Walking together, An Shuchao tried to talk with his daughter, hoping to mend the diminishing bond between them.
An Hao simply listened in silence, occasionally responding with a murmur.
The two approached the village’s small bridge and noticed many people pointing and sneering, with curses and wails constantly coming from the crowd.
"What’s going on?" An Shuchao, who hadn’t been out for a long time and whose home had been quiet, was curious about the commotion and wanted to take a look.
An Hao lacked interest; she had her college entrance exam the next day and was preoccupied with shopping, not wanting to join the crowd.
Seeing that his daughter was reluctant, An Shuchao changed direction: "Let’s go, if you don’t want to see, we can take another path."
Just as they were about to leave, someone from the crowd shouted his name: "An Shuchao, come quickly and see, your wife is being beaten."
"What?" An Shuchao was taken aback.
"Bai Xue is getting beaten. Come and take a look!" the villagers told him, gesturing, "Hurry over."
An Shuchao turned to look at An Hao.
"Come on, let’s see." She too was puzzled; they were all neighbors, who would dare to beat someone in the village?
Limping, An Shuchao hurried towards the crowd with An Hao, and as they reached the bridge, the villagers made way for him.
This surprised him, and when he and An Hao squeezed to the front, the scene before them nearly made him faint.
His wife, Bai Xue, was pinned to the ground by several unfamiliar women who slapped her face with the soles of their shoes, scolding as they hit: "For seducing men, you slut, sleeping with another’s husband instead of your own, we’ll beat you to death! To death!"
Seeing how viciously Bai Xue was being beaten, the villagers wanted to intervene, but were stopped by Lun Ying’e, the village accountant. She sat with her back to the bare-chested Li Wangfu, who was kneeling on the ground, hands on her hips and coldly watching the scene unfold, issuing a harsh threat: "This is my family affair, who dares to interfere? Anyone who does is going against me! Going against me means going against my brother-in-law, the town mayor."
With that said, who would dare to interfere?
Bai Xue, amidst the beating and howling, saw An Shuchao push through and cried out to him for help: "Old An, Old An! Save me! Save me!"
An Shuchao was totally unprepared for this scene; despite An Hao telling him earlier about his wife Bai Xue’s affair with Li Wangfu, he had not believed it.
Now that the whole village was aware, he was still in shock, scarcely able to believe it.
"Stop! Stop for a moment!" An Shuchao hobbled forward to intervene.
"Old An, why keep such a wife? While you were bedridden with a broken leg, she shamelessly went out to cheat with another man. If it weren’t for me visiting my sister in town yesterday, I would’ve had no idea these two were together. I caught them in the act!" Lun Ying’e said, standing up and delivering a fierce kick to Li Wangfu’s body.
"Ouch, wife, don’t kick me anymore. It’s not my fault, it’s all Bai Xue’s, that old hag seduced me," Li Wangfu immediately spouted lies.
"Li Wangfu! You faithless scoundrel, bastard! How did you talk when you were enjoying yourself with me? You said your own wife couldn’t satisfy you!" Now that she was exposed, Bai Xue had nothing left to lose.
An Shuchao could scarcely believe that the woman who seemed so gentle and meek to him was actually so promiscuous. He had been cuckolded, wearing the green hat before the entire village!