The villagers dragged Big Shu outside the hut and used the climbing rope to tie him up. Thanks to his rough, unkempt hair that fell to his shoulders, no one noticed the growing bump at the back of his head. 

A few people discussed whether they should send Big Shu to the village head or the town police station. In the end, the police station was too far and Big Shu was still their villageperson, it was best to leave the matter to their head to deal with him. 

Big Shu groaned and woke up. He jerked in surprise when he found so many people surrounding him. He tried to stand up, but then he discovered that hus hands and feet were bound up like a criminal. 

"What did you crazy people do to me?" He yelled furiously. "Why did you tie me like this?" 

Big Shu grit his head as he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head when he raised his voice. 

"What a scumbag!" A villager spat at him. 

"This trash is the enemy of all women."

"Lecherous beast, stealing other people's wives instead of marrying his own."

"If I were Lu Chen, I'd break his legs for kidnapping my wife." One man sneered and looked away like Big Shu was dirtying his eyes. 

Big Shu snorted arrogantly as he quickly caught on to the situstion he was in. He sneered without a bit of remorse, "Is it not that Ying woman? She is my lover. Lu Chen is not man enough to take care of her so I did it."

"Big Shu have you gone crazy? That's a married woman!" A young man asked him.

Big Shu huffed dismissively. "So what? Lu Chen can't take care of a pretty girl like her. I will take over the woman as my wife. He should be glad."

"You are really shameless! That woman married Lu Chen, why are you eyeing her?" An old woman angrily shook her fist at him.

"So what if he did?" Big Shu eyed the woman and smirked. "Can Lu Chen afford to feed her three times a day? Can he buy her new clothes or bracelets for new year? That useless man can't even fill her belly with one meal. She had bad eyes to marry him, at least I'm willing to take in used goods. She should be grateful!"

All the villagers were utterly astonished. What kind of thought process was this, a poor man's wife can be snatched?

The villagers angrily hissed and threw curses at him. 

A soft, pleasant voice soared above the crowd's and admonished him. Feifei had joined with the crowd outside. She stood in front of Shu with soft, moist eyes and her small fists clenched in front of her. She looked like a small rabbit trying to stand up to a lion. 

"Stop saying bad things about Big Brother Chen! We don't have much but big brother works hard to put every meal on the table for us. And everyone in our family appreciates it. Lu Chen works really hard, he takes jobs in the factories, in repair shops in town and still helps us at the farm. No one around works harder than big brother so stop saying those disgraceful things about him. They are not true." Feifei's soft voice spoke full of gentle passion and conviction. 

The villagers nodded at Feifei's words and continued to scold Big Shu harshly. 

He huffed and struggled with the ropes. "Ask that woman for me. Who has been giving her rice and meat to eat for the past two weeks? I didn't force her to come here. The Lu family is so poor, they don't even have dried crayfish at home. I've been taking care of Chang Ying, now that Lu bastard wants to claim the wife I raised, screw him!" 

Feifei continued to speak with conviction for Lu Chen and the villagers did not refute this gentle girl. But they turned away and secretly wondered about Chang Ying. 

Some even whispered that since things had come to this, Lu Chen could just let Big Shu take her away as his wife. 

Big Shu's words made the situation more complicated. It was true that the Lu family was going through very hard times nowadays. On top of that, they went to marry in a girl from town that didn't know normal village hardship into their village-class poverty. 

Looking at it that way, the matter of Chang Ying and Big Shu being lovers seemed to make sense. 

Inside the hut, Lu Chen that was holding his wife stiffened at every sentence Big Shu spat out. It was clear Big Shu's words had stabbed his sore spot. He was too poor for a woman like Chang Ying.

Chang Ying opened her mouth but Lu Chen shook his head at her. It was obvious he didn't want her waste energy to respond to that man outside. 

Big Shu continued to throw wild statements up and down. 

Finally, a villager asked, "If Chen's wife is his lover then why did he tie her up and why is she bleeding?"

Big Shu grit his teeth and remembered what had happened to him before he passed out. He had really eaten a loss this time, if he knew this girl was going to be feisty he would have asked for 100 cents more. 

