The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 539: Chapter 530: The Stepmother Who Refuses to Be a Stepping Stone 18

Anning moved a little closer and heard several men cursing.

”My sister was just fine before she ended up dead in your house, and you dare to tell me this? Let me tell you, Xiao, this matter isn’t over yet.”

”If you hadn’t treated my sister so badly, she never would have had such thoughts. Her death is inextricably linked to the Xiao Family.”

”Xiao, you’ve got to wear hemp and filial piety for my sister. Also, the funeral needs to be done properly. Everything she ever wanted before... you’ve got to buy it all...”

Anning glanced at the man being pressured.

The man’s face was etched with vicissitudes of life, but from his brows and eyes, he was clearly recognizable as Xiao Yuan.

Anning looked at the burly men and couldn’t help but worry about Xiao Yuan.

More worried than Anning was Zhang Fengfeng.

Seeing Xiao Qing and Zhang Erfeng being cornered by the Wang Family, not only did they not help Xiao Yuan, but they kept speaking in favor of the Wang Family, which made her tremble with anger.

”What’s this? Seeing that my sister’s family is small, you think you can bully them like that?”

Zhang Fengfeng, furious, ran over to protect Xiao Yuan, hands on her hips as she berated the Wang family: ”What do you mean by ’sorry for your sister’? As if nobody knows, the whole region knows what the Wang family’s daughter is like, the one that nobody wanted, the one who could only deceive my naive sister. It’s only my nephew who’s been tolerant enough to put up with it.”

Anning looked left and right, then directly picked up a fire stick and stood beside Zhang Fengfeng.

She vigilantly watched the surroundings, worried the Wang Family might rush over in desperation and take it out on Zhang Fengfeng.

With someone to protect her, Zhang Fengfeng grew bolder: ”If you think your daughter is at a loss, take her back and look after her at home. Why insist on blaming my nephew? Your Wang family’s daughter has been married for many years without bearing a child; she would’ve been divorced long ago if it were our family. It’s only because of my nephew’s good nature that he’s put up with you this long.”

”You motherfucker...”

The several men from the Wang family, seeing Zhang Fengfeng’s aggressiveness, were infuriated and blurted out without thinking: ”You’re talking nonsense, you...”

Before they could finish their foul-mouthed tirade, Anning jumped up and slapped them several times: ”Keep your mouth clean, haven’t you heard of respecting the elderly and cherishing the young?”

The Wang Family was dumbfounded.

Shit, they were actually slapped by a woman; if they couldn’t win back this round, they’d be disgraced.

Those men charged at Anning together, some even raising their hands to strike her.

The Li brothers were not pushovers. They grabbed whatever they could from the yard and ran over, with all six brothers tall and sturdy, protecting Anning and Zhang Fengfeng in the middle. Some armed with sticks, others with brooms, they all stood united, ready to face the outside aggression.

Li Zhicheng, the most cunning and insightful among the Li brothers, looked at the Wang brothers and said loudly, ”Look here, gentlemen, even if you are my cousin’s uncles, there’s no reason for you to come here causing trouble. If you truly think your sister died unjustly, then you can call the police. There’s government and law enforcement to take care of justice. If there really is an injustice, it’s not as if nobody will take care of it. What do you mean by creating a scene at our doorstep?”

Xiao Yuan looked tired, he rubbed his freezing cheeks, ”Call the police.”

The Wang family did not want to call the police.

They knew very well how Wang Chunliu had died. She wanted to scare people, but ended up accidentally poisoning herself with an unwashed pesticide bottle— even if they called the police, they could only blame her, not anyone else.

Their making a scene was ostensibly to avenge Wang Chunliu, but in reality, they wanted to get some benefits from the Xiao family.

”Why call the police, is it necessary for this matter?”

The Wang brothers started clamoring, ”We have to follow the village customs for this matter. After all, our sister died in your house, you have to take responsibility. You need to wear hemp and filial piety for her, you need to buy her the gold necklace she wanted, you need to...”

”Heh.”

Anning snickered repeatedly, ”What you’re saying doesn’t make sense. Isn’t it normal for daughters to die at their in-laws’ home? Are you saying that your mother should die at her maternal home, or that your wife needs to return to her parent’s home when she’s close to death? You might be willing, but others’ families won’t be. So, according to you, if a Wang family daughter dies at her in-laws’, you’ll use it as an excuse to extort money. And when your own wife is dying, you’ll just send her back to her parent’s home? Seems like you want all the advantages for yourselves.”

