“What are these two kids talking about? Since when can a man be unable to have children?”
“Exactly. Giving birth is women’s business. How did men get dragged into this?”
“I think Mingyuan’s future wife isn’t an easy one. Sun Zhaodi is going to suffer in the future.”
Liu Heini was practically driven mad by the two of them. How dare they talk about the son she treasured more than her own life? How could she tolerate that?
“I’ll beat you two to death! You filthy-mouthed little bastards! Fuck you—I’ll kill you!” Liu Heini raised her hands and went straight at them.
Li Baoling and Lin Mingyuan exchanged a look. With the way things were going, the two of them were no match at all, so they immediately shouted:
“Mom, save us! She’s killing people!”
“Auntie, help! She’s beating us!”
The two families lived right across from each other. Sun Zhaodi had been tidying up at home and hadn’t paid attention to the commotion outside Liu Heini’s house. After all, fights were an everyday occurrence for the old Zhang family. It wasn’t until she suddenly heard two cries for help.
Aren’t those her kids’ voices?
Sun Zhaodi dropped what she was holding and ran out. Just in time, she saw that old hag Liu Heini slapping her son and her soon-to-be daughter-in-law hard across the face. How could she not hit back?
Sun Zhaodi charged straight at Liu Heini. That old undead thing—if they really fought, Liu Heini wouldn’t necessarily win.
In the end, it was Sun Zhaodi pinning Liu Heini to the ground, while Li Baoling and Lin Mingyuan held Zhang Dahua back, that put an end to it.
“You still dare to hit people? In front of me, if you’ve got something to say, then say it. But if you dare lay hands on anyone, do you think I’ll let you off?” Sun Zhaodi straddled Liu Heini, snarling viciously.
“Sun Zhaodi, you bitch! If those two little brats hadn’t been spouting shit, would I have hit them? Fellow villagers, come look! Just because she’s from the team leader’s family, she thinks she can bully people like this—she’s killing someone!”
“Zhaodi, to be fair this time really isn’t Heini’s fault. Those two kids did talk nonsense.”
“Everyone knows Baogen is Heini’s lifeline. How could they say something like that?”
“Zhaodi, you need to discipline those two kids in the future. They don’t even know how to speak properly.”
Finally, it was the Lin family’s turn to be criticized. Everyone crowded in eagerly, unwilling to miss such a good opportunity.
“Did you hear that? It’s your two little brats’ fault!” Seeing that everyone was siding with her, Liu Heini immediately became arrogant again.
“Shut up, all of you. Is that what I’m talking about?” Sun Zhaodi snapped. “I’m talking about you hitting people. Let’s not even discuss whether those two kids were wrong or not. Even if they were, couldn’t you talk it out properly? You had to beat them? Fine—then from now on, if your kids say even one sentence wrong, I’ll immediately beat them to death!”
The first half was aimed at Liu Heini; the second half, Sun Zhaodi turned to glare at those who had been speaking up for her.
“Who said we were talking nonsense? A lot of men can’t have children. For the sake of their pride, they won’t go for an examination and instead push the blame onto their wives. How can you be so sure that infertility is always the woman’s problem?”
Lin Mingyuan chimed in, “Exactly!”
Someone sneered. “What proof do you need for that?”
“These two kids are really something.”
Sun Zhaodi had thought they said something outrageous. Turns out it was this. And that really did hit the old Zhang family right where it hurt.
“Is that what the books say?”
Sun Zhaodi reacted quickly, and Baoling and Mingyuan didn’t lag behind either.
“Yes. It’s written in the books.”
Then Sun Zhaodi turned her head and asked the onlookers, “Have you ever read a book?”
“You probably tore yours up back in second grade of elementary school, didn’t you?”
“And you too, Liu Heini—do you even know how to write your own name?”
Seeing no one speak, she continued, “Well, there you go. This is knowledge the kids learned. Telling you about it is educating you. Just look at all of you.”
“If there’s a problem, then go get checked. If there’s nothing wrong, great. If there is, see what the doctor says. Isn’t that it?”
Before Liu Heini could even respond, someone else couldn’t hold back.
“What man goes for an examination?”
“You’re talking nonsense.”
“What kind of man would do that?”
“That’s right. Auntie, what you’re saying is really insulting. Since when can a man be unable to have children?” At this moment, Zhang Dahua’s hair was a mess from struggling with Li Baoling and the others, and her face was full of hatred. How could these people slander her younger brother like this?
“And another thing—who do you think you are, telling us to get examined? If people found out, what would they say about our family? Who could afford to lose that kind of face?”
“What’s going on here?” The atmosphere was at a stalemate when the male lead finally returned.
“Baogen’s back. Are you hungry? Mom steamed eggs for you and kept them warm in the pot,” Liu Heini said, changing her expression instantly. Then she turned fierce again. “It’s all because of your wife.”
Zhang Baogen frowned impatiently. He knew it—every time it was the same damn thing.
“Enough. Everyone go home. You argue every day—it’s annoying as hell.” He didn’t care that his mother’s clothes were in a mess, nor did he spare even a glance at his wife, who had been beaten like that. Nothing mattered more than his empty stomach.
For fuck’s sake, he was really done with it. Five elder sisters and brothers-in-law—all useless. Not a single one could find a job in the city, and they still made him work in the fields. He was starving to death.
Seeing that her son had worked in the fields today, Liu Heini felt heartbroken. How could she still think about fighting? She hurried after Zhang Baogen to wait on him.
With the main parties gone, everyone else naturally dispersed as well. Before long, the crowd scattered.
Just like that, the farce came to an end.
As she was leaving, Li Baoling glanced at Liu Ling. She didn’t know whether helping her today had been right or wrong.
