Old Madam Qiao indeed had some money in her hand, but she did not want to take even a penny out. Why should she compensate for the dowry that she had taken from her daughter-in-law? Then what was the point of saving the money in the past? The more she thought, the more reluctant she felt. She stubbornly refused. "What kind of nonsense is this? I am her mother-in-law, so what if I took some of her dowry away? Which daughter-in-law doesn’t suffer in the hands of her mother-in-law? Anyway, you have seen the condition of our family; I cannot take even a penny out, much less a thousand yuan."

She was never going to give even a penny to Han Xuehan. It would be such a waste! Why would she take money out for this woman? She could not even give birth to a child. What was the point of keeping a woman like her? It was bad enough that they had raised this woman for so many years without getting anything in return.

Now she even had to take a thousand yuan and give it to her? Never!

"Old Madam Qiao!" Village Head Qiao was so angry that he wished he could beat her up. She was truly too much. They had finally solved the problem. Why was she jumping around and making things difficult for the entire village? He breathed heavily and said in a threatening voice, "Old madam Qiao, think about the entire village, will you? This is not just about you and your family. If this matter is dragged to the police station, then I am worried that no young person from our village will be able to marry into a good family. Tell me, which good family will be willing to send their daughters into our village or who would be willing to marry our daughters into their family?"

Old Madam Qiao wanted to say that it had nothing to do with her.

But before she could say anything, she was interrupted by Old Madam Ding.

"Old Qiao, you better not say that this matter has nothing to do with you. If you do, then you’d better take your son and get out of here. Do you think we are willing to keep you two here and cause trouble for our village? After all, we are from the same village." Old Madam Ding turned to look at the Village Head Qiao. "Village Head, if this woman dares to say such a shameless thing, then you might as well kick her out of the village. We don’t want such a traitorous woman. Who knows? She is willing to put our entire village at risk for her own benefit. Why should we keep such a person in our village?"

"Old Ding, you—" Old Madam Qiao was so angry that she was trembling.

"What, you? What you?" Old Madam Ding raised her voice and stretched her neck as she glared at the woman in front of her. "You were really going to say such a disgusting thing, were you not? No wonder you are getting all antsy."

Old Madam Ding was disgusted to death when she saw Old Madam Qiao acting like a scumbag. She knew this woman like the back of her hand. She was not only selfish but also petty in pursuit of small gains. No wonder this woman was refusing to hand over the money. It was because she wanted to drop this matter and then act like a shrew after three months had passed.

After all, once the Han family left the village, would Old Madam Qiao even think of repaying the money? She would naturally come up with all kinds of lies and excuses to default. What would happen then? The entire Qiao village would be treated as liars and scammers! If that happened, then they wouldn’t even be able to stop the Han family from making a police complaint. Maybe they all would be dragged down as well.

That would be too shameful.

The entire village came forward to guarantee that Han Xuehan would be compensated, and in the end, they ended up returning nothing.

She turned to look at Village Head Qiao and said to him angrily, "Village Head Qiao, I am not being pessimistic, but what if Old Qiao really defaulted? Then wouldn’t you be fooled to death by her? What would happen to your reputation?"

Village Head Qiao’s face was so dark that someone could easily squeeze ink from his skin. He had to admit that what Old Madam Ding said was indeed correct. From the looks of it, Old Madam Qiao indeed had the idea of defaulting on the debt. It was one thing if she were refusing to pay the money now, but if she continued to refuse, then his face as the guarantor would be stepped on, and he would have no way to explain himself.

Old Ding was right. If he dared to treat this matter lightly, then he was worried that there was a very good chance that their entire village would lose their credibility. After all, for the time being, only Old Madam Qiao had been proven as the bad seed, but if she continued to refuse, then he was worried that the Han family would think that they all were from the same group and that they deliberately lied to them to make things easier for the Qiao family.

What would happen to his old face then? 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Old Qiao, if you don’t want to return the money, then I have nothing to say, but you have to leave the village and move your household registration. We cannot afford to keep a bad seed like you here." Village Head Qiao was clear on this one matter. Since this woman did not want to pay the compensation, he was going to kick her out of the village.

"Why!? Where will we, orphans and widows, go if you kick us out of the village?" Old Madam Qiao was stunned when she heard Village Head Qiao’s response. "Village Head, are you really going to bully your own relatives for an outsider?"