Liu Fen’s eyes immediately lit up when she heard there were still valuable things. “What is it? Hurry up and take it out.”
Cheng Fugui also came over, staring intently at Cheng An’an’s pocket.
Cheng An’an reached behind her waist.
The Cheng family held their breath.
Then.
They saw Cheng An’an pull out a…
firewood stick as thick as an arm.
“What is that…?” Cheng Fugui froze.
“This is a dog-beating stick.”
Before she could finish speaking, the wooden stick in Cheng An’an’s hand came crashing down onto the Eight Immortals table in front of them.
The solid-wood table split with a loud crack right before everyone’s eyes.
The teacups and teapot on the table rattled violently before falling to the ground and shattering.
Cheng Baozhu let out a terrified scream and dropped onto her butt.
Cheng An’an planted one foot on the cracked table and pointed the wooden stick at the three frightened people. “You want money? Fine. Trade me your lives for it.”
In all his life, Cheng Fugui had never seen such a domineering daughter.
In his mind, Cheng An’an had always been a mute little thing who only knew how to lower her head and work. Even if someone kicked her, she wouldn’t dare make a sound.
But now, this quiet little thing had exploded.
“You’re crazy!”
Cheng Fugui pointed at Cheng An’an with a trembling finger. “I’m your father! Are you trying to rebel?”
“Father?”
Cheng An’an let out a cold laugh. “You’re a father when you sell your daughter for a bride price. You’re a father when you suck your daughter dry to subsidize your son and eldest daughter. And now that I’m here to settle the accounts, you want to talk to me about a father’s love being as great as a mountain?”
“Stop wasting your breath on her.”
Liu Fen finally came to her senses, her heart aching as she looked at the shattered porcelain on the ground. That had been part of her dowry when she got married!
“This wretched girl must have been possessed. Honey, grab her. I refuse to believe we can’t deal with her!”
Although Liu Fen was a woman, she had worked on the farm for years and was quite strong.
She rolled up her sleeves and lunged at Cheng An’an with her claws out, looking as though she intended to scratch Cheng An’an’s face to pieces.
Cheng An’an didn’t move an inch. She even had enough leisure to yawn.
Just as Liu Fen’s fingernails were about to touch her face—
Cheng An’an moved.
She merely shifted to the side and extended one foot, hooking it around Liu Fen’s ankle.
“Ow!”
Liu Fen felt her foot catch on something. Her entire body lost its balance and she lurched forward like a rolling meatball.
She landed heavily on the pile of shattered porcelain in an almost textbook face-first dive.
“Ah! My face! My hands!”
Liu Fen let out a bloodcurdling scream.
The shards of porcelain had pierced into her flesh, and the pain made her roll around on the ground.
“Mom!”
Cheng Baozhu screamed. She wanted to help, but was afraid of getting cut herself, so she could only stand to the side and wail. “Cheng An’an! How dare you hit Mom! You’ll be struck by lightning!”
“I don’t know whether lightning will strike me, but I do know you’re about to get struck by a stick.”
Cheng An’an turned her head and looked ominously at Cheng Baozhu.
Cheng Baozhu was so frightened by her gaze that she took two steps backward and bumped into the stone mill behind her.
“You… What are you trying to do? I’m your older sister. If you dare touch me, I’ll report you to the production brigade. I’ll accuse you of being unfilial and beating your parents!”
“Report me?”
Cheng An’an advanced toward her step by step. “Do you have any evidence?”
Cheng Baozhu might have been vicious, but she was still a village girl who had never seen much of the world. Cheng An’an’s fearless and menacing aura completely intimidated her.
She looked to Cheng Fugui for help. “Dad, hurry and do something about her!”
Cheng Fugui looked at his wife rolling on the ground and his daughter advancing step by step. He grabbed a shovel from beside him and swung it straight at Cheng An’an’s head.
“I’ll beat you to death today, you unfilial daughter!”
The shovel whistled through the air.
If it landed squarely, her head would definitely split open.
Cheng An’an’s eyes turned cold.
This wasn’t a father at all.
He was an enemy.
Since that was the case, there was no reason for her to hold back anymore.