Only after Li Baoling turned away did Liu Ling dare to steal a look at her. So it turned out that not being able to have children could also be the man’s problem.
Li Baoling and Lin Mingyuan had no idea that because of what they said today, they had almost lost their freedom to eat meat.
Over there, Sun Zhaodi led the two of them home. Don’t be fooled by how righteously indignant she’d sounded earlier—she didn’t really believe that men could be infertile either.
“What you two said… is it true?” Unlike others’ sarcasm and disdain, she was simply curious.
Li Baoling said, “It’s true. A lot of men can’t have children. And just now I took a rough look at that Zhang Baogen—he seems very weak. Not tired, but weak. His complexion is terrible, and he barely has any hair. His kidneys are definitely not in good shape.”
“You even understand that?”
“Uh, I’ve learned a bit,” Li Baoling nodded guiltily. In reality, it was her childhood friend who studied traditional Chinese medicine and had taught her quite a lot about identifying kidney deficiency in men.
“Auntie believes you, of course. But say less of this kind of thing outside, especially in front of Liu Heini. She can’t handle it.” Seeing Li Baoling hesitate, Sun Zhaodi sighed. “Auntie knows what you mean, but to put it bluntly, she wasn’t really married into the Zhang family—she was almost sold to them. There are a lot of things she has no say in.”
Otherwise, it might provoke the entire Zhang family into lashing out in humiliation and rage. And in the end, the one who would suffer most would still be Liu Ling.
“All right. The banquet is the day after tomorrow. You two just stay home and behave yourselves.”
So on the third day—meaning the day before the banquet—the two of them obediently stayed at home, went nowhere, and followed Sun Zhaodi’s instructions the whole time.
As for their agreement with Fang Daming, it had long been thrown to the back of their minds. Of course, even if they remembered it, neither of them would go.
Speaking of Fang Daming, after leaving the Lin house yesterday, he had been in a great mood the entire way, whistling and singing. Wasn’t Lin Mingyuan getting married the day after tomorrow? When he got caught then, let’s see how he’d handle it.
It never even crossed Fang Daming’s mind that Lin Mingyuan would play that kind of two-faced game with him. In those days, once you got your name registered with the Revolutionary Committee, it was a huge deal. So everything was ready—only the east wind was missing.
“Really? Tingting, what you said is true? They’re not getting married again?”
“Didn’t you hear? They’re already marrying someone else. What does that have to do with Tingting?”
“Then before, the Fang family said the other side really liked Tingting. Was there any truth to that?”
“Obviously made up. If it were your son, would you be willing to find a wife like that?”
Everyone present smacked their lips and shook their heads. Who would be willing?
As soon as Fang Daming entered the courtyard, he saw his cousin playing downstairs again, surrounded by a group of chattering neighbors.
“Tingting, go home,” he said. Their family no longer let Tingting come out casually—this kid talked nonsense all the time. If she said something else she shouldn’t, how were they supposed to live?
“Brother, go home,” Tingting obediently replied.
Just as the two were about to leave, Fang Daming was stopped by a neighbor.
“Hey, Daming, Tingting said your families aren’t becoming in-laws anymore. Is that true?” someone nosy couldn’t help asking.
Fang Daming’s face immediately changed. He glanced at his cousin. She looked innocent, but he knew she must have said something she shouldn’t have again.
“My grandparents don’t agree,” he said, and then dragged Fang Tingting away.
“How ridiculous—‘grandparents don’t agree.’ Clearly it’s the other family that doesn’t agree. Who’d want to marry a fool?”
“A few days ago, Old Lady Fang was hinting left and right that if the other family hadn’t begged and really liked Tingting, they wouldn’t even have considered it. And now? Turns out the other side doesn’t even want her!”
“Fang Yuejin acts like he’s so capable all day long, yet he can’t even marry off his daughter.”
Everyone burst into laughter again. The old Fang family was usually so nasty—no wonder people loved to watch them make fools of themselves.
On the other side, Fang Daming dragged Fang Tingting home, slammed the door, and said angrily, “Grandpa, Grandma, keep an eye on her. All she does all day is talk nonsense.”
Old Lady Fang felt dizzy. “She talked nonsense again? What did she say—don’t tell me she blurted out the thing about not getting married?”
“Those damned people. What business is our family’s business of theirs? All they do is mess with Tingting when they have nothing better to do. Their hearts are rotten to the core!”
Fang Daming became even more determined to deal with Lin Mingyuan. He didn’t bother with the situation at home anymore, got on his bike, and left again. He needed to find someone.
When he arrived at his uncle’s workplace, he learned that his uncle had gone out. The one who came out was Zhang Dazhuang, his uncle’s subordinate. That was fine—actually, it was even better that it wasn’t his uncle. What if his uncle said he was fooling around?
“Brother Dazhuang, come on, I need to talk to you about something.” Fang Daming put an arm around him and led him outside. This wasn’t something to talk about at the door.
The two went around to the back door of the Revolutionary Committee. Fang Daming lit a cigarette for him. “Brother Dazhuang, do me a favor.”
Then he told him the whole story, even specifying what time the person would arrive the next day. When the time came, he’d give a signal, and the Revolutionary Committee could just arrest them.
“Alright. You wait there tomorrow. I’ll bring people over. Whoever you say to arrest, we’ll arrest. By the way, have you told Director Fang about this?”
“Isn’t this also to vent my uncle’s anger? I’m planning to tell him after we catch the person,” Fang Daming said. He didn’t want to make empty promises again.
Zhang Dazhuang agreed readily. “Right. That’s exactly how it should be done.”
However, the next day, at the black market, Fang Daming never expected that the one who got arrested would be himself.