As soon as Anning made her remarks, the villagers who had come to help with the funeral couldn’t help but laugh.

Some couldn’t stand the way the Wang family behaved and commented, ”You know, what she is saying makes sense. Isn’t it common for married daughters to die at their in-laws’? If everyone picked a quarrel like you all do, who would dare to marry off their daughters? Even if you got married, would you have to send your wife back to her parent’s home when she’s dying? That’d just be setting people up.”

Zhang Fengfeng got fired up too, jumping and cursing, ”Some people talk crap, not knowing what they’re on about. Vile-hearted, the deeds they do lack any human decency. It seems like you’re upset we didn’t send your sister back to her parent’s home when she died, right? Fine then, Yuanzi, have your sister-in-law tidy up later and send their daughter back to them. Since they want her back, just give her to them—we’ll save on the funeral costs.”

Zhang Fengfeng’s sarcastic retort left the Wang brothers red-faced and embarrassed as they realized that their previous remarks were questionable and had exposed them to ridicule.

”Our previous words weren’t clear. My sister didn’t die a normal death.”

Wang Laoda, the head of the Wang family, stepped forward, angrily saying, ”If it was from illness or old age, there’d be no complaints from us; you could carry out the funeral however you wanted. But my sister died from drinking poison. If she was happy, why would she drink poison?”

Xiao Yuan couldn’t help but speak up at this point, ”What she drank wasn’t poison, it was water. She just filled a pesticide bottle with water to drink, trying to scare us.”

After hearing this, Anning couldn’t help but laugh, ”Talk about being addled-brained. Your Wang family raised a fool—not only is she daft but has mental issues, and you dared let her out to cause trouble. Now, something has happened, and instead of apologizing to the Xiao family, you have the nerve to cause trouble. I’m truly impressed; the whole lot of you are idiots and dunderheads.”

”What’s it to you?”

Wang Laoda glared at Anning angrily.

The others were so infuriated they wanted to hit Anning: ”Woman, go stand aside.”

Wang Family’s fifth son went to push Anning.

Seeing this, Li Zhifang rushed over to intervene, cursing, ”Damn it, try to push her and I’ll chop off your hands.”

Zhang Fengfeng, afraid that Anning would be at a disadvantage, quickly pulled Anning to her side to protect her.

Being a tough character herself, she was instantly enraged at the sight of the Wang family wanting to lay hands on her daughter-in-law, ”I curse your Wang family ancestors for eighteen generations. What kind of vile offspring did they produce? A catastrophe from your family has tormented my nephew for years. A good kid was ruined by that girl from your family. Now that the scourge is gone, we didn’t set off firecrackers to celebrate, which is already showing you enough respect. Yet, you still want to stir up trouble? Fine, let’s call the cops, bring in public security, go to the government—I just can’t believe that no one will deal with this.”

Li Zhicheng glanced at Zhang Fengfeng and then said to Xiao Yuan, ”Yuanzi, go with my aunt to report this to the police. Let them decide how to handle it.”

Xiao Yuan nodded, ”Okay.”

He was about to leave with Zhang Erfeng when the Wang family panicked and quickly stopped Xiao Yuan, ”Don’t, let’s not involve the police. My sister is already dead; let’s not disturb her peace.”

Li Zhicheng sneered, ”Why shouldn’t we involve the police? We haven’t done anything wrong; we’re not afraid of them investigating.”

Anning deliberately raised her voice so everyone could hear her speak to Zhang Fengfeng, ”Mom, you know, once we report this, the police will have to perform an autopsy. I heard they have to cut open the body to examine everything carefully—intestines, stomach, brain—they’ll look through it all...”

Hearing this, the Wang family members turned deathly pale.

Wang Lao Si and Wang Lao Wu nearly threw up.

Wang Laosan, who was closest to Wang Chunliu, was both scared and saddened.

He looked at Wang Laoda, ”Big brother, maybe we should just let this go, don’t let our little sister rest in unrest.”

Wang Laoda was also a bit frightened.

Thinking it over for a moment, if they really made a scene, the Xiao family would surely call the police. Then his sister wouldn’t rest in peace. But to just let it go, he felt a little unhappy about it.

They caused a fuss and didn’t get any benefit, only losing face. That was too much of a loss.

Actually, Xiao Yuan didn’t want the situation to turn too ugly either.

He wiped his face, ”Think about it carefully. If you really want to make a fuss, I’m not afraid either. We can resolve this through official channels. If you prefer to keep the peace, let Chunliu be buried in peace. As for the money your family previously borrowed, forget it, I won’t ask for it back.”