Reborn in the Great Northern Wilderness in 1982, I farmed and hunted to support my whole family.

Li Mu hid in the jade stack and listened carefully to the sounds outside. It wasn't until it got dark and the widow Liu was about to go out to collect tofu that Liu Mancang came out of the house and followed her out.

"Why are you following me? Go back inside and stay there. What if someone sees us?" Widow Liu said anxiously, glancing back at the courtyard as she turned around.

Unexpectedly, Liu Mancang scoffed and slapped Widow Liu on the back of her hand, "So what if they saw it? Would they dare to tell anyone outside?"

“In this village, my father is the local tyrant. Anyone who dares to say a bad word about me is asking for trouble.”

Liu Mancang's words were extremely arrogant.

Although Widow Liu knew about this, she still felt uneasy.

She glared at Liu Mancang with a hint of embarrassment and annoyance before continuing to walk out of the courtyard.

But as soon as Ren Cai left the courtyard, he immediately turned around and pushed Liu Mancang, who was also about to leave, back into the courtyard.

"Go back quickly, the inspection team is here."

Widow Liu spoke somewhat anxiously.

Upon hearing her words, Liu Mancang was taken aback, a fierce and panicked glint flashing in his eyes.

"What are the inspection teams doing in the village?"

As he spoke, he turned and immediately darted back into the house.

Widow Liu pretended to be nonchalant, put down the large bowl she was about to use to hold the tofu, and started sweeping the yard in a perfunctory manner.

Soon, the inspection team entered the room.

Widow Liu saw them coming and hurried forward, smiling as she greeted them: "Oh my! What brings you gentlemen here? What brings you to my little courtyard?"

The man leading the group saw Widow Liu's grinning face, and his already serious expression darkened further. "Someone reported you for having an affair. We need to go in and search you."

As they spoke, the man led his men into the house.

Widow Liu did not stop them when she saw this; instead, she sat down on the ground and started wailing.

"Heavens! Who the hell ruined my reputation? How am I, a widow, supposed to do odd jobs in the village now?!"

The wailing and lamentation were deafening, and soon a crowd had gathered outside the courtyard.

However, the inspection team entered the house quickly and left just as quickly.

“Nobody’s here! This might have been a malicious report. Get up from the ground right away, and we’ll explain to the villagers.”

As this cold, hard voice rang out, Li Mu, who was hiding in the pile of jade bundles, immediately lost his composure.

Liu Mancang was hiding in the house, how come they didn't find him?

Could it be that this widow Liu has a cellar or something in her house?

That's hard to say. Back when there was war, every family would dig a tunnel or something in their own yard.

Later, when the war ended, those places were either filled in or left to store things.

Hiding someone is quite easy.

Thinking this, Li Mu took advantage of the moment when Widow Liu was tugging at the inspector's sleeve and wouldn't let it go, and quickly darted out of the yard from behind the jade stack.

He turned around and went to the front yard, hiding behind the crowd and shouting in a strained voice, "How can there be no one here! I just saw the village chief's son go into his house."

"The person might be hiding in the cellar, and you didn't find them, did you?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone turned their attention away from Widow Liu and looked towards the direction from which the voice came from.

But to everyone's surprise, there wasn't a single person in sight.

Li Mu was also shrewd; as soon as he finished speaking, he darted to the very edge of the crowd.

In the dead of winter, with his coat collar pulled up, the villagers watching didn't even notice that there was an outsider like him.

The inspection team didn't have time to dwell on who had given the reminder.

As soon as she turned around, someone else rushed into the house, which made Widow Liu very anxious.

"No, you can't go in and search. You've ruined my reputation. How am I, a widow, supposed to live after this?"

Widow Liu cried and tried to stop them, but she couldn't stop the inspectors.

Several team members rushed into the house and, in no time, brought Liu Mancang out.

Just then, Liu Dezhu, who had received the news, rushed over and witnessed the scene.

He quickly stepped forward with a smile, "Gentlemen, what's going on here?"

"They're just two young lovers, you don't need to arrest them, do you?"

"A lover! A widow and a man already engaged, and that's what you call a lover? Having an affair is having an affair, so what? Do you, Village Chief Liu, intend to cover it up?"

The person who spoke was also a tough nut to crack. He was unmoved by Liu Dezhu's deliberate attempts to flatter him and forced Liu Mancang to leave.

Upon seeing this, Liu Dezhu's smile froze instantly. He turned to look at Widow Liu, who was still sitting on the ground, his eyes as cold as if they were poisoned.

Widow Liu, who was watching from the side, met those eyes and felt her blood run cold. She quickly jumped up from the ground and blocked the inspection team again.

"He... he broke off his engagement a long time ago. He had already promised to marry me. We're not having an affair."

Widow Liu screamed hysterically.

But before Liu Dezhu could even speak, a crisp question rang out from behind the crowd of onlookers.

"The engagement was called off? When did that happen? I had no idea."

Zeng Dazhen led five or six women and seven or eight strong men from the village to squeeze in from outside the crowd.

Looking coldly at the pale-faced widow Liu, he turned to Liu Dezhu and said in a cold voice, "Village Chief Liu, since both of our families have broken off the engagement, our Tao family is too embarrassed to accept the twenty-odd yuan of betrothal money we received back then."

As she spoke, Zeng Dazhen casually pulled out more than twenty loose bills from her pocket, which were obviously scraps together, and stuffed them all into Liu Dezhu's hand.

Liu Dezhu was caught in a dilemma, and he stammered for a long time without being able to say anything.

Finally, he could only sigh heavily, feigning regret, and glare at Widow Liu with a fierce look. "We were wrong in handling this matter with Aunt Zeng. We will definitely come to apologize in person later."

"No need, it's best if we just pretend we've never met."

Zeng Dazhen showed Liu Dezhu no mercy at this moment. Before coming, Tian Xiaohu had told him everything he had heard.

She's still seething with anger!

With Zeng Dazhen announcing the engagement on the spot, Liu Mancang's crime of hooliganism is definitely out of the question.

Li Mu felt sorry for them. If the Liu family father and son were given a chance to breathe, they would probably retaliate very soon.

Thinking this, he coldly looked at Liu Mancang, who hadn't uttered a word since being captured.

He had always felt that something was off about this person.

If we can seize this opportunity to completely defeat him, we can eliminate any future troubles.

Li Mu's eyes followed his lead.

However, at that moment, Liu Dezhu suddenly knelt down on the ground with a thud and cried out to Zeng Dazhen, "Aunt Zeng, I'm sorry."

As he spoke, he bent down to kowtow.