“Brother Cheng, we have something else to do, so we’ll take our leave first~”
The three scholars awkwardly smiled as they edged toward the main gate, only to be blocked by a wall of flesh.
When they looked up, they saw the large bull staring at them with enormous, bell-like eyes. Its sharp horns were slightly raised as it firmly blocked their way.
“If you’re not in a hurry, why don’t you stay and help judge who’s right and who’s wrong before you leave?” Su Qingli said with a smile.
She needed an audience. What she wanted was to completely ruin the Cheng family’s reputation and make sure Cheng Siwen could never recover from this humiliation.
“Of course, of course,” the three scholars replied with forced smiles before turning around and sitting back down.
One of them even casually grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds, his eyes shining with excitement.
“Su Qingli! You crazy woman!”
Cheng Siwen was practically going insane.
Not only did his body hurt, but his dignity had been completely shattered in front of his classmates.
He trembled with rage, unable to do anything but shout angrily, “You’re crude and barbaric! You have no manners! Even if you kneel on the ground and beg me in the future, I will never look at you again!”
“Manners?” Su Qingli sneered and stepped forward, kicking Cheng Siwen to the ground.
“When you tricked my family out of our property, where were your manners? When you plotted to push me into a pit of fire, where were your manners?”
With every sentence, Su Qingli slapped him across the face, beating Cheng Siwen until he had no chance to fight back.
Seeing this, Liu Qianqian became frantic. She pointed at Su Qingli and screamed, “Su Qingli, you were the one who threw yourself at him! And now you’re turning around and blaming him? You have no shame!”
“Oh? I have no shame?”
Su Qingli turned around. Liu Qianqian immediately shrank back.
“Liu Qianqian, then what are you doing here?”
“I’m not like you! Brother Wen, he…”
“Your Brother Wen told you that he truly loves you, that his relationship with me was only an act, and that you should support his studies. Then, once he became a scholar, he would marry you with a grand bridal procession and make you the wife of a scholar?”
“Uh…” Liu Qianqian was stunned. “How did you know?”
“Heh. I figured it out with my toes.”
Su Qingli turned her head toward Cheng Siwen.
“Cheng Siwen, give me the sixty-five taels of silver right now. Otherwise, I’ll tear this entire courtyard apart!”
After a pause, she shouted, “Mengmeng!”
The large bull immediately understood.
With a powerful thrust of its sharp horns, it sent the wooden rack in the courtyard flying into the air!
The winnowing baskets on the rack crashed all over the ground.
“Ah! My beans!” He Shi immediately screamed.
The next moment, the bull thrust its horns forward again, knocking over the tables and chairs. Wooden legs and pieces of timber scattered everywhere.
“Ah! My tables and chairs!”
He Shi slapped her thighs, heartbroken to the point that she nearly fainted.
“Su Qingli! Don’t push it too far!”
Cheng Siwen was both furious and anxious. But faced with the intimidating bull, he did not dare approach and could only roar helplessly at Su Qingli.
“Too far?” Su Qingli raised an eyebrow. “Compared to what you did to me, what is this?”
Her eyes shifted, and she suddenly noticed a tall, neatly stacked pile of firewood nearby.
Damn it! Even this entire pile of firewood had been chopped by the original owner, that fool!
What a hopelessly love-struck idiot. She really had nothing better to do!
“Mengmeng, knock down that pile of firewood!”
Mengmeng backed up several steps. It pawed the ground a few times before charging forward with its horns lowered.
Bang!
The entire pile of firewood collapsed, logs rolling everywhere as dust flew through the air.
The three scholars covered their heads and scrambled around to avoid the falling wood, secretly astonished.
What was funny was that the bull had already cleared the entrance, yet none of them suggested leaving.
“Su Qingli, you’re going too far!”
Cheng Siwen’s eyes bulged with rage. He grabbed a piece of firewood and charged toward Su Qingli as if he wanted to fight her to the death.
Su Qingli sidestepped, snatched the wooden stick from him, and struck his arm with it.
“Ah! Su Qingli, you bitch!”
Cheng Siwen screamed. He tried to fight back, but she struck his right leg instead, causing him to clutch his leg and howl in pain.
“One question. Are you paying me back or not?”
“I don’t owe you any money!”
Cheng Siwen stubbornly refused to admit it.
Su Qingli chased him around like she was beating a monkey, striking his left leg and then his right, until Cheng Siwen was jumping around in pain.
“Stop! Stop hitting me! Su Qingli, stop! Stop!”
Liu Qianqian cried out anxiously, clearly heartbroken over his suffering, but her feet remained firmly planted on the ground. She did not dare move and could only scream from the sidelines.
