Li Shuying caught sight of a group of villagers approaching from the far end of the threshing ground towards the conteen—the production team's accountant Hu among them, followed by brigade leader Liu Zhenshen and two elders and several curious onlookers.
Her heart steadied.
This was the moment.
Without hesitation, she pinched the tender flesh of her thigh. The sharp sting brought tears instantly to her eyes. When she looked up again, her lashes were wet, her expression fragile as early frost.
"Step-Grandmother," she said, her voice trembling like a reed in autumn wind, "how could you accuse me of being unfilial? I only feared that our lives would become even more difficult because of those words."
Her tears slid down silently.
"You call me lazy. You call me unfilial. Your daughter-in-law calls me a landlord's daughter." She lowered her gaze as though crushed by shame. "I know I should endure it. After all, you raised my father as if he were your own flesh and blood. I dare not forget that kindness."
She paused deliberately, her voice soft but carrying clearly across the yard.
"But what about my mother?"
A hush fell.
"For fifteen years, my father has been away in the army, rarely returning home. My mother has raised us alone—planting, harvesting, cooking, mending—without a single complaint. If you suddenly place such labels upon us… will that not make our road ahead even harder to walk?"
Her tears gathered and fell more freely now, each drop precise, controlled.
Zhao Hongmei, who had been squeezing out her own tears moments earlier, froze mid-act. She stared at Li Shuying in disbelief.
Shuying did not stop.
"Step-sister," she continued gently, turning toward Hongmei, "I know you have the kindest heart. You cannot bear to see others suffer. Please… will you ask Grandmother to take those words back?"
Her voice quivered.
"You have seen how hard our lives have been these years. My mother struggles every day just to raise us properly. If such labels follow us, who will dare associate with our family?"
She lowered her head and spoke almost in a whisper.
"I know I was wrong to hold her hand while she tried to discipline me. I was frightened—that is all. Please… Step-Grandmother, take those accusations back. You may call me a money-losing wench, a wretched girl—I can endure that. But to call me unfilial… lazy… a landlord's daughter…"
Her voice broke.
Then she began to weep in earnest, shoulders trembling as though her small frame could no longer bear the weight.
The effect was immediate.
The villagers' expressions hardened as they looked toward Wang Chunhua.
"Wang Chunhua," someone muttered angrily, "their life is already bitter enough. Why make it worse?"
Another voice rose, sharper. "Yes! Words like that can ruin a family."
Wang Chunhua, who had been theatrically pounding her chest moments before, stopped abruptly. She stared at the weeping girl and felt a perverse flicker of satisfaction.
Finally, she thought, the wretched girl knows her place.
"Hmph," she sniffed smugly. "This is what she deserves. If she had understood her position earlier, I would not have needed to speak so harshly."
Chen Meilan's hands clenched tightly at her sides. Her knuckles turned white, but her temperament was gentle by nature. She could only step forward and wrap her arms around her daughter's trembling shoulders, offering silent comfort.
Lu Lingmei, however, had no such restraint.
Her temper flared like dry straw meeting a spark.
"What place?" she demanded, pointing directly at Wang Chunhua. "Did Chen Meilan ever kneel at your door begging for grain, even when her children went to bed hungry? What do their work points have to do with you?"
She stepped forward, voice rising.
"You call the girl unfilial? Do you expect her to serve you like a maid every day? Tell us—when have you ever fulfilled your duty as a grandmother?"
The crowd shifted uneasily.
"Before the communal canteen," Lu Lingmei continued, "you demanded filial grain from Chen Meilan. Yet even than many times came to her house to freeload. During New Year, did you ever give her children a single red envelope?"
Her words struck like stones.
"Your youngest son, Li Guofu, bullies Li Shuying, Li Jianmin, and Li Jianguo whenever he pleases. He steals chickens and eggs from their coop. Your daughter, Li Yulan—that unmarried idler—comes looking for quarrels whenever she is bored. Last year, when Li Guoqiang brought a Dacron shirt from the city for his wife, your daughter snatched it away without shame!"
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
"And now you ask why these children are not filial?" Lu Lingmei's voice trembled with fury. "If I had such a mother-in-law, I would have poisoned her long ago."
The yard fell silent.
