Lin Shan: “……” He silently stared at Lin Xiangyi for two seconds.
Lin Xiangyi turned her gaze away, feeling a little bored. She had only been joking.
How could Lin Shan, for no reason at all, suddenly go slap Lin Huihui twice?
“Wife, are you cold?” Xie Qingxiao, seeing that Lin Xiangyi had just finished speaking with Lin Shan, turned his head and asked with concern.
Lin Xiangyi shook her head. She had worn an extra layer before leaving the house, so she wasn’t really cold. But before she could answer, a sudden gust of wind rushed past her.
Startled, she instinctively turned her head, just in time to see Lin Shan abruptly stand up and storm toward the back.
The people nearby were all startled by his sudden move, staring at him in shock.
Over by the Lu family’s side, Lin Huihui was bowing her head, whispering something to Lu Dingyuan. Suddenly, she felt a shadow loom over her. She instinctively raised her head—only to be met with a slap across the face—
“Smack!” The crisp sound made everyone’s hearts jolt.
!!!
Everyone was stunned. Even Lin Xiangyi jumped in fright, clutching Xie Qingxiao’s hand as she stood up, staring at Lin Shan in disbelief.
He had actually slapped Lin Huihui?!
Lin Huihui herself was dumbfounded. The first to react was Lu Dingyuan beside her.
He hurriedly stood, stepping slightly in front of her, and stared at Lin Shan in disbelief: “Dad, why are you hitting Huihui?”
“Who’s your dad? I’m not your dad! Ever since that shameless woman Chen Fengmei cheated on me behind my back with some bastard, even giving birth to his spawn, we divorced! I only have one daughter now, Xiangyi, and one son-in-law, Qingxiao!” Lin Shan roared.
“Call me that again, and I’ll tear your mouth apart!”
The scene: “……” From Lin Xiangyi before, everyone already knew that her father Lin Shan had divorced Chen Fengmei, Huihui’s mother.
But hearing it bluntly from the man himself had an even greater impact.
The place instantly exploded like a pot of boiling water.
Lu Dingyuan’s face flushed red. “Fine, we won’t call you Dad. But the one who wronged you was… Mom, not Huihui. To strike her like this out of nowhere—isn’t that going too far?”
Perhaps even mentioning Chen Fengmei made him feel ashamed, because he faltered when saying her name.
“Too far? Too far my ass! She owes me!” Lin Shan cursed, his manner more like a street thug than a respectable man:
“I fed her, clothed her, scrimped and saved to raise her. I even spent over a thousand yuan to buy her a job. My own daughter never got that treatment!”
“But what did I get for pouring my heart out for her? She dared to gang up with her mother to bully Xiangyi behind my back! Not killing her is already mercy!”
Being cursed at to her face and feeling the villagers’ judgmental stares, Lin Huihui flushed with shame. “B…but… when did I ever bully my sister—bully Xiangyi?”
“You dare say you didn’t?” Lin Shan roared, furious. His palm lashed out again—smack!—landing on Huihui’s face.
This slap carried nearly all his strength.
At that moment, his fury and guilt peaked.
Fury—toward Lin Huihui.
Guilt—toward Lin Xiangyi.
She had once told him that Lin Huihui had drugged her, but he hadn’t believed it.
He had always thought Huihui, the girl he had watched grow up, was pure-hearted and incapable of such a thing.
Only after the Chen Fengmei scandal broke did he finally realize it was true!
Now, Huihui’s attempt to deny it only inflamed his rage further.
How could he have been so blind and stupid, letting two women toy with him?
“Ah!”
“Huihui!”
Lin Huihui’s cry of pain and Lu Dingyuan’s shout rang out together.
“Un… Uncle Lin!” Lu Dingyuan finally snapped. Clenching his fists, he glared at Lin Shan with blazing anger.
“What, boy, you think you can hit me?” Lin Shan sneered, spittle flying. In the next second, he punched Lu Dingyuan square in the face.
Mad. He’s completely mad!
It was one thing for Lin Shan to hit Huihui, but now he’d hit Lu Dingyuan too!
The crowd erupted in gasps.
The Lu family could tolerate Huihui being struck, but Lu Dingyuan? No way. They immediately surged forward.
“Lin Shan, how dare you hit my son!” Lu’s mother screamed.
The Xie family quickly stepped in, blocking them.
The villagers immediately recognized the scene—wasn’t this exactly like the day of Xie Qingxiao and Lin Xiangyi’s wedding, when Lu Dingyuan and Lin Huihui had also been involved?
Xie Qingxiao stood tall beside Lin Shan, his cold gaze sweeping over Lu Dingyuan and Lu’s mother.
Lin Xiangyi quietly backed away a few steps, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire.
The village head’s wife noticed her movement and hurried to shield her. “Xiangyi, your condition isn’t convenient. Don’t stand so close, come behind me.”
“Thank you, Auntie!” Lin Xiangyi smiled, continuing to watch the show without a hint of worry for Xie Qingxiao and the others.
Lin Shan, emboldened, shouted at full volume: “I’m hitting this heartless bastard! Back then, he swore up and down that he liked Xiangyi, shamelessly camped outside our home refusing to leave. Then what? He changed his heart in the blink of an eye!”
Everyone knew about the tangled history between Xie Qingxiao and Lin Xiangyi, and Lu Dingyuan and Lin Huihui.
But since the past half year, with Qingxiao and Xiangyi living in the village and Dingyuan and Huihui in the county, the two couples rarely crossed paths. Without new gossip to chew on, the villagers had let it fade.
Now Lin Shan’s words brought it all rushing back.
At least he had enough sense to distance Xiangyi: “Luckily my Xiangyi is an honest girl, insisting on waiting until after college to date. Otherwise, she’d have been ruined by this pig already.”
“Looking at it now, you and Lin Huihui really are a match made in hell! Scumbag and shameless tramp!”
Lu Dingyuan: “……”
His face purpled with rage. He wanted to refute, but couldn’t.
Because his past affection for Lin Xiangyi had already been exposed by her herself in front of the whole village on the day of their wedding.
“What… what did you just say?” Seeing her son’s reputation dragged through the mud, Lu’s mother lost it and lunged at Lin Shan.
But Xie’s mother had been watching her closely. She blocked her at once, snapping: “You shrew! Everything my in-law said is the truth. You dare to lay a hand on him? Do you think I’ll just let you?”
“Out of my way!” Lu’s mother shrieked. “Ahh, you dare hit me? I’ll kill you!”
The two middle-aged women began clawing at each other.
Lu’s mother was fierce but thin, never eating as well as Xie’s mother. No matter her temper, she couldn’t match Xie’s mother’s strength. Very soon she was at a disadvantage.
Her face, the corner of her eye, her arms—all scratched up by Xie’s mother.
The Lu family rushed to help Lu’s mother, while the Xie family rushed to back up Xie’s mother.
Chaos exploded.
“Stop! Stop all of you!” the village head roared, summoning villagers to help pull the two sides apart.
Even after being separated, the two groups kept hurling insults, each curse more vulgar than the last.