Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 519: No Strategy Left Unturned (3)_1

Chapter 519: Chapter 519: No Strategy Left Unturned (3)_1

As a result, any slight movements in Lao Mo’s House could not escape Mo Yan’s ears. Inappropriate plans behind the scenes were thus adjusted, which ultimately achieved even better results than they had anticipated.

...

June was the hottest month of the year. The villagers, scorched by the sun all day, finished their day’s toil, and after a simple dinner, small groups with little stools headed to the cool breeze under the ancient poplar tree to enjoy the evening cool.

When people gathered, there inevitably were various topics of conversation. The men mainly talked about the weather and crops, whereas the women were more enthusiastic about the neighborhood gossip. Sure enough, someone soon dropped a bombshell.

"Hey hey hey, have you heard? Mrs. Hong from the Mo Family is up to her witchcraft again! This time, the wicked thing she did is even worse than the last incident when she forced Wu’s mother and daughter to leave!" a young daughter-in-law whispered with a conspiratorial air.

Upon hearing this, someone immediately joined in, "Ah? Up to her witchcraft again? Come on, spill the beans—what’s happened? My mother-in-law suffered a heatstroke, and these past few days have been so hectic, I haven’t had the time to catch up on other matters! I heard before that Mrs. Hong was boasting all over the village because that old spinster of theirs was spotted by a wealthy family in the city, who wanted to take her as the main wife."

Before the woman who had spoken first could reply, another older woman interjected, "Hmph, if it were not for that good-for-nothing old spinster, why would Mrs. Hong engage in such witchcraft? If you ask me, Mrs. Hong isn’t just being witchy; she’s courting death. If she keeps on with this nonsense, the Mo Family will sooner or later be ruined by her hands."

Curious to know more, the uninformed woman grew increasingly impatient and peppered her with questions.

When she finally understood what mischief Mrs. Hong was up to, she spat vehemently on the ground, her face a mix of relief and gratitude: "Back when I first got married, I couldn’t have children for a number of years, and my mother-in-law treated me like I was nothing, causing me so much grief! Eventually, when I finally became pregnant with a child, it turned out to be a girl. My mother-in-law slapped her face in anger and drove me off the bed to work in the fields just three days after giving birth. During those months while nursing the child, she wouldn’t even let me have an egg to eat!

At that time, I felt that not a single daughter-in-law in the village had it worse than me! But thinking about it now, my mother-in-law was actually not too bad. Although she was harsh with me, she was extremely kind to her grandchildren. During that year of severe drought, she firmly refused to give her food share to anyone but the kids. Later, when those child traffickers tried to trade buns for children, she stood her ground, insisting that she would rather starve than sell the children. For that alone, I owe it to her to be a dutiful daughter-in-law. If she were like that pious Mrs. Hong, I’m afraid I would’ve hanged myself long ago!"

Having heard her story, the other two women fell silent, considerate of their own mothers-in-law.

While their mothers-in-law were not as terrible as hers, they were also not easy to deal with. Sometimes they hated their mothers-in-law so much that they wished for them to die sooner, but with Mrs. Hong as a benchmark, they now realized their mothers-in-law had actually been quite generous to them. At the very least, they had never laid hands on them or tried to harm the children in their wombs, let alone break their own granddaughters’ bones. And to gather a presentable dowry so they could marry their daughters into the comfort of the city, imagine—she found a kiln girl who had reformed, and forced her own grandson to take her, just for the kiln girl’s hundred taels of dowry silver!

Not to dwell on the kiln girl’s background, despite her wealth, she had been physically ruined long ago, doomed to be childless for life. But to pave the way for her old spinster daughter, Mrs. Hong forced her own flesh and blood grandson to lay down as a stepping stone, indifferent even if it meant his line would end with him. Hard-hearted, indeed!

The kiln girl, clear-minded as she was, knew that something like this couldn’t be kept secret and, wishing wholeheartedly to settle down with an honest man, disclosed her own situation honestly. If the Mo Family had any issues with it, she was prepared to find someone else. But somehow, the word got out about her origins from the brothel and her childlessness, and before long, the entire village was abuzz with the news.

Mo Yan, who was busy preparing the next step of her plan, could not have foreseen that this plot not only pushed Mrs. Hong’s shamelessness to new depths but also set a "reference standard" for many young daughters-in-law in the village. Comparing their own mothers-in-law to Mrs. Hong, they unanimously felt their mothers-in-law were decent people and dropped their grievances, beginning to make an effort to get along with them.

For a time, the nitpicking disputes between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law greatly diminished, and the atmosphere in Liu Yang Village improved significantly.