The White-Bone Demon of the Farm is as rich as a country

The roosters crowed, but it was still dark. The three siblings, who were used to getting up early, woke up on time. It was just that they slept too late last night, so Ru Yue and An Ping were not in good spirits. After a good night's sleep, Ru Xue announced in high spirits that her injury had healed, and asked her sister to take her to the mountains to pick flowers.

"Xue'er is amazing. Her injuries have healed in just two days." Ru Yue exaggeratedly coaxed her sister, "But we have something to do at home today, so you have to stay at home with us for the whole day."

"Sister, what's going on today? Xue'er can help."

"While the weather is good these two days, we will build another hut nearby. After it is dried, my brother can live in it." Ru Yue explained.

"Don't we already have a thatched hut to live in? Why do we need to build another one?" Xiao Ruxue was even more puzzled.

"Because Xue'er and elder sister are girls, and elder brother is a boy, there are differences between boys and girls, so we have to live separately." Looking at Ruxue's ignorant eyes, Meng Ruyue felt powerless. She really didn't know how to teach children knowledge about growth.

Just after breakfast, Zhang Erqiang and Ma Xiaoliu brought over two large bundles of straw, and left in a hurry without even drinking a sip of water.

Ru Yue and the other two spread the thatch in front of the door to dry. In order to ensure that the thatch is heated evenly and has the same toughness, they had to turn it over every hour or so.

In the whole morning, Zhang Erqiang and his friend went back and forth three or four times. At first, no one paid attention to it, but as they went back and forth more frequently, the curious people in the village noticed that the two vagrants were always delivering straw to Meng Ruyue, who had separated from her family and lived on her own.

"Hey, Erqiang, what's up? Are you interested in the eldest daughter of Meng Laosan?" Meng San's wife asked maliciously, "You've been walking around quite a bit this morning, haven't you?"

Under the big locust tree in the village, a group of gossipy women who had nothing to do and liked to gossip about other people burst into laughter.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Meng Ruyue hired us to deliver thatch to her home." Ma Xiaoliu answered heartlessly.

"Pay money to hire you? Didn't that little bitch come out of Old Meng's house without taking a penny? How can she afford to hire you? Where's Aunt Meng?" Meng Sanlaizi's wife asked in a flattering tone.

"Then how do we know?" Seeing that Zhang Erqiang didn't say anything, Ma Xiaoliu added another sentence, and the two of them left with the thatch on their backs.

"The Meng family said that the little bitch was kicked out because she was dishonest. I wonder if that's true?" Meng Sanlaizi's wife was still resentful of Ruyue's public scolding of her a few days ago. She threw dirty water at Meng Ruyue like she was free. "It seems that the whole Meng family has been deceived by this little bitch."

A group of people who were gossiping about their wives also started to laugh and make a fuss when they saw that there was something exciting to watch, for they were afraid that no one in the Meng family would know about it and there would be no chaos in the world.

"Mother, everyone in the village says that little bitch Ru Yue hired Zhang Erqiang and Ma Xiaoliu to make thatch for her." Mrs. Hu, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Meng family, exaggerated the gossip she had heard and told Mrs. Meng, "Where did that damn girl get the money? The third son and his wife must have hidden it. We hadn't split up the family back then, so the money should have belonged to the family. Don't you think that's right, mother?"

"Mother, what the eldest sister-in-law said makes sense." Meng Laoer's wife, Zhou, also encouraged her. "Besides, Ruyue has two village vagrants making thatch for her. How can her reputation be good? Don't let our Wenxiu and Xiangxiu get tarnished too. It will be hard to find someone to look after them."

"Old man, what do you say we should do about this?" Old Madam Meng yelled angrily, "This little bitch is shameless and has ruined the reputations of Wenxiu and Xiangxiu. I'll tear her apart."

"Later, you take the eldest and second eldest's families over there and give her a lesson so that she won't bring disgrace to our family's reputation. And then get our money back." Old man Meng tapped his stick with a matter-of-fact attitude.

After noon, Zhang Erqiang and Ma Xiaoliu delivered wood to Meng Ruyue twice more. Looking at a pile of thatch that was almost dried, the two began to build a wooden frame, thinking that they could tie the thatch bundles tomorrow. They estimated that if they hurried, they could finish it before dark.

