Su Nianqiu leaned against the kang’s edge, her eyes instantly turning cold.
Su Jianguo and Li Xiulan slept in the main room, separated from her east wing by a central hall. If she shouted now, Zhao Dazhuang, cornered like a desperate dog, might have a knife in hand and easily injure her parents. She had to handle this trouble herself first.
The person outside the door lowered his voice, emitting waves of nauseating lewd laughter: “Su Nianqiu… Brother’s here to see you. You acted so high and mighty during the day, but aren’t you still craving a man at night? Open the door, don’t make me kick it…”
Su Nianqiu took a deep breath, her consciousness instantly sinking into the Spatial Dimension.
She quickly rummaged through the hidden compartment on the first floor, her gaze locking onto the jar of potent medicinal liquor soaked with ginseng roots. She had smelled this liquor before—extremely high proof, pungent and spicy. She grabbed the ginseng roots with her bare hands and placed them on the stone table, then directly picked up the earthen jar. Next, she found a thick, sturdy bamboo pole in a corner of the Spatial Dimension, usually used to prop up bamboo windows. She weighed it in her hand and withdrew from the Spatial Dimension.
All of this happened in just two seconds.
The sound of metal scraping against wood came from outside the door. Zhao Dazhuang was prying open the door latch.
Su Nianqiu got off the kang, stepping barefoot on the floor without making a sound. She pressed herself against the blind spot of the wall beside the door, holding the half-open earthen jar in her hands, the bamboo pole leaning against her leg.
Click.
The old wooden latch was pried open with a rusty iron strip and fell to the ground.
The wooden door was pushed open a crack, and a pungent smell of alcohol instantly flooded the room. Zhao Dazhuang’s shaved head poked in, peering around in the darkness.
“Nianqiu? Asleep? Brother’s here to take care of you…”
He squeezed through the crack in the door, casually leaving it slightly ajar.
Su Nianqiu stood in his blind spot, her voice cold and hard: “Who let you out?”
Startled by the sudden voice in the darkness, Zhao Dazhuang turned toward the sound and, by the moonlight filtering in, made out Su Nianqiu standing in the corner of the room. She wore thin sleepwear, her hair loose, her face pale and dazzling under the moonlight, so beautiful it made one’s heart flutter.
Zhao Dazhuang rubbed his hands together, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva: “Hey, you’re awake. Who else? My mom went to the police station, sat there, wailed a couple of times, and the officers got annoyed and let me go. I’m telling you, Su Nianqiu, you put on quite a show during the day, even said you were carrying some hero’s seed. Today, I’m going to find out what a woman carrying a hero’s seed tastes like!”
He took a step forward.
Su Nianqiu didn’t retreat. Instead, she asked, “Aren’t you afraid my dad will beat you to death for climbing into the brigade leader’s yard in the middle of the night?”
“Beat me to death? Would your dad dare?” Zhao Dazhuang, emboldened by alcohol and carried away by arrogance, spoke without restraint. “Your reputation is already mud! Who in the whole village doesn’t know you’re a slut? If I sleep in your room tonight, by tomorrow morning, when the whole village sees, who else can you marry but me? By then, your dad will be my father-in-law. Not only can he not hit me, but he’ll also have to obediently pass the brigade leader position to me!”
Su Nianqiu’s eyes turned completely cold. This was a well-calculated plan to force the issue directly, cooking the raw rice into a meal and taking everything for himself.
“Who taught you to say that?” Su Nianqiu keenly seized the logical flaw in his words. With Zhao Dazhuang’s riffraff brain, no bigger than a walnut, he couldn’t have come up with such a meticulously crafted, vicious scheme.
Zhao Dazhuang was taken aback for a moment, then bared his yellowed teeth in a grin. “Does it matter who told me? This afternoon, someone pointed me in the right direction, saying your dad wouldn’t dare make a fuss. As long as I have my way with you tonight, I’ll be set for life. Be a good girl and let me have my fun, and I promise I’ll hit you less in the future…”
He spread his arms and lunged fiercely toward Su Nianqiu.
A flash of ruthlessness crossed Su Nianqiu’s eyes. She took a step forward to meet him, raised the clay pot in her hand, and with all her strength, flung its contents directly into his face.
“Splash!”
A full half-pot of high-proof medicinal liquor splashed squarely onto Zhao Dazhuang’s face and into his eyes, not a drop wasted.
“Ahhh—!”
A piercing scream instantly tore through the quiet night sky of the Red Flag Brigade. The high concentration of alcohol searing his eyes was a pain no less intense than being splashed with acid. Zhao Dazhuang clutched his eyes with both hands, his body curling over in agony.
Su Nianqiu threw the clay pot aside, grabbed the thick, sturdy bamboo pole leaning against the wall with her right hand, gripped it tightly with both hands, aimed at Zhao Dazhuang’s crotch, and with all her might, drove it upward with a vicious thrust!
“Thud!”
The bamboo pole struck its target squarely.
The scream cut off abruptly. Zhao Dazhuang’s eyes bulged, his mouth gaped open, but no sound came out. His face turned a purplish-red, his hands moving from his eyes to his crotch. He collapsed to the ground like a boiled shrimp, convulsing in pain, too weak even to roll over.
Su Nianqiu took two steps back, dropped the bamboo pole, and at the top of her lungs, shouted, “Thief! Pervert! Dad! Mom! There’s a thief!”
Her voice was clear and piercing, instantly carrying across the entire Su family courtyard.
The light cord in the main room was yanked sharply, and a dim yellow light flickered on.
“Bang!”
Su Jianguo, not even having time to put on shoes, charged out of the main room, kicking the door open, a broad-backed firewood chopper in hand. Li Xiulan followed close behind, gripping that formidable nanmu carrying pole.
“Nianqiu! Where are you!” Su Jianguo roared.
“Here!” Su Nianqiu opened the door of the east wing and retreated to a safe distance.
Su Jianguo’s eyes immediately fell on Zhao Dazhuang, writhing on the ground, hands clutching his crotch. The pungent smell of strong liquor and medicinal wine mixed together, assaulting the senses.
“Beast!” Su Jianguo’s eyes blazed with fury. He raised the chopper, ready to bring it down. As a former militiaman who had fought bandits, he had real skill. One strike from that blade would leave Zhao Dazhuang either dead or crippled.
“Dad! Don’t kill him!” Su Nianqiu immediately called out to stop him. “Keep him alive. Let the whole village see!”
Su Jianguo forcibly halted the blade’s descent and instead delivered a heavy kick to Zhao Dazhuang’s chest. Zhao Dazhuang grunted, slid half a meter back, rolled his eyes, and was in too much pain to even beg for mercy.
Li Xiulan rushed over and pulled Su Nianqiu into a tight embrace, checking her over frantically, her voice trembling. “Nianqiu, did he touch you? Are you hurt?”
“Mom, I’m fine. I heard him coming and hit him with the bamboo pole,” Su Nianqiu reassured her, patting her mother’s back.
The commotion had already woken the neighbors.
“Team Leader Su’s house has a thief!”
“Hurry! Grab your tools!”
Villagers had a strong sense of vigilance. If one household cried thief, the whole village would mobilize. In less than three minutes, over a dozen people had gathered outside the courtyard gate. The beams of torches and flashlights crisscrossed chaotically, illuminating the Su family courtyard as bright as day.
The militia leader burst through the courtyard gate with several strong young men in tow.
“Battalion Commander, what’s going on?”
Su Jianguo pointed at Zhao Dazhuang on the ground, his face ashen: “Tie this bastard up for me!”