“Bang!”
Accompanied by the deafening crash of something heavy being smashed, Lu Yuan’s heart clenched violently.
He did not even have time to worry about the backpack in his hands. He rushed forward like a madman and kicked open the half-closed gate of the Lin family’s courtyard!
The scene inside instantly made Lu Yuan’s eyes turn bloodshot, murderous intent surging from him.
The small courtyard, which had been old but neatly maintained, was now a complete mess.
The bamboo pole used for hanging clothes had been snapped, while two thugs were rummaging through cabinets and smashing things with sticks.
Standing at the entrance of the main room and cursing at his mother-in-law, Wang Shi, was none other than the original owner’s shameless younger brother—Lu Qiang!
Today, Lu Qiang was dressed in a relatively new padded brocade robe. His hair was neatly tied up, and he carried himself like an arrogant young master.
“Old woman, stop acting all high and mighty with me! Hurry up and hand over the money from selling the fish!”
Lu Qiang’s face was full of greed, and he even looked completely justified in his arrogance.
As it turned out, after the Lu family had driven Lu Yuan and his wife out of the house two days ago, their lives had become a complete mess.
Normally, washing clothes, cooking, chopping firewood, feeding the pigs, and all those dirty and exhausting chores had been handled by Lin Qingyue and Lu Yuan.
Now that the two of them were gone, Zhao Shi had no choice but to work in the fields herself.
In only two days, Zhao Shi was already suffering from a sore back and aching waist. Even the water jar had run dry, forcing Lu Dagui to brave the snow and wind to go into the mountains to chop firewood.
As for Lu Xiaocui, the younger sister of the family, she was someone who had never lifted a finger for household chores. All day long, she complained about not having hot water to wash her face.
While rubbing her aching lower back, Zhao Shi had even begun secretly wondering whether driving away those two free laborers had actually been a loss.
She had assumed those two worthless people would not survive even one night and would freeze to death.
Who could have imagined that yesterday afternoon, a pockmarked peddler who went from village to village selling needles, thread, and other small goods happened to pass through Lu Village?
While chatting idly, he casually mentioned that he had personally seen Lu Yuan at the frozen river in Qingshui Village, where he had pulled several huge fat carp out of an ice hole!
The moment Zhao Shi heard that, jealousy nearly made her eyes bleed.
Big fat fish!
In the middle of winter, how much silver could those fish be worth?
Not only did she curse Lu Yuan for being an ungrateful bastard who had run off to live with his wife’s family, but she also became obsessed with the money from selling the fish.
Lu Dagui was a man obsessed with his reputation. Since they had just signed the severance-of-relations document, he felt embarrassed to go and demand money himself.
So Zhao Shi rolled her eyes and encouraged her precious son, Lu Qiang, to go.
Not only did she send Lu Qiang to demand the money, she even gave him five coins to hire two idle troublemakers from the family to back him up.
She knew that the three Lin brothers were famous for fiercely protecting their family, so she was afraid her son might suffer.
Coincidentally, when Lu Qiang arrived at the Lin family’s home today, Lin Dashan and Lin Daniu had gone deep into the mountains to chop firewood and had not yet returned.
Lin Sanniu had also gone to the village chief’s house to borrow a wooden basin for bathing.
That left only three defenseless women at home.
“Bah! Who do you think you are, coming here to cause trouble in our Lin family’s home?”
His mother-in-law, Wang Shi, was completely fearless. She blocked the doorway and spat forcefully at Lu Qiang’s feet.
“When your black-hearted mother drove those two out, why didn’t she ask for money then? Now that my son-in-law has shown some promise, you come crawling over like a dog that has smelled meat!”
Second sister-in-law Li Shi was pregnant as well, but she did not back down either.
She gripped a firewood stick tightly in her hand and stood beside her mother-in-law like a mother hen protecting her chicks.
“Get out! Otherwise, when my husband and father-in-law come back, they’ll break your legs!” Li Shi shouted angrily.
Lu Qiang’s face turned livid from the insults.
Relying on the men he had brought with him, he was not afraid. Instead, he sneered.
“What a joke! Lu Yuan was born into our Lu family. Even in death, he belongs to our Lu family!”
“You bunch of poor peasants, stop blocking the way! Today, even if I have to dig three feet into the ground, I’ll find that money!”