She leaned backward, narrowly avoiding the sharp edge of the shovel. Then, with the firewood stick in her hand, she thrust it sharply into the acupoint on Cheng Fugui’s wrist.
“Ah!!”
Cheng Fugui’s hand went numb, and the shovel clanged to the ground.
Before he could react, Cheng An’an had already closed the distance and executed a clean shoulder throw.
Bang!
A burly man weighing more than a hundred pounds was hurled to the ground by Cheng An’an like a sack of sand.
Cheng Fugui felt as though all his internal organs had been displaced. He lay on the ground groaning, unable to get back up for quite some time.
In less than a minute—
The three members of the Cheng family were reduced to two lying down and one standing.
Completely defeated.
Cheng An’an dusted off her hands, picked up the firewood stick from the ground, and walked over to the trembling Cheng Baozhu.
“Sis, it’s your turn.”
“Don’t… Don’t hit me…”
Cheng Baozhu was so terrified that tears and snot streamed down her face. All her earlier arrogance had long since vanished.
“I won’t insult you anymore. I won’t say anything… Sob…”
Seeing how cowardly she had become, Cheng An’an curled her lip disdainfully.
“Where did all that spirit go just now? Didn’t you call me a scavenger? Didn’t you say my husband was a living corpse?”
She lightly lifted Cheng Baozhu’s chin with the stick, forcing her to look at her.
“Remember this, Cheng Baozhu. Shen Yu is my man. I’m the only one who gets to bully him. If you dare say another bad word about him, or if you dare try to lay your hands on him again…”
Cheng An’an pointed toward the tiled roof above them.
“I’ll tear the roof off your house and let you count the stars every night.”
Cheng Baozhu rolled her eyes back and nearly fainted.
“I… I understand… I understand…”
Cheng An’an tucked the firewood stick under her arm, dusted off her hands, and swept her gaze around the courtyard. Finally, her eyes landed on several hens.
“Since we’ve reached an understanding, let’s settle the accounts.”
Cheng Fugui clutched his aching lower back and grunted as he tried to get up. But when Cheng An’an shot him a cold glare, he immediately flopped back down and pretended to be dead.
“What accounts?” he asked weakly.
“Emotional damages, lost wages, nutritional expenses, and labor fees for the effort I just spent beating you.”
Cheng An’an counted them off on her fingers with complete seriousness. “We’re family, so I’ll give you a twenty percent discount.”
Cheng Fugui nearly spat blood.
She was charging labor fees for beating people? What kind of bandit logic was this?
“We have no money.”
Liu Fen wailed from the ground. “There isn’t a single penny left in the house! We’re so poor we can barely afford to eat. Your younger brother took it all to the city to buy himself a job.”
“No money?”
Cheng An’an raised an eyebrow and turned her gaze toward the hens.
“Then we’ll settle it with meat.”
Before the Cheng family could react, Cheng An’an’s figure flashed.
A blur swept across the courtyard.
Cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck!
The courtyard erupted into chaos.
In less than ten seconds—
Cheng An’an was already holding two of the fattest hens upside down, gripping their necks skillfully so tightly that they couldn’t even make a sound.
“Put down my chickens!” Liu Fen cried out in heartache. Those were meant to lay eggs so she could trade them for salt!
“What do you mean, your chickens?”
Cheng An’an looked genuinely puzzled. “These are supplements for Shen Yu. Look at these chickens. They’re plump and healthy. You can tell at a glance they’re perfect for making soup.”
With that, she swaggered straight into the kitchen.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
Liu Fen ignored the pain in her body and crawled after her, trying to stop her.
Without even turning her head, Cheng An’an swung the firewood stick behind her and wedged it precisely between the doorframe. If Liu Fen charged forward another half-step, she would run straight into the stick.
“Mom, don’t be so polite. I can get it myself.”
Cheng An’an entered the house as if an army had just invaded the village.
The original owner had been foolish in the past. She only knew how to give things away without realizing just how many good things the Cheng family had hidden.
But Cheng An’an was different.
Her nose was practically as sharp as a police dog’s.
She first lifted the lid of the rice jar.