Wang Ying’s tears came instantly, paired with her frail little shoulders, red eyes, and a small face with a sharp chin, making her look pitiful.
Li Chunjuan, holding the fire tongs and pig feed stick, had a face full of confusion, her anger not quite dissipated.
Wait, you smashed things, and now you’re crying?
I want to cry too!
The enamel basin, the glass window, the water vat, and the wooden dining table!
That glass window cost me ten yuan to install!
And the water vat—my family relies on that water vat for drinking water.
Li Chunjuan screamed out in distress and, crying, began to swing the stick and tongs at Wang Ying.
“You little bastard! You cursed your own parents, you calamity-bringer! Shameless money-wasting scoundrel! You’re a good-for-nothing jinx! My enamel basin! My water vat! My family’s big table! These were all things I got for our Yaozong… I’m going to kill you, you jinx! Wang Ying, you little slut, don’t think you’ll leave this house alive today!”
Li Chunjuan’s heart hurt! It felt like her internal organs had shifted places.
These days, who doesn’t live frugally? People work all year long and barely manage to earn ten yuan. It takes an entire family working hard all year just to buy something like an enamel basin or a big water vat.
Wang Ying, this little brat, today for some reason had the audacity to break the only two enamel basins in the house, smash the water vat, and ruin the glass windows! Those were rare items! There are four rooms in the house, but only two have glass windows! And Wang Ying smashed all the windows and window paper, leaving not a single one intact!
Li Chunjuan, at this point, could only think of killing Wang Ying. She started raining down blows with the pig feed stick, and the fire tongs came swinging towards Wang Ying’s head!
Wang Ying, crying as she retreated, kept shouting, “Auntie, I won’t do it again, I won’t do it again!”
She secretly sighed, realizing she had really pushed Li Chunjuan too far. Look at how vicious her strikes are! If she hadn’t dodged quickly, the fire tongs would’ve hit her face!
However, the situation didn’t last long. Just as Wang Ying was about to retreat to the edge of the house, someone rushed forward.
The person, not very old, grabbed the fire tongs that Li Chunjuan was wildly swinging and, with a swift kick, knocked her down.
Li Chunjuan fell with a shout, and Wang Ying immediately breathed a sigh of relief. That was close—if the fire tongs had gotten to her, it could’ve pierced her! Thankfully, Li Chunjuan, in her anger, had completely lost her senses, and her strikes were aimless. Wang Ying managed to avoid them, and the only mark left on her was a bruise from the pig feed stick.
The person who kicked Li Chunjuan away quickly rushed up to help Wang Ying.
Wang Ying, still crying pitifully, had tears hanging on her face, making her look even more vulnerable.
Li Chunjuan’s grievance was beyond words. She lay on the ground, refusing to get up, crying with snot and tears mixed with the dirt from the ground, leaving black streaks on her face. Her voice was especially loud: “Wang Ying, you little slut, jinx…”
A continuous stream of curses seemed to exhaust the entirety of Li Chunjuan’s vocabulary.
At this moment, the village chief, Tian Youfu, arrived with a grim face, followed by the neighbors from both sides of the Wang family and some curious onlookers.
It was fortunate that it wasn’t busy farming season, and the autumn breeze brought some chill, making the crowd of onlookers even larger.
Li Chunjuan continued cursing, while Wang Ying cried in between, thanking the person who helped her as they lifted her up.
The person who kicked Li Chunjuan was a local militia member, Tian Dashu. He had been the fastest to run over when he saw Wang Ying being beaten, and in his anger, he kicked Li Chunjuan.
However, Tian Dashu was still somewhat rational and didn’t kick too hard. He helped Wang Ying up, and when he saw the terrified look on her tiny face, his dislike for Li Chunjuan grew even more.
Tian Youfu entered Wang family’s courtyard, followed by a group of people. Upon seeing the situation in the yard, they couldn’t help but whisper to each other.
“Li Chunjuan really went hard, look at how much she’s destroyed in the house.”
“Why do you say it was Li Chunjuan who destroyed things? Couldn’t it have been Wang Ying?”
“With those two eye sockets, what are you even talking about? Didn’t you see what happened to Wang Ying? She was beaten to a pulp!”
“Exactly! You guys came late, but I heard Li Chunjuan say she was going to kill Wang Ying here today.”
“Tsk tsk, this woman, both her hands and heart are black.”
“Yeah… look at all the things in this yard, she always cheats people, and now she wants to kill someone. Doesn’t she fear the parents of this girl coming after her?”
…
Li Chunjuan, seeing a crowd of people rush into her house, seemed to find her support. She lay down on the ground, crying louder, “Come and see, come and see! I kindly gave her food and drink, and this jinx is how she repays us! She smashed all my family’s water vat and basins! How can I live on? I’m going to die!”
Li Chunjuan lay down so low she didn’t see Tian Youfu among the crowd, assuming that it was just the neighbors coming to join the gossip. She cried even harder, repeating that Wang Ying smashed the things in the house and was trying to kill her.
Tian Dashu helped Wang Ying stand beside Tian Youfu. Against the backdrop of Li Chunjuan’s wailing, he recounted what he had just witnessed.