Seeing that none of the Lin family’s men had returned, Lu Qiang became even bolder.
He gave the two thugs beside him a signal and reached out to forcibly push aside Wang Shi and Li Shi, intending to enter the house and search.
“You’re not allowed to touch my mother or sister-in-law!”
At that moment, Lin Qingyue, who had been resting inside, heard the commotion and rushed out in a panic, wearing only her outer clothes.
Her belly was heavily swollen, and moving was extremely difficult for her. But when she saw her mother and pregnant sister-in-law being pushed around by thugs, she completely forgot about herself.
Lin Qingyue spread her arms and stood firmly in front of Lu Qiang, trembling with anger.
“Lu Qiang! My husband has already signed a severance-of-relations document with your family. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other, dead or alive! If you dare take another step inside, I’ll report you to the authorities for trespassing!”
Lu Qiang hated being threatened with the authorities.
Looking at this woman who had once been a punching bag in the Lu family, he could not believe she now dared to point at him and scold him.
He instantly became furious.
“You unlucky wench! You walking jinx! Get out of my way!”
Lu Qiang completely lost his reason.
He did not care in the slightest that Lin Qingyue was a heavily pregnant woman who was about to give birth.
He suddenly swung his hand and shoved her hard in the shoulder!
“Ah!”
Lin Qingyue was already weak, and the force sent her stumbling.
Her entire body fell backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily onto the hard, snow-covered ground.
“Bang!”
Lin Qingyue slammed into the frozen ground.
“My stomach… it hurts so much…”
She curled up in agony, clutching her swollen belly with both hands. Cold sweat instantly poured down her forehead.
Almost at the same time, the pungent smell of blood spread through the freezing air.
Bright red blood began flowing from beneath her coarse cloth skirt.
Against the pure white snow, it spread into a horrifying pool of red!
“Qingyue! My daughter!”
Wang Shi was terrified out of her wits.
She screamed miserably and scrambled toward her daughter, desperately trying to lift her up, only to discover that Qingyue was in so much pain that she had bitten her lips until they bled.
“Second daughter-in-law! Quickly! Help me carry your sister-in-law inside!”
Having given birth to several children herself, Wang Shi knew how dangerous the situation was and forced herself to remain calm.
“Go to the kitchen and boil water! Boil as much as you can! Hurry!”
Li Shi’s face had also gone deathly pale.
She immediately dropped the firewood stick and, together with her mother-in-law, did everything they could to drag Lin Qingyue, who was nearly unconscious from the pain, onto the heated brick bed inside.
And this was exactly what Lu Yuan saw the moment he kicked open the courtyard gate.
The bright red blood looked like countless poisonous needles stabbing directly into his eyes.
Lu Yuan felt a deafening roar explode inside his head.
The last thread of his reason snapped completely.
The calm restraint he had possessed in his previous life as an orphan disappeared without a trace.
In its place was an overwhelming urge to destroy everything before him.
He did not say a word.
He strode into the courtyard and grabbed the heavy-backed axe used for chopping firewood from the corner.
The blade was covered in patches of rust, yet under the winter sunlight it gleamed with a chilling coldness.
“You bastards! I’ll kill you!”
Lu Yuan’s eyes were blood-red, resembling a demon crawling out of hell.
He swung the heavy axe with all his strength.
With a sharp whistle through the air, he brought it down without hesitation toward Lu Qiang’s foot!
Lu Qiang had been somewhat frightened when he saw Lin Qingyue bleeding.
But when he turned around, he saw his normally timid and sickly elder brother charging at him with an axe like a mad dog.
“Mom!”
Lu Qiang let out a bloodcurdling scream and instinctively scrambled backward for his life.
“Crack!”
The sharp axe narrowly missed Lu Qiang’s toes and buried itself deeply into the thick wooden post beside him.
Sparks flew everywhere!
The solid wooden post, thicker than a man’s thigh, had actually been split open by that single blow, leaving a deep crack running through it!
Anyone could see that if that axe had struck a person, it could have chopped their leg clean off.
Half of Lu Qiang’s soul nearly left his body from fear.
The two family thugs who had followed him were even more terrified. Their legs went weak, and the sticks in their hands clattered to the ground.
They normally only dared to steal chickens and bully honest people. When had they ever encountered someone truly willing to risk his life?
