Chapter 978 - 980: The Disaster Has Finally Gone_1
Liu Family’s Mrs. Liu opened her mouth, seeing Bai Ruozhu’s determined attitude, and began to hesitate.
"Zhou Family bore your uncle a son, how can you just casually divorce her? What about the child? I need to keep my little grandson by my side," said Mrs. Liu.
Bai Ruozhu said unflinchingly, "Fine, you can stay and look after your little grandson, and I’ll give you some money."
Mrs. Liu immediately changed her expression, "How can you be so heartless towards a little baby? He’s your cousin, after all!"
"Whether he is or isn’t may be another matter, and isn’t it more heartless to take a child away from his birth mother? If Zhou Family insists the child is from our Bai Family and wants to hand him over to us, then we’ll just have to do a blood test," Bai Ruozhu said indifferently. After all, since Bai Yibo wasn’t around, Sanlang could still do the test.
Of course, a blood test wasn’t actually reliable, but she had some medicines that could run some tests.
"You think about it yourself. We’re leaving at first light tomorrow morning, and we won’t wait for anyone who’s late," Bai Ruozhu said and then strode away.
"Ah, ah, wait, how can the child not be ours? I see the nose looks just like your uncle’s," Mrs. Liu called out from behind.
As the two of them came out of the room, they just happened to run into Zhou Family eavesdropping, with Jianqi hiding in the shadows, deliberately not stopping her.
"Mother, how can the child not belong to the Bai Family? If you’re leaving, take the child with you; it’s hard enough for a woman alone to survive, let alone take care of a child!" Widow Zhou said.
Bai Ruozhu swept her gaze over coldly, "Take the child with me, so that gives you an excuse to come to the Capital to find us later? Do you think the scandalous affairs you’ve been involved in here in the village are a secret? You’ve already told people that the child surely isn’t my uncle’s because the timing doesn’t match up, but you’re not even sure who the father is, so you’re pinning it on my uncle."
Upon hearing this, Widow Zhou screamed, "What do you mean by that, are you calling my son a bastard? Fine then, if the Bai Family wants to disgrace their own child like this, then I’ll just go and kill him by throwing him to the ground. I’ll kill the Bai Family’s seed and see who gets struck by thunder!"
After she shouted, she walked towards the house, her demeanor as if she really planned to pick up the child and throw him. This scared Mrs. Liu, who hurriedly reached out to grab her arm and said, "What are you doing? Don’t you care about your own child? How can you be so cruel as a mother?"
"There’s no crueler than a grandmother who doesn’t even care about the life and death of her own grandson; what else should I care about?" Widow Zhou said, struggling to break free.
"Jianqi, throw this woman out, then send someone to report to the officials claiming that the Bai Family accuses this woman of misconduct, and we are divorcing her today," Bai Ruozhu glared fiercely at Widow Zhou, "We’ve got all the witnesses and evidence we need, let’s see what Officer Li decides then."
Widow Zhou froze, no longer moving towards the house, she asked, "What witnesses and evidence?"
"You’ve been involved with four men from the village, and they are willing to come forward as witnesses. As for how many others there might be, I don’t know, but I think these four are enough. Plus, someone has your bellyband, isn’t that physical evidence?" Bai Ruozhu saw Widow Zhou’s face turn deathly pale, and her smile widened even more.
"Zhou Qiuying, just stay here quietly. You still have your few acres of land to enjoy life. At first, the Bai Family compensated you with land for the silver they borrowed from you; you won’t have to worry about food and drink in the future, so why insist on entangling yourself with the Bai Family? You should be aware of what I’m capable of. Be careful, or you might end up losing your life in the end," Bai Ruozhu said and deliberately glanced at Jianqi in the yard. Widow Zhou’s gaze also shifted, and she jumped, startled because she had not noticed that person before. The man looked icy, capable of snapping her neck in an instant, perhaps?
