After being wrongly married, I stabbed my husband to death and became famous throughout the world.

Li Man tried her best to suppress her panicked expression, and looked at Zhou Shi with a guilty and evasive gaze.

But soon, she turned her head away, lowered it slightly, and dared not bear the consequences of her words.

"Aman! How could you lie to your father?! That brat came just now, making such a commotion, you must have seen it too!" Zhou looked at her daughter incredulously, rushed over, grabbed Aman's arm, and shook it violently a few times. "You explain yourself! Tell your father right now that that brat Ali burned the firewood! Tell me!"

What Zhou cared about was no longer just the firewood being burned.

She was heartbroken.

This is the child she carried for ten months, yet time and again he stands on the opposite side of her.

It's understandable that she tries to please her father, but now she's actually helping Ali cover up the truth and even framing her own mother!?

"Mother!" Li Man trembled with fear. "I...I didn't see anything...I didn't see anything, okay..."

She was genuinely a little scared.

Her mother's eyes were terrifying; she stared straight at her.

But she didn't want to reveal Ali's story, otherwise her father would beat her to death.

"Enough!" Li Chutian grabbed Zhou Shi and slammed her to the ground. "Ah Li is just a little girl. She's been in the mountains for so many days. How could she possibly run out unscathed and do bad things? You've been blaming her for everything at home all these years. Don't think I don't know!"

“This firewood…it was due tomorrow, and now it’s all gone! If the officials ask, you’ll be responsible for it all! If you dare to pin it on me, I’ll beat you to death!” Li Chutian said angrily.

Even after many years of marriage, feelings still exist.

But life in the mountains is too hard these days. Every day, the moment I open my eyes, I'm working. Where do I find the time to talk about feelings?

Moreover, he had overlooked many things before, and now, as he shared hardships with Zhou, he gradually realized that she was not a good mother or a good wife.

She was not gentle or patient enough, and couldn't even get along with her own daughter. All she did all day long was yell, and all her former gentleness and understanding had disappeared, which annoyed him to no end.

Zhou sat on the ground, looking utterly dejected, her face deathly pale.

She didn't know how her life had suddenly become like this.

Her husband was disgusted, her daughter was dissatisfied, and she had clearly shared half of the household chores, yet she received nothing but resentment.

Why is this happening? Just like Ali in the past.

Yes! Ah Li!

Zhou suddenly looked at Li Man: "Have you seen that brat Ali recently?! Did she teach you to go against me? I was wondering why you suddenly changed. You used to love following me around, but now you're always hanging around your father! Ali must have made you do this, right?!"

"No...no..." Li Man backed away repeatedly, terrified.

"Are you stupid?! Who is she? She's our family's mortal enemy!"

"She's a master at bewitching people! Your brother was tricked by her into trying to gain merit and was arrested! Everything she's teaching you now is to harm you. I'm your own mother, and she's trying to drive a wedge between you and your own mother. Isn't that a vicious intention?!" Zhou shouted hoarsely.

Li Man felt a sharp pain in his heart.

To sow discord? To harm her?

The person in front of her was her mother, so logically, what she said should be correct.

But she couldn't tell them apart anymore; she really couldn't tell them apart.

What is harm? It's making her suffer and toil every day—that's harm!

She used to dislike Ah Li, but now... Ah Li treats her very well. Every time she goes to that little wooden house, she feels relaxed. Ah Li never orders her around. If she kindly helps with a small favor, Ah Li will happily thank her, praise her, and even magically produce some small gifts to reward her!

But where is my mother?

They would only insult her, make her eat leftovers, or nag her about taking on the responsibilities left by her older brother and making her take care of her younger brother in the future!

“No, there is no Ali… I have never seen her, Mother, you are talking nonsense…” Li Man opened her mouth, but in the end, she firmly denied it.

Her mother was lying to her. If she admitted Ah Li's existence, her mother would jump up excitedly, grab her by the ear, and take her father to smash Ah Li's house. Her mother would consider her and Ah Li as accomplices and treat her even worse afterward.

"..." Zhou had never felt so desperate.

Li Chutian was no less angry than Zhou, after all, how could he be happy when his hard work was gone?

I'm terrified of tomorrow.

However, time passed little by little, and the night rolled towards dawn.

The frost swept over, making the forest much colder.

When it was time to deliver firewood, the prisoners from each family had to gather at a fixed place, and then be led by a special person to the military camp. If the prisoners did not show up by the appointed time, then something serious was going to happen.

Li Chutian was very nervous and restless, as was Zhou Shi; in fact, her expression was even more frightening than Li Chutian's.

Her eyes were bloodshot as she stared intently at Li Man, concealing a myriad of emotions.

Whether it was the regret of disappointment that she couldn't live up to her potential, or the pain and resentment of being betrayed by her loved ones, those emotions lingered around Li Man, causing her to cry several times that night.

After the appointed time for delivering firewood had passed, and some time had elapsed, someone arrived.

The two men were officers and soldiers specifically responsible for managing prisoners, somewhat like jailers. Unless they saw money, they would never show the slightest sympathy to any prisoner.

"Where's your firewood?" the visitor asked directly.

"My lord! It's burned!" Zhou Shi said before Li Chutian could speak. "My stepdaughter came and caused trouble, burning all our firewood. Please, have mercy on us this time!"

"So you're saying you didn't hand in any firewood today?" The other person frowned.

“Yes…” Zhou was very uneasy, “It really was sabotaged by someone…”

“You know the rules. Even if your bones are broken, the firewood that should be sent must not be missing! Don’t say it was burned or destroyed. We are not upright officials, we don’t have time to judge your cases!” The other party didn’t care about the reasons, and just said according to the rules: “A fine of two taels of silver, or twenty lashes, you choose!”

Zhou felt a pang of anxiety and quickly looked at Li Chutian.

The family had some savings; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to afford to send their youngest son to school.

Upon entering the mountains, this money was distributed by Li Chutian.

He left some for Li Chuiguang, and Li Chutian hid the rest, only taking out two or three taels of silver for future use. However, he had spent almost all of it on buying daily necessities from the soldiers a few days ago.

“Her father—” Zhou Shi began anxiously, “If we get beaten, how will we go chop firewood?”

"Sir, is it one person fighting twenty, or both of you suffering together?" Li Chutian asked bluntly.

"It's twenty for each person, but if you're willing to pay for your wife, that's fine too."