Chapter 8 Malicious Mind Behind Slander

Ao~ Xiaobai excitedly ran toward Feng Xuxu, wagging its tail. "Sister Feng, you've finally arrived, I've been waiting for you for such a long time."

Feng Xuxu cheerfully said, "Xiaobai, I've been in the space for so long, where did you go?"

"Sister Feng, I just went to patrol the mountain."

"Xiaobai, sister wants to ask you, what is the use of this space?" Xiaobai scratched its head with its paws, thought for a moment, and said, "The space has many uses. For example, the time difference here is ten to one compared to the outside world. There's also a medicinal mountain here, which has many kinds of precious herbs. There are all sorts of fruit trees on the mountain, and a magical well in front of the building that can cure all diseases and never dries up. There are also more than thirty acres of land. Ordinary seeds planted here mature in just seven or eight hours. If the space is upgraded, crops will mature even faster." Feng Xuxu listened in disbelief.

At the old residence, lights were bright, and the doors were tightly closed. Grandpa (Feng Youcai), Grandma (Jia Tao), the third son, Feng Santian, and his wife Feng Liusi, all sat together on the benches in the main hall. The third daughter-in-law looked nervously at her father-in-law and said, "Dad, as long as this can succeed, my sister-in-law said that there will be a reward of one hundred taels of silver, plus ten mu of paddy fields, and a separate bride price. When Feng Xuxu gets married, she won't need a dowry. My elder brother's family only has this one son. Feng Xuxu definitely won't be shortchanged."

The grandfather was silent for a while then said, "Alright, you can take care of this matter."

The third aunt, Liusi, hurriedly agreed, "Okay! Don't worry, Dad. This thing will be handled perfectly."

The next day, before dawn, Feng Xi and Feng Xuxu got up early to go to the market. They intended to exchange firewood for some daily necessities. Reaching the entrance of the village, they saw quite a few village women, either carrying or shouldering their goods, all gathering together, waiting for the Feng Santian family's ox cart to head into town.

"Eh, isn't that Feng Xuxu? It's been a long time since you came to look for my ugly girl. She has been talking about you every day at home."

Feng Xuxu saw that it was Auntie Wang and replied with a smile, "Aunt Wang, I haven't been feeling well recently. I was afraid of passing it on to Yingjie and Xiaohai, so I didn't visit." Feng Ming joined in the conversation with a hearty laughter.

"Look at you, child. What's this about passing on anything? Whenever you have time, just come over to our house to play,"

"What your uncle said is right. Jiaojiao has been wanting you to come over to help her design patterns,"

"Hey, hey, hey. The embroidery sister," the one called the embroidery sister turned around to see it was the village's notorious loudmouth, Big Mouth. Not wanting to make enemies with such a person, she asked, "What is it?"

The loudmouth, a member of the Jiang Family, said mysteriously, "Have you heard?"

The embroidery sister frowned and asked, "Heard what? Why are you always speaking half a sentence and hiding the other half? Speak up, what's going on?"

Jiang Family continued, "You really haven't heard? Apparently, there's an evil star that has emerged in our village."

The embroidery sister exclaimed, "Ah, really? There's such a thing?" A few women nearby, hearing about there being an evil star in the village from the discussions between the embroidery sister and Jiang Family, gathered around curiously and asked Jiang Family, "Big Sister Jiang, give us the scoop quickly. Who in our village is it?"

"Yeah, yeah, who is it? We should also steer clear, we all have sons and daughters at home, it's better to avoid them." A few other women also chimed in.

Jiang Family pursed her lips and said, looking in Feng Xuxu's direction, "There, isn't that who I'm talking about—the one talking to Feng Ming's wife, Wang Family."

One of the women, a slender and tall daughter-in-law from the Feng Family named Feng Xiao, stepped forward and asked doubtfully, "Big Sister Jiang, are you talking about Feng Xuxu?" Jiang Family immediately added, "Yes. Isn't it Feng Xuxu? Remember a few years back? A monk came to Dahong's house from the Feng Family, glanced at Feng Xuxu and said, 'A star of calamity reincarnated. Only by drowning Feng Xuxu in the pond can the disaster be broken.' Unfortunately, Wang Family (Feng Xuxu's mother) and Dahong disagreed, and as a result, Wang Family died that year. Now a few years have passed, and Dahong has also died."

At that moment, the Gao Family from the crowd, eager for gossip, suddenly interjected, "That's right, that's right, there was such an incident. At the time, I went to Wang Hui's (Feng Xuxu's mother) house to visit. Just when I arrived at the door, I saw an old monk leaving the yard, still chanting Amitabha." When Jiang Family said this, everyone was still doubtful, since she was known in the village to be a big mouth without many truthful words. But when Gao Family said this, it added credibility because she had been close to Wang Family at the time, which everyone knew. After Wang Family died, Gao Family moved away and no longer visited.

Not far away, Auntie Wang, hearing Jiang Family talk about Feng Xuxu as some kind of evil star, was so angry her whole body shook and she was about to fling her arms and confront Jiang Family, but was stopped by Feng Xuxu. Feng Xuxu said, "Auntie Wang, if a dog bites you, would you want to bite it back?"