"Grandpa! Grandma!" Chiang Xiao had wanted to rush toward them as soon as she heard Chiang Songhai’s call, but three men blocked her way, one of them even clutching a stone, his gaze as ferocious as a wolf’s.
Chiang Xiao recognized these men; they were well-known loafers in the village and a few ne’er-do-wells from neighboring villages who usually hung around with them. During the chaotic period when the country was in turmoil, these were the people who caused havoc in the village, fighting, stealing, snitching, groping young wives, committing all sorts of wrongdoing amidst the chaos.
In recent years, the situation had changed, and they had become somewhat restrained.
But nature is hard to change, and these men still idled about every day, stealing chickens and dogs, gathering every night to gamble. If not for Secretary Yao and the people from the militia building keeping them in check, who knows what they could have done.
As they were inherently lazy and their families poor, the news of someone hunting a wild beast weighing over three hundred pounds on Bai Gu Mountain immediately ignited their greed. After spitting a few times and discussing briefly, they blocked the way.
Initially, they simply thought that with their superior numbers, they could easily snatch the wild boar. They hadn’t expected Ge Dejun to put up such a fierce resistance, nor had they foreseen that Ge Liutao, usually timid and cowardly, would explode upon seeing her brother being beaten. She insisted on standing in front of him to protect him, which led to the current situation.
"Little Little! Dad!" Xu Linjiang had finally arrived, and the sight in front of him left him stunned.
Zhao Xin shouted angrily, "Stop it! What do you think you’re doing?"
He was dressed in a Supervisor Guard uniform, which carried a strong deterrent power. The men, who were inherently fearful of anyone in a Supervisor Guard uniform, suddenly froze in their actions.
"Who is this?" someone asked quietly.
At this moment, Song Xiyun yelled, "This Supervisor Guard calls Chiang Xiao that bitch ’Sister-in-law.’ He is the brother of the shameless adulterer seduced by Chiang Xiao! He is certainly on Chiang Xiao’s side!"
Zhao Xin, shaking with anger, glared at her, "Comrade Woman! You must not insult people indiscriminately! Do you not know that insulting a Supervisor Guard is a crime?"
Song Xiyun shrank back a little.
Ho Laidi, however, was an ignorant village woman, best at making a scene and hurling abuse, and she didn’t care about his words. Once she recalled what Song Xiyun told her—that Chiang Xiao, that despicable girl, was even worse than her mother, a vixen, who at her young age had already seduced a man and even had a Supervisor Guard coming to call her sister-in-law—Ho Laidi felt as if her heart were on fire, burning furiously.
As for why Ho Laidi despised Chiang Qingzhu so much, no one really knew. It was a secret buried deep inside her.
But Ho Laidi truly detested women who were attractive and could hook men, so now seeing Zhao Xin protect Chiang Xiao, she immediately crossed her eyes and cursed loudly, "Fuck your mother’s fart! Who the hell do you think you are? A damn brat without a hair on his balls! Since when do you get a say in our family’s affairs? Was your mother’s belt not tied properly when she shagged some filthy bastard and had you? A bastard without a father’s teaching! Tell your shameless brother to scram far away. Did he lose his face inside his pants? Chiang Xiao, that little whore, barely has any hair down there and she’s already hooking up with him? Talking about breaking the law! I’ll have you paraded around the village and douse you with foot-washing water!"
In Zhao Xin’s village, there were such shrewish women as well, but his family were always honest people who steered clear of them, and he had truly never faced such a person before. He was verbally assaulted to the point of bewilderment.
Ho Laidi’s curses were so vulgar they were unbearable, and Zhao Xin didn’t know what to say in response. Red-faced from the scolding, he could only look at her grinding his teeth.