Chapter 333: Demanding Payment
Huang Tao hadn’t expected her to go back on her word at the last minute, and with bulging eyes she spat out hatefully, "Sister-in-law Jianjun, your words are as unreliable as farts, changing every moment, are you freakin’ taking benefits from the Shen family or not?"
"Take your mom’s benefits, you just can’t stand to see our family do well, behaving like a stinky ditch mouse, full of vicious intentions. You’re a mother yourself, yet you’re so cruel to someone else’s child, not afraid of retribution hitting your own kid," Shen Yixia spat, pointing her finger at Huang Tao’s nose as she cursed.
Huang Tao’s face turned dark. She turned to look for Fu, the village widow’s boy, a twelve-year-old young lad, who had also been confined at home by his mother, who got wind of things and wouldn’t let him out.
Failing to find a third witness, Huang Tao insisted stubbornly, swearing that she had seen it, "I went out last night looking for my dog. My second boy had let it out in the yard, trying to get it back to eat, and after calling for it a few times without any response, I was worried it might have fallen into a snowdrift and couldn’t get back. So I went out with a torch, and right in front of the Shen Family’s courtyard wall, I saw a bloody ghost face, and handprints as well, all real blood, dripping wet, scared the daylights out of me, and I ran back home, barely slept all night. In the morning, I went to the village head to carry water and heard everyone talking about it, so I let slip a few words. If it’s about cursing children, that’s a real injustice against me. I know last time I borrowed your bike and didn’t take good care of it, scratching it up, but I wouldn’t be so ungrateful as to badmouth your family."
"You talk like it really happened, but how come no one in our family saw it?"
"Who can say for sure? Maybe I was just unlucky."
"I think you’ve been up to no good."
Huang Tao: "You..."
Shen Yidong glared at her, "You’ve got some nerve bringing up the bike. We haven’t even settled that with you. Everyone, come and judge this for yourselves. Who would be so gullible to lend a brand-new dowry bicycle to someone who can’t even ride? Isn’t that just ruining the bike? Who else would make such a large gesture? Nobody’s money comes blowing in on the wind, right? Huang Tao sure knows how to sweet-talk, fooling my mother who didn’t know she couldn’t ride. Everyone knows what kind of person my mom is, the kindest heart, but that doesn’t mean she should be taken advantage of just because she’s good-natured, letting Huang Tao charm her into borrowing the bike. Then what? The bike got so badly scratched, it looked older than if it had been ridden for five years. Have you no conscience? Have you ever thought about my mom? That bike belonged to my sister-in-law. If she were a petty person, wouldn’t that create a rift between my mom and her? And still, my mom was so good to you, remembering that you’re a relative on her sister’s side, always giving you extra care. I never thought you’d turn out to be such an ingrate!"
This tirade was delivered with great rhythm and emphasis, commanding the crowd’s admiration, eliciting almost a round of applause.