Conflicts between neighbors were commonplace in the countryside, and for penny-pinching, advantage-taking people like Wen Shishan and Li Qiaozhen, friction with other families was even more frequent than usual.
Every time Li Qiaozhen dragged the whole family off to fight with someone was when Wen Xi feared most. If they failed to gain the upper hand, Wen Xi became the outlet for their fury.
If the trouble had been caused by Wen Xi himself, it was even worse. Not only would they never stand up for him, they would curse him as a contemptible wretch who invited trouble—otherwise why would those people pick on him and no one else? It was all his own doing.
So after being beaten by Zhao Shoutian, Wen Xi had never once thought of asking the Yan family to stand up for him.
He only wanted to bring the two children back safe and sound. He would have been thankful enough if the Yan family didn't take their anger out on him.
Yet his mother-in-law said she would take him to the Zhao family to demand an explanation, and when his father-in-law and two older brothers came back from the fields, they were just as indignant—ready to go stand up for him without even putting down the hoes on their shoulders.
The grievances Wen Xi had bottled up after the beating had nowhere to go, but now the Yan family held them gently in their hands. His eyes stung, and he opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.
The wind was strong that afternoon, so Yan Feng'an had gone back to his room to rest, worried about catching a chill. As he lay with his eyes closed, he heard waves of angry voices coming from outside. When he got up, he found the whole family gathered in the courtyard, worked up and surrounding his husband.
The moment He Jin and Li Wan saw him, they knew this fight wasn't going to happen.
In other families, no matter what private grudges people held, they always stood united when dealing with outsiders. But their brother-in-law was strange. Every time the family had a conflict with someone, regardless of who was right or wrong, he would pull a long face at his own family, constantly warning them not to go out and stir up trouble or drag him down.
He was a scholar who had passed the xiucai examination and would become a high official someday. For the sake of his future, the family naturally had to put him first in everything.
Small matters could normally be swallowed and endured, but today his own husband had been beaten. Surely their brother-in-law wasn't going to tell them to endure this too?
Yan Feng'an knew nothing of their thoughts; all his attention was on Wen Xi's face.
He couldn't understand how Wen Xi had been perfectly fine at home, yet came back with his face like this. Frowning slightly, he asked softly, "What happened to your face?"
Afraid that Yan Feng'an would resent him for bringing trouble to the family, Wen Xi instinctively raised a hand to cover it. "It's… it's nothing."
"Nothing? Third Brother, your husband was beaten by that bastard Zhao Shoutian. We're going to get revenge for him right now, and you'd better not stand in the way."
Eldest brother Yan Wangchun knew his temperament too, and his voice couldn't help sounding anxious as he spoke.
Yan Feng'an said, "That's exactly what should be done. Why would I stand in the way?"
He raised his arm, wanting to touch Wen Xi's injured cheek, but seeing how Wen Xi flinched, he only gently patted the poor thing's shoulder. "Don't be afraid. The Yan family won't let you suffer any injustice."
The reaction of the Yan family made Wen Xi realize this was no empty promise. He nodded dumbly and said, "Mm… I know."
This time the whole family was of one mind. Yan Fuqiu cracked his knuckles with a series of pops. "Third Brother, rest well at home. The two of us will definitely get an explanation for your husband."
Although Yan Feng'an's health had improved a great deal, a scene like this was no place for him. After leaving the two children behind to keep him company, Chen Lanfang led the whole family toward the Zhao household.
The large group made quite a spectacle, drawing the attention of many villagers. With excitement to watch, the villagers abandoned their work and their cooking, trailing behind at a discreet distance, pointing and whispering among themselves.
"What's going on? Where's the Yan family headed?"
"No idea. Isn't that their third son's husband? Why is his face swollen like that?"
"Can't you tell? He was obviously beaten. I bet the Yan family doesn't like this husband and is sending him back to the Wen family."
"But that's not the direction of the Wen family…"
His father-in-law and mother-in-law were going to seek justice for him—they weren't sending him back to the Wen family at all. Wen Xi silently refuted them in his heart, but didn't dare open his mouth and slap these gossips in the face.
Since childhood, he had always been a sorry, embarrassing sight in front of others. Whenever he became the center of attention, he would grow anxious and timid. Only when they reached their destination did he dare to lift his head.
His son and his younger brother's husband had been bullied by outsiders, and the fire in Yan Wangchun's heart nearly burned him up entirely. When they arrived, he couldn't be bothered with pleasantries and kicked open the gate of the Zhao family's courtyard with one foot.
"Zhao! If any of you aren't dead yet, get out here right now!"
