“Exactly!” Jiang Fusheng clasped her hands together and looked at everyone with a smile. “If you all saw that mouse being thrown just now and didn’t stop it, then you’re accomplices too!”
The villagers turned pale with fright.
Xiao’s mother felt increasingly uneasy. Tilting her head and covering her mouth with her hand, she whispered, “Laidi, is what you’re saying true or false?”
“False,” Jiang Fuseng replied in a low voice. “If we really did call the police, they’d be considered eyewitnesses at most, not accomplices.”
“But if you say that, and what if we’re found out… framing someone is a crime!”
Jiang Fuseng reassured her, “Don’t worry, Aunt Xiao. The college entrance exams have only been open for a short while. In previous years, everyone was just struggling to make ends meet, working themselves to the bone. In the village, there are so few educated people; most of them don’t even understand the concepts of accomplices or eyewitnesses.”
Her aim was simply to scare these people; otherwise, reasoning with them would be pointless!
Clearly, her threats had worked. One after another, they backtracked, claiming they hadn’t seen a thing, and hurriedly turned to leave, fearing that if they stayed a moment longer, they too would suffer the same fate as her.
“Jinhua, I’m heading home now. I’ll come and see you tomorrow,” Li Mei said, also worried she might get dragged into this, and waved goodbye to Aunt Xiao.
Xiao’s mother replied, “Ah, do go home and look after your grandson first!”
With that, only Jiang Fusheng and Xiao’s mother, along with Jiang Fu and Chen Shuying, remained where they stood.
The two pairs stared at one another in silence.
“Dad, are you going to pay up, or are you going to—”
“I won’t pay a penny! Don’t even think about it! If you’ve got the guts, go ahead and kill me!” Jiang Fu stuck out his neck, looking as though he were ready to die.
Mother Xiao snorted coldly, “You good-for-nothing! Do you really think I wouldn’t dare hit you? If it weren’t for the fact that you’re Lai Di’s own father, and if it weren’t for Lai Di’s sake, I’d have beaten you to a pulp long ago!”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Fusheng’s eyes lit up. She then tugged at Mrs Xiao’s sleeve with a look of hurt, “Auntie Xiao, actually… actually, you don’t have to spare my feelings. Do whatever you like.”
She couldn’t wait for Auntie Xiao to step in and give that scumbag of a father a proper lesson!
“Jiang Laidi! You ungrateful wretch! We’ve raised you all these years for nothing, and now you’re actually letting someone else beat your own father!” Chen Shuying was so furious upon hearing this that she could have sliced someone in two with her glare.
Jiang Fuseng hid behind Aunt Xiao’s back, gathered her composure, and said in a weak, tearful voice, “Yes! I’m an ungrateful wretch! You’re all right! It’s as if you’ve never fed me a proper meal in my life.”
“What nonsense are you talking about! If you hadn’t had enough to eat, how could you have grown this big?” Chen Shuying glared at her so fiercely her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Perhaps because her emotions were running high, and knowing the original owner’s past experiences, Jiang Fuseng really did feel a lump in her throat; tears began to fall uncontrollably. “It was always my sisters who shared their food with me. You don’t know that I’d often lie awake in the middle of the night, starving, and could only quench my hunger with water. And ever since Yao Zu was born, you’ve made me eat his leftovers. If he didn’t leave any, I’d have nothing to eat. You say I shouldn’t have been born…”
Xiao’s mother had always felt a pang of pity for this frail daughter-in-law, and now, hearing her weep as she recounted her past grievances, the smouldering embers of anger in her heart flared up into a raging inferno. “I can’t stand it any longer!”
With no other villagers around to witness the scene, Mother Xiao strode forward with heavy footsteps, landing a punch squarely on Jiang Fu’s face—a single blow that left him reeling.
Chen Shuying stood by, completely dumbfounded. It took her a good while to react; she stepped forward to pull Xiao’s mother away. “Cen Jinhua, let go!”
However, Xiao’s mother’s weight was far too much for Chen Shuying’s slender arms and legs to handle.
“Get out of the way!”
With a flick of her wrist, Mrs Xiao sent Chen Shuying tumbling onto her backside.
The spot where she’d fallen a few hours earlier hadn’t had time to recover, and now, having fallen again, the pain made her break out in a cold sweat.