Anping continued turning and drying the thatch before sunset. Ruyue said to the two men working, "Brother Erqiang, Brother Xiaoliu, today you two have delivered four loads of thatch and two loads of wood. I'll give you each fifteen cents. What do you think?"

Zhang Erqiang and his friend hadn't expected Meng Ruyue to actually pay them. They'd been expecting her to control them, figuring they'd be at her beck and call for years, but they'd finally gotten paid on the first day, which finally made them feel a bit relieved. Just as they were about to continue, they were interrupted by a raspy voice. "You little bitch, you dare to use my family's money for gifts? I'll tear you apart!" Even before Meng Lao Da's wife showed up, the curse reached them.

Ruxue shuddered with fear and quickly hid behind Ruyue. Anping was also shaking with fear, but he still stood upright in front of his sister, wanting to help her endure the beating from the old Meng family.

The old Meng family came from the village entrance cursing all the way, bringing a group of onlookers with them. They thought that the division of the family was not explained clearly enough to make people look down on their family, so this time they wanted to make a big fuss to let the whole village know that Meng Ruyue had done something shameful.

Seeing that the Meng family was coming in aggressively, Meng Ruyue hurriedly pulled her brother behind her and used her thin body to block the group of tigers and wolves for her and her brother and sister.

"You filthy little girl! I should have beaten you to death to prevent you from tarnishing the reputation of our Meng family." Old Madam Meng pointed her stick at Ru Yue and cursed, "Your damned parents are also cowards. They dared to hide their wealth without even dividing the family property. How could an old woman like you support such a pair of wicked people? Why don't you give us all the money now?"

"Grandma said that I took the money from Old Meng's family, but do you have any evidence? They say that if you take the stolen goods, you should take them. Did you see me take it or did you hold my hand? If your family dares to frame me, I don't mind reporting it to the county magistrate. I'll see who gets beaten with a stick and who gets disgraced!" Ru Yue retorted forcefully.

"You unfilial little bitch, how dare you talk to your grandma like that? You're really a bastard who was raised by a mother but not taught by her. And you even dare to ask for evidence? We should beat you to death for talking back to your elders." Old Man Meng's wife felt that she was right, and with so many people watching, she rushed forward against the wind and stretched out her hand to hit Ru Yue in the face.

Ru Yue had been on guard against her. When she saw her reaching out her hand, she quickly leaned back slightly. Hu Shi failed to hit Ru Yue's face, but fell to the ground because she used too much force. The onlookers burst into laughter.

"Oh my, this is terrible. You dare to avoid the teachings of your elders. Now that you have someone to rely on, you don't even care about filial piety." Meng Laoer's wife hurried over to help Hu, screaming meaningfully.

Ru Yue knew that her second aunt was usually a mean-spirited person, always plotting against Hu Shi, using the foolish Hu Shi as a pawn. She had schemed against her mother many times when she was alive. Even now, she still pretended to be a good person in front of Hu Shi, while at the same time accusing herself of a crime and smearing her own reputation.

"It's truly unfortunate that such a black-hearted little bitch has appeared in our ancestors' graves. Today, my wife will sacrifice her own family for the sake of justice and teach this dirty-handed girl a lesson." Old Mrs. Meng frowned, her wrinkled face crisscrossed with wrinkles, and spit flew as she shouted, "Eldest wife, second wife, hold down this shameless little whore. I, an old woman, will enforce the family rules in front of the villagers and teach her a lesson."

Meng Ruyue stared at this group of shameless people silently. Meng Anping was so angry that his chest heaved. He stood in front of his sister and refused to move away.

Seeing this situation, Zhang Erqiang and Ma Xiaoliu had no choice but to move forward. They knew very well that if they helped Meng Ruyue today, they would be completely on her bandwagon and would never be able to explain themselves. However, in order to get the antidote, they had to stand up.

Alas, why did they think so hard back then and offend such a plague god? Not even two days later, they had already put themselves in trouble. Zhang Erqiang and Ma Xiaoliu once again felt regretful in their hearts.