As Xiaoguo continued to hug Zhuang Zhuang to sleep, Li Zhaodi’s scolding escalated.

In the beginning, she was ranting in the courtyard. The more she scolded, the louder her voice became. It got so loud that the surrounding families were affected. Some with bad tempers came out of their houses to scold her.

Halfway through her ranting, Li Zhaodi heard curses coming from next door and her face turned green.

“Damn you, Widow Song! You must be the one who pulled the prank on me! You deserve to be a widow. No one wants you! Ptui!”

As soon as Widow Song spoke, Li Zhaodi was certain that she was the one who did it. It was because she had pinched Widow Song yesterday. She must be taking revenge on her now. The more Li Zhaodi thought about it, the more she felt that it made sense. Hence, she turned her hostility towards her.

When Widow Song heard her groundless accusation, she was furious. She had only asked her to keep her voice down. Why is she accusing her now?

“Don’t think that I’m someone to be trifled with. If I don’t teach her a lesson today, she will really think that Peach Blossom Village is hers!”

The two of them were initially cursing each other in the courtyard. But it wasn’t enough for them to vent their anger, so they came to the wall between their houses and carried on cursing with all their might.

Widow Song was no pushover. Although her voice was not as loud as Li Zhaodi. her words were much more vicious.

The two of them went on and on, from dawn to sunrise. Throwing expletives regarding their parents and their ancestors.

Xiaoguo was washing up and straining to hear what was going on in the distance. The voices were growing fainter. Xiaoguo wondered if they were tired from cursing.

These two people were really good at throwing insults at each other. From what Xiaoguo had heard, not a single sentence was repeated during the row.

If Xiaoguo had to do it, she didn’t think she could pull it off.

On the other side, where the two women were fighting, the more they scolded each other, the more tired they became. Widow Song had been woken up from her sleep and wasn’t in the best shape, let alone Li Zhaodi. For the past few hours, the latter had been wearing the same set of wet clothes. On top of that, her stomach was rumbling, and she was sneezing and farting intermittently.

Even under such conditions, the two of them did not stop. At a time like this, how could they stop? Whoever stopped would be the loser.

Even though they were running low on energy, they still carried on with all their might.

“Widow Song, why are you so upset? Just carry on with your life as a widow!”

“Li Zhaodi! You’re just a hen that doesn’t lay eggs! So what if your man is an official? What can he do when he comes back? No man will want someone like you! Just wait to get divorced!”

“Nonsense, you bitch. You’re just jealous that I have a man. That’s true! You childless widow!”

Widow Song’s face darkened. She looked around for a suitable rock to get back at Li Zhaodi. While doing that, her mouth didn’t stop.

“Aiyo, what a joke. Hopefully your husband will not come back with a second wife. After all, he’s an official who has money now. Why would he still want someone like you?”

These words had obviously hit Li Zhaodi’s sore spot. Her face turned pale and her body trembled in anger.

After saying that, Widow Song got hold of a bucket. Using stones and soil would inevitably hurt Li Zhaodi. If she got hurt, she could use her injury to blackmail Widow Song. After much consideration, this was the best plan.

Widow Song came to one corner of the wall and climbed up the ladder. She held the bucket tightly in her hand and poured out all the contents over the wall.

Hearing a scream from the other side, Widow Song covered her mouth and giggled. She quickly went down the ladder and ran back into the house.

“Li Zhaodi, I’ll let you have a taste of my urine!”

Li Zhaodi realized what had just happened. Smelling the stench on her body, she shouted with all her might, “Widow Song!”

Her eyes were wide and bloodshot. The veins on her neck bulged as she stared in the direction of Widow Sung’s house.

Those words really hit Li Zhaodi’s sore spot. She was always showing off to hide her insecurities. Li Dahai had never liked her in the first place. Now that he had become an official and had all the money, he would look down on her even more!

“No! I won’t let that happen!”

Li Zhaodi shivered as she felt a light breeze drifting by. Without further delay, she quickly went back to the house to boil water so that she could take a shower. Li Dahai would probably be back in two days. She must not fall sick!

“Widow Song, I won’t let you off so easily. I’ll keep score for today and will make you pay back three times for what you have done!”

The cursing battle had ended for the time being. The entire village heaved a sigh of relief. Everyone had gotten tired listening to their fight.

Even though they had heard enough, everyone avoided getting involved with the two of them.

One had to know that the two women were the best-known shrews in the village. If anyone provoked them, there would be no peace.

Therefore, anyone would rather bear with them than to get involved. It was better to let them continue with their scolding match.

There was nothing much to do after Xiaoguo and Zhuang Zhuang finished their breakfast. Xiaoguo worked on stitching up a shoe while watching Zhuang Zhuang study.

Xiaoguo had asked Mrs. Yang on the steps for making a shoe. Since she had nothing to do, she decided to try making a pair herself.

As Zhuang Zhuang was reading aloud just beside Xiaoguo, any commotion outside was drowned out by his voice.

Xiaoguo listened carefully for any noise outside the house. “It seemed quiet now. Have the two of them stopped arguing?”

“It was really amazing that they lasted so long. Wouldn’t their mouths feel dry?”

Because of Li Zhaodi’s misfortune, Xiaoguo was in a good mood the entire day. Even Zhuang Zhuang noticed Xiaoguo’s good mood.

“Mother, why are you so happy?”

Zhuang Zhuang put down the book in his hand and looked at Xiaoguo, who was humming a song. He wondered what had come over his mother. She had been very happy since she woke up this morning.

“Mother is happy whenever she sees Zhuang Zhuang.”

Xiaoguo teased Zhuang Zhuang. As expected, Zhuang Zhuang blushed when he heard that. “I’m also happy to see you, Mother. I’m very happy.”

Xiaoguo was touched and gave him a kiss. Looking at her sensible son, she felt emotional. She was so lucky to have such an obedient, warm, handsome, and cute son.

“Go on a read for a while more.”

Zhuang Zhuang nodded and picked up his book to continue reading.

On the other side, Li Zhaodi had taken a hot bath and had put on a set of clean clothes. That wasn’t all. Even though the weather wasn’t too cold now, she actually started heating up the brick bed.

As the bed heated up, she quickly crawled under the covers and covered herself tightly. In her hand was a glass of ginger water.

She wondered if her luck was down, or if her physique was too weak. Even though she was keeping warm like this, she seemed to have caught a cold.

Fortunately, she didn’t have a fever. There was just some coughing and sneezing.

Even so, Li Zhaodi acted as if she was facing a great enemy. She took all kinds of medicinal herbs and medicinal soups. The brick bed was also kept heated all day long.

One should never take things to the extreme, as it will always backfire. Although Li Zhaodi had recovered from her cold, she ended up with a heaty constitution.

Her throat was so sore that she couldn’t speak. Her mouth was full of blisters and her lips were peeling and bleeding. Pimples were popping out all over her face. She was in a worse state than before.

Li Zhaodi paced around anxiously. Her husband was almost back. How could she see him in this state?

Being sick and anxious, her symptoms did not improve. Instead, they became worse.