“Su Qingli! How dare you hit my son! I’ll fight you!”
Seeing her son being beaten, He Shi stopped pretending to be dignified. She quickly scrambled up from the ground and lunged at Su Qingli with her arms flailing.
Su Qingli kicked He Shi to the ground.
A flash of silver appeared, and a three-inch-long acupuncture needle was suddenly in her hand.
“Ah! Su Qingli, what did you do to me?!”
Cheng Siwen felt a sensation like an ant biting the back of his neck. His body immediately went limp, and all his strength disappeared.
Su Qingli had completely run out of patience. She pointed the silver needle at his abdomen.
“If you don’t give me the money, I’ll make sure you can never have children again!”
“Su Qingli! You’re a young woman! Have you no shame?!”
He Shi screamed hysterically.
Her son was the only man in the He family who could carry on the family line. If he became unable to have children, the entire Cheng family would drown her in curses and spit.
Su Qingli’s voice turned cold.
“I’ll count to three. One, two…”
“We’ll pay! We’ll pay!”
Before she could finish counting, He Shi scrambled into the house and returned with a handful of broken pieces of silver.
Su Qingli took a quick look.
“Only ten taels?”
She moved the acupuncture needle downward, and Cheng Siwen immediately screamed again.
“Only three needles in this spot are enough to make Cheng Siwen completely impotent.”
Su Qingli looked coldly at He Shi.
“Auntie, think carefully. My patience is limited.”
He Shi did not dare resist. She scrambled back into the house to get more money.
This time, she came back with another ten taels and several pieces of broken silver.
“Adding that to the previous ten taels, you only have twenty-five taels in total. Do you think I’m an idiot?”
Su Qingli put the silver away and raised the acupuncture needle, preparing to strike again.
He Shi immediately wailed, “That’s everything! That’s everything we have! We spent all the rest!”
“You spent more than thirty taels in less than a day. Who are you trying to fool?”
He Shi and Cheng Siwen exchanged a glance, both of them looking guilty.
“Speak!”
Under the threat of the acupuncture needle, He Shi hesitantly said, “We… bought land.”
“You bought land?”
Normally, land was the foundation of a farmer’s livelihood. If a farming family had extra money, using it to buy land was perfectly normal.
But when Su Qingli saw the guilty looks on their faces, she immediately knew something was wrong.
“Where did you buy the land?”
“Your… your family’s land.”
He Shi forced herself to answer, not daring to look at Su Qingli’s face.
Su Qingli’s anger immediately exploded.
“Where’s the land deed? Hand it over!”
He Shi was reluctant and began crying and cursing.
Su Qingli did not indulge her at all. She directly stabbed one of Cheng Siwen’s pressure points.
Cheng Siwen screamed like a slaughtered pig.
“Give it to her! Give it to her! I’ll give it to her!”
He Shi did not dare delay any longer. She pulled the land deed from inside her clothes.
It was such an important document that she had kept it close to her body at all times.
Su Qingli glanced at it, and her teeth clenched in anger.
Farmland was the lifeline of a farming family. Unless absolutely necessary, no farmer would willingly sell it.
When they urgently needed money, they would usually choose what was known as a “conditional sale”—using the land as collateral to borrow money, with the right to reclaim it after repaying the debt.
Only when they truly could not repay the money would the land be permanently sold.
Back then, when the debt collectors came to the Su family’s home, Cheng Siwen had brought someone from a land brokerage agency and claimed that they could offer a high price.
That was why Jiang Susu had pressed her fingerprint onto the document on the spot.
Later, the Su family had planned to save money and buy the land back.
But after the original owner caused so much trouble, they had completely lost hope of doing so.
This was the land deed Cheng Siwen had signed with the land brokerage agency.
It was written in black and white, with the official seal already stamped on it.
The “conditional sale” had become a “permanent sale.”
Su Qingli’s anger burned fiercely.
She immediately tore the land deed into pieces.
The corner of Cheng Siwen’s mouth twitched.
Heh. Let her tear it.
It had already been officially registered with the authorities. At most, he would spend a little money to get another copy.
Su Qingli was such a foolish woman. She understood nothing.
Just then, someone suddenly rushed to the courtyard entrance and shouted,
“Auntie Cheng! Hurry and go look at the fields! Su family’s second son has gone crazy! He’s carrying a knife and trying to kill people! He won’t let anyone harvest the rice!”
Su Qingli was startled.
Her second brother?
“Cheng Siwen, I’m telling you, this isn’t over!”
After throwing out those words, Su Qingli called Mengmeng and hurried toward the outskirts of the village.