"How else can this be settled? You started this whole thing, you deserve to be beaten." The village chief glared at her fiercely, then looked at the crowd, "Aren't you all going to work? Are you waiting to have your work points deducted?"
"Hehe, village chief, we'll go to work right away."
Rural people valued work points more than anything else. Upon hearing that work points would be deducted, everyone forgot about the commotion, grabbed their farm tools, and ran faster than rabbits.
At the warehouse entrance, only Feng Yuanchun's family, Granny Chen and her son, Feng Caihua, and a few village officials remained.
Old Mrs. Chen cried out, "Village Chief, you're biased! I started this, I admit my mistake, but Shengjun and I were beaten so badly by Qiu Guihua and her gang that we can't work anymore. They can't just leave us without some compensation, can they?"
"Pah! You want compensation? I'll give you a pile of shit to eat, do you want that?" Ding Cuilan cursed angrily. "You deserved to be beaten, and you still want to extort money? Believe me
, I'll slap you a few more times." Old Mrs. Chen was terrified and shrank back, but threatened, "Ding Cuilan, don't mess with me. It's only right to pay compensation for injuries. You don't think you can just walk away after beating my son and me, do you? Let me tell you, if your family doesn't pay, I'll go to the police station and report your bunch of sluts, and they'll all go to jail."
"You shriveled-headed bastard, I'll fight you to the death!"
It's unclear what Old Mrs. Chen said that provoked Liu Qingqiu.
Liu Qingqiu grabbed Old Mrs. Chen's hair and slapped her face several times.
"Dare to sue us? I'll smash your face first, then cripple you. At least I won't be in jail unjustly. You don't want your mouth anymore, do you? I'll tear your mouth apart too."
Long, slender hands slapped Granny Chen's mouth again.
Granny Chen tried to fight back, but Qiu Guihua and Ding Xiaotao each held one of her hands down, leaving her powerless as Liu Qingqiu slapped her more than a dozen times.
The village chief was both angry and anxious, looking at Feng Caihua and Feng Yuanchun, "What are you two little girls standing there for? Quickly pull them apart!"
Feng Caihua pouted and muttered, "If you ask me, Granny Chen deserves a beating. Her mouth is so foul; she should be given a good beating."
Despite saying this, she still stepped forward to break up the fight.
Feng Yuanchun grabbed Liu Qingqiu's hand, then smoothed her disheveled hair, gently advising, "Mother, don't be angry. Don't ruin yourself over this kind of trash; it's not worth it."
Liu Qingqiu shed tears, feeling utterly wronged. "I'm just angry that she said such nasty things to you. She even wanted the police to arrest us. She bullied you first; shouldn't she have been beaten? But instead, she wants the police to arrest us." "The thief cries '
stop thief!' Turning the tables on her! It's despicable!"
Liu Qingqiu couldn't find any truly vicious words; she just felt Granny Chen was wicked.
Ordinary people are afraid of those with official titles; nobody wants to deal with officials. When ordinary people fight, they ask village officials to settle things; they don't go after officials.
Granny Chen's desire to go after officials clearly meant she wanted to destroy them.
Old Mrs. Chen lay on the ground, groaning and crying, but dared not utter another word about going to the police station.
The village chief, furious, pointed at her nose and cursed, "You shriveled-headed wretch, keep causing trouble! If you don't want peace and quiet and keep causing me trouble every day, then your whole family should just leave Fengjia Village. Go wherever you want; Fengjia Village can't afford a family of troublemakers like you."
The Chen family had wandered to Fengjia Village during the drought of the 1960s and were kindly taken in by Village Chief Feng, thus settling down and becoming residents of Fengjia Village.