Wang Family’s compound had many hamlets, with Yang Family hamlet being one of the smaller ones, containing forty households and merely two streets.
Suizi’s maternal home was located on the western side of the second street.
Yu Jingting and his wife took advantage of the strong afternoon sun to head over.
Peering through the shabby door, Suizi saw the courtyard was a complete mess, filthy beyond belief.
Before her birth mother moved back to the city, their house had never been this unkempt.
Her birth mother had been an educated youth sent to the countryside, a city dweller who valued cleanliness, and always kept the house immaculate and growing flowers throughout the courtyard.
Three years ago, her mother had returned to the city, and less than two weeks later, her father brought his new wife to the house.
Lun Lamei came along with her stepmother, and from the day they joined the old Chen Family, Suizi never had a good day.
Her stepmother, Wang Fenfang, was exceptionally lazy. All the flowers in the courtyard had withered, and trash was strewn everywhere.
"You wait here."
Yu Jingting, seeing Suizi standing dazed at the door, assumed she was afraid of her stepmother.
Three days after their marriage, when they came to visit her parents, she cried as if her own mother had died; Yu Jingting noticed then that she didn’t get along with her stepmother.
"With you here, what is there to fear? Let’s go!" Suizi took a deep breath, no longer the naive girl who could only cry when faced with problems.
"Hmph, now you realize how capable your husband is?" Yu Jingting, flattered by her praise, nearly let his pride reach the skies, puffing up.
He lifted his foot and gave the front door a fierce kick.
Bang!
The dilapidated door let out its final roar, breaking in two.
One half hung there, gasping for life, while the other half fell to the ground, announcing its end.
"Lun Lamei, come out and greet your father!" Yu Jingting bellowed, his voice deep and powerful.
Suizi’s sadness was shattered by his shout; she almost burst out laughing when she sharply noticed that the Li Family’s two sons from next-door were cracking sunflower seeds and enjoying the show.
"Has the Yu Family’s scamp gone mad? Causing a ruckus at his father-in-law’s home, haha!"
"And he’s making his wife’s sister call him ’dad’—isn’t that a generation off?"
The two young men watched with great interest until the elder brother of the Li Family came out, grabbed them both, and dragged them back.
"You dare watch Yu Tiegen’s drama? Aren’t you afraid he’ll kick you into the river?" the composed elder Li brother warned his siblings.
Distracted Yu Jingting’s ears twitched; he shouted towards the Li Family:
"Your dad’s crap! I’m not called Yu Tiegen anymore! Let me hear you babble again, and I’ll smash your windows!"
The door to the Li Family’s house shut at record speed, and Suizi sighed.
"Don’t be so harsh, the elder Li brother has been quite good to me."
Yu Jingting heard this and thought, what? Good in what way? Has he taken a fancy to my wife?
His gaze at the Li Family’s windows turned even more fierce, calculating that the glass might meet its doom.
"It’s not what you think; Li Ying from their family, who’s around my age, often played with me when I was a maiden at home."
Yu Jingting then withdrew his menacing look from the windows, sparing the glass of the old Li Family—for now.
Chen Kaide pushed the door open, seeing his unruly son-in-law had kicked the door in half, his blood pressure surged.
"What are you doing?"
"There’s a debtor for every debt, you stand aside, let Lun Lamei come out and die! Let her and her black-hearted mother kneel and kowtow three times to my wife, otherwise this won’t end!"
Chen Kaide’s head buzzed with anger, he wanted to curse but didn’t dare to offend the notorious thug of the village. He could only grit his teeth and say:
"Lamei is your sister, how can you talk about death so casually?"
Yu Jingting hesitated and glanced at Suizi.
Suizi bit her lip and whispered so only the two of them could hear, "Don’t listen to him."
Once his wife spoke up, he had no reservations.
Suizi, with sharp eyes, saw Lun Lamei hiding in the house, sneakily looking at the courtyard through the glass. She nudged Yu Jingting, gesturing for him to look that way.
Yu Jingting’s eyes narrowed, his tongue scanned his back molars, and that fierce determination surged up as he strode towards the house.
Chen Kaide didn’t know how Lun Lamei had offended this devil incarnate. Yu Jingting looked murderous, and Chen Kaide was so frightened that his legs went weak; he almost turned and ran, wanting to hide as far away as possible.
Suizi watched her cowardly father with utter coldness in her eyes.
This old man treated Lun Lamei better than his own daughter. In her past life, she was heartbroken, unable to understand why her father was so biased. Now, seeing all this, he wasn’t much better to Lun Lamei either, completely irresponsible.
This old man only loved himself, fleeing faster than a rabbit at the first sign of danger.
Seeing Chen Kaide useless, Wang Fenfang rushed out from the house, stood behind Chen Kaide, and pushed him.
"You’re his father-in-law, say something fast! If he’s going to hit Lamei, I’ll take her back to her mom’s. You can go there yourself!"
As if he wasn’t scared stiff himself! Chen Kaide was terrified, afraid to offend his spouse, and could only bluntly say:
"Let’s talk this out nicely, don’t let the neighbors see a spectacle, what would they think seeing you all causing such a scene?"
Suizi, who had been standing aside watching, heard this and pushed Yu Jingting away, stepping forward and saying:
"What spectacle? Laughing at my husband or at your ’good daughter’? If she hadn’t tricked me into going to the township hospital for an abortion, would my man be this furious? Just call Lun Lamei out, don’t let her hide like a turtle!"
"My man," these words greatly pleased Yu Jingting, he savored them over and over again.
"Don’t slander people! My daughter kindly took you to the hospital, saying that you made Tiegen so angry that it affected his Fetal Qi. On the way there, you were even cursing Lamei with him. What, afraid Tiegen will kill you? You can’t just throw dirt on Lamei!"
Wang Fenfang hid behind Chen Kaide, pointing fingers and trying to shift all the blame onto Suizi, her eyes full of malice.
It would be best if the thug took Suizi away and beat her to death.
Yu Jingting snapped out of his reverie, didn’t catch most of it, but latched onto the words "Tiegen".
His eyebrows knotted, pointing at Wang Fenfang he cursed, "You rotten witch, heart rotten, mouth rotten, asshole rotten and even your memory is rotten? I changed my name a long time ago. I declared it in front of the whole village, said whoever dared call me Tiegen again, I would beat up. What, you think I won’t hit you because you’re ugly?"
Wang Fenfang was so enraged that her eyes bulged, and she pushed Chen Kaide.
"Listen to him, isn’t this nonsense? I’m also Chen Hansui’s stepmother, what kind of son-in-law talks to his mother like that?"
"Yu Jingting! Do you even regard me as your father? Chen Hansui, don’t think you’ve grown wings now that you’re married, taking him to make a scene at your mom’s. You couldn’t behave at home, and you’re even worse after marriage!"
Chen Kaide, using his status as father-in-law, tried to restrain Yu Jingting, not daring to provoke him, only daring to scold his own daughter.
It might have been better not to scold Hansui; as soon as he did, Yu Jingting’s blood boiled.
"Chen Uncle, step aside, don’t block me from chopping Lun Lamei, that bitch!"
If he’s not allowed to call dad, fine, he didn’t care much for it.
He, Yu Jingting, doesn’t fear anyone in the Wang Family compound, be it man or woman, old or young. If anyone insults his wife or makes her curse, he’d beat them up, no coddling!