Shitou Village was large, its houses scattered across fields and narrow lanes. But the eastern corner—where Li Shuying's family lived—was densely packed. Neighbors there heard every cough, every quarrel, every whispered grievance. Lu Lingmei, Grand-Aunt Li, and Widow He knew the truth of Chen Meilan's hardships intimately.
For many villagers who lived farther away, this was the first time they had heard such details.
Faces that had earlier supported Zhao Hongmei now flushed red with embarrassment.
Murmurs swelled again—this time not against Li Shuying, but against Wang Chunhua.
And in the midst of it all, Li Shuying continued to weep softly in her mother's arms, her tears glistening like dew.
But behind lowered lashes, her gaze was cold and steady.
The stage had been set.
Li Changfu had only just arrived when the final exchanges reached his ears.
The scene before him made his face burn.
His wife was sprawled upon the ground, wailing like a marketplace shrew. His step-granddaughter was weeping in Chen Meilan's arms. Around them stood half the village, whispering and staring.
For years, Li Changfu had walked through Shitou Village with his back straight and chin lifted. After all, both his sons—Li Guoqiang and Zhao Depeng—had become squad leaders in the army, earning steady allowances and bringing honor to the Li name. In these uncertain times, that was no small glory.
If Li Shuying had studied his expression at that moment, she would have understood him instantly. Everyone in the family knew how fiercely he guarded his reputation.
According to Li Changfu, family dirt must remain within four walls. No matter how rotten the matter, it must never be aired before outsiders.
To the villagers, he presented himself as a fair and steady elder.
But in Li Shuying's eyes, he was nothing more than a hypocrite.
When Li Guoqiang had been starved by his second wife, Li Changfu had turned a blind eye. When Chen Meilan and her children struggled through hunger, he had allowed Wang Chunhua to keep the monthly allowance Li Guoqiang sent home.
To speak now of dignity and face—was that not the very definition of hypocrisy?
"What is the meaning of this?" Li Changfu thundered suddenly, his voice cutting through the murmurs. "Wang Chunhua! Why are you sitting on the ground in front of your granddaughter, humiliating the entire Li family?"
His glare was sharp and unforgiving.
Moments earlier, Wang Chunhua had been watching Li Shuying cry with smug satisfaction. At her husband's roar, she sprang upright as though struck by lightning.
Everyone in Shitou Village knew one thing clearly: the only person Wang Chunhua truly feared was her husband.
At that moment, Brigade Leader Liu Zhenshan stepped forward from the gathering crowd. He had heard enough.
His brows knit together in displeasure.
"Old Li," he said sternly, "is this how your wife treats your step-son's family? Accusing Li Guoqiang's daughter of being unfilial and lazy? Does she understand what such accusations can do to a girl's future?"
His gaze hardened.
"And what is this about being a landlord's daughter? Don't tell me your family was secretly of landlord origin, deceiving the entire production team all these years."
The word landlord struck like a thunderclap.
Li Changfu's eyes widened. His legs nearly buckled.
In this era, that label was not merely shameful—it was fatal.
"No—no, Brigade Leader Liu!" Li Changfu stammered, his composure cracking. "How could you accuse me of being a landlord? You grew up beside me. Our ancestors tilled the same soil. How could I deceive you about our family background?"
He drew himself up, voice trembling but insistent.
"We have been laborers and farmers for generations. My sons serve in the military—they fought in the war against the Japanese for the country's liberation. Ours is a proper red family."
Liu Zhenshan let out a cold snort.
"I accuse you?" he said evenly. "Was it not your own wife who called the girl a landlord's daughter? If she is one, does that not make you the head of such a family? How does that become my accusation?"
He folded his hands behind his back.
"I am only the brigade leader. If such matters prove true, it is my duty to report them upward."
His tone was calm—but edged.
Truthfully, Liu Zhenshan had long been dissatisfied with the Li household. Their constant quarrels disturbed village harmony, and Li Changfu—emboldened by his two sons' military positions—had attempted more than once to challenge his authority in recent years.
Li Changfu's face paled further.
"No—there is no need to report anything!" he said hastily. "Leader Liu, you know my wife's tongue. She is old and muddle-headed. Her words are reckless. I will discipline her."
Before anyone could react, he raised his hand and delivered a resounding slap across Wang Chunhua's face.
