Chapter 11: Village Head Song's Romantic Debts

Seeing Village Chief Song enter the house, Old Woman Gu didn't even care that she was still lying on the ground; she immediately let out a howl at the top of her lungs: "Heavens! Is there any justice or law left in this world? Song the Eldest died at the border, and now you want the second son to go die too? This is to leave the Song family without descendants! Song Laohei, you heartless wretch, I didn't marry you back then, and now you keep harming my descendants time and time again..."

Young Mrs. Gu, who was following behind, saw her starting to provoke the Village Chief again. Instead of helping her up, she turned and leaned behind the door curtain, peeking inside.

Inside the room, Song Laohei’s face was truly black with rage.

His eyes spitting fire, he spat on the floor and glared at Song the Second, who was sprawled out on the kang: "Are you dying? If you aren't dead, then press your thumbprint and go serve your labor duty."

On the edge of the kang, Song the Second leaned against a pile of quilts, eyes closed, groaning: "Uncle, you saw it yourself. I want to go work, but I can't even walk!"

"Stop spouting nonsense with me! Can't walk? Did you break a leg or an arm?" Village Chief Song stepped forward to grab Song Defu.

"Ouch! Ouch! Mother, my head is spinning, my waist hurts, it’s about to break!" Before the Village Chief could even touch him, Song the Second began to wail loudly.

The door curtain was flung aside, and Old Woman Gu rushed in like a gust of wind, slamming her head directly into the Village Chief: "If you want to take him away, you'll have to strangle this old woman first..."

Caught off guard, the Village Chief stumbled back several steps. Fortunately, Young Mrs. Gu, who had followed him in, caught him, preventing him from falling.

Young Mrs. Gu pursed her lips and chuckled, her tone frivolous: "Mother, speak properly if you have something to say. Don't ruin your health; Fifth Uncle will feel bad!"

The Village Chief felt a dull ache in his chest from the collision, and upon hearing Young Mrs. Gu’s words, he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Young Mrs. Gu was the daughter of Old Woman Gu’s cousin from her maiden family. Both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were equally shameless, capable of saying anything.

The Village Chief pointed at Young Mrs. Gu and cursed: "None of you in that family have any shame. The old one doesn't teach, the young one doesn't blush—you have no sense of decency."

Where in the world had anyone ever seen a daughter-in-law smear her mother-in-law’s reputation like this?

Being pointed at and scolded by the Village Chief, Young Mrs. Gu remained unbothered and laughed: "No matter what, Fifth Uncle once discussed marriage with my mother back then. That’s fate; Uncle shouldn't forget that."

The Village Chief’s face turned a mix of green and red, and he nearly choked on his own breath.

When he got home today, his wife had complained to him at length about how Old Woman Gu was bringing up the past again, lamenting how he had been blind to get involved with such a wretched woman.

Now that he was old, with children and grandchildren, he still had this messy, lingering romantic debt that left him with nowhere to hide his face.

The Village Chief felt he had nowhere to vent his grievances. Getting involved in that marriage proposal was more unlucky than falling into a cesspit; he would never be able to wash himself clean for the rest of his life.

Over thirty years ago, his family had sent a matchmaker to propose to Old Woman Gu, but the Gu family had immediately demanded ten taels of silver as a dowry, plus various other items.

Later, he heard others say the Gu girl was overbearing and unreasonable, so the marriage fell through. The two families hadn't even met.

Unexpectedly, a few years later, the ill-reputed spinster, Miss Gu, married into Xiaoshi Village as a second wife to Song Laohan, who had lost his wife and was left with a son. She would tell everyone about the marriage proposal from back then.

She claimed that the Village Chief had caused her to miss her prime, forcing a perfectly good young woman to become a stepmother.

The Gu family’s maiden home was in the neighboring village, less than ten miles away. Everyone knew these things, and the villagers only treated her words as a joke.

