“I’ll teach you to run your mouth! You rotten-hearted piece of trash, daring to smear my daughter’s reputation!”
Li Xiulan’s eyes were bloodshot, and the carrying pole in her hand whistled through the air.
Crack!
The pole landed squarely on Zhao Dazhang’s back, making him yelp and leap into the air in agony.
“Ow! Violence! The Su family is beating people!” Zhao Dazhang rolled around on the ground, clutching his back, yet still barking filthy abuse. “What? Did you do something shameful and now you can’t handle people talking about it? Su Nianqiu is just a loose woman! Who knows whose bastard is growing in her belly?”
“I’ll beat that stinking mouth of yours to pieces today!”
Consumed by rage, Li Xiulan raised the pole to strike again.
“Stop right there!” Su Jianguo roared—not at his wife, but at the crowd of onlookers who loved nothing more than a good spectacle.
His tall frame blocked the space in front of his wife and daughter. His square-jawed face, weathered by years of wind and sun, was as dark as the bottom of a pot, radiating the unquestionable authority of a production team leader.
“Anyone who dares to flap their gums with another word today will be dealt with for undermining collective solidarity! Not a single work point for anyone this year!”
Work points!
That was the villagers’ lifeblood.
As soon as those words dropped, the villagers who had been itching to stir up trouble fell dead silent, sealing their lips tight.
Only then did Su Jianguo turn to Zhao Dazhang, who was still rolling around on the ground. His gaze was as cold as ice. “Zhao Dazhang, what did you just say? If you have the guts, say it again!”
Startled by that murderous look, Zhao Dazhang shivered, but relying on his supposed “righteousness,” he stuck out his neck and yelled, “I’m telling the truth! Su Nianqiu is pregnant with a bastard! So what if you’re a brigade leader? Does a brigade leader get to cover for his own daughter playing the whore?”
“Fine. Very good.” Su Jianguo laughed out of sheer fury. Pointing at Zhao Dazhang, he said word for word to the militia captain standing nearby, “Tie up this good-for-nothing rumor-monger who ruins people’s reputations, and take him to the township police station! I want to ask the comrades at the public security bureau if slandering a woman’s honor doesn’t require taking responsibility these days!”
To the police station?!
That genuinely terrified Zhao Dazhang. He was just a village rogue—good for petty theft and throwing his weight around because he had a big family, but his courage shrank smaller than a rabbit’s when it came to dealing with men in uniforms.
“No… please don’t, Uncle Su! I… I was just joking…” His face drained of color, Zhao Dazhang scrambled up from the ground to plead for mercy.
“A joke?” Supported by her parents, Su Nianqiu finally caught her breath.
She gently pushed Li Xiulan aside, stood up unsteadily, and though thoroughly drenched, with disheveled hair and a pale face, the cold, proud spirit etched into her bones made her stand out like a crane among chickens.
All eyes focused on her.
They expected her to cry, to make a scene, to deny it to the death.
Instead, Su Nianqiu merely glanced coldly at the cowering, trembling Zhao Dazhang. Then, taking a deep breath, she swept a calm gaze across the crowd, parted her red lips, and spoke in a voice that wasn’t loud, yet carried clearly to everyone’s ears:
“I am pregnant.”
Boom!
Su Nianqiu actually admitted it herself!
Even Su Jianguo and Li Xiulan, who had been shielding her, turned around in shock, staring at their daughter in disbelief.
Qiuer… how… how could she just confess?!
The villagers’ jaws practically dropped to the ground. They had seen people with thick skin, but never anything like this! To get a big belly and still admit to it so unblushingly in public?
Ignoring the general astonishment, Su Nianqiu let her gaze fall back onto Zhao Dazhang, a chilling curve touching the corner of her lips.
“I am pregnant. But,” she shifted her tone, her voice turning fiercely sharp, “does the child in my belly have a single damn thing to do with a piece of human garbage like you?”
“Listen well, and I ask all my uncles and aunts to bear witness.”
Straightening her spine, every word rang clear and strong: “I, Su Nianqiu, am carrying the child of a man I willingly chose to bear it for! He is a true hero, standing tall between heaven and earth—not some不清不楚 of a shadowy stray man!”
“As for you, Zhao Dazhang!” Her gaze turned razor-sharp. “With zero proof, you openly spread rumors, ruined my reputation, and even drove me to throw myself into the river. My parents might not settle this score with you, but I, Su Nianqiu, will see it through to the end!”
Her words rang out with such forceful conviction that they instantly cowed the entire crowd.
Though Zhao Dazhang felt a chill run down his spine under her glare, he stubbornly tried to bluff. “You… you’re full of it! Just because you say he’s a hero doesn’t make him one! If you’ve got the guts, bring him out here! As far as I’m concerned, you’re just making this up!”
“Does my daughter need to explain herself to trash like you?” Recovering her wits, and driven by the fierce instinct of a mother protecting her young, Li Xiulan jumped straight to her daughter’s defense.
She slammed her carrying pole onto the ground, kicking up a spray of mud. “Even if my daughter never marries in her life, her father and I can afford to feed her! The child in her belly is our Su family’s own flesh and blood. If anyone dares say another half-word, I’ll split them open first!”
“That’s right!” Su Jianguo chimed in deep, authoritative tones, a fierce tiger’s light in his eyes. “My daughter, and my grandchild, are not for you gossiping parasites to point fingers at! Clear out, all of you! Anyone who dares bring this up again don’t blame me for forgetting neighborly ties!”
With the brigade leader having spoken, who dared linger? The villagers exchanged glances before slinking away like a flock of birds and beasts.
Zhao Dazhang tried to slip away too, but the militia held him firmly in place.
“Uncle Su! Brigade Leader Su! I was wrong, I was really wrong!” he wailed, begging for mercy.
Su Jianguo let out a cold snort. “Too late! Take him away!”
Just like that, a storm that could have ruined a young woman’s entire life was suppressed by the sheer, unyielding force of her parents.
Watching her parents shield her, Su Nianqiu felt a sudden stinging in her nose, and her eyes welled up.
So this is… unconditional love and protection?
It’s wonderful.
“Qiuer, let’s go home with Dad.” Su Jianguo took off his jacket and draped it over his daughter’s shoulders, his voice heavy with heartache.
Back inside, they shut the courtyard gate, cutting off everything from the outside world.
Li Xiulan could hold back no longer. She wrapped her arms around Su Nianqiu and burst into tears. “My silly girl, what on earth is going on with you? That man… who is he? How could he let you suffer like this all by yourself?”
With a heavy expression, Su Jianguo sat on the edge of the kang, packing and lighting his pipe one bowl after another.
Su Nianqiu knew the time for confessions had arrived.
Weakly leaning into her mother’s embrace, she opened her mouth to explain—when suddenly, her vision went black, and her whole body slumped.
“Qiuer!”
“Daughter!”
Scared out of their wits, Su Jianguo and Li Xiulan cried out in terror.
In the second before losing consciousness, Su Nianqiu felt a sudden, intense wave of heat radiating from the dragon-patterned jade pendant the original owner had kept close to her chest…