Gu Xingye would never let Chen Lishu be beaten. He quickly grabbed Lu Chengming's arm and, at the same time, landed a heavy punch on his cheek.
Lu Chengming's anger intensified from the blow, and he retaliated without hesitation. The two soon got into a brawl.
"How dare you hit Chengming? I'll fight you to the death!" Zhao Hong, seeing the two fighting, immediately scrambled up from the ground and lunged at Gu Xingye, scratching at him.
Chen Lishu took a step forward, grabbed Zhao Hong by the hair, and yanked her away. At the same time, she slapped her hard across the face.
Zhao Hong cried out in pain and, flailing her arms, began fighting with Chen Lishu.
Neighbors who heard the commotion came out. Seeing the situation was not right, they immediately rushed to break up the fight, and someone went to inform the Gu family.
Gu Shoufu was not at home. Upon hearing that his third daughter-in-law, along with his fourth child, were fighting with others, Gu Xingguo and Gu Xingmin knew without a doubt they were being bullied. Without a word, they dropped their work and ran out.
Li Xiulan, sitting inside, vaguely heard snippets of conversation. As soon as she heard someone dared to lay a hand on her third daughter-in-law, she ran out without even stopping to put on her shoes, just slipping them on her feet.
Her third daughter-in-law was such an honest person, usually quiet and gentle. For her to get into a fight, the other person must have bullied her to an extreme. The more Li Xiulan thought about it, the faster she walked.
By this time, the four people who had been fighting were pulled apart and were glaring at each other, breathing heavily. Gu Xingguo and Gu Xingmin arrived, and without a word, directly punched Lu Chengming, sending him staggering. Then, the two brothers took turns pummeling him, leaving him with no room to fight back.
Zhao Hong, her eyes red with worry, was shouting hysterically from the side. Suddenly, her hair was grabbed again. Li Xiulan, unlike Chen Lishu, had done manual labor for years and was much more experienced in fights. In no time, she had Zhao Hong scrambling away, clutching her head.
"Auntie, please calm down. Let's talk this through properly."
The commotion had alerted the village cadres. The women's committee director came over, pulling Zhao Hong and Li Xiulan apart, and advised them.
"Bah, talk about what? My third daughter-in-law is such an honest person. Look at her..."
Li Xiulan then remembered to check on Chen Lishu's injuries. Turning to look, she saw her standing unharmed, with no external injuries. Her heart settled in her stomach.
"Look how wronged she looks. Ever since she entered our home, no one has ever dared to touch a finger to her. Anyone who bullies her, I'll deal with them!" Seeing that she was not injured, Li Xiulan immediately changed her tone.
"Yes, yes, Dongzi's wife is indeed a good girl. Everyone present can attest to that. Don't worry, the Party Secretary and others are here, they will definitely uphold justice for the child."
Lu Chengming was also pulled away, but his originally fair face was now covered in bruises. The black and blue marks were quite shocking, making people wince in sympathy for him.
However, some people felt he had gotten off lightly. It was bad luck to offend the Gu family. Gu Shoufu, who was fiercely protective of his family, wasn't even here. If he were, people probably wouldn't have been able to pull them apart.
"What exactly happened today?" Secretary Zhang Changhe asked, frowning as he surveyed the people present.
"I was just trying to scare Chen Lishu a little, who knew Gu Xingye would come at me like a mad dog and hit me," Lu Chengming, believing himself to be in the right, complained first.
Upon hearing him complain about Gu Xingye, Zhang Changhe's face darkened.
"You're talking nonsense." Gu Xingye, bristling, was about to retort, but Chen Lishu subtly tugged at his arm.
With Zhang Changhe, her 'future' father-in-law, present, he didn't need to rush.
"Yes, Secretary, I was just upset about the previous incident with the forbidden books and wanted to have a word with Chen Lishu. Who knew she would scold both me and Chengming without any regard for right or wrong? Chengming was also upset and tried to scare her a little, who knew she would collude with her family and start a fight? Look at what you've done to me and Chengming," Zhao Hong began to sob.
Zhang Changhe grasped the key points and asked with a stern face, "The decision to have Lu Zhiqing dig tree pits was mine. Moreover, the village head was there at the time, and you also testified. What, you have an objection, but you didn't come to me, but to Xingdong's wife?"
Zhang Changhe glanced at the two. "Besides, I believe I have treated you educated youths quite well. I only fined you for digging one tree pit, otherwise, in this winter, he would still have to go and dig holes for me!"
Seeing that the Secretary was angry, Zhao Hong dared not speak further.
Only Lu Chengming, his eyes red, glared at the Gu family with a sinister look.
"Uncle Changhe, the main reason they sought me out was that Zhao Hong resented me for exposing their forbidden book incident, which led to discord between her and Comrade Lu, causing her to miscarry the child she was carrying."
Chen Lishu, seeing that the situation had calmed down considerably, added a finishing blow at the opportune moment. Since the two dared to do such a shameful thing, they shouldn't blame her for speaking about it.
"What? She was pregnant?"
"These city people are truly bold. To do such a shameless thing, shouldn't she be paraded through the streets with torn shoes?"
"They are educated youths, we cannot simply punish them in our village," a woman said dismissively, spitting on the ground.
"Those with daughters at home should keep a close eye on them and prevent them from being led astray. You say that Lu fellow looks decent, but his character is so terrible. Not only did he sleep with her, but now, as a grown man, he's going to beat a woman. Tsk tsk, appearances can be deceiving."
"..."
As Lu Chengming and Zhao Hong heard the disdain and accusations from the crowd, their faces turned from red to white, then to green. Their gazes towards Chen Lishu were filled with a desire to tear her apart.
Chen Lishu was not afraid, meeting their gazes without flinching.
"I understand this matter now. Although they were wrong to hit people, you two caused the trouble first. If Xingye hadn't intervened, wouldn't Xingdong's wife have been truly beaten? The Gu family's actions were not wrong. Faced with such a situation, someone with a quick temper might have resorted to using a knife. I think if you two apologize to Lishu, this matter can be settled," Zhang Changhe said, frowning.
These two, husband and wife, were beaten like this and still had to apologize to that slut?! Zhao Hong and Lu Chengming were so angry that their nostrils flared, and they remained silent for a long time.
Zhang Changhe drew out his voice, his tone somewhat heavy. "What, do you have any dissatisfaction with my decision?"
Although the village secretary's position was not high, he held the lifeline of the educated youths tightly in his hands.
Many educated youths who offended the village secretary ended up earning the least work points and doing the most strenuous labor. And that was secondary. Seeing that more and more people were returning to the city, if they wanted to get a medical leave or visit relatives, and the village secretary refused to issue them a permit or a letter of introduction, they would become 'illegals.' Once caught, they would be immediately repatriated.
Therefore, although Lu Chengming and Zhao Hong knew that Zhang Changhe was biased towards Chen Lishu, they had no choice. They could only suppress their anger and grudgingly say to Chen Lishu, "We were wrong."