511 Captured by a Wild Boar
Zhang Cong tugged at the corner of Zhang Qian’s shirt and whispered, “That wretched girl is back.”
When they came previously, they did not dare to do anything to Qiao Qiang, but they said a lot of nasty things to him about Qiao Mei going to the capital and never coming back. They said that she would leave an old fart like him to rot in the mountain village, and that she would definitely experience a difficult labor when she gave birth and the child would be born deformed. They said all the most unpleasant things.
It made Qiao Qiang so angry that he was almost hospitalized. Now that Qiao Mei was back, she would definitely want to avenge Qiao Qiang.
“I’m asking Li Gui for money, what has it got to do with you!” Zhang Qian said.
“She’s my mother. How can it have nothing to do with me!” Qiao Mei said with her hands on her hips.
Xia Zhe went forward and grabbed Zhang Qian’s wrist. “Let go.”
Zhang Qian looked at Xia Zhe, a good-looking man wearing a military uniform, and thought that this must be Qiao Mei’s soldier husband.
“Alright, let go let go…” Zhang Qian said awkwardly as he released his grip.
Qiao Mei quickly went forward to help Li Gui up. Li Gui’s face was covered in tears and she was all covered in mud. She was too embarrassed to look at Xia Zhe. It was her first time meeting her son-in-law and she felt so mortified that he had to witness such a shameful matter happening at home.
“Mei Mei, I’m fine… Let’s just send them away…” Li Gui said tentatively.
“No, we can’t let this matter rest just like that!” Qiao Mei said.
“What are you shouting about! We’re just here to ask for some money! What are you shouting about! Back then, we let them come back to the countryside to earn money! You even lied to us and said that you can earn a lot of money after you come back! I think you have hidden away all the money!” Old Madam Zhang scolded.
In the past, when every family sold bean sprouts, they naturally could make a lot of money. At the moment, not everyone could grow bean sprouts well. The village had reverted to its previous economic level and every family had started to do other businesses.
Li Gui had explained this to them countless times, but the Zhang family did not believe her and kept saying that Li Gui used that as an excuse to lie to them.
“Don’t say anything else! Just hurry up and give me the money! Since your daughter is back, you have to give me 500 dollars! Otherwise, I won’t leave! I’ll smash up your house!” After saying that, Zhang Qian went forward to tear down Li Gui’s shed.
Zhang Wei quickly stood up and said, “There’s no more money at home! We’ve already given you all our money! You can’t touch this shed!”
Only then did Qiao Mei realize that Zhang Wei had grown up a lot in the past two months and had become much bigger and taller.
“Get lost! You little brat, how dare you stop your father! You’re really too bold and deserve a beating! I’ll teach you a lesson first today! I’ll let your younger siblings take a good look! This is the consequence of being disobedient!” Zhang Qian picked up Zhang Wei as if he was grabbing a little chick.
He was about to raise his hand and hit down hard when Xia Zhe stopped him.
“Who do you think you are! Do you think you can interfere in other people’s family matters just because you’re a soldier! I’m teaching my son a lesson! Get lost!” Zhang Qian tried to shake off Xia Zhe’s hand, but did not succeed in doing that.
Xia Zhe kept exerting strength and grabbed Zhang Qian’s arm tightly. By now, Zhang Qian had let go of Zhang Wei due to the pain.
“Ouch! Ouch! Let go of me! My hand is going to break!” Zhang Qian twisted around as he groaned in pain.
“You can let go,” Qiao Mei said.
After Qiao Mei said that, Xia Zhe let go of Zhang Qian and walked behind Qiao Mei to protect her silently.
The children did not know who Xia Zhe was. In the past, Qiao Mei often mentioned Xia Zhe to them and even said that he was an upright man who was a great hero like their grandfather. She even told them many stories about his “great achievements”.
Actually, Qiao Mei made up all the stories to scare the children into being obedient. When children of other families were disobedient, their parents would scare them and say that if they were disobedient again, they would get wild boars to come down the mountain in the middle of the night to capture them! What her family’s children heard the most was that if they were disobedient, they would be taken away by their brother-in-law to be taught a lesson. He was even scarier than wild boars!
When they saw how Xia Zhe dealt with Zhang Qian today, they all felt that Qiao Mei did not lie to them back then and that they would definitely not be disobedient in the future.
“You’re too much! So many people are bullying the three of us!” Old Madam Zhang shouted shakily.
“If you don’t talk, I won’t know you’re here. After two months, you look even worse? Don’t be too angry. Isn’t it better to live a few more years?” Qiao Mei said as she rolled her eyes.