“Captain, I admit I was a bit impulsive, but you didn’t see it. If I hadn’t kicked her, the fire tongs would’ve pierced Wang Ying’s head!”
Tian Dashu didn’t think he had done anything wrong. Li Chunjuan was a big, strong woman, and Wang Ying was just a frail girl. Who would believe Wang Ying had smashed the things in the house? In Tian Dashu’s view, Li Chunjuan had hit Wang Ying too recklessly and, after smashing things, just vented her anger on Wang Ying.
Tian Youfu and the others shared the same opinion. Regardless of the items, Wang Ying didn’t break them. She was a weak little girl, what could she do except get beaten?
It was Li Chunjuan who, earlier, had repeatedly threatened to kill Wang Ying. And it wasn’t just Tian Dashu who had heard her.
Tian Youfu, having been the village captain for many years, naturally had his way of handling things. First, he instructed someone to call Li Chunjuan’s husband, Wang Yongshun, to come back. Li Chunjuan wasn’t clear-headed, and this wasn’t the first time. Even now, she was still wailing without even seeing the person she was yelling about. If Tian Youfu was going to deal with her, he had to do it in front of her husband so he wouldn’t be accused of bullying a weak woman.
As for Wang Yongshun, how had he gotten so old without doing anything?
Although Wang Ying was an orphan, Tian Youfu knew she wouldn’t have been living well without her parents. However, he thought the couple would at least take care of Wang Ying in exchange for the benefits they had received from the village over the past two years. After all, Wang Ying was getting older, and her family lived in a remote area. He didn’t always have the opportunity to visit them. He couldn’t ask someone else to take care of her either, since the Wang family was an outsider household and Wang Ying had no other relatives. So, it made sense that only Wang Yongshun and his wife could take care of her.
This year, he even allocated a piglet to the Wang family. On the day the piglet was given, it was almost a hint that it was for Wang Ying’s sake. Wang Yongshun had even patted his chest, promising to take care of his niece.
Was this really how they were looking after her?
Tian Youfu’s anger had already built up in his chest.
“Go! Tell Wang Yongshun to hurry back!”
“Tell him, if he’s late by even a minute, I’ll have the militia come and arrest him!”
Tian Youfu didn’t dare look at the injuries on Wang Ying’s body. The girl had been beaten by Li Chunjuan so badly her sleeves were torn. But the people gathered around were all well-meaning. It was just that Wang Ying was so thin, and the skin exposed beneath her torn sleeves was black and yellow, like a twig. There was a fresh blood mark from where she’d been struck, along with some purple bruises. Anyone could tell this wasn’t from a day or two of abuse.
“Go, stuff something in Li Chunjuan’s mouth!”
Most of the people who had gathered around were men, but now, hearing the news, many women and older people had also arrived.
The elderly women had soft hearts, and the women were even more sympathetic. Seeing Wang Ying, such a good young girl, who this morning had obediently followed her cousin to the town, now reduced to this pitiful state, they couldn’t help but feel disgusted with Li Chunjuan.
One of the women immediately took a dirty cloth rag from the stove and stuffed it into Li Chunjuan’s mouth.
“She calls herself a ‘big aunt,’ but she’s a heartless scoundrel!”
“Ugh! What filthy stuff!”
The woman most at odds with Li Chunjuan, Aunt Guihua, immediately began cursing her.
“Are you even a mother? How can you do this to your own niece? Aren’t you afraid of not being able to answer to her parents?”
Tian Youfu, realizing this was going down the wrong path, quickly interjected, “What’s all this about heaven and earth? We’re materialists here, we don’t believe in that nonsense.”
Aunt Guihua was fierce, and whether she heard him or not, she continued dragging Li Chunjuan and scolding her.
Li Chunjuan was still dazed. This wasn’t right! It was Wang Ying who smashed the things in the house, and everything in this house had been bought with money. Why was everyone attacking her?
But now, she couldn’t argue. Her mouth was tightly stuffed, and she could only glare at Wang Ying, who was being surrounded by a group of women, receiving their care and concern.
Wang Ying had stopped crying by now. Crying endlessly wouldn’t solve anything, and she still had grievances to voice!
Before she even had time to gather her thoughts, she saw Uncle Tian Er limping over.
Uncle Tian Er was dripping with sweat from anxiety. Just earlier, he had taken little Shitou to Tian Youfu’s house, and as soon as he turned around, he heard someone say that Li Chunjuan was going to beat Wang Ying to death. That’s why he rushed over in a panic.
He had a gut feeling that today’s incident was related to the unconscious Wang Lingling.
But what did this have to do with Wang Ying! Wang Lingling had fainted because a candy stuck in little Shitou’s throat popped out and hit her—he saw it with his own eyes!
Uncle Tian Er, limping, came straight over to talk to Tian Youfu.
Wang Ying: Great, looks like all she can do today is cry “ying ying ying.”
I am just a novice translator and Chinese is not my native language. I try my best to translate the chapters as accurate as possible.
If there are any mistakes then kindly comment and remind me. Your support means a lot.
