Reborn as a Tough Army Wife-Chapter 748 - 743: Learning the Truth

The crowd, upon hearing this, all turned to look at the woman who had spoken.

That woman cast a glance towards the Xu family in the distance, and whispered, "Wasn’t it someone who came to the Luo family earlier to collect a debt from their youngest son? It seemed like he was leading it. Could it be that the Xu family’s daughter got involved with him during that visit?"

When the crowd heard this, they recalled carefully the incidents that had happened in the Luo’s family last time, and soon two of them also remembered that it was indeed Shuanzi who had come last time.

Back then, everyone agreed with the woman, whispering, "That makes sense. Let’s calculate the timeline of when the Xu family’s daughter got pregnant, it must have been from that time."

What’s more, although village folk like to gossip, it’s not without basis—at least in the case of Xu He, there was no baseless rumor, but rather a continued attempt to find evidence and get to the bottom of it.

Because, it indeed turned out that Xu He got pregnant that time.

Although it wasn’t Xu He’s own wish, as Shuanzi forced himself on her, it was true that they had hooked up after that incident.

Anyway, whatever the case, now that people had gotten wind of Xu He’s situation, her reputation in the village would naturally not be good anymore.

One could imagine, Xu He’s image, much like a white lotus, would also collapse dramatically before the villagers.

But these were still minor issues; after all, for those who value reputation, it may seem like a very important matter, but for others, it might not matter at all.

In rural areas, idle gossip is just temporary; if other matters arise later to overshadow these, they will be forgotten.

The trickiest part was, of course, Shuanzi coming over to collect money.

Xu family.

After those women left, Duan Fenghua was worried that Shuanzi would make a scene at the doorstep, so she looked around and then called quietly to Shuanzi, "Come inside, we’ll talk in detail once you’re in."

"It seems like I’ve picked the right mother-in-law," said Shuanzi, as he was about to step inside.

But as he was about to enter, he was stopped by Mr. Xu. Seeing Duan Fenghua’s reaction, though Mr. Xu had a bad feeling, he still refused to believe it.

He glared at Duan Fenghua and roared, "Have you lost your mind? Who is this person, and why let him into the house? Are you trying to confirm what he just claimed?"

"It’s not like that, old man, you don’t know the whole story, this..." Duan Fenghua started to explain in the presence of Shuanzi, not knowing quite how.

For one, she didn’t want Shuanzi to be too smug, but more importantly, she wanted to conceal as much as possible; she knew her old man’s temper— if he found out the truth, there was no telling how much trouble it would cause at home.

Duan Fenghua didn’t speak further, but Shuanzi continued, "Actually sir, what she meant is, everything I said is true, the child Xu He had was mine, selling the child to me was real, she knows all about it."

"You..." Mr. Xu pointed at Shuanzi, lost for words, then turned to Duan Fenghua with a somber face and asked her, "Is what he said true?"

"I..." Duan Fenghua stammered, too afraid to speak the truth.

Mr. Xu, seeing this, had already made his assessments, but still held a sliver of hope that it was not the case. In exasperation, he shouted at Duan Fenghua, "Speak up, is it true or not?"

The shout from Mr. Xu startled Duan Fenghua, her instinct was to deny, "No..."

But Shuanzi, seemingly seeing through her intent, added dispassionately, "If you say it isn’t, then fine, I won’t bother you anymore. I’ll just go around the village and chat, see if others will believe."

Having said that, Shuanzi turned around, really planning to leave and start spreading rumors in the village.

Seeing this, Duan Fenghua, no longer caring about Mr. Xu’s anger, immediately tried to grab Shuanzi, almost pleadingly said, "Please, I will try to find a way about the issue with Xu He, just give me some time, but don’t go around the village talking about it. If you do, how can we, the Xu family, continue to live here? You’ll drive us to death and won’t find Xu He or get any money."

Honestly, Shuanzi wasn’t totally a heartless person on some matters; he originally had no intention of troubling the elderly couple too much. Seeing Duan Fenghua like this, he readily agreed, "Alright, I’ll give you two days to call Xu He back to repay the debt, otherwise don’t blame me for not being polite."

Having said that, he proceeded to take his men and leave.

After Shuanzi left, Mr. Xu closed the doors of the house, grabbed Duan Fenghua by the arm, and entered the house.

Once inside, he stared fiercely at Duan Fenghua, pressing her, "So what that rascal said was true, has Xu He really degenerated to this extent in the city?"

Knowing that she could no longer hide the truth, Duan Fenghua bit her lip, nodded her head, then looked at Mr. Xu, trying to speak, "Old man, don’t be angry..."

"Smack, smack..." Before she could finish, Mr. Xu slapped her several times, furiously yelling, "You two mother and daughter, how many shameful things have you done behind my back? The affair of Xu He marrying Luo Zhiming was already disgraceful enough, but I thought it was a done deal and begrudgingly agreed."

"After they got married, I told them numerous times, now that you’re married, live honestly and stop thinking about nonsense. But she ended up so corrupted, staying in the city with another man, even had another man’s child, and in the end, ended up selling the child and causing people to come looking for debts..." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

At this point, Mr. Xu was so angry he could barely breathe, and he felt stifled in his chest, looking quite unwell.

Seeing this, Duan Fenghua, worried about his health, reached out to support him, but Mr. Xu pushed her away. Pressing his chest, he continued, "If this gets out, think about the Xu family’s face, how can I show my face in this village?"

In the end, Mr. Xu felt that just talking was no longer enough to express his anger. He started hitting Duan Fenghua, "You, I will not let you live today, giving birth to such a shameless daughter."

Duan Fenghua took a few punches from Mr. Xu and didn’t dare say much, just huddled to one side, quietly defending herself, "Old man, this has nothing to do with me, how could I have known?"

"You didn’t know?" Mr. Xu was clear-minded and stared at Duan Fenghua, "Do you really think I’m senile? You were there when Xu He gave birth, how could you not know? The child was given away to someone else, how could you not know?"