The crack echoed in the yard.
She stumbled forward and fell hard onto the ground.
"You foolish woman!" Li Changfu barked. "Have you starved so long that you've eaten your own brain? What nonsense about landlord's daughter? Does she not belong to the same family as you? Do you not understand our own circumstances?"
He pointed sharply toward Li Shuying.
"Apologize to the child. Immediately."
Wang Chunhua lay gasping, her cheek already swelling. Pain twisted her features, but humiliation burned hotter.
"Old man!" she shrieked hoarsely. "Did you not see her being unfilial? I only meant to frighten her—"
Her voice rose in fury.
"And you dare to strike me before the juniors? Where is my dignity?"
In the next breath, she collapsed back onto the ground and resumed her performance, pounding her chest and thighs with renewed vigor.
"Aiyaa! What wretched fate! I have served this family like cattle all my life, and now even my step-granddaughter bullies me—and my own husband beats me before outsiders! Why am I so unlucky? It is my father's fault for selling me into this family! Aiyaa—heavens, open your eyes!"
Her wail was shrill and grating, cutting through the afternoon air.
The villagers shifted uncomfortably. Some clicked their tongues. Others turned away in disgust.
Even those who had once sympathized with her now found the spectacle excessive.
The moment Wang Chunhua wailed to the heavens, Li Changfu's face changed.
"Heavens?" he barked, his voice cracking like a whip.
Brigade Leader Liu Zhenshan's expression darkened as well. In these years, careless words could summon disaster faster than drought. To cry to heaven in public, to speak of fate and injustice before a crowd—it invited dangerous interpretations.
Li Changfu felt cold sweat trickle down his spine.
Was this foolish woman trying to drag the entire Li family into ruin?
"Shut up!" he roared, lunging forward. "You old hag, stop spouting nonsense! Are you trying to get us all killed?"
His restraint shattered.
He kicked her. He struck her shoulders and back with clenched fists. Each blow landed with the dull thud of pent-up fury. Wang Chunhua's shrieks grew sharper, piercing the air like a knife scraping porcelain.
Zhao Hongmei, pale as paper, hurried to stand behind Sun Guifeng. Mother and daughter clung to each other, staring wide-eyed at the scene.
Sun Guifeng's heart pounded wildly. If the old man realized that it had been she who first used the word landlord against Li Shuying, would she not also be implicated? In times like these, one accusation could stain an entire branch of a family.
For a fleeting, vicious moment, she wished Wang Chunhua would simply be beaten to death on the spot—taking the blame with her.
In Chen Meilan's arms, Li Shuying listened to Wang Chunhua's shrill cries and allowed herself the faintest curl of a smile.
Now.
This was the moment to strike.
Abruptly, she wrenched herself free from her mother's embrace and rushed forward.
"Grandpa! That's enough!" she cried, her voice trembling with urgency. "Please stop beating Step-Grandmother. Her words were harsh, but her intentions were not bad!"
The onlookers were startled.
Even as tears clung to her lashes, she placed herself between Li Changfu and the fallen Wang Chunhua, her thin figure trembling yet resolute.
A murmur of sympathy rippled through the crowd.
Widow He stepped forward immediately. "Little Shuying, do not interfere," she warned. "The label she used today was no small matter. If our brigade leader had been less reasonable, your entire family might already have been implicated."
Several villagers nodded gravely.
Li Shuying wiped at her tears with the back of her hand. Her voice was soft, almost pleading.
"Aunt He, I understand that Grandmother spoke wrongly. But she truly cares about our family."
Her words caused several brows to lift in surprise.
"She came to our house this morning with Step-Sister," Li Shuying continued, glancing briefly toward Zhao Hongmei, "to persuade my elder brother to leave school and find work in the county. She said Mother has suffered too much raising four children alone. She worried that it is too heavy a burden."
A pause.
"And she also said… that my brother is already seventeen. It is time for him to begin contributing filial support money to the elders."
Silence fell like a stone dropped into still water.
Even the wind seemed to withdraw.
Drop out of school.
Find work.
Pay filial support.
The villagers exchanged stunned looks.
In these difficult years, education was rare and precious. To force a promising boy to abandon his studies—so that he could earn and hand over money to elders who did not even raise him—