Chapter 21: Standing Out Among the Crowd

“I’ll sign!”

The first to concede was Dingyun Hua.

Upon hearing her second sister admit defeat, Dingyue Hua’s heart filled with hatred toward her.

Clearly, if they had just held on a little longer, that wretched Ning Hua would have forked over the money.

What a pity.

Hua Ning was quite satisfied with Dingyun Hua’s sense of timing.

At least, should the opportunity arise in the future, she might still be able to lend Dingyun a hand.

But Dingyue Hua—she truly despised her.

“Aunt, what about you?”

Her expression was cold and indifferent, her tone detached.

“Bah! You want me to sign the letter of severance? Not a hundred, no, not two hundred—not a chance!”

Dingyue Hua stubbornly refused.

“Very well,” Hua Ning clapped her hands toward Dingyue Hua. “Then I’ll have to call the police and let them investigate whether the money and food missing from my family were really stolen by Aunt or her family.”

Hearing Hua Ning’s blatant threat, Dingyue Hua wasn’t afraid, but her body involuntarily shrank back.

If that wretched girl really reported this to the police, and the officers came to search her home…

Dingyue Hua trembled all over in fright.

“I agree! I agree to sign!”

A flicker of fear flashed in her eyes as she shouted sharply.

Hua Ning caught the fear in her gaze.

But the most important thing at that moment was to get the severance letter signed.

So she paid no mind to Dingyue Hua’s reaction.

Returning to the present.

“You two, Hua Ning and Qiu Xin Su, you black-hearted, rotten, despicable scoundrels! I’m waiting to see how you’ll live after severing ties!”

Dingyue Hua pressed her handprint onto the severance letter with a grim face, cursing profanely, and then darted away as if propelled by wind and fire wheels.

She didn’t even spare a glance at her eldest and second sisters, whom she had specially called back to her maternal home.

“Sis, are we still sisters?”

Dingyun Hua, filled with regret, asked Hua Xiang with reddened eyes.

“Of course!” Hua Xiang hastily assured her. “Blood is thicker than water! In a few days…”

As she spoke, her gaze flicked toward Hua Ning.

Caught in Hua Ning’s ambiguous, cold smile, Hua Xiang found herself unable to finish the sentence.

Dingyun Hua hadn’t expected that returning to her maternal home would bring no benefits, and worse, that the usually weak niece from her eldest brother’s family would trick her into severing ties.

The thought made her teeth itch with hatred.

But with the village officials present, Dingyun dared not make a scene despite her resentment.

She cast several sharp glances at Su Qiu Xin and her daughter, then left in a huff.

With the two younger sisters gone, Hua Xiang also found a casual excuse to leave.

Now, only the village head, several village officials, and curious villagers remained at the Hua residence.

“Ning, my girl, about today’s matter…”

Village head Zhao Qidong sighed deeply.

“No matter what, Dingyun and Dingyue are girls from our village who have married out. If they sever ties now, and their husbands’ families find out they’ve lost their maternal support, who knows what trouble they’ll cause?”

“That’s true,” a bystander aunt chimed in. “Having the backing of your maternal family makes all the difference in your status with your in-laws.”

“But Dingyun and Dingyue went too far!” an uncle who couldn’t stand it retorted.

“Their going back to demand their mother and brother-in-law’s secret savings—if word gets out, others will just say those two girls are unfilial!”

Next door, Aunt Liu scolded Dingyue Hua with contempt.

“As a younger sister-in-law, not only did she slap her elder sister-in-law, but she even beat her own niece down. Severing ties with such an aunt—would you really keep her around to bully Hua Ning and her mother again?”

“That’s true. Before those two girls married out, they didn’t spare any trouble for Qiu Xin, the elder sister-in-law.”

Someone joined in maliciously: “Well, Su Qiu Xin has no maternal family backing either.”

...

With the village chief starting the discussion, the gathered villagers quickly began to gossip.

Upon hearing the remark about having no maternal family support, Su Qiu Xin seemed as if her soul had been drained; tears silently streamed down her face.

Hua Ning also heard the gossip about Su Qiu Xin’s lack of maternal backing.

Though unaware of the full details, seeing Su Qiu Xin’s vacant, tearful expression still pricked Hua Ning’s heart.

She handed one copy of the two identical severance letters to Li Qingxi and loudly addressed the assembled villagers:

“Thank you all, dear neighbors, for standing up today and speaking justly for my mother and me. I sincerely thank you.”

“If you ever need my help, uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

After speaking, Hua Ning bowed earnestly to the crowd.

She knew full well that if it weren’t for the public support, severing ties with Dingyun and Dingyue would have been even more difficult today.

So her bow to the villagers was genuinely heartfelt.

Still, she made sure to remember those who spoke up for them today.

“All right, all right, what are you still standing around for? Have you finished the fieldwork? I’ll be going around the fields soon—if anyone dares slack off, I’ll dock your work points!”

At the team leader’s order, the onlookers dispersed in a clamor.

Hidden among the crowd, Hua Hao’s fear of Hua Ning intensified.

He feared that soon, that money-losing girl would find a way to kick him out as well.

Suppressing his panic over being abandoned and the dread of Hua Ning, his simple mind suddenly thought of his grandmother’s place.

But to avoid arousing Hua Ning’s suspicion, Hua Hao concealed his hatred and turned away to cut pig fodder at the foot of the mountain.

Before leaving, Li Qingxi looked at the mother and daughter, cheeks swollen and disheveled, and comforted them helplessly:

“Ning, you and your mother should rest well at home.”

As the door closed, Su Qiu Xin gently stroked Hua Ning’s bruised face, tears welling in her eyes, heart aching.

“Does it hurt? It’s all my fault—I wasn’t strong enough to protect you…”

Her weak sobs gradually grew louder until she broke into a wailing cry.

“Oh, why must my life be so bitter…”

Faced with Su Qiu Xin’s sudden collapse, Hua Ning felt troubled.

She had never been good at comforting others.

After several minutes of crying, Hua Ning finally dryly uttered three words: “Stop crying.”

Whether it was Hua Ning’s words working their magic or Su Qiu Xin’s own resolve, she actually stopped crying, looking at Hua Ning with sorrowful, helpless eyes like a fragile flower.

Only then did Hua Ning realize that her mother truly possessed remarkable beauty.

Her complexion was a delicate blend of pale yellow and white, with willow-shaped eyebrows and almond eyes, a small cherry mouth beneath a slightly upturned nose, faintly furrowed brows, reddened and moist eyes—a picture of a delicate and pitiful fragile beauty.

Though she had been no stranger to hardship from the old matriarch before, her natural looks still retained a fair share of charm.

Even so, Su Qiu Xin was considered exceptional in the village.

It seemed best to keep her appearances in the village to a minimum from now on, Hua Ning thought silently.