Groveling Like a Lapdog

Su Li's words completely scared the group of Qin Sanniang's followers, including Hong Saozi.

Even though, as Qin Sanniang said, the village chief would ultimately be Zhang Zhuzi, Su Li was still the village's richest person. Everyone still relied on her vegetables to make money and hoped to send their children to her school for a better future.

Qin Sanniang's family was wealthy, so she wasn't afraid to offend Su Li. But these women were from lower-middle-class families, and they were just stirred up by Qin Sanniang to spread rumors. Now, after Su Li's stern reprimand, each one was scared.

Hong Saozi softened first, running over with a forced smile: "A Li, don't be angry. It was my fault earlier; I shouldn't have spoken nonsense. Please forgive me and don't take it to heart. My youngest son will start school tomorrow, so please don't stop our family from sending him to study."

As she spoke, Hong Saozi slapped her own face twice, bowing and scraping like a lapdog.

Qin Sanniang saw Hong Saozi switching sides and angrily scolded, "Hong Saozi, you fence-sitter! How can you be so spineless, scared just by a few words?"

Hong Saozi shrank her head and said to Qin Sanniang, "Sanniang, your family is rich and you don't send your kids to school, so you're not afraid. But I... I can't afford to offend her!"

Hong Saozi lowered her head, trying to please Su Li with a smile: "A Li, I was misled by Qin Sanniang before, blinded like lard. Now I realize you're the great benefactor of our village. Everyone knows your character. How could you have anything to do with Zhang Mu? That's all Qin Sanniang's jealousy and envy making up lies."

Several aunts nearby also agreed: "Yes, yes, it's all Qin Sanniang's fabrication! We think Qin Sanniang must be possessed to speak nonsense and slander our village's great benefactor, A Li! A Li, this bucket of swill you poured is perfect, to drive away the evil spirits and clear her head."

"Yes, we'll explain to the villagers later that Qin Sanniang was possessed and spoke nonsense. You and Zhang Mu have nothing to do with each other."

Su Li looked at this group of people who changed faces faster than flipping a book and sneered inwardly, thinking that power and wealth were truly good things. If this had happened before, who knew what kind of rumors could have spread.

But now, Su Li held the economic lifeline of the villagers selling vegetables in one hand, and the hope of the villagers' children attending Haizi School in the other. Plus, the village chief overseeing several villages was her good friend. Su Li was practically a local tyrant in Haizi Village.

Any villager who offended her would be courting death!

Qin Sanniang saw her followers all turning against her and speaking for Su Li, calling her possessed. Furious, she tore at her hair, eyes red, and cursed, "Just wait, I'll make you all pay!"

Then Qin Sanniang stormed into her house and slammed the door shut.

After Qin Sanniang left, Hong Saozi and the others, fearing Su Li's anger, kept flattering her and promised to quickly quell the rumors and make amends.

Su Li was too lazy to argue with these fickle women and only instructed them to quickly stop the rumors. As long as the rumors were suppressed quickly, she wouldn't mind.

Hong Saozi finally breathed a sigh of relief and hurried off with her gossiping crew to dispel the rumors.

So Qin Sanniang never expected that her carefully planned rumors would be nipped in the bud by her former followers in less than two days, causing no significant damage to Su Li and Zhang Mu's reputations.

Qin Sanniang went inside, cleaned herself up, changed clothes, and when she saw Zhang Zhaocai working in the yard, she walked up and kicked him in the stomach, yelling, "You clueless fool, who told you to put the swill bucket outside the yard? You embarrassed me! When your father comes back, I'll have him beat you to death!"