Chapter 80: Yang Sigen

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Yang Sigen

Bai Zhi refused to back down. "Retribution? As they say, ’A clear conscience fears no ghosts knocking at the door.’ I, Bai Zhi, live an upright life, so what retribution should I fear? It’s the people who secretly do wicked, heartless things who should worry about facing it."

Liu knew full well Bai Zhi was mocking her. She trembled with rage and was just about to send Da Bao and Xiao Feng to teach the girl a lesson when she heard Old Mrs. Bai shout from the main house, "What’s all that noise? Get back here!"

Liu didn’t dare disobey Old Mrs. Bai, so she had no choice but to pull her sons away and leave.

"Mother, that damned girl Bai Zhi used up all the lard I rendered today and even made me fall. Why didn’t you let Da Bao and Xiao Feng teach her a lesson?"

Old Mrs. Bai shot her a nasty look and snapped, "How can you be so dense? The Yang family is coming for her in three days. If you rough her up now, what will we hand over to them? Is your brain full of holes?"

Liu suddenly understood. ’So that was my mother-in-law’s plan. No wonder she wouldn’t let them do anything. Fine, I can tolerate it for three more days. After that, this wretched girl will be out of the Bai family, and there’ll be no one left to stand against me.’

By evening, the riverbank at the village entrance was crowded once more. The men bathed and played upstream while the women washed clothes and gossiped downstream. In the height of summer, the river was the coolest place to be. Whether they had laundry to do or not, most of the women would gather there around this time. If not to wash clothes, it was still a fine time to trade a bit of idle talk.

"Have you heard? That girl, Zhi, from the Bai family? Old Mrs. Bai and Liu have really done a number on her this time."

"What happened? I thought they said she came back from the dead. I saw her and Zhao Lan walking around the village just this morning. What’s happened now?"

"From what I hear, Bai Zhi was badly injured this time. She barely escaped with her life, but now she can’t have children. How will she ever get married? Isn’t that just awful?"

"That can’t be right. It was just a beating. How could that make her unable to have children? Who told you that?"

"Who else? Doctor Lu, of course. I shared a cart with him to town today. On the way, I asked about Bai Zhi’s condition. He was really cagey at first and wouldn’t talk, but after a few of us pestered him for a while, he finally let a few words slip. Said she was hit in the lower abdomen with a club and it damaged her internally. Having children in the future will be next to impossible for her."

"It’s a sin, I tell you. The Bai family can be so cruel. Zhi is such a sweet, well-behaved girl. How could they bring themselves to do that to her?"

"I know, right? That Old Mrs. Bai is notoriously ruthless. Years ago, when Old Master Bai and Bai Sanzhu fell off the roof, their injuries weren’t even that serious. Doctor Lu told her to hurry and get medicine, but she was too stingy to spend the silver. She just let Old Master Bai and Bai Sanzhu slowly waste away and die, leaving Zhao Lan and Bai Zhi behind for the family to bully and torment. It’s like she has no fear of retribution at all."

There were plenty of women washing clothes and gossiping by the river. With one person adding a detail and another passing it on, the news that Bai Zhi had been beaten so badly by her family that she could no longer bear children spread in the blink of an eye.

But as it happened, no one from the Bai family came to the river that day. They were busy at home, plotting how to spend the twenty-two taels of silver, and had no time for idle gossip. And so, the one thing the entire village now knew was the one thing the Bai family did not.

Although Baiyang Village and Huangtuo Village were several miles apart, people had relatives in both places and traveled between them often. With all the coming and going, it only took two days for the news about Bai Zhi to reach Baiyang Village.

When Yang Sigeng made some careful inquiries, he learned that the Bai Zhi everyone was gossiping about was the very same one for whom the woman, Liu, had come to propose a match the other day.