Chapter 33: Tactful
“Ah, in the end, it was our misunderstanding without clarification,” Bai Kangyuan said with regret. “It’s our fault…”
“Village head, please don’t say that. The fault isn’t yours,” Su Mulan replied. “You were only standing up for Lixia and these children when they came to seek your help. So, Village head, please don’t apologize.”
Su Mulan’s eyes flickered slightly as she continued, “But thinking about it, Lixia and the others are honest children. They wouldn’t have thought of such a thing without reason. Someone must have said something to them to make them rush to find you, Village head.”
“I must find out who’s been stirring up trouble behind our backs, why they’ve been spreading rumors and trying to sow discord between us mother and daughter, why they’ve been trying to make things difficult for our family.”
As soon as this matter was mentioned, someone who had initially felt embarrassed for misunderstanding Su Mulan suddenly brightened up and squeezed to the front, offering eagerly, “Bai Shitang’s family, just now when I came back from working in the fields, I saw the Bai Erniu family talking to Lixia and the others. Later, I saw Lixia and them heading towards Village head’s house. I reckon it must have been Zhang causing trouble.”
Su Mulan lowered her head and gently wiped away the tears from Bai Lixia’s face, softly asking, “Did Zhang tell you that I was going to sell Bai Shuiliu?”
“Yeah.” Bai Lixia sobbed, choking back tears as she replied, “I took Zhuye and Midou to weed the grass in the cornfield. On the way back, we met Aunt Zhang, and she accused Mom of being lazy, avoiding work, and argued with us. We said Mom went to town to sell dried sweet potatoes, and would use the money to buy meat for us…”
“But Aunt Zhang insisted Mom wasn’t really selling sweet potatoes; she was actually planning to sell Big Sister in town to buy meat. She claimed Mom had been pretending to be nice to us these days just to ensure Big Sister wouldn’t run away when taken to be sold. We were scared by her words and hurried to find Uncle Village head…”
Bai Lixia and the others had been mistreated by Su Mulan in the past, and they were already most afraid of such incidents. Zhang deliberately stirred up trouble over this matter.
“This Zhang is truly despicable,” Bai Kangyuan couldn’t help but exclaim. “Someone, go bring Zhang back here. We need to have a serious talk about this.”
“Village head,” Su Mulan stopped him, “Sister-in-law Zhang clearly doesn’t want our family to have peace. This matter can’t be resolved just by talking.”
“So what do you suggest then…”
“Since Sister-in-law Zhang is targeting our family, I need to confront her face-to-face and settle this matter,” Su Mulan instructed, having Bai Lixia and the others assist Bai Shuiliu. She rolled up her sleeves and continued, “Uncle Village head, you don’t need to intervene later. Just watch from the side. But rest assured, I will handle it with discretion.”
Seeing Su Mulan’s determination, Bai Kangyuan figured out her intentions.
After thinking for a moment, Bai Kangyuan nodded. “Alright, this matter has caused quite a stir. She needs to learn a lesson. Otherwise, if others follow suit, our village will be full of troublemakers, and life here will become chaotic.”
“Let’s go, I’ll go with you.”