"Now you have two options. Be honestly divorced, and the Bai Family will compensate you with four acres of land, and you can take your child and live a carefree life. Otherwise, come with me to the County Government Office right now, and let Officer Li decide. Anyway, I don’t find this matter embarrassing, and if anyone’s going to be disgraced, it certainly won’t fall on me." People like Zhou Qiuying only know how to deal with those who care about their reputation, Bai Ruozhu didn’t care at all, leaving her as the foolish one.
Widow Zhou fell silent for a moment, then spoke up, "Six acres!"
Mrs. Liu exclaimed in horror from the side, "Our family’s land can’t be given away. If you’re going to give anything, give from your own land!"
Bai Ruozhu glared back, "If you don’t want to pay the debt Uncle owed, fine, but stay here and watch over those few acres of land then."
Once these words were spoken, Liu Family’s spirit died down, and she mumbled under her breath about how Bai Ruozhu could be so heartless, that’s no way to treat the elderly.
Bai Ruozhu snorted coldly, she could only be ruthless when dealing with her and Zhou the widow, this toughness was compelled out of her.
"Five acres, no more, otherwise we’ll go straight to the County Government Office!" Bai Ruozhu said unapologetically.
Zhou the widow was so angry that her eyes bulged, but in the end, she had no choice but to nod and agree.
"Dad, go and ask the Village Chief to bear witness, our family is severing all ties with the Zhou Family today," Bai Ruozhu told Bai Yihong, who appeared rather embarrassed beside her.
"Alright, alright, I’m going right now," Bai Yihong scurried off as if escaping.
He couldn’t get a word in just now, and he even heard his daughter talking about "four men being involved" and "something about a bellyband as evidence," he felt his face burn with humiliation, that Zhou woman was truly despicable!
Later, his daughter was talking about "living a life of pleasure" and "enjoying a carefree life," he really wanted to ask if he could be excused. He knew he shouldn’t have come; however, where did his daughter learn to speak so boldly?
Later when Bai Yihong asked Bai Ruozhu about it, she gave him a fierce glare and said, "Isn’t this all the burden of the old mansion? If I were like dad, too embarrassed, wouldn’t we have been eaten alive by that widow Zhou?"
Bai Yihong also understood this reasoning, and he couldn’t help cursing his eldest brother for committing sins that troubled Ruozhu.
After the Village Chief arrived, Bai Ruozhu wrote up the divorce paper and also noted that the Bai Family would compensate the Zhou Family with five acres of land, asking Zhou to return the original IOU written by the old master, so that their two families could be clear of each other.
Zhou decided and quickly signed her name, Bai Ruozhu called Jianqi to find the Land Deed from the old lady’s room, and gave Zhou the widow the deed for five acres of land.
Seeing the Land Deed being taken away, Liu sat in a chair, wiping away her tears, but she was too afraid of losing the chance to go to the Capital, and didn’t curse Bai Ruozhu anymore.
Zhou the widow tucked the Land Deed into her bosom, happily went to pack her belongings, and then left the Bai Family’s Main Gate, carrying her baby.
The Village Chief said somewhat excitedly, "That scourge has finally left our village, thanks to you, Ruozhu, for being able to handle her."
Bai Ruozhu gave the Village Chief a smile, "With that kind of person, you need to be a bit tougher, intimidate her into submission."
In reality, she also let out a sigh of relief in her heart, she didn’t really intend to sue Zhou Qiuying at the Government Office, because if she was sent to prison, it would have been pitiful for the child, and there might have even been a chance that the Bai Family would have to take care of him.
Just then, the sound of Sanlang’s voice came from the doorway, "What are you doing? Who is making you leave?"
Zhou the widow looked a bit evasive, dodging the hand Sanlang tried to grab hers with, and said, "I have already agreed to be divorced by the Bai Family, they compensated me with five acres of land, from now on, I have nothing to do with the Bai Family."
Sanlang looked at her in disbelief, "Then, what about me?"