Yan Fuqiu, hands on his hips, took the opportunity to kick everything in the courtyard, sending the chickens in the coop scurrying about in a clucking panic.
The eldest Zhao sister-in-law, who had been about to step forward first, shrank back at the sight of their towering rage. She was, after all, a woman—no matter how domineering she was at home, she was still afraid of two burly men. She nudged her husband, signaling him to go out and take a look.
Zhao Changshun, a seasoned turtle hiding in its shell, stood motionless: "Mom and Dad haven't gone out yet. What's it got to do with me?"
Zhao Dahe nearly keeled over at those words. Comparing people really was enough to make you die of anger—look at the two sons Yan Shichang had raised, then look at the two sons he himself had raised. There was simply no comparison.
There was no escaping it. Seeing more and more onlookers gathering outside, Zhao Dahe and his wife went out with ingratiating smiles: "Oh my, what wind blew you here? Brother Yan, Sister Yan, please come inside and sit."
"Spare me the fake family pleasantries." Chen Lanfang never held back her tongue in an argument, showing no one any face. "Stealing from children, beating a ge'er—I've never seen such men in my life. Has your family given up on living? If you can't afford to live, take a broken bowl and go beg on the streets yourselves. What's the point of coming to bully my family?"
Zhao Dahe's face flushed red and white under her scolding. He felt aggrieved but also knew he was in the wrong: "It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding. Our Shoutian doesn't know any better. Just be the bigger person and don't hold it against him."
Chen Lanfang showed him no mercy at all: "A grown man in his twenties and he doesn't know any better? Will he know better when both feet are in the coffin? That good-for-nothing Zhao Shoutian of yours, may heaven strike him down—can't win himself a husband, so he goes and bullies someone else's husband. Even the weasels behind the hill aren't as vicious as he is."
Li Wan joined in loudly: "Anyone with a daughter-in-law or husband at home, take note! Our village has produced a vicious bachelor. He couldn't manage to get married himself, so now he's jealous of other couples who love each other. He'll beat people on the road for no reason at all—just look at what he did to our Xi ge'er!"
He Jin led Wen Xi in a circle through the crowd: "In all my life I've never seen such a spineless man. Whichever family dares marry a girl or ge'er to him had better be ready to be beaten to death."
Even though Wen Xi was thin-skinned, he knew this was the time to cooperate with the Yan family.
He was genuinely aggrieved and didn't need to act at all. The moment he thought of being bullied by Zhao Shoutian for no reason, tears fell uncontrollably. Ashamed to show his red, swollen cheek to everyone, he bit his lip and shrank back, trembling.
A frail young ge'er who couldn't lift a finger against anyone, bullied like this by an outsider—the neighbors watching all clucked their tongues in pity.
In Daoxiang Village, a man who beat a ge'er or a girl was the lowest of the low, utterly despised.
The Zhao family's circumstances were only average, and few people in the village had been willing to marry their children into their household anyway. With the Yan family putting on this coordinated performance, Zhao Shoutian could forget about ever finding a match in the village.
The villagers whispered among themselves: if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be too. With a son like that, the father surely wasn't any good either.
These words trampled Zhao Dahe's face into the dirt. He resented the Yan family for pressing their advantage without mercy, and resented his own son for stirring up trouble. With a belly full of fire and nowhere to direct it, he could only shout into the house: "You worthless little brat, get out here and apologize! Do I have to go in there and drag you out myself?"
Zhao Shoutian hadn't expected things to blow up this big. Wen Liu had clearly told him before that Wen Xi wasn't favored in the Yan household—so why was the whole family standing up for him now?
If he'd known it would come to this, he would have just mocked Wen Xi a few times. Why had he even laid hands on him?
Zhao Shoutian reluctantly came out of the house, cupped his hands at Wen Xi with the air of a lord granting a favor, and said, face turned aside, "Sorry."
Wen Xi was used to being mistreated—those people had never once apologized to him. Now that Zhao Shoutian had apologized, by rights he should have been satisfied, but his heart still felt stuffy and uncomfortable.
The vivid, painful finger marks on his face reminded him of the humiliation he had suffered. His own parents, who had raised him, didn't treat him like a human being—but why should outsiders get to bully him at will too?
In the past, with no one to protect him, he hadn't dared resist. But now the Yan family had said they would back him up. Wen Xi refused to yield. Without a word, he turned his back, expressing his attitude through silence.
"Pah!" Yan Wangchun spat on the ground and said gruffly, "You think one word settles this? Who do you think you are, some great thing? Without compensation, this matter is far from over."
