Chapter 516: Chapter 516: Bully the Kind, Fear the Evil Chapter 516: Chapter 516: Bully the Kind, Fear the Evil The male villager looked puzzled and stared at Lady Li, “Auntie Li, even if you don’t want to help, is there a need to be so fierce?”
Lady Li realized she had reacted too harshly and quickly covered it up by saying, “I am a decent woman, asking me to lift a man whose clothes don’t even cover him properly—that itself is mild. It ruins my reputation, and my husband would beat you up for it.”
“We are all from the same village. It’s not that serious. Erlaizi’s private parts were covered,” said the male villager, a man of crude demeanor, seemingly unconcerned. “It’s hot these days, and we men also frequently walk around bare-chested to stay cool. What’s so strange about that? Why would it harm someone’s reputation?”
“I don’t care, I’m not carrying him,” Lady Li retorted and, twisting her large hips, she turned around and walked away.
Her issue with Erlaizi was a sore spot for her, always avoided out of fear that accidentally exposing it could throw her into irreversible ruin. She dreaded being criticized for not keeping to women’s virtues, so she avoided the situation as much as possible when under the public eye.
Other women, also wary of being called out by the male villagers to carry Erlaizi inside, followed Lady Li and soon, only the male villager was left standing there.
Having no other choice, the villager alone struggled to drag and pull Erlaizi back to his ramshackle house.
Xie Residence
The situation with Erlaizi acting like a devil had the whole village in an uproar.
It became the top news of Mo Family Village first thing in the morning.
After returning from washing clothes by the river, Madam Xie mentioned it to Xuexue and Big Bull.
Xuexue just laughed it off, thinking to herself, he deserved it for harboring ill intentions and daring to steal watermelons from her home; if Xiao Taohong scared him to death, it was only fitting.
She had agreed with Shopkeeper Fan the day before that they would pick watermelons again today. After breakfast, Big Bull and Xuexue planned to first go to the watermelon field to pick them. When Shopkeeper Fan’s cart arrived, they could load it up right away.
“Mom, Big Bull and I will head to the watermelon field first,” Xuexue said, “Shopkeeper Fan’s cart will be here soon, and we need to have the watermelons ready.” After all, not every watermelon in the field was ripe; they had to pick the ripe ones first and leave the unripe ones to grow for a few more days.
“Yes, you go ahead. I’ll be there once I have hung out the clothes to dry.” The clothes washed that morning at the river were still in the bucket, not yet laid out to dry.
Xuexue nodded, then picked up four large baskets with Big Bull, preparing to take them to the field for the watermelons since Shopkeeper Fan’s cart couldn’t reach the edge of the field; they still needed to carry them over a distance of several meters.
“Sister, sister, we want to go too.” Just as they were about to leave the courtyard, Chuner, followed by a bouncing Xiao Gougou, ran back.
She had had too much fun in the watermelon field the day before, playing and eating. Knowing they were going there again today, she specifically ran to Xiao Gougou’s house to bring him along, thinking it would be fun and joyful to go to the watermelon field together, with company and food to enjoy.
“Big Bull Brother, Sister Xuexue, can I come with you to the watermelon field?” Xiao Gougou asked, somewhat nervously.
Xuexue appreciated Xiao Gougou’s considerate and polite nature and liked him a lot. She patted his head and said with a smile, “Of course! You and Chuner should both come.”
“Yay, you’re the best, Sister,” Chuner exclaimed, grabbing Xiao Gougou’s hand, and the two little ones started cheering around Xuexue.
Xuexue laughed and said, “Okay, stop spinning around; you’re making me dizzy.”
The two kids, happily holding hands, ran ahead.
The watermelon field was not far from the village, making it easy to return.
They had just disappeared from view.
Old Lady Mo, who had been hovering nearby for a long time, seized this opportunity and immediately appeared in front of the Xie Residence.