Farm Tough Girl
Chapter 335 - 335 336 What Face Do You Have to Live_1

Chapter 335: Chapter 336: What Face Do You Have to Live_1 Chapter 335: Chapter 336: What Face Do You Have to Live_1 The man was the most foolish; now, flushed with anger and his neck bulging, he didn’t know how to retort. A village woman who couldn’t stand by watching jumped in to help him, “Wasn’t this token of engagement given a year ago? In this entire year, I haven’t seen Mr. Chen come to our village even once. It’s questionable whether he even remembers this engagement. If you really want to show off, you should wait until your Qingmei is married off. What’s the use of talking about it now? It’s not even a settled matter!”

The others agreed, chiming in, “Exactly, if Mr. Chen’s family is really so prestigious, would he lack women by his side? He might have already forgotten there’s such a person as Qingmei!”

Mrs. Liang screeched back at them, “Hey, why are you all so full of envy and resentment? Just can’t stand seeing our family do well, is that it? As soon as you see Qingmei about to get into a good marriage, you immediately start throwing cold water on it. You all must really hope we don’t do well, right? We live in the same village, and yet your hearts can be this dark!”

With that, she glared fiercely at the group of gossiping village women, then dragged Qingmei away. She was clearly enraged.

Some of the village women murmured grumpily, “What kind of person is she? High and mighty when she’s belittling others as if they owed her something, and now, she can’t take a few words against her? Even if her daughter becomes a disgraceful concubine, or even if she marries into a rich family as the main wife, once a daughter is married off, she’s like water who’s been poured out—it’s none of her business! She sure loves to gold-plate her own face!”

Muniang was speechless; she had underestimated just how shameless Mrs. Liang could be. To actually go around boasting about her own daughter becoming someone’s concubine, did she really think this was something to be proud of? With her intelligence so low that she deserved to be despised, and yet she had also dealt Qingmei such a big blow to her self-esteem—it could only be said that having such a mother was indeed Qingmei’s tragedy.

After a bit of discussion, everyone dispersed. It was common for such quarrels to happen in the village, and generally, people would forget about it after a day and bear no grudges; otherwise, the village could not have remained harmonious until now.

But Mrs. Liang clearly didn’t view this quarrel as just any regular incident. Early the next morning, she dragged Qingmei out of bed, “Get up, we’re going to the town. We’re going to Jinyang Town to get some clarity from Mr. Chen!”

Qingmei’s face suddenly changed, “Mother, what are you doing? It would be so rude to just show up at their estate out of the blue, wouldn’t it?”

Mrs. Liang’s eyes bulged, “Rude? You are his concubine-to-be. Is it also rude to seek your own husband? I need a definite answer today, and then we’ll see who in the village dares to gossip!”

Qingmei struggled, not wanting to go to town and lose face. What unmarried girl ever personally went to a man’s house to ask about such matters? Mrs. Liang might be shameless, but she still had her dignity!

“Mother, let’s just forget it. If Mr. Chen has already given the betrothal gift, he will surely keep his word. Why must we do this? Besides, what the villagers said was just out of anger, no one really doubted it. Everyone surely hasn’t taken it to heart. Please don’t—” Ah!

Mrs. Liang pinched Qingmei hard, “I haven’t hit you in so long, you think your skin has grown thick, huh?! Now you even dare to talk back to me? I said we’re going, and if you say one more word, believe me, I’ll beat you to death!”

Qingmei, now too frightened to squirm, had eyes red like a rabbit’s, yet she dared not cry out. Her mother hated to see her cry; it irritated her. If Qingmei wept now, it would only fuel Mrs. Liang’s anger more.

Mrs. Liang yanked on Qingmei’s clothes and dragged her outside, then hauled her onto a donkey cart and drove towards the neighboring town. Terrified, Qingmei didn’t dare to speak on the cart as Mrs. Liang lashed the donkey and cursed under her breath, “A bunch of ignorant village women, daring to question me. I’ll go settle this marriage and then see who’s face gets slapped!”

But when they arrived in Jinyang Town, they found that the once-leading Chen family shop had already shuttered its doors!

Mrs. Liang was so shocked that her jaw nearly dropped; she quickly grabbed someone and asked, “What about Mr. Chen from this place?”

“I heard he went out of town, people with money always run off to the outside world, don’t they? Who can stay in a small place like this?”

“What!? When did he leave? How come I didn’t know!” Mrs. Liang shrieked.

The person gave Mrs. Liang a peculiar look before saying, “It happened just a few days ago.”

“Did he say when he would be back?”

“Chances are he won’t come back. He’s already transferred all his properties here, and Mr. Chen himself has disappeared; why would he return?”

At that moment, Mrs. Liang turned ashen, her last bit of hope extinguished. The person glanced at her as if she were a lunatic and muttered, “What kind of crazy person is this? Truly bizarre.” Then quickly walked away.

Coincidentally, a gossip from the village had just come to Jinyang Town to visit relatives today, and she happened to witness the scene. As soon as she returned to the village, she immediately spread the news with schadenfreude, and the villagers lost no time in ridiculing her.

When Mrs. Liang returned to the village, she was utterly dejected. It was Qingmei who drove the donkey cart back.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Mrs. Liang. What were you up to early this morning? Were you asking for a proper title from your future son-in-law? Why do you look so down and dirty? If you ask me, you should quickly show off the betrothal papers. Your daughter is finally marrying into a wealthy family; why the long face? Could it be you suddenly can’t bear to part with her?” the gossip leading the provocation said. She had long been annoyed by Mrs. Liang’s smug attitude. When Mr. Chen gave the Hetian jade, Mrs. Liang had shown it off countless times, always mentioning her daughter’s future as a lady of high status, never considering others worth her time and ridiculing them. Everyone had actually been holding a grudge against her.

At these words, Mrs. Liang’s face grew even more unsightly, and another village woman joined in.

“Don’t be so harsh. She’s all high and noble. The betrothal papers can’t just be shown off easily, can they? Maybe they were even written on gold paper, afraid someone might covet them.”

Then a burst of laughter followed. The man who argued with Mrs. Liang yesterday scoffed and revealed, “Gold paper? You can’t even get a piece of white paper for the documents, can you? The Chen family shop has already gone under, and you still think your golden suitor is waiting for you! What a joke! I’ve always said if someone from our village had the good fortune to marry into a wealthy family, it certainly wouldn’t be someone like you. Otherwise, heaven really wouldn’t be seeing things clearly!”

Mrs. Liang was so furious she clenched her teeth. The disappointment of the day was already enough, and now with everyone’s mocking stares, her anger worsened. She kicked Qingmei hard and shouted, “You shameless, worthless wretch! I’ve truly wasted years feeding you. A good-for-nothing like you can’t even hold onto a man’s heart. What face do you have to live?!”