Zhang Goudan was so frightened his soul nearly left his body. Instinctively he lurched sideways—the hoe slammed hard into the dirt by his feet, gouging out a shallow pit!
He stared at the pit, all the blood in his body turning cold in an instant.
This wasn’t discipline—Lin Fengxia was trying to kill him!
Fear surged like a tide. Heat spread in his crotch, wetness streaming down his pant legs.
Catching sight of the damp stain, Lin Fengxia snorted with open mockery in her eyes.
“So easy to scare? You pissed yourself?”
Before Zhang Goudan could react, Lin Fengxia lifted her foot and viciously kicked him in the groin!
He went limp instantly, clutching himself and collapsing to the ground, his face twisted in agony. He couldn’t even scream, only gasp as his chest heaved.
“Aren’t Lin Laohan and Zhang Landi obsessed with carrying on the family line?” Lin Fengxia looked down at him coldly. “Then today I’ll cut off the Lin family’s roots!”
Shaking all over in pain, Zhang Goudan saw the mad, go‑down‑together look in her eyes and dared not stay another second.
He shoved past her with all his strength and scrambled toward the village, fleeing in utter disgrace like a stray dog.
Lin Fengxia stood where she was, pleasure making her tremble, revenge gleaming in her eyes.
She wouldn’t spare a single one of them!
She dusted off her hands, used a tree branch to leave a couple of shallow marks on her arm, and strolled slowly toward the village.
Sure enough, before she reached the village entrance, she saw Zhang Landi with Zhang Goudan, screaming curses at the top of her lungs. “That little slut deserves to be hacked to death—how dare she hit her own brother! There’s no justice left! How can there be such a vicious woman? Born of a mother, raised by none!”
Lin Fengxia’s face darkened, her reverse scale struck, fury flaring.
Seeing several uncles and aunties returning from the fields in the distance, she raised her voice too, twisted her arm hard twice, forced out tears, and wailed loudly.
“You still have the nerve to mention my mother! If my mother were alive, she’d never let you bully me like this!”
“You treat me like livestock every day—sending me to wash the whole family’s clothes by the river in winter, making me chop firewood before dawn. If I couldn’t finish the work, I didn’t get to eat. I could only pick through the wild vegetable scraps you left behind—days without ever being full!”
“You sold me for bride price, and you secretly hid the family’s rations to send to your natal home. I personally saw it more than three or four times!”
Zhang Landi’s face turned blotchy green and purple as her hidden deeds were exposed.
“Nonsense! I never—”
Even her rebuttal sounded weak and guilty.
The village uncles and aunties loved a spectacle and knew the Lin family’s situation well. They immediately pointed at Zhang Landi and Zhang Goudan without holding back.
“You two are shameless! Is this something a human does? Fengxia’s still young. When her mother was alive, those little hands were so delicate—red ribbons in her hair every day.”
“Look at her now—sallow and thin, hands covered in chilblains.”
“You married in as a stepmother—how could you do this!”
Aunt Pang, a close friend of Fengxia’s late mother, spat on the ground at Lin Laohan, who had rushed over after hearing the news.
“When Fengxia’s mother was bedridden and sick, you were sneaking onto a widow’s kang fooling around. Look at you now—living better? The land and rations at home have all been moved to her natal family. You’re eating coarse bread while her family drinks rice porridge!”
“Serves you right—reaping what you sow…”
Pointed at by the neighbors and with his old affair dragged out again, Lin Laohan lost all face. He twisted Zhang Goudan’s ear and shot Zhang Landi a fierce glare.
“Why are you still here? Get out of here and stop embarrassing yourselves!”
“Don’t go yet, Dad! Why don’t you explain where the family’s work points came from?”
“And whose corn stalks were the ones Zhang Goudan brought back late at night the other day? Zhang Landi says I bullied him—then let everyone judge. With his dirty hands, whose things did he really take?”
Lin Fengxia shouted from the crowd.
The aunties immediately slapped their thighs. “Oh! No wonder some of my firewood went missing a few days ago.”
“Damn it—Zhang Landi, don’t run! Spit it all back out…”
When the onlookers realized the fire had spread to themselves, they hurried after Lin Laohan and Zhang Landi, shouting for their things back.
Lin Fengxia stood where she was, laughing as she watched them flee.
Retribution—had arrived.