Chapter 43: The Original Wife Who Spends Money Like Water (10)

Jiang Youyou’s hand, hanging by her side and hidden by her clothes, tugged at Mufeng. Then, rolling her eyes, she promptly fainted.

She was tired of acting and needed a break.

Truly, she was much better suited to tying someone up and giving them a good beating! How she missed those days of thrashing Fang Jinnian.

Mufeng, catching his mistress’s signal, cried out, “Miss!” Then, despite being a grown man, he burst into tears and snot, wailing, “Young Master Xue, you’d best wipe the lipstick off your neck! Do you really take my mistress for a fool? She gave you her whole heart, and this is how you repay her!

“If my master and madam were still alive, they’d never let their daughter marry a heartless man like you!”

With that, Mufeng scooped up Jiang Youyou and carried her into the house.

Curiosity piqued, the onlookers all turned to scrutinize Xue Ci’s neck. The protagonist himself, a bit slow on the uptake, reached up to touch his neck—and his fingers immediately came away stained with bright red.

Xue Ci stared in disbelief.

After all, when Lin Wanyin was with him, she never wore lipstick, fearing it might get on his clothes by accident.

With this, everything became clear to the crowd.

The Xue family was thoroughly disparaged.

Though the Jiang family were merchants, they were known for their kindness to the local people and had done much good, whereas the Xue family were recent arrivals whose reputation was only built on a few good years among the locals. But seeing the behavior of this mother and son, it seemed the Xue family was not as they appeared!

The mother was shrewish and unreasonable, the son heartless and calculating. Between the two of them, one sought to ruin lives, the other to seize wealth.

The crowd felt as if the truth had finally come to light, and began to heap reproach on Xue Ci and his mother.

After all, both were healthy and strong, yet they bullied a frail young lady who depended on medicine just to stay alive. That was simply intolerable!

Listening to the harsh whispers all around him, Xue Ci felt as though he were being cut with knives. All the reputation he’d so carefully built over the years had been utterly ruined by that wretched Jiang Youyou!

[Ding ding! Fifteen points of hatred received, for a total of fifty!]

Seeing the hatred points soar, Naiqi could barely contain its delight—though it had no mouth, its joy was undiminished.

Now it could exchange for all sorts of things!

It would have to think carefully about what to redeem—something useful this time, not like that pile of junk cluttering up the storage space.

Just as the mood was at its peak, the doors of the Jiang residence opened again, and a young servant rushed out into the street—presumably to fetch a doctor—with bloodstains still fresh on his clothes, a shocking sight.

The crowd’s reproaches toward the Xue mother and son grew louder and louder; some of the more hot-tempered women even began throwing vegetable leaves and spitting in disgust at the two of them.

Xue Ci and Madam Xue, battered and bruised, fled in disgrace with a few black-eyed maids, their clothes smeared with rotten vegetable leaves.

As the crowd was about to disperse, the doors of the Jiang residence opened once more.

Mufeng emerged holding two money pouches. His eyes were still red, but he bowed respectfully to the gathered townsfolk. “My mistress, when she was conscious, instructed me to thank all the uncles and elders, and our kind neighbors, for your help. Please accept these silver coins as a token of her gratitude—she hopes you won’t mind the small sum. It is just a little gesture from her heart, and she hopes you will accept it.”

“Ah, I watched Miss Jiang grow up. I thought she’d finally found happiness with a worthy husband, but who would have thought the Xue family would act like this in secret!” someone sighed.

“Yes, yes! But helping was only our duty—there’s no need for silver in thanks!” echoed another.

“My mistress insisted, again and again, that Mufeng must personally deliver these to each of you. Please, don’t make it hard for me,” Mufeng replied, making the acceptance of the silver feel both reasonable and right.