long Yue watched him, recognizing he was backing her up. Feeling warm inside, she followed him indoors when he entered.
Inside, Li Qingmu spread out the scholar's four treasures.
His usual income came from painting and writing, selling to decoration shops, or copying books for people.
His paintings and calligraphy were always good, but because of his low status, the selling price wasn't high, just enough to barely cover the family's food.
But supporting his yearly schooling costs or exam expenses was a bit difficult.
Old Li had a leg ailment, which hurt come winter, costing a lot for medicine, let alone doing farm work.
Elder and second brothers could work, but since they had no land, they could only be tenants with meager income. And bad luck, second brother's wife, Mrs. Zhang, liked diverting the Li family's money to her own family.
Mrs. Zhang's family had an elder sister who, to continue the lineage, married a son-in-law into her family, and they'd had a big boy two years ago, becoming the Zhang family's darling. She often visited her family, always bringing plenty of supplies along with a few ounces of silver.
All these expenses were covered by her husband's money from selling art pieces.
Long Yue thought she needed to have a talk with her husband, that their earning should be carefully protected.
She remembered Li Qingmu participating in the prefectural exam this year and succeeded, but on his way back, he was short of money, suffering along the way, occasionally taking odd jobs or going hungry with cold water.
After the exam, the weather turned cold. He returned home in thin clothes, grew severely ill, nearly losing his life, even after recovering, he was left with chronic illness, often coughing at night. The doctor said it was cold entering his chest, incurable, only manageable.
At that time, even though the second sister-in-law had money, she refused to part with it, clearly deeming the Li family unworthy!
Recalling this, Long Yue felt growing resentment toward the second sister-in-law.
Watching him earnestly painting, Long Yue's mind churned on how to make money.
The Li family was indeed short of money!
"Tomorrow, I need to go to the county to buy some fabric."
Li Qingmu looked up in surprise, "What does my wife plan to do with that?"
"Hmph, what else? Doing some embroidery to earn a bit." Long Yue glared at him, dissatisfied, "You don't think your wife is just a freeloader, do you?"
...
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