The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

"Really, really, you mean Cheng Bao's mother, right? Cheng Bao's mother is really good at bearing children. The Qian family made the right choice in marrying her."

"Yes, Old Qian's lineage has always been a single-lineage family. They just bought a child bride at random, and unexpectedly she turned out to be fertile. Grandma Chengbao is overjoyed."

"I'm happy as I am, but I'm still going to suffer just as much."

"Wow, Auntie, you're so eloquent! Tell us more!" Du Mingxian stuffed some more sunflower seeds into the aunt's mouth.

With food available, the aunties were thrilled and excited to see that Du Mingxian enjoyed listening to gossip. They racked their brains trying to recall anything about Qian Chengbao's family.

"Oh, that's Chengbao's grandma. She loves her child, but she doesn't like her daughter-in-law. She feels that her daughter-in-law comes from a low social class and is not good enough for her son, so she often beats and scolds her. Before Chengbao's daughter-in-law entered the family, Chengbao's mother did all the housework."

Du Mingxian feigned shock, "So, they brought a new daughter-in-law into their family just to be their slave?"

"Not really. There aren't many people in his family. They have a lot of land and a lot of work to do, so naturally he does more work."

"That's good. Her new daughter-in-law can eat her fill now that she's married into the family, which is better than many other families. Besides, the mother-in-law seems to be a gentle person, so the new daughter-in-law won't be bullied. What's wrong with doing a little more work?"

The old woman quickly shook her head, looking as if she had some earth-shattering news to tell.

Du Mingxian immediately stuffed half a handful of melon seeds into her hand, and the old woman began to spill the beans: "You don't know, her mother-in-law used to look very honest, but she's not a good person at all. She knew her daughter-in-law was pregnant, but she still deliberately tormented her. Now that her daughter-in-law has miscarried, she still... makes her daughter-in-law go to work in the fields."

"That's ruthless!"

One of the gossipers pointed into the distance and said, "See that? That woman carrying water is Chengbao's wife."

"Oh, she's out fetching water already. It seems Chengbao's mother doesn't want her daughter-in-law to get a proper rest."

"What rest? Those who are lucky, married well, and have a good mother-in-law can even have a month of confinement. What about Chengbao's family? How could they possibly let them rest?"

"That's right. The whole family depends on this one person for food and drink, and all the housework."

"I heard that the girl's family came yesterday, but Chengbao's mother pretended very well; her family didn't say a word," the old woman said mysteriously.

"What's the big deal? Although she has four older brothers, I heard that one of them is sickly and won't live for more than a few years. He's a scholar, and the whole family is concerned about that one. Who cares about the life or death of a married woman?"

Du Mingxian didn't like hearing this. Having gathered enough information, she stood up and said, "It's getting late, I'm going back now."

"Young lady, won't you sit for a while longer?"

"I'm not sitting here anymore, I'm going back first."

"Okay, come visit your auntie when you have time."

"Okay, aunties and grandmas, please sit down and chat."

Du Mingxian walked around the village, then went to Qian Chengbao's house and stood in the yard listening to what was happening inside.

A harsh voice rang out, "You wretched woman, what are you dawdling about? I asked you to fetch some water, and look at what you've done! You managed to fetch water from the well, but you spilled it when you got home. Is this your way of showing dissatisfaction with this old woman?"

"Mother, I didn't, I just accidentally did it, I'll go pick another one right away."

That soft, gentle voice belonged to Ling Xiaomei; she had heard it on her wedding day.

"Of course you have to choose. Do you expect me, this old woman, to choose?" The old woman's voice paused slightly before continuing, "Chengbao, you need to control this wretched woman. She's even giving her mother the cold shoulder."

"I didn't, I didn't."

Ling Xiaomei had already reached the door when she heard this and hurriedly turned back to explain. She saw Qian Chengbao come out of the house, walk over to Ling Xiaomei in a few steps, and raise his hand to hit her.

Granny Qian rushed forward to close the gate quickly, saying, "Don't hit her in the yard. Gag her. If the villagers hear it, it will damage our family's reputation."

Seeing this, Du Mingxian set the fire while thinking to herself, "Now I finally understand why such scoundrels as the Qian family can still have such a good reputation. It turns out that all those bad things were done in secret."

"Ah...fire, fire!"

Although it is already autumn, the weather is not cold, and it has been almost a month since the last rain, so the air is dry.

The Qian family was well-off; their main room was made of blue bricks and had earthen walls, while the other rooms had thatched roofs and earthen walls. Once the fire started, there was no way to put it out.

Hearing the commotion inside, Du Mingxian hurriedly tried to hide. Soon, many villagers came to the Qian family's courtyard to help. One side of the wing room was on fire, while the other side was still fine. The temperature was scorching, so many people went outside and stood far away.

The Qian family members, unwilling to accept defeat, simply hid on the side where the fire hadn't started. Du Mingxian, not wanting to see the Qian family members comfortable, set the fire on another branch.

There's no way to take Ling Xiaomei away openly for the time being, but we can find something for the Qian family to do so that they won't have time to care about Ling Xiaomei. As for the rest, we'll discuss it with Ling Silang when she gets back and then make a decision.

The fire was quite large, so she simply went a little further away, went into her spatial dimension to cook herself a meal, ate quietly, and then slipped away unnoticed.

An hour and a half later, almost everything in the house had been burned to ashes. At this moment, Qian's mother was wailing incessantly, while Ling Xiaomei was quietly working.

The rest of the Qian family were all complaining and blaming others; not a single one of them took the initiative to do any work.

Seeing this, Du Mingxian felt angry. No wonder Ling Xiaomei, who was as stubborn as mud, ended up killing the Qian family in her previous life. How much must someone be driven to cause the extermination of an entire family?

By the time she got home, it was already dusk. Her mother was relieved to see that she was alright. "The kitchen left you some food."

"Good girl."

Du Mingxian was eating in the kitchen when Ling Silang came in and sat quietly to the side watching her eat. After she finished eating, the two of them went to Ling Silang's room together.

"Did you find out anything?"

"I set fire to the Qian family's house today."

Ling Silang frowned. "Did my little sister get bullied?"

Du Mingxian recounted everything she had heard and seen before finally suggesting, "If my younger sister continues to live with the Qian family in this condition, who knows when she might lose her life. Our family is still doing alright, so why don't we find a way to get her divorced and return home?"

Ling Silang shook his head, "Divorce and returning home is not easy."

Du Mingxian was born and raised in the area, so she knew how difficult this matter was, extremely difficult. Her mother was able to get a divorce because the Du family was afraid, and also because Xu Tingting and her father were very supportive.

"But are you worried about ruining your reputation?"

"No." Seeing that she had misunderstood, Ling Silang explained, "The children in the family are still young. Even if my younger sister divorces and returns home, it won't matter. At most, some people will gossip, but it won't affect our lives. By the time the children are ready to get married in a few years, my younger sister's matter will have faded a lot, so it won't have much of an impact."