Tang Ning freed herself from the ropes, working her sore, numb limbs as she stepped toward the doorway. Her face was expressionless, but her eyes were dark and hollow, as if they lacked any light—a sight that was deeply unsettling. She was still the same dark, thin girl, yet something about her had fundamentally changed.
"Mother! Mother!"
Da Shazhu finally charged into the courtyard, rolling on the ground in agony. "Mother, the wife bit me! Mother!"
Whenever he was bullied outside, he always ran to his mother. Li Guilan was notoriously sharp-tongued and aggressive; she would always drag him back to settle the score without fail.
The villagers had already been intensely curious about a fool taking a wife, a curiosity laced with a secret, unspoken malice. How does a fool take a wife? How do they consummate the marriage? If he didn't know how, would his parents have to stand by and teach him? And wouldn't the new bride kick up a fuss? A fuss was good—a fuss meant there was a show to watch.
In the hearts of these villagers, very few felt any pity for Tang Niuniu. After all, even her own parents didn’t care for her, having sold their daughter for grain to support their son. Besides, most of them believed that as a daughter, it was only natural to contribute to one's parents and brother.
They hadn't expected Tang Niuniu to be so fierce. Hadn't they just seen the fool bleeding from a bite? She had literally bitten a chunk of flesh right off him!
Li Guilan snapped back to reality, her teeth grinding in hatred. "You wretched Tang Daniu! You dare treat your husband this way? I’ll beat you to death!"
She raised her hand to strike Tang Ning, but Tang Ning spat a heavy mouthful of blood directly at her! The blood splattered across her face, along with the scrap of flesh from the fool’s ear.
The villagers looked from the fool, who was clutching his bleeding ear and rolling on the ground, to the spindly, skeletal Tang Niuniu. Her mouth was stained with blood, and her eyes, once lively, were now fixed gloomily on Li Guilan, never once blinking.
Winter nights fell quickly. A fire brazier, a common sight in the village for warmth, crackled in the yard. Suddenly, a cold wind blew through, and everyone present shivered involuntarily.
This Tang Daniu—had she gone mad?
She had always worked hard at home, serving her mother and brother, only to be sold to a fool for half a bag of grain... Had she been driven insane? She had been such a capable, filial child; she must have harbored deep resentment to look at the fool as if she wanted to kill him.
The women who had been holding back to watch the show felt a twinge of reluctance. They had all watched the girl grow up; who among them hadn't been addressed by her as "auntie" or "madam"?
Moved by this, when Li Guilan lunged forward, several women grabbed her, whether out of genuine sympathy or mere pretense.
"I’ll teach you a lesson today! You've gone too far! You vicious little slut..."
Li Guilan was livid. Ever since she had arrived in Zhu Family Village, she hadn't suffered such indignity. Ever since her eldest daughter married into the city, even her foolish son had rarely been bullied. Now, she was being struck in the face by a wretched little girl! She had always been fierce, but now she was beyond enraged, shaking off the others and clawing at Tang Daniu.
"Tang Daniu, if I don't break you, my name isn't Li Guilan!"
She was a large, imposing woman. She grabbed Tang Daniu by her hair—which was thin and withered from years of malnutrition—and yanked her until her fragile body swayed from side to side. Then, she raised her other hand to deliver a slap.
*Tsk, tsk, tsk.* The villagers closed their mouths, as expected. In their eyes, Tang Niuniu’s fate was sealed; she would take a beating and then resignedly settle down as the fool’s wife. She had offended her mother-in-law, Li Guilan, so there would be no good days ahead for her. Some sighed to themselves, thinking that a girl’s life was cheap—unless she managed to become a mother-in-law herself.
Tang Xingfa, who had arrived after hearing about the commotion, stood behind the crowd, watching it all with a numb expression.
But soon, everyone’s eyes widened. *How could she? How could she dare?!*
Tang Niuniu, who had taken the slap full force—the girl as thin as a blade of grass, ready to fall with a breeze—stumbled. Then, like a provoked bull, she charged at Li Guilan’s chest with no regard for her own life! Even for the frail, the skull is hard.
*THUD!*
Tang Niuniu drove into Li Guilan, knocking her flat on her back, leaving her clutching her chest and gasping for air.
The people of Zhu Family Village had seen it all today. Their village was full of petty squabbles—people tearing down widows' doors, digging up graves, and couples fighting—but usually, they would just argue, make a scene, and then go back to living their lives. No one had ever seen it like this: she was fighting as if she were going to die, as if there were no tomorrow.
"Ahem."
Someone stepped forward. Tang Ning felt dizzy, leaning against the mud wall and struggling to look at the man.
It was Zhu Changling, Li Guilan’s husband and the fool's father.
"Host, I advise you to stop."
A voice suddenly appeared in Tang Ning's mind. Connecting it to the strange phenomenon she had experienced before she sacrificed herself, she quickly realized what it was.
"System?"
"Yes, host. I am the Long Live Love System. My purpose is to help the host complete missions by falling in love with men."
"Why?"
Tang Ning watched Zhu Changling approach step by step, her eyes darting toward the base of the wall.
"Completing missions will grant you everything you desire! Host, high-quality men will soon appear in this world. You only need to be patient here in the Zhu household, work on restoring your health, and wait until—"
"Why?" Tang Ning interrupted the System.
Long Live Love System: "..."
"What do you mean 'why'? Everything you want! Beauty, a great figure, wealth—as long as you follow my arrangements and capture high-quality targets, everything will be within your grasp."
Zhu Changling stopped in front of Tang Niuniu and spoke in a soothing tone.
"Daniu, don't take your mother's harsh words to heart. Listen to your father—settle down, and if anything happens in the future, I’ll take care of it for you. We'll let today's incident with your mother and husband slide. I’m speaking in front of everyone in the village; I mean what I say."
The villagers breathed a sigh of relief. At critical moments, it still took a man to step in. Now that he had provided a way out, surely Tang Niuniu wouldn't cause any more trouble?
Tang Ning smiled as well. Zhu Changling hadn't appeared during all that chaos—had he been so certain that Li Guilan could handle it?
In the eyes of the villagers, Li Guilan ruled the fool’s house. With such a fierce, overbearing, and unreasonable wife at the helm, Zhu Changling maintained an image of a quiet, honest man. Many even sympathized with him for being married to such a shrew.
But who would have guessed that this "honest man" was the one who had come up with the idea to buy a wife? And on the wedding night, he had even dragged Li Guilan in to personally "instruct" them on how to consummate the marriage. Later, he would often "assist" his son in the act—after all, it was to have a grandson, to ensure the continuation of the Zhu family line.
From assisting, he eventually began to step in himself. The foolish son couldn't talk, the daughter-in-law had no face to speak of, and Li Guilan kept her mouth shut even tighter. Not only did she not make a fuss, but she abused her daughter-in-law in increasingly inventive ways. In her mind, the daughter-in-law had seduced her husband; she could tolerate it for the sake of a grandson—they were Zhu family seeds, after all—but she had to vent her resentment somehow.
In the end, Tang Niuniu died in childbirth.