"Big Brother, don't glare at me like that. After all, I still have to live with your sister. If things get too strained, it won't be good for anyone."
"And don't think I'm overthinking things. If I've come this far, it's all thanks to your sister."
What? Everyone who heard Wang Gouzi speak doubted their ears.
As for how these two had reached this point, Su Manxiu could be said to have made no mistakes at all. How could it have turned into blaming her in Wang Gouzi's mouth?
"She's a woman, and being content and law-abiding is most important. If she had stayed at home and not fussed all day long, she wouldn't have ended up divorced."
"We would still be a complete family. If anyone's to blame, it's her for not being able to let go. What's the big deal if I found another woman outside?"
"Besides, we haven't had any children in the years we've been married. Even if I found another woman outside and had children, if she brought them home and raised them properly, wouldn't they be like her own children when they grew up?"
When Wang Gouzi started speaking, the Su brothers were stunned by his words, so much so that they listened to his rambling.
By this point, they had finally come to their senses. If they let this shameless fellow continue speaking, they would probably be so angered to death on the spot.
"Wang Gouzi, you spew dog shit! How can you say such things with a straight face? You've done so many despicable things yourself, and you still dare to blame my sister? I think you're asking for a beating!"
Su Lao Er, with his fiery temper, rushed forward as soon as he reacted, flipped Wang Gouzi to the ground, and sat down with a thud. Wang Gouzi, pinned down, let out several farts.
Among the Su brothers, Su Lao San had the most strength, but Su Lao Er was not far behind.
Wang Gouzi, being a person who blustered but was cowardly, was no match for Su Lao Er. Su Lao Er rode on top of him and rained blows upon his face, each punch landing with a solid impact, showing no mercy.
Wang Gouzi cried out for his mother, finally alarming his old mother, Granny Wang, to come out. As for the other members of the Wang family, they were so disgusted with Wang Gouzi now that they wished he would go back to the mine to do hard labor. Why would they come out to help him?
"What are you doing? What are you doing?"
"You're bullying people right at our doorstep. Whose influence are you relying on? Heaven, oh Earth, open your eyes and see!"
"Granny Wang, you can't go around with superstitious nonsense. What do you mean by 'Heaven and Earth, open your eyes'?" Captain Li quickly reprimanded, "If you say anything more nonsense, I'll have you paraded through the streets!"
Granny Wang then remembered that these words were not to be spoken. She quickly changed her tune, "Captain Li, you are our great captain. You can't just stand by and watch your commune members being bullied by people from other communes! Otherwise, if people from other communes find out, they'll point fingers at you!"
Captain Li pretended not to hear. Pointing fingers? This time, because of the heavy losses, he had been subjected to a lot of finger-pointing!
What was there to be afraid of!
Seeing that Captain Li was not intervening, Granny Wang started to wail again.
"Oh dear, the Xiangyang Commune has no one! They just watch people from other communes beat them up, and not a single person helps. The men and women of Xiangyang Commune have no spirit! Why is my poor child's life so bitter!"
"My poor child, why did you marry such a wife? She didn't know how to cherish a good life and caused it to become like this. It's my fault for not being able to judge people correctly back then, thinking she was a good one."
"Bah! You old hag, have you no shame? You dare to speak ill of my sister, yet you claim to be good? It's people like you, who cause trouble all the time, that ruin good lives. Granny Wang, it's clearly because your own son couldn't have children, and you blame my sister. How can you speak those words with a clear conscience?" Qi Liangying started to scold.
Wang Xianghua was even more straightforward. Adhering to the principle of acting rather than speaking, she rushed forward, hitting as she went, and not forgetting to call out to Qi Liangying and Liang Xiu to help.
"Second sister-in-law, third sister-in-law, don't hold back, just come on. This old hag is tough, she can't be killed!"
Those who overheard this almost burst into laughter. It was true, a wicked person lives a thousand years, truly hard to kill.
This Granny Wang was a menace. She had caused a lot of trouble in Xiangyang Commune over the years, so it was good for her to suffer a bit!
Granny Wang did not expect that with Grandma Su absent today, the Su family's daughters-in-law would dare to lay hands on her.
She was their elder!