"That hateful woman heard her husband is coming back and wanted to cut me off after she had already agreed to talk to Lu Chen to become my wife! That snake attacked me and tried to steal my money to get something for her pretty-face husband." Big Shu spat in disgust as if he could not stand the thought of the traitorous Chang Ying or the incapable Lu Chen. 

The villagers clicked their tongues and gossiped more fervently. The sun was already going down in the sky but none of them had any intention of going home yet. 

Lu Chen's jaw tightened even further with each passing second since Big Shu regained consciousness. He slowly muttered to her, "Chang Ying, I know you are suffering a lot because of me now. But I promise I would work harder to provide everything you used to enjoy in your father's house for you."

Chang Ying thought about her marriage to Lu Chen. After her rebirth, she was not the same blind lover with unrealistic romantic expectations. She had eaten too much bitterness and disappointment, directly and indirectly, because of him. 

Nevertheless, or maybe because she had suffered so much for this relationship, there was no way she was going to let that fake white lotus woman outside walk off with her husband. 

She and Lu Chen mutually agreed to marry. Though she was immature in her expectations when she accepted, now those rose-coloured glasses were gone. The matter of the past, Cheng Ying decided she would keep it aside for now and deal with the Lu Chen presently in front of her. 

The Lu Chen that was still her husband, and hers alone. Chang Ying considered herself a stingy person when it came to things she loved, she would never graciously share. 

"Lu Chen, I didn't marry you so you can work yourself to death to give me things. I come from an average family in the town. My father is a small salary earner so I'm not a princess. I knew your qualifications before I married you. I still married you to support you, not the other way round." 

Before when she said these words to him, they were just sweet, flowery words. She was a naive girl with no way to back it. Now Chang Ying had more backbone. She meant every thing she said.

The expression on Lu Chen's face didn't change, it remained stoic as usual. He did not expect anything from her but Chang Ying felt the arms around her hold her closer. "Just stay here and be happy everyday. Don't bother about those useless things."

Chang Ying's heart suddenly felt ten times lighter.

The village doctor soon arrived and the crowd made way for him to enter the small farm hut to treat Chang Ying. 

The doctor briefly greeted Lu Chen then unwrapped the bandages to look at the wound. 

The doctor clicked his tongue in dismay once he studied the cut. "It's too deep but luckily it didn't hit any main arteries. She still needs stitches or else it might not heal well."

Lu Chen looked at the old doctor. "Can you give her stitches?"

"The stitches are no problem but the anaesthesia for the pain cost a few yuan. Can you pay?"

Lu Chen froze. The vein in his jaw began to tick incessantly. The money in his hand after working for weeks was not much at all. The money at home was even worse. 

Lu Chen opened his mouth to talk but Chang Ying spoke first. 

"Doctor, do it without anaesthesia. I can bear it."

Lu Chen glanced at her, worried. "Yingying..."

Chang Ying smiled at the two men. "Doctor, women don't use anaesthesia to bear pain when giving birth. I will bear the pain."

The doctor looked at Lu Chen in doubt. Since the husband said nothing, the old man sighed and opened his medical box. 

The old man cleaned her hand. He then had Lu Chen hold down her hand securely before he started stitching up the wound.

Every time the needle went into her arm, it felt like a knife was stabbing her. And when the thread passed through her flesh, it felt like a jaggered saw running over her open wound. Chang Ying had never felt anything so painful in her life. She grit her teeth and tried not to make noise or cry, but she could not stop the whimpers that escaped her throat or the tears that didn't stop escaping her eyes.

Lu Chen quietly looked away from his wife's face and held her arm so it didn't shake. From beginning to end, he looked at the wound that was slowly closed up. 

Finally, the doctor finished the last stitch. 

Chang Ying sighed in relief.

Outside, Big Shu was still raining accusations on the couple for everyone within hearing range, as if he was afraid people would doubt he was an adulterer.

Once the doctor was done treating her wound, Lu Chen decided to escort him out. He had not said a word since she agreed to the stitches without anaesthesia. Feifei helpfully offered to watch Chang Ying till he came back. 

Chang Ying was in so much pain, she could barely move her body. She did not even care that Feifei was the one by her side or pay attention to what this white lotus girl was chattering about. 

Chang Ying closed her eyes. She was so tired, drowsiness overcame her and she started to slowly slip into her pain-free subconscious.