When Xie Ming and Xie Xinran, who were at the very back, came down, he visibly felt guilty and took a few steps back.

"Dad? What are you doing? It's already past the Lunar New Year, why are you still setting off firecrackers?"

Xie Ming asked, feigning ignorance.

"It's nothing, it's nothing, the baby just wanted to hear a sound!"

Xie's father instinctively denied it, blaming the source on his grandson.

A neighbor who was watching the gift-giving ceremony spoke up: "Wasn't this a pre-arranged engagement gift? Why are we hearing noises again?"

"What engagement gift? Who's giving the wedding gifts at my dad's house?"

Xie Ming turned to ask the neighbor.

The neighbor was speechless for a moment, and after looking left and right, he knew that something was wrong.

He thought, no wonder the marriage was arranged so hastily, and the girl hadn't even shown up yet; it turned out they'd been keeping it a secret from her father from the beginning.

"Xie Ming, you don't know that your daughter is getting engaged, and they said they'd give her 300,000 yuan. They sent over 30,000 yuan the other day, saying they'd make up the rest if she gave birth to a boy."

The neighbor, never one to shy away from trouble, blurted out the whole story.

No sooner had he finished speaking than people from the neighboring village arrived at the door and gave Xie's father a meaningful look, signaling him to light firecrackers.

Mr. Xie stood there holding a lighter, unsure whether to move or squat down, while the production crew had already set up their cameras and were ready to broadcast live.

But these were all seasoned foxes who knew the principle of "letting the bullets fly," so they didn't rush to stop them but instead frantically recorded the scene from the sidelines.

Xie Chen didn't hear any firecrackers inside for a long time, so he quickly came out and saw a row of people with cameras standing opposite him. He slapped his forehead, realizing he had forgotten about the production crew.

He assumed the other party was a shady production crew member, and quickly put his mind at ease.

The production team had promised that they would handle the recording properly and not embarrass Xie Chen's family, so Xie Chen felt reassured and didn't try to stop them.

People from the neighboring village, all carrying gifts, began to murmur amongst themselves as the Xie family delayed setting off firecrackers. The matchmaker, looking around, had no choice but to step forward and urge, "Old Xie, hurry up and set off the firecrackers to welcome the engagement gifts!"

"What are you ordering? My daughter is still a minor. Do you want to break the law?"

Xie Ming seemed to realize something as well, and with a flushed face, he shouted out the law: "The TV station is watching, are you still going to vote or not!"

“This! We have already given an engagement gift.”

"What a load of bull! I didn't see it. Whoever you gave it to, take them back with you."

"Brother, what are you saying? Aren't girls meant to get married, have children, and serve men when they grow up? You've raised her outside for so many years and made her so wild. Do you want her to be shameless like her mother and run away?"

Xie Chen wasn't worried at all about his words being filmed, since the post-production team would handle it. The production crew had also said last time that the more he provoked Xie Ming, the worse the words he'd say.

"Go to hell, you piece of trash! You beast with no one to teach you anything..." and so on and so forth.

Xie Ming cursed as he went, but his hands were also busy. He rushed up and pinned Xie Chen to the ground, rubbing him repeatedly.

People around rushed over to break up the fight. Xie's parents also wanted to join in, but Xie Chen's wife held them back. Only then did they remember the production crew, so they sat to the side, pitifully wiping away tears.

If the production team hadn't been brought in by Xie Ming himself, and they had been allowed to edit the footage at will, then it would be difficult to say who is right and who is wrong in this situation.

Xie Chen had no idea what it felt like to be beaten so badly. No matter how he dodged the sandbag-sized punches, he couldn't land a single one.

For some reason, he remembered his son saying, "Your uncle is going to beat you so badly you'll pee your pants." In his pain and fear, he blurted out, "Brother, you can't hit me anymore, I'm really going to pee!"

Xie Ming threw him on the ground with disgust: "If you say anything bad about Ranran again, I'll beat up your son."

His words were like stirring up a hornet's nest. Xie's parents couldn't sit still anymore. They thought, "You hit your youngest son, fine, but why do you want to hurt your grandson?"

The host of the program, a kind-hearted man, quickly stepped in to mediate when things seemed to have gotten too tense. Villagers also kindly came over and pulled the two elderly people away, making the tense situation a little more interesting.

Afterwards, Xie Ming cleared a space in the courtyard, sat down, and began to talk about the dispute.

The person who delivered the betrothal gifts naturally didn't want to get involved, but they couldn't leave without having given their gifts. They were caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to go in or go back, and finally had to send someone back to the village to ask for advice.

The production team, being seasoned veterans, knew this kind of thing was difficult to resolve, so they quickly called the city government.

Before the people from the neighboring village arrived, they invited the police officers from the town's police station, the village party secretaries, and the staff of the town's women's federation.

They dared not step forward because village affairs were the most difficult to handle.

So, when people from the neighboring village arrived with their ideas, the Xie family's house was already surrounded by layers of people. The Xie family never expected things to escalate so much.

People from the town came, people from the TV station came, and most importantly, the program crew they thought they were dealing with wasn't the one they had contacted before!

Xie Chen kept swallowing, knowing that what he had said earlier would be broadcast if it were.

That would be equivalent to a large-scale social death. Regardless of whether he lives in the countryside or not, he is still afraid.

What if netizens send him wreaths? What if they come to the countryside and throw manure at him? ... Even the countryside is a small society, he understands that.

He looked at Xie Ming pleadingly, but Xie Ming only glanced at him indifferently and then looked away.

Xie Ming did it on purpose, yes, he did it on purpose.

He came here not only with the production team, but also with an important mission: to film a realistic short drama for his new series, "The Debate Girl".

His parents, brothers, fellow villagers, and even the entire village were exploiting women, and even the women themselves were doing the same thing to show their difference.

The harm that Xie's father and mother caused to him and his child is beyond words, and the environment has firmly imprinted wrong ideas into their minds.

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