Jiang Fusheng had long since shed her aggrieved expression and was watching the commotion with a cold, indifferent look.
After being struck by Aunt Xiao, the scumbag father was unable to put up any resistance. He was forced to cower like a little chick as Aunt Xiao pinned him against the wall and beat him mercilessly.
“Cen Jinhua! You’ve forced my hand!”
“Aunt Xiao, watch out!”
Jiang Fusheng was horrified and rushed forward, ramming her body into him with all her might.
“Ouch!”
Chen Shuying, who had been about to strike Aunt Xiao on the back of the head, was knocked to the ground by her own daughter. The brick also slammed down on her foot, the pain so intense she wished she could faint on the spot.
“You… you little brat…”
Chen Shuying gasped for breath, glaring at Jiang Fuseng as though she were an enemy.
Jiang Fuseng gritted her teeth, leaning against the wall beside her, paying her no mind.
Damn it!
She’d twisted her ankle—it hurt like hell!
“Lai Di, are you all right?” Mrs Xiao tossed the unconscious Jiang Fu onto the floor and hurried over to support Jiang Fuseng. “How are you? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“It’s just a sprained ankle, nothing serious.” Jiang Fuseng shook her head.
“This is a serious matter! A sprained ankle is terribly painful.” Mrs Xiao bent down, scooped Jiang Fusheng up by the knees, and hoisted her into a cradle hold. “Don’t worry, I’ll carry you home.”
Good heavens!
Her mother-in-law was incredibly strong!
Jiang Fuseng was slim and petite; when Mrs Xiao picked her up, she felt as secure and safe as a fledgling eagle nestled in its mother’s embrace.
But she didn’t feel entirely at ease. In all her years, this was the first time she’d been carried like this by an older woman.
“Auntie Xiao, I can walk on my own. I—you… this is really too much!”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about! Auntie may be small in every other way, but I’ve got plenty of strength! There, there, don’t be afraid—Auntie won’t let you fall.”
“Thank you, Auntie Xiao…”
Jiang Fuseng was moved to tears. She had never imagined she would one day be treated in such a way.
Never mind the 1980s—even in the 22nd century, how many mothers-in-law would, without a second thought, simply pick up their daughter-in-law like this when she was injured?
Probably not even one in a thousand!
Mother Xiao had taken just a couple of steps before she stopped, tilted her head to glance at Chen Shuying, who was leaning against the wall, and said coldly, “This is your first and final warning. If you pull any more of these underhand tricks, I’ll make you pay! And you’re not fit to be Lai Di’s parents—stay away from her from now on! She’s a member of the Xiao family!”
With that, Mrs Xiao simply walked away, holding Jiang Fuseng in her arms with ease.
From a certain angle, Jiang Fuseng stared straight at Chen Shuying, raising an eyebrow with a smug look on her face, as if to say: Look, even after leaving the Jiang family, I’m still doing just fine.
“You little brat!” Chen Shuying cursed as she pushed herself up against the wall, her eyes brimming with hatred as she glared at Jiang Fusheng.
Spit!
As a woman, you can’t even bear a child. We’ll see how long you can keep gloating in the Xiao family!
Chen Shuying spat on the ground and turned to drag Jiang Fu back home.
Although the villagers had been too frightened by Jiang Fusheng’s threats to stay and watch the commotion, they were actually hiding nearby, peering out from the shadows.
When they saw how fierce Madam Xiao was, they were all terrified and felt relieved they’d left quickly.
They all agreed that they must never provoke Jiang Laidi again.
At the moment, it was only Xiao’s mother who had laid hands on him, and she’d held back somewhat, but if Xiao Changhe were to get involved, there wouldn’t be a single spot left on his body that wasn’t bruised!
Meanwhile.
Jiang Fusheng still couldn’t get used to it and refused once more. “Auntie Xiao, my foot doesn’t hurt that much anymore. Please put me down; I can walk on my own.”
“But you…” Seeing Jiang Fusheng’s distress, Mother Xiao realised what was going on and set her down.
Jiang Fuseng tried to stand on her own two feet, but the excruciating pain made her body shudder involuntarily, and she stumbled sideways, losing her balance.
“Careful!”
Madam Xiao’s hand was quick, but no matter how fast she was, she couldn’t have been faster than another pair of hands.