Lady Liu, who had been comforting her second daughter, hurriedly intercepted when Lin Yuan volunteered to go with Lin Jiaxiao. Lin Yuan turned back and reassuringly patted her mother's hand, signaling that she was alright.
On the other hand, Lin Jiaxiao was in trouble, "You, you, why have you come back? Your Third Aunt, what about her?"
"Right, weren't you supposed to be taken to work as a Helper at Laosan's house? Why did you come back so quickly? Did they refuse to take you after hearing about your reputation as Little Disaster Star, haha."
Without that Loudmouth's voice, Lin Yuan wouldn't have even noticed that not only was Lin Jiaxiao there, but so was her Aunt Ma. Aunt Ma had been watching as Lin Jiaxiao grappled with the second daughter's girl from the sidelines, neither helping nor intervening, purely there for the spectacle.
When Lady Ma first heard that Laosan had found a good job for Lady Liu's daughter, she was envious, but upon following over and taking a look, she realized something was amiss. Laosan and his wife never cared much for these three nieces, yet now they were each being introduced to jobs, evidently to be sold off as servants. If they were really sold, and entered into servitude, not to mention this lifetime, even the children born to them would be in servitude. At this point, Lady Ma was no longer envious; it was better for her own daughter to stay in the village and farm than to go to the town and be ordered around like an ox or a horse!
Of course, Lin Yuan knew well of Aunt Ma's pot-stirring nature. She coyly smiled and said, "I don't know either. The family thought I was too skinny to do the work and didn't want me. However, that man did keep Third Aunt there, and later they disappeared together. When she returned, Third Aunt's hair was a mess, her clothes were wrinkled, and she even lost one of her new shoes."
The crowd of onlookers immediately buzzed with excitement. Lin Yuan's seemingly innocent words were fraught with implication.
Watching Lin Jiaxiao's face slowly turn green, Lin Yuan calmly added another sentence, "Third Aunt even said that not even you, Third Uncle, have ever served her in such a way."
Lin Yuan wasn't wrong with her words. Li Feng'e was chased and beaten, her hair indeed disheveled, and her clothes not only wrinkled but also dirty. As for the last sentence, Lin Jiaxiao indeed didn't dare to raise a hoe to serve her.
"Oh, so it turns out that they favored the Third Sister-in-law, wanting to employ her as a Helper..." Aunt Ma's eyes spun mischievously, relishing the drama.
The crowd at the entrance erupted in laughter at once, and some prankster with a penchant for causing trouble shouted, "This Helper gig, is it helping in the fields or in bed? Hahaha."
Lin Jiaxiao's face turned from black to white, then to black again. He stomped his foot, turned to leave, but came back, possibly out of embarrassment and anger, and raised his hand to slap Lin Yuan's face.
"You Little Disaster Star, I'll teach you for spouting nonsense!"
Lin Yuan, alert to his intentions, quickly stepped back to avoid him as soon as he raised his hand, and even snatched a wooden stick from her waistband, swinging it fiercely towards his hand.
Lin Jiaxiao, after all, was a man and it was not so easy for Lin Yuan to hit him with the stick. He swiftly dodged the blow, which only added to his fury and embarrassment. He bellowed, "You little wretch, daring to swing a stick at your Third Uncle! You're truly an ungrateful brat raised without a mother's teaching. I'll give you the lesson that your father should have given you today!" With that, he rolled up his sleeves to grab her.
As Lin Yuan brandished the stick, dodging around, she shouted for all the gawking villagers at the gate to hear, "You're fit to teach me? You and your wife conspire to sell your own niece, and you've got the face to speak?"
"Big sister, big sister, I've brought the kitchen knife for you!" Just as Lin Yuan was swinging her stick and about to be caught by Lin Jiaxiao, Lin Shuang's voice suddenly rang out. The voice that was usually sweet and crisp and likable now sent a chill down everyone's spine as they heard her words.