About ten minutes later, Lian'er finally crept out of the darkness.
The moment Ms. Qian saw her, she grabbed a fire poker to hit her again, but the village head nearby barked, "Ms. Qian, that's enough! Since you bought her, you ought to feed her. You don't give her any food and you still beat her—it's no wonder she snatched Bao'er's!"
Ms. Qian threw the fire poker down hard. "You're really overstepping, old man. You think we're still in the village? We don't even have a village anymore! Hmph. Don't you dare put on airs in front of me!"
The village head was so angry he nearly fell over backward. He pointed at Ms. Qian, "You... you...!"
Aunt Liu was having none of it. She shot to her feet, planted her hands on her hips, and stood right in front of Ms. Qian. "Even if my husband isn't the village head anymore, he's still a close kinsman to Gu Laoda!"
"You wretched woman, how dare you talk back when an elder is speaking to you?"
