In Shuiqiao Village, Su Caier looked at the dwindling pile of firewood in her home and furrowed her small eyebrows with worry. At this rate, they would run out of firewood tonight. She thought about going to the mountains to chop some more wood.

The chopping knife was already sharpened, but she was afraid of being seen by others with her eyes. In the past, she didn't care too much about what others said or thought in order to survive in the village.

Even if people cursed and wanted to drive her away, she felt that she could accept it. But now, she was afraid that her eyes would affect her husband.

People are always like this. When they are alone, they have nothing to worry about and are fearless, only thinking about moving forward courageously. But once they have someone to protect, they become timid and hesitant, considering many things. Su Caier was feeling this way now.

"I'll tell my husband tomorrow and go to the mountains to chop some more wood," she decided. "Today, I'll go to the river to collect some small branches first."

With her mind made up, Su Caier grabbed the clothes she needed to wash and set off on a path less traveled to the nearby river.

During the Chen hour, the riverside was the busiest, but after Chen hour, many people would go back to make their first meal, so there were relatively few people around. Su Caier arrived at the river with a wooden basin and washed the dirty clothes from the previous night.

After washing them, she put them in the wooden basin and began to collect small branches nearby. There were many small branches and dry grasses around the river, which were not burned in the stove after only two burns. Su Caier thought she should collect more.

Before she knew it, she had collected a large pile of firewood. It should be enough for two meals, she estimated. She tied them together with several similar grass stems and carried them on her small feet. After tying them tightly, Su Caier wiped the small beads of sweat from her forehead and breathed a sigh of relief. "My husband should be coming back soon, I need to go back and make dinner."

As she turned around to take a look at where she had placed her clothes, she saw an old lady walking towards her. The old lady was twisting her bed sheets and was not twisting them very well. Seeing Su Caier, she happily called out, "Oh, you're the new daughter-in-law from the Zhao family, right? Can you help me wring the bedsheets?" Su Caier looked around, but there was no one else by the riverbank.

She reluctantly lowered her head and slowly walked over, not daring to look at the old lady. She helped pick up the other end of the bedsheet and the old lady quickly started wringing it. As she looked at Su Caier, who was looking down with her long, curved eyelashes, she thought to herself that the little girl was very pretty.

So, as she wrung the sheets, she chatted with Su Caier enthusiastically. "Are you the new daughter-in-law from the Zhao family? Did your family give my grandson a piece of pork fat residue last night? He was happy for a long time." “What's your name? Which village are you from? How old are you?"

Su Caier listened to the old lady's rapid-fire questions and didn't dare to look her in the eye. She hung her head and helped the old lady with the other end of the bed sheet. The old lady twisted it quickly and chatted warmly with Su Caier about her family and village.

Su Cai'er listened to the old woman's rapid chatter and didn't dare to answer too much. She only whispered, "Auntie, the quilt has been twisted." "I have to go now." The voice was small and sounded obedient.

Seeing Su Cai'er holding a wooden basin and a large bundle of firewood, her small and thin figure looked even smaller. The old woman hugged her own wooden basin and hurried over without hesitation. She warmly said, "Come on, Auntie will help you carry it back. Otherwise, you won't be able to hold so much." The wooden basin in Su Cai'er's hand was taken away by the old woman.

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Su Cai'er instinctively lifted her eyes and glanced at the person in front of her, but quickly lowered her eyes. She stammered, "Thank you, Auntie. I can do it myself." After speaking, she didn't hear a response and dared not look up again.

She took her wooden basin and hurried away, not caring about the firewood on the ground. The old woman came back to her senses, her face full of shock. "Oh my, what did I see? Am I seeing things?" She hugged her own wooden basin and followed Su Cai'er from a distance.

She was even more curious when she saw Su Cai'er limping. What happened to this young girl? Why is her leg not good at such a young age? When she saw Su Cai'er enter Zhao Ce's house, the old woman slapped her thigh and turned to walk toward Zhao Youcai's house.

