Chapter 75: The Pursuit of Reasonableness

Fang Yuan nodded. “Whatever was reported in the township, calculate everything that was damaged in our house into money and make her compensate us.”

She then looked at the village Party secretary and asked very seriously, “Am I being reasonable here?”

The village Party secretary felt respected by this new daughter in law, who was very responsible, and looked toward the commune. “Is this reasonable?”

The commune staff nodded. It was still reasonable enough.

Then they took out a notebook, did some calculations, and gave a number. “Five yuan.” In other words, Li Meng’s sister in law only needed to compensate five yuan for smashing the Lu family’s property.

Fang Yuan could not stay calm. “Five yuan?” Was she treating her family like they had no one backing them, only five yuan?

The commune staff quickly explained, “Five yuan is already quite a lot. It was only a few broken bowls and damaged window paper. The cabinet can still be used. Just paste new paper on the windows and it is fine. How much more do you want?”

This was truly beyond Fang Yuan’s imagination. It was actually like this.

Fang Yuan looked at Mother Lu and forced out a sentence. “With relatives like this, we should buy some valuable things for the house in the future.”

It was not worth her trouble at all.

Mother Lu nodded. In front of the commune staff and the village Party secretary, she said, “I used to be narrow minded. I will listen to you from now on.”

The commune staff’s face twitched. They had never seen a mother in law and daughter in law like this before. Did you want to get smashed again?

Li Meng’s mother got angry when she heard this. “I spit on you. You still want to scam us? We are not relatives. I will never set foot in your house again.”

The village Party secretary and the commune staff looked at Li Meng’s mother together. They thought that although the money was not much, if she truly never came again, it might actually be worth it.

Under so many stares, Li Meng’s mother felt wronged. “Why are you all looking at me? Even if you look at me, I do not have money. I will not say anything more. I do not recognize this family anymore.”

Li Meng’s sister in law also refused to pay. In the end, it was Li Meng who pretended to wake up and paid the money. Otherwise Fang Yuan would not let it go.

As for the bicycle, it took a lot of persuasion from the commune staff and the village Party secretary before Fang Yuan finally allowed it to be taken away.

The commune staff even said to Li Meng’s sister in law, “Do you see that? If you cannot afford to offend someone, then do not provoke them. You really picked the wrong target this time. Next time, stay far away.”

Li Meng’s sister in law thought to herself that she did not need to be told. She would already stay far away. This woman was even more unreasonable than she was.

Li Meng looked at her sister in law and regretted not learning Fang Yuan’s ability. Otherwise her sister in law would not dare to think about using her to extract money from the family.

Li Meng’s mother did not dare to confront Fang Yuan, so she cursed Li Meng a few times and prepared to leave.

Fang Yuan watched as Li Meng paid the money and still felt it was a pity. “I was still too gentle. That woman still had money on her.”

Lu Chuan said, “Enough. Just treat Lu Feng as worthless.” His own heart felt bitter as he said this.

If Lu Feng was worth something, he would not be happy. If Lu Feng was worthless, he was even less happy. These complicated feelings were something Fang Yuan would never understand.

Fang Yuan still said to Li Meng’s sister in law, “Do not provoke me. I have gained experience today and now I know what level of damage counts as smashing someone’s house. If you provoke me, I will smash your house according to the five yuan standard. I can afford it. I have money.”

At this, Li Meng’s elder brother and his family fled immediately. Next time they saw this woman, they would keep far away.

The commune staff could not leave after hearing this and earnestly told Fang Yuan, “You cannot do that. It is illegal.”

Fang Yuan replied, “Then they broke the law. Why did you not arrest them? I am willing to accept punishment.”

She added, “That is reasonable, right?” She had a strong obsession with being reasonable.

She left the commune staff speechless. Talking to this girl was really difficult. If things were handled like this every time, everything would become chaotic.

In the end, the village Party secretary asked Lu Chuan to take Fang Yuan home and persuade her. People in their village could not do such things. Otherwise, they really could not communicate with this stubborn girl. She was extremely rigid in her thinking.

The commune staff left wiping sweat from their foreheads. This matter was not easy to handle.

Mother Lu happily held the five yuan and went around the village exchanging it for vegetables, saying she would invite everyone who helped today to dinner. She was very happy spending this money.

For the first time, Mother Lu was not stingy and was extremely generous.

Li Meng felt very awkward. The people invited had not helped her. The gratitude was for driving away her own mother and sister in law. Even the matter of where to host the meal became awkward.

For her, whether she ate or not, it was awkward either way.

Li Meng’s expression toward Mother Lu turned unpleasant. Her mother in law had not considered her feelings at all.

Mother Lu truly had not considered her feelings. After the engagement between Li Meng and Lu Feng was broken off and the Lu family was smashed, the Lu family had endured it and let it go without compensation. Mother Lu had been holding that anger until today.

Even though they only got back five yuan, to Mother Lu it was about the Lu family’s dignity.

The Lu family was not cowardly. If they were smashed, there had to be an explanation.

And since the villagers had helped when the family had trouble, this was also about relationships. No matter what, Mother Lu had to host this meal.

Otherwise, who would help next time? When they were smashed before, why had the villagers not helped like they did today?

The Lu family had been troubled by the Li family more than once. Why had the villagers not stepped in before?

These thoughts weighed on Mother Lu.

How could she care about what Li Meng thought?

When Lu Feng said “let it go,” he had already embarrassed the family and the village enough.

As for Lu Feng and Li Meng’s dignity, Mother Lu did not care anymore.

When the eldest son said “let it go,” he had not considered his parents, his brothers, or the villagers who helped.

Lu Chuan naturally followed his mother’s lead, arranging for everyone to sit inside and calling Zhang Xiaole, Gong Er, and Zhu San to help host the guests.

He did not even think about going to Lu Feng’s side to arrange anything. What did Lu Feng have to do with this? The trouble was caused by his in laws anyway.

Fang Yuan was quietly talking with Lu San about something. Lu Chuan glanced over and saw that she seemed to get along quite well with Lu San’s friends.

He thought that even though she was one year older, she got along better with Lu San’s group. Age really meant nothing.

Fang Yuan asked Lu San to take people to the township to buy things. Five yuan could buy quite a lot in the village, but it was still not enough.

Since they were hosting guests, they needed proper items. This was the moment for their family to show themselves in the village. Her father had told her since she was young that when it was time to be generous, you could not be stingy.

After finishing the discussion, she went to the kitchen with Mother Lu.

Fang Yuan already knew it was time to show the authority of the hostess.

Mother Lu was busy in the kitchen when she saw Fang Yuan. “Second daughter in law, you do not need to help. Go inside and chat. Stay with Lu Chuan. You are the backbone of our family, not someone who cooks.”

In Mother Lu’s heart, her second daughter in law had exactly that status.