CH 17

Li Jinhua’s clothes and hair looked a little disheveled, but Tiehua was even worse off. Zhao Shi didn’t hesitate to slap him several times.

Zhao Laigui lay on the ground lifeless, having just been brutally beaten by Shen Dalang and Shen Erlang. How dare he have designs on their sister, he deserved to be beaten.

Li Jinhua turned her head and saw her son lying on the ground, not knowing if he was alive or dead. She cried out with heart-wrenching sobs, “Ah, I’ll fight you all!”

After finishing speaking, she suddenly found the direction of Xiaozhang who was standing on the side and rushed towards her. The Shen family was frightened, and some people rushed to protect Xiaozhang while others ran towards Li Jinhua to stop her.

Xiaozhang was only four months pregnant. If she was hit like that, it was hard to say whether it will not harm both the mother and the baby.

Shen Yu’an became angry, she pulled Xiaozhang beside her and kicked Li Jinhua who was rushing towards them.

With a bang, Li Jinhua fell to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Shen Yu’an didn’t hold back when kicking Li Jinhua just now. The force behind the kick was evident due to Li Jinhuas’ several times of coughing and spitting out a mouthful of blood while lying on the ground.

The villagers who were watching were scared by Shen Yu’an’s brutal behavior and took two steps back, and the crowd fell into an eerie silence.

Suddenly, the sound of rolling wheels and an especially excited voice shattered the silence.

“Why is everyone gathered here? Mother, older brother and I brought two carts. Let’s take some of the grain back home to make up for the losses,” shouted Zhao Niudan, the second son of Zhao Laigui.

The crowd fell silent, and Shen Yu’an coldly looked on with a cold smirk at the three people lying on the ground in various positions.

The crowd automatically made way as Zhao Niudan and his elder brother Zhao Tiedan pushed their cart and walked in.

The onlookers, the villagers, felt complicated as they watched the two carts pushed by the Zhao brothers. They wondered how they could have thought to bring two carts. It was estimated that if the two carts will be full of grains, the Shen family would have no more left for themselves.

It can only be said that the Zhao family was really shameless, and it was no wonder they were beaten.

The Zhao brothers were stunned when they saw Zhao Laigui lying on the ground, foaming at the mouth, Tiehua’s face swollen from being slapped, and Li Jinhua’s mouth was still bleeding.

The two put down their cart and rushed over to help the closest Zhao Laigui stand up.

“Dad, what happened? How did someone beat you up like this?” Zhao Tiedan shook Zhao Laigui’s head and asked.

When Zhao Laigui tried to speak, his head started to hurt, so he had to keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately, Zhao Tiedan kept shaking him, and with his eyes rolling back, he passed out.

“Hey, you owe us money. My father came to your house to collect the grain and got beaten up at your doorstep. Why didn’t you stop them?” Zhao Tiedan, unable to ask anything else, vented his anger towards Zhao Shi.

The two brothers from the Zhao family had not met Zhao Shi many times before, so they learned to call her “a person who owes money” by ear.

Zhao Shi spat on the ground and said, “Bah! If he hadn’t fainted, I would’ve given him a few more slaps.”

Zhao Niudan looked at Zhao Shi in disbelief and angrily said, “You ungrateful person! Just as my grandma said, you have no conscience.”

Zhao Shi rolled her eyes at him and remained unmoved by his words. If it was in the past where she had been yearning for some family affection, she would have been saddened by his words, now she had come to terms with it and was determined to live a good life in the Shen family.

“Oh, my precious grandson! It was their family who beat us. You two should quickly avenge your father,” cried Li Jinhua lying on the ground.

The two immediately felt a surge of hot blood and charged towards Zhao Shi without hesitation.

In their minds, Zhao Shi was just a punching bag to be hit and scolded at, and she definitely wouldn’t dare to fight back.

Shen Yu’an inwardly cursed them for being foolish and said to Shen Dalang and Shen Erlang, “Big brother, second brother, give them a lesson, but don’t injure them too badly. We still need to make them take those three on the ground back with them later.”

“Let them remember the consequences of insulting our family at the gate of our Shen family’s home,” she said while supporting the frightened Xiao Zhang. She also wanted to check on the training progress of her elder and second brother, otherwise, she would personally teach them a lesson.

“Okay.” Shen Dalang and Shen Erlang exchanged a glance, clenched their fists, and walked towards the Zhao brothers. In no time, the two were crying out in pain and begging for mercy.

After the beating, the Zhao brothers became much more obedient. They quickly obeyed the Shen family’s demands and put Zhao Laigui and the other two onto the cart, which they pushed away as fast as possible.

The crowd watching was stunned, and those who had thought to take advantage of the situation to “borrow” some grain from the Shen family abandoned their plans.

Grandpa Shen stepped forward and said, “If there’s nothing else, everyone can go home. We have a lot of family affairs to attend to, so we won’t be able to offer you tea.”

After speaking, he followed the Shen family into the courtyard, and as soon as the gate was closed, they were cut off from the outside view.

In the courtyard, Grandma Shen was thinking about the situation just now, and said with some worries: “We have many family members, and some may want to come and grab our food. Your father’s family has few people, and I don’t know if anything has happened.”

She was referring to Zhang ManCang, the father of Xiao Zhang Shi and her elder brother.

The Zhang family had few offspring. Her mother gave birth to her elder brother and two children, but her elder sister-in-law passed away early, leaving only Xiaozhang and another son named Zhang Xiangyang.

As for Zhang Xiangyang’s offspring, it was even fewer. So far, he only has one child named Zhang Wendong, so the Zhang family now consists of only four people.

Without anyone to guard their(Zhang’s Family) property, when they collected the grain, the villagers will notice something. If anything unexpected were to happen…

After thinking about the current situation, Shen Yu’an suggested, “Why don’t we bring them over to live with us first? We can squeeze in and still make room for them.”

Since we won’t be staying here for long anyways, the people can’t wait any longer for the government to open the granaries and distribute food. It’s likely that they will start to riot in a few days.

She then turned her gaze towards her mother, Song Shi, and asked, “Mother, let’s go visit grandma’s house later and tell them about the current situation. Let’s see if they have any plans.”

“Okay,” Song Shi replied, relieved that a big burden had been lifted off her shoulder.

Although her maternal family is not small, if the people in the village really have ill intentions, they may not be able to resist.

After saying this, Shen Yu’an recounted to everyone what she had seen in the county and said, “I think the court may not consider our situation for the time being, so we must be prepared to leave at any time.”

Everyone nodded solemnly.

Without taking any rest, Shen Yun immediately went to Zhang family, while Shen Yu’an and Song Shi went to Song family together.

When Shen Yu’an returned in the evening, the courtyard was lively and there were several unfamiliar faces, indicating that Shen Yun had already brought people back from the other village.

Seeing Shen Yu’an and Song Shi return, Grandma Shen hurriedly went up to ask, “How was it? What did your mother and family say?”

Song Shi said, “I’ve talked to my mother and they said that if anything happens, they will definitely come to us. So, don’t worry.”

“Okay, then I can relax,” said Grandma Shen, patting her chest.

She continued, “My third son came back earlier than you guys. Since they have fewer people, they’re also afraid of something happening. When they were asked by my third son to pack, they immediately followed him.”

“Well, that’s good. Whatever happens, we can handle it together,” Song Shi replied with a smile.