Zhao Youcai's family was cooking rice. His eldest son would bring his wife and children back today. Zhao Youcai's wife, Li Shi, would prepare a lot of good dishes for them. Li Shi was still picking vegetables in the yard when she saw Aunt Gui Lian, the old woman, hurriedly coming to her house with a wooden basin.

Li Shi curiously called out, "Gui Lian, what's the matter? Why are you so flustered?" Gui Lian said, "Is your village chief inside?" Li Shi nodded and said he was in the house. She then shouted towards the house.

The village chief, Zhao Youcai, walked out with a bowl of rice soup in his hand. The bowl still had half a bowl of rice soup left. Gui Lian directly said, "Village chief, I saw Zhao Ce's new wife by the river just now." The village chief thought to himself, "I've seen her before, what's so special about it?" Then he held his bowl and finished the rice soup inside before hearing Gui Lian continue, "Village chief, don't you know?" "His new wife has different eye colors!" " Different eye colors?" Li Shi beside him was surprised to hear this.

Aunt Gui Lian said affirmatively, "I saw it clearly by the river just now. The colors of her two eyes are indeed different!"

"This little girl is a disaster."

"She's staying in our village. Will she bring bad luck to all of us?"

"And she has a limp in her leg, seems to be injured."

"Could it be that her eyes were injured by someone before and that's why she's lame?"

After speaking, Aunt Gui Lian felt a little sorry for her. She thought about how Zhao Ce's family gave her a piece of meat for her grandson last night. She spoke up for Su Cai'er, "Actually, this little girl's eyes, although a bit scary, are quite pretty..."

When Zhao Youcai heard this, his hand holding the bowl trembled. She has different eye colors?

Why didn't Zhao Ce tell him that day? No wonder the little girl didn't dare to look up at them and he thought she was just shy. He wondered if Zhao Ce knew about this.

Thinking of Zhao Ce's defense of the girl that day, Zhao Youcai hesitated. But no matter what, this matter concerns their entire village, and he must take action. He said to Li Shi next to him, "You go find some women who can keep their mouths shut and we'll go to Ce'er's house to ask what's going on."

Li Shi saw his serious expression and didn't say much, just nodded in agreement.

Li Shi was about to leave when she saw her eldest son, Zhao Wenhua, coming back from afar. "Wenhua, you're back? Why didn't you bring my daughter-in-law and the kids back today?"

Zhao Wenhua nodded at Aunt Gui Lian standing at the door, then shouted to Li Shi, "Mom, there's something I need to tell you." Seeing his expression, Zhao Youcai had a bad feeling.

Aunt Gui Lian, sensing the tense atmosphere of the family, tactfully said, "I've already told the village chief about the matter, so I'll go back first." She picked up her wooden basin and left Zhao's house.

Zhao Wenhua said to his parents, "Dad, Brother Ce was expelled from school."

Zhao Youcai's hand holding the bowl suddenly couldn't hold it anymore. Li Shi quickly took the bowl from him, and Zhao Youcai said in a trembling voice, "Ce'er was expelled from school?"

Zhao Wenhua nodded solemnly. "Yes, he was expelled. And he's not coming back to the village."

"What? Why?" Zhao Youcai's voice trembled with anxiety.

Zhao Wenhua took a deep breath and said, "Brother Ce got into a fight with someone in the city. He injured the other person badly and was expelled from school. The other person's family is powerful, and they're looking for Brother Ce to settle the score."

Zhao Youcai's face turned pale. He knew that this was a serious matter. If the other party was powerful, it would be difficult to protect Zhao Ce. He said to Li Shi, "Go find some men, we need to protect Brother Ce."

Li Shi nodded and quickly left the house.

Zhao Wenhua said, "Dad, I have a plan. We can send Brother Ce away from the village, to a place where the other party won't be able to find him."

Zhao Youcai was hesitant. He didn't want to send his nephew away, but he knew that it might be the only way to protect him.

Aunt Gui Lian, who was still outside the house, overheard their conversation and thought to herself, "This family is really unlucky. First, they take in a girl with different eye colors and a lame leg, and now they have to send their nephew away to protect him. I hope things will turn out for the better."