But this elder status lacked substance, and she was momentarily frightened.
Although Granny Wang was old, she was still quite fast when it came to escaping.
She darted towards her own door like a streak of lightning, her movements making her look no older than seventeen or eighteen.
She was fast, but Wang Xianghua was faster. Wang Xianghua grabbed her by her hair from behind and yanked her back.
"You come back here!"
"I won't..." Granny Wang still wanted to struggle.
"You want to run without asking my permission! Today, you'll take a beating along with your son!"
"You old hag, my sister was delayed by you for over ten years. She only got pregnant at thirty, and you still dare to come to our door, almost causing my sister to die in childbirth. Fortunately, she became blessed after leaving your family."
"Old hag, if I don't beat you soundly today, I'll be letting her down for calling me sister-in-law!"
Wang Xianghua spoke very quickly, like a machine gun, rattling off her words.
Her hands were just as fast. In a short time, Granny Wang's face was covered in scratches, with blood marks. The pain was intense. Moreover, Granny Wang's struggle made her sweat, and the wounds stung even more.
Granny Wang covered her face and cried out in pain, her voice akin to that of a pig being slaughtered.
She wanted to say that it wasn't her idea for Wang Gouzi to go to the city to find Su Manxiu, but she had no time to speak. With one wrong move, her mouth was almost torn by Wang Xianghua.
Granny Wang pursed her lips tightly, her cries turning into muffled groans.
Liang Xiu was much gentler than Wang Xianghua, but her hands were just as quick. She was a smart woman and deliberately targeted the soft flesh.
The inner thighs and arms of Granny Wang, all the soft flesh, were not spared.
These places were excruciatingly painful, yet no one could see them.
Qi Liangying also joined in without hesitation, helping her sisters-in-law and sister-in-law beat Granny Wang.
With the three sisters-in-law working together, Granny Wang was no match for them and was subjected to one-sided beating.
Wang Gouzi, despite his many flaws, was fundamentally decent to his mother.
Except for that period when he was infatuated with the young widow and neglected his mother, he was otherwise a filial son.
"You shameless people, if you want to fight, fight me. Don't hit my mother. Three against one, what kind of skill is that?"
"My wife ran away, and I went to find her, is that wrong? This unchaste woman actually found another man behind my back."
"It's already good that I'm not asking the Su family for compensation. You still dare to come to our door to beat us. I'm going to report you!"
Even now, Wang Gouzi still failed to recognize his mistakes and even yelled.
"Go ahead and report us! Let's see if the commune handles you or us first. I remember all the wicked things you did back then!" Su Lao Er said, delivering a few more punches.
"Wang Gouzi, don't try to sound so innocent. The commune members of Xiangyang Commune have eyes, you know," Su Lao Da said leisurely from the side.
He was a civilized person and tried not to resort to violence if possible.
Captain Li had intended to step forward to mediate, but after hearing Wang Gouzi's utterly unreasonable words, he decisively gave up the idea of intervening.
Such a person was courting death himself; no one could save him!
He stood by the side, watching the spectacle with other commune members of Xiangyang Commune.
Xiangyang Commune had not received help from Hongxin Commune this time and had suffered considerable losses.
Those commune members who knew people from Hongxin Commune were now trying to build good relationships with them.
Hongxin Commune had modern machinery, so it was important to maintain good relations if they could help.
Helping Wang Gouzi was simply out of the question.
Wang Gouzi was scum of society; it wouldn't be a shame if he died.
After all, Wang Gouzi's family didn't have a good reputation in the village.
In their eyes, being beaten to death was deserved, something he brought upon himself!
The Su family hadn't come to beat anyone up all these years. Did they really think they were so powerful?
"I really can't believe our commune has produced someone like this, who can still say such nonsense at this time!" A commune member from Xiangyang Commune said ingratiatingly to the commune members of Hongxin Commune.
"Fortunately, you are all sensible and did not side with this useless fellow!" Someone from Hongxin Commune also did not forget to praise those from Xiangyang Commune who refused to help.
That's right. If Xiangyang Commune had helped, they would have had to help too, and then it would have turned into a group fight. If it had alerted the commune, it wouldn't have been good!