But ever since Song Laohan died a few years ago and Song Laohei became the Village Chief, Old Woman Gu had become even more shameless.

Over the years, she had snuck into his house several times, and whenever they met on the road, she would pull and tug at him, determined to smear his reputation and ruin him to avenge the fact that he hadn't married her.

Fortunately, the Village Chief’s wife, Mrs. Huang, was from the same village and knew the truth. She was broad-minded; aside from trading insults with Old Woman Gu and complaining to the Village Chief, she was helpless against Old Woman Gu’s behavior and could only endure it.

The Village Chief knew that if he kept talking, these two women in the room would start claiming he had taken a fancy to the old shrew and weave even more stories.

As for Song Liyan jumping into the water, he didn't dare mention it at all.

If he continued to meddle in Song the Second’s family affairs, he feared Old Woman Gu would take off her pants and throw herself at him, pinning the scandal on him.

Facing such a family of scoundrels, the Village Chief could only curse bitterly: "The day after tomorrow, before dawn, the town will come to take people. I don't care how you handle it, but when the town guards come to collect the men, let's see if you still dare to make a scene!"

After saying this, he turned and spat at Old Woman Gu: "Marrying a bad woman ruins three generations. I’m lucky I didn't marry you back then. Look at what you’ve done to Song Laohan’s home—you disaster!"

Old Woman Gu wanted to retort, but the Village Chief had already ripped down the straw curtain hanging at the door, kicked open the courtyard gate, and stormed off in a rage.

With no curtain at the door, the cold wind blew straight in, sending chicken feathers flying across the floor.

Watching the Village Chief leave in such a sorry state, Song the Second, who had been sitting on the kang leisurely watching the show, sneered: "Look at how capable you are. I just won't go; what can you do about it!"

Qingping Town was a hundred miles from the border. Every year, they had to arrange for people to go to the border to perform labor. There was some pay, and usually, people were willing to go.

But now, with winter approaching, the weather was getting colder by the day.

If one had to lift stones and move bricks, the cold would stiffen their hands and feet, and a moment of carelessness could lead to injury. It had become a bitter chore that no one wanted to do.

Moreover, the Song family’s eldest had lost his life exactly that way.

With lives at stake, Young Mrs. Gu felt uneasy. Although her mother-in-law could manipulate the Village Chief in the village, this was an official government matter. She couldn't pin all her hopes on her mother-in-law’s antics.

"Head of the house, what do you think we should do? If we don't send someone and don't pay the money, the town will come to arrest people. We have to have a way to deal with this."

Seeing that both mother and son were indifferent, she could only emphasize that the town would come to make arrests.

Having successfully unleashed a torrent of abuse at the Village Chief, Old Woman Gu was in high spirits. Her breathing was smooth, her confidence was overflowing, and even her fatigue had vanished.

She dismissed Young Mrs. Gu’s worries with disdain: "What are you afraid of! If that Song Laohei dares to make the second son go serve the labor duty, I’ll dare to tell everyone he once stripped off my clothes."

Although she said this, Old Woman Gu still felt a lingering resentment in her heart.

She had married the widower Song Laohan at twenty-five. They were only intimate for two months before she started fighting with Song Laohan over beating the Song family’s eldest, and their relationship plummeted immediately.

After she stumbled through a pregnancy with Song the Second, Song Laohan never touched her again.

Thus, less than a year into the marriage, Old Woman Gu was living as a widow. Looking at the man beside her who was like a block of wood, and then thinking of the shrewd and capable man who had once proposed to her, she naturally felt unreconciled.

Once Song Laohan died and the Village Chief gained status and power in the village, Old Woman Gu’s heart was tormented day and night, unable to sleep, regretting her past choices.

If she couldn't find the Village Chief to make a scene every few days, she couldn't dispel the resentment in her heart.

Over the years, she had long since become accustomed to acting like a shrew to vent her anger on the Village Chief, and naturally, she had no shred of awe for his authority.