On the way here, Li Wan had filled his ears with plenty of grievances, and today he was determined to teach the Zhao family a lesson they wouldn't forget.
The moment money was mentioned, Zhao Shoutian's mother, Liu Jinhua, wouldn't stand for it: "What kind of precious ge'er is this, that one slap means we owe compensation! You Yan family members only know how to bully people. Who knows—maybe your family's husband deliberately seduced my son and disgusted him so much that he struck out…"
That vicious old woman was slandering Wen Xi's innocence to his face in front of so many people with her barefaced lies. Chen Lanfang was so furious she strode forward and slapped her twice across the face, "pa pa": "What a load of crap from your ancestors eighteen generations back!"
Liu Jinhua, having taken the two slaps, dropped straight to the ground, wailing to high heaven: "Help! She's beating me! Is there no law left? Is there no justice in this world?"
Wen Xi had grown up in the village and knew full well that if this kind of salacious rumor wasn't stopped, it could hound a person to death. With so many people listening, who knew what it would turn into as it spread from mouth to mouth?
Besides, the Yan family had stood up for him like this—he couldn't play the mute and hide behind them.
Holding on to He Jin's arm to steady his rage-trembling body, he cast aside all shame and pointed at Zhao Shoutian: "As for looks, between him and Yan Feng'an, one is a white crane in the heavens and the other a toad in the mud. As for standing, one is the only xiucai in the village, the other an idle good-for-nothing rogue. How blind would I have to be to give up a perfectly good life and run off to seduce that mangy cur of his?"
Chen Lanfang picked up right where he left off, cursing: "Why doesn't she take a piss and look at her own reflection? Looking like a goblin come to life, and she dares compare him to my son? Ha! That lump of stinking dog turd of hers isn't fit to carry my son's shoes."
"Who are you calling a stinking dog turd? Your son is the stinking dog turd…"
Hearing the shouting outside, Lin Xuemei half-dragged, half-hauled Zhao Changshun out: "You've hit them, you've cursed them—what more does your Yan family want? Don't think you can bully people just because your son is a xiucai. I say people ought to accumulate a little virtue for themselves, or who knows when retribution might come knocking."
Zhao Changshun, hunching his neck, chimed in: "That's right. Yan Feng'an is already in that state—he looks like a short-lived one anyway. Don't know what you're all acting so high and mighty about."
"Screw you! My son is blessed with long life and good fortune. How dare you curse him! Eldest, Second—beat them!" What father could stand hearing someone talk that way about his son? Yan Shichang, who had been silent all this while, swung his palm straight at Zhao Changshun's face. "Today I'd like to see just who's the short-lived one."
Yan Wangchun and Yan Fuqiu had long been holding back their fury. The moment Yan Shichang gave the word, the two brothers immediately went for Zhao Shoutian.
Chen Lanfang, for her part, seized Lin Xuemei by the hair, while He Jin and Li Wan reached down and pinned Liu Jinhua to the ground.
Seeing his family members all being beaten, Zhao Dahe couldn't well hide anymore and hurried forward to help Zhao Shoutian.
And so the two families threw themselves into an all-out, unrestrained brawl. Some of the neighboring onlookers wanted to step in and break it up, but Yan Shichang sent them packing with a couple of words:
"Today's matter is between us and the Zhao family. Anyone who dares step in and take sides is making an enemy of our Yan family—and don't come crying to me for help next time something happens in your household."
The Yan father and sons weren't just skilled craftsmen. They were tall, big-bodied men with plenty of strength, and every family with a wedding or a funeral was glad to have their help.
Even families without such occasions had to stay on good terms with them. During the busy farming season, households had to exchange labor to help one another—hardworking men like the Yans were hot commodities you'd have to queue up for just to hire.
With Yan Shichang having said all that, what fool with a death wish would dare get involved?
Wen Xi had always been the one getting beaten—no one had ever taught him how to fight back. He hid to the side, wanting to help but not knowing where to even begin.
When Yan Shichang's sandbag-sized fists landed on the Zhao family members, Wen Xi was terrified his father-in-law might beat someone to death.
Chen Lanfang, in the course of the fight, ended up grappling with Liu Jinhua. The two women were of similar age and both accustomed to farm work, so Chen Lanfang couldn't easily gain the upper hand against her.
The moment Chen Lanfang took a slap from Liu Jinhua, Wen Xi forgot his fear entirely. Dragging his cramping legs forward, he grabbed hold of Liu Jinhua's hair and shouted, his voice completely lacking force, "Don't hit my mother-in-law!"