Captain Li listened silently to the similar conversations of the commune members, looking with disdain at his spineless commune members.
But after his disdain, he still had to do what he had to do.
He scurried over to an elder from Hongxin Commune and began his flattery.
"You've been standing for so long, are you tired? Would you like me to get a stool? You're fine watching them fight so fiercely. How about you come to my house for a drink?"
This elder was none other than a distant uncle of Captain Su Changjiu, an old man in his sixties with a kindly face.
"No, no. I'll stand here and keep an eye on things for them. Captain Li, you don't know, our Su family's young ones are sometimes timid. Without me, this old man, standing here, they lack confidence!"
The elder chuckled, his kindly face showing an indescribable pride.
That's right, the Su family should have done this long ago. They should have beaten the useless members of the Wang family until they were crawling on the ground, so as not to lose their family's dignity!
With so many male members in the Su family, they let their own daughter be bullied so much. Wouldn't people laugh them to death if word got out?
In his opinion, Su Chuan was becoming more and more useless, only busy with doing good deeds!
Captain Li was truly speechless. At this age, why was he still so violent?
Seeing that Wang Gouzi was already bruised and swollen, he was still keeping an eye on things and letting his own family beat him.
Couldn't they have persuaded them to spare Wang Gouzi?
Forget it, if they don't spare him, they don't spare him. Who told Wang Gouzi not to recognize his own mistakes?
The Su brothers surely had their limits. The beating might look severe, but they wouldn't kill him.
It must be said that Captain Li guessed one thing correctly: the Su brothers had no intention of actually beating Wang Gouzi to death, but they certainly wanted him to learn his lesson.
The lesson Wang Gouzi received was even more severe than what Captain Li saw, but Captain Li didn't know that!
The Su brothers had only one goal: at least to ensure that he would never dare to cause trouble for Su Manxiu again. Their sister had finally found some good days, and they couldn't let this man ruin them!
The result of this fight was that Wang Gouzi, unable to bear the pain, finally apologized and compensated them with quite a few things.
The Su family was not lacking in this small amount of compensation. It was just grain, and they had enough at home!
The brothers conferred and handed over the rice and flour that Wang Gouzi had compensated directly to Captain Li.
"Captain Li, we brothers didn't come here for this grain. We just wanted to stop this scoundrel from bullying my sister. Please distribute this grain to the poor families of Xiangyang Commune. Consider it a small token of my sister Xiu'er's goodwill."
After saying this, the three brothers waved their hands and left.
As they left, they did not forget to say to the younger generation, "This is how it should be from now on. We were wrong before for not protecting your aunt well. You must unite and protect your younger sister in the future!"
Those who overheard were astonished. They had long heard of a pampered little girl in the Su family. If nine brothers came to protect her, who would dare to marry her?
Moreover, the Su family's actions made the people of Xiangyang Commune look at them with new respect.
That was grain, and they gave it away so readily. Their demeanor was indeed extraordinary.
One wondered which eye of Wang Gouzi was blind to have turned such good in-laws into enemies.
Before, they thought the Su family lacked spirit and didn't dare to come to their sister's defense. Now, it seemed that wasn't the case!
On these two occasions, the Su family had come to the Wang family, and the Wang family had suffered losses.
Before, it wasn't that they didn't dare to fight, but they were considering the kinship!
After the Su brothers had gone far away, Wang Gouzi struggled to get up.
"This is killing me. These bastards..."
As Wang Gouzi cursed, someone shouted, "The Su family is back!"
Wang Gouzi fell to his knees with a thud and kowtowed, "Second Brother, I was wrong. I'll never dare again!"
The crowd burst into laughter. When Wang Gouzi realized what was happening, he saw that the Su family had disappeared without a trace.
"Who, who tricked me like this?" he shouted in anger!
But no one present responded to him except for bursts of laughter.
He stared at his grain bags, his eyes darting around. He tried to stand in front of Captain Li, forcing a smile onto his bruised and swollen face, almost unrecognizable.
"Captain Li, since they've all left, why don't you return this grain to our family? This is our remaining food. If we lose it, people will starve." Wang Gouzi said shamelessly, directly asking for it.