Lu Yuan could not pull the axe free, so he simply planted one foot on the wooden post.
He stared down at the terrified Lu Qiang, his murderous intent completely undisguised.
“Lu Qiang! Open your damn eyes and look carefully!”
Lu Yuan gritted his teeth and brought out the strongest protection the original owner had possessed in his memory, striking directly at Lu Qiang’s deepest fear.
“According to the law, beating a pregnant woman and causing her death is equivalent to murder!”
“If you harm my child today, or hurt my wife in the slightest!”
“Even if I have to give up my status as a licentiate, I, Lu Yuan, will go to the county office and beat the grievance drum. I’ll report you for defying family law and attempting to murder your own sister-in-law!”
“I’ll have the county magistrate personally strip you of your qualifications for the imperial examinations! You won’t even be allowed to step through the examination hall door for the rest of your life. I’ll have you exiled three thousand li and sent to serve as a slave under armored soldiers!”
Every word struck directly at Lu Qiang’s Achilles’ heel.
For a coward who bullied the weak, the imperial examinations and academic honors were the greatest promise his mother had dangled before him. They were also the only reason he could swagger around the village.
Now that he heard he could be stripped of his examination qualifications and even exiled, Lu Qiang’s psychological defenses completely collapsed.
“B-Big Brother… I didn’t mean to… I really didn’t mean to…”
Lu Qiang cried with snot and tears running down his face as he desperately crawled backward across the ground, trying to escape the Lin family home.
“You want to run? Run your damn legs off!”
Just as Lu Qiang reached the courtyard gate, a thunderous roar came from outside.
Lin Daniu and his father, Lin Dashan, stood blocking the entrance, carrying bundles of dry firewood stacked as high as small hills on their backs.
They had just arrived when they heard the screams from inside the courtyard.
Then they saw the shocking pool of blood staining the snow.
The two protective farmers’ eyes instantly turned blood-red.
“Bang!”
Lin Dashan threw the hundred-jin bundle of firewood from his back onto the ground with such force that the stone paving seemed to tremble.
“How dare you come to our Lin family’s home and cause trouble, and you even hurt my daughter!”
Lin Daniu did not say a word.
He simply pulled out a thick piece of hardwood as wide as his arm, grabbed Lu Qiang by the collar like he was picking up a chicken, and slammed him onto the ground.
“Erniu! Guard the gate! None of these three bastards are leaving here standing today!” Lin Daniu roared.
Lin Erniu, who had just rushed into the courtyard behind Lu Yuan, displayed remarkable composure at that moment.
He glanced at the three thugs rolling around on the ground, then looked toward the second sister-in-law carrying out a basin of bloody water from the main room.
He suppressed his urge to rush over and kick them himself, then shoved the backpack into Lu Yuan’s arms.
“Big Brother, Dad! Beat them half to death! Just don’t kill them!”
“Brother-in-law, there’s white flour and brown sugar in here. Take them inside! I’m fast on my feet. I’m going to get the old midwife from the neighboring village right now! Even if I have to drag her here by force, I’ll bring her back!”
With that, Lin Erniu turned around and rushed into the blizzard like a whirlwind.
The courtyard immediately erupted with miserable screams.
Lin Daniu and Lin Dashan had spent their entire lives making a living in the deep mountains. Their strength was far beyond what these young thugs could withstand.
Their fists rained down, deliberately targeting places that were extremely painful but not life-threatening.
Before long, Lu Qiang and the two thugs were beaten black and blue, lying in the snow and howling like three beaten dogs.
But Lu Yuan had completely lost interest in the beating outside.
He stumbled into the main room.
The thick smell of blood inside was so strong that it was suffocating.
Lin Qingyue lay on the heated brick bed, her face as pale as paper. Sweat soaked through her hair, causing strands to stick to her cheeks.
She gasped heavily, gripping the torn bedsheet beneath her so tightly that her fingernails had split.
“Qingyue! Qingyue, look at me!”
Lu Yuan threw himself beside the bed and tightly held her cold hand. His heart felt as though it were being torn apart.
His mother-in-law, Wang Shi, stood at the foot of the bed, staring at the bedding soaked red with blood. Her hands trembled uncontrollably.
She suddenly slapped her thigh and cried out in despair.
“What have we done to deserve this!”