CHAPTER 412: CHAPTER 407: DON’T BLAME ME

Xu He’s face flickered with annoyance upon hearing the villagers’ accusations. She glanced at Fang Pingying and said indifferently, "If you don’t have it, then you don’t. What’s that got to do with me? I had nothing to do with your Fang Family at that time."

Fang Pingying also smirked and spoke in an even more indifferent tone, "And what does your marriage have to do with me? Why should you have the nerve to team up and swindle money from my place?"

"You..." The word "swindle" made Xu He flush with anger as she glared at Fang Pingying. "Was it me who swindled? Did I even speak to you?"

"Xu He, what do you mean by this? Are you trying to push all the blame onto my mother alone?" Fang Pingying looked at Xu He with a twisted smile, deliberately glanced at Zhou Yunmei, and provocatively said, "Do you dare say you knew absolutely nothing about the swindling? That it was all my mother’s own idea?"

In Fang Pingying’s view, rather than facing both Xu He and Zhou Yunmei by herself, it would be better to confront them one by one and break them down individually—first, to stir up conflict between Zhou Yunmei and Xu He, deal with Xu He, and then turn to Zhou Yunmei.

In front of everyone, Xu He naturally wouldn’t admit to her involvement in the swindling. Gritting her teeth, she shifted the blame to Zhou Yunmei, "Yes, it was your mother who came up with it on her own. At that time, I hadn’t even married into your Luo Family, and had no knowledge of your family’s affairs."

She thought that as long as Zhou Yunmei wasn’t too foolish, she should be aware that Fang Pingying was deliberately sowing discord between them, and that Zhou Yunmei wouldn’t fall for it.

In her and Zhou Yunmei’s case, it would still be somewhat justifiable if Zhou Yunmei alone confronted Fang Pingying about the money demand. However, if people found out about her involvement in the swindle, she would undoubtedly become the subject of malicious gossip by the villagers.

Besides, they had already agreed to present a united front: she and Zhou Yunmei against Fang Pingying.

"Haha, this is truly what’s called ’casting aside the bridge after crossing’; you receive the money and then push all responsibility onto my mother," Fang Pingying laughed lightly, looking at Zhou Yunmei and saying, "Mother, even if you cannot stand me, I feel for you. Who has been working hard for whom?"

Given Zhou Yunmei’s temperament, in such chaotic situations, she wasn’t one to think things through and easily overlooked the implications. Upon hearing Xu He shift the blame solely onto her, Zhou Yunmei immediately began pointing and cursing at Xu He, "That’s right, Xu He, don’t go too far. The idea was yours, and you and Zhiming came together to coerce me. At first, I was reluctant, but Zhiming, damned be he, threatened to kill himself in front of me, leaving me no choice but to agree to swindle your elder brother. Now you dare to say this has nothing to do with you? Where is your conscience?"

"I..." Xu He rolled her eyes inwardly, cursing Zhou Yunmei for her stupidity, but in front of so many people, she couldn’t really explain herself, so she simply adopted an indifferent attitude, "Anyway, I don’t care about the affairs of your Luo Family, the betrothal gifts have been taken, and my wedding feast has already been arranged, who the money belongs to has nothing to do with me."

It’s not that simple to be so agreeable, Xu He is thinking too beautifully.

Fang Pingying watched her with a cold huff, "Xu He, I’ll say it in front of all the villagers here today; either you return all that betrothal money to me and I’ll let your wedding go smoothly, or if you persist that the money has nothing to do with you, not only will I want you to cough up the cash slowly, but your wedding today won’t happen either. In your words, after all, it’s your wedding, it’s none of my business."

Xu He didn’t take Fang Pingying’s words to heart, even going so far as to provoke her, "I won’t return it, I want to see what you can do about it; the money is already in my hands."

In her view, now that the money was in her hands, everything that needed buying had been bought, and the feast laid out, she simply couldn’t believe that Fang Pingying would dare to do anything in front of the whole village.

Fang Pingying had already resolved to tear off the mask of civility today and didn’t care about what others thought.

She glanced at Xu He’s smug expression, narrowed her eyes, and called out to Fang Ping’an, "Dad, go find some people to take the three-stanza firecrackers in the yard and sell them in town. Sell them for whatever price possible."

After speaking, she turned with an apologetic face to the longtime neighbors gathered in the courtyard, "Folks, I’m sorry, but today’s banquet ends here. Once the family affairs are sorted out, I’ll make amends to you all."

In the courtyard, some people who didn’t like to meddle casually uttered a few words and then left, leaving behind those who enjoyed meddling, who stayed seated to watch the excitement.

Fang Pingying didn’t care about that and instructed Fang Xiu on the side, "Xiu’er, all the food and drinks from the banquet in the courtyard, everything that can be sold should be taken to town to be sold. For those that can’t be sold, just take them to our house for now, and we’ll figure out what to do with them later."

Upon hearing Fang Pingying’s words, both Fang Ping’an and Fang Xiu sprang into action to start moving things.

An anxious Xu He and Luo Zhiming hurriedly intervened. Xu He pointed at Fang Pingying fiercely, as if she wanted to intimidate her, "Fang Pingying, you dare! If you dare sabotage my wedding today, I’ll fight you to the death."

Fang Pingying looked at her with a mocking smile and shouted loudly at Fang Ping’an, "Dad, call people to move the stuff."

As Fang Ping’an got up to call for help, he didn’t expect his hand to be grabbed. Then he heard Luo Zhiyong, with a cold face, say to him, "Let me do it, Dad. First, we’ll take these things to your house."

Luo Zhiyong’s intervention startled the previously arrogant Xu He. She held some awe for Luo Zhiyong in her heart; after all, this man was once the idol of her heart, and he still was.

She didn’t dare to stop Luo Zhiyong and tugged at the sleeve of Luo Zhiming, who was standing behind her.

Luo Zhiming, feeling guilty towards Luo Zhiyong, hadn’t dared to speak out, but at this juncture, he approached Luo Zhiyong with a pleading look, "Stop, stop, Big Brother. Are you that heartless? Do you have to mess up my wedding? Can’t you give me a little face?"

Perhaps the deeper the love, the more painful the wound.

Once, Luo Zhiyong thought his younger brother was just a little unruly, so he always wanted to take care of him no matter the circumstances. He never imagined that he would come back to harm his own family members.

Therefore, due to Luo Zhiming’s actions, his heart was completely broken by him. Luo Zhiyong felt even more hatred towards him than he did when he saw Xu He,

Luo Zhiyong stared at him, his expression so cold that it was devoid of any emotion, "Luo Zhiming, you know exactly what you’ve done. From the moment you chose to believe Xu He’s words and made moves against your sister-in-law and nephews, we were no longer brothers; there’s no face to be given. It isn’t that I’m heartless; you forced me into this."

After a pause, Luo Zhiyong continued, "Before, no matter what you did wrong, I’d verbally say I wouldn’t deal with it, but whenever you truly faced trouble, who else but me stepped in to sort it out? But this time, you severed our brotherly bond with your own hands. You cannot blame me for this." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it and give it a monthly ticket on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)