"Grab your weapons and get them!" Old Mrs. Qiao snorted and picked up the stick she had used to beat Old Mr. Qiao.
Qiao Zhizhi grabbed a wood-chopping knife. Feng Shi, who had just returned from gathering pig feed, untied the rope that had been wrapped around her waist, swung it in mid-air, and slammed it to the ground, leaving a whip mark. Wan Shi also rushed out of the kitchen, carrying a half-burnt, blackened piece of firewood that had just been pulled out of the stove and was still covered with bright embers.
"The bones are stewing in the pot, and we'll be able to eat them just in time when we come back from cleaning them up."
Everyone else had also made their own preparations, even Old Man Qiao, who was still sulking, had grabbed a stool.
The men had all gone to the county town to work as镖师 (bodyguards/escorts), while the women of the Qiao family rushed towards the paddy fields by the river. Although their numbers were not large, they still marched out with a fierce momentum.
Da Shun wagged its tail and barked as it followed behind.
The Shen family consisted only of women; some of the men were in town, while others had gone to the mountains. But Old Madam Shen's cold, dark face was still quite frightening, conveying a sense of resolute destruction.
"Cut them all off, cut them clean, don't leave a single one for the Qiao family." At Old Madam Shen's command, the women of the Shen family immediately got to work.
With one swipe of the sickle, several clumps of rice fell.
The Shen family woman was quick with her knife; with just a few strokes, a small patch of empty space was revealed in the paddy field.
"Stop it, all of you!" Old Mrs. Qiao shouted.
As soon as the Shen family looked up, they saw the Qiao family charging in with all sorts of weapons, each exuding a murderous aura. It was as if the dark cloud in the sky had been created because of them and was following their movements.
Given the bandit-like nature of the Qiao family, they had no doubt that these guys would show no mercy to them.
Having just been beaten by the Qiao family, the Shen family members all showed a hint of fear on their faces.
"They've come after all. I'm not afraid of them." Old Mrs. Shen sneered, "Our Shen family has plenty of reasons to stand up for itself."
At this time, the Qiao family members all arrived at the paddy field.
Seeing the harvested rice plants, still with their ears of grain gradually becoming full, Grandma Qiao felt heartbroken.
This is all food for the Qiao family.
"Your Shen family has some nerve, daring to ruin our rice paddies."
"Didn't you get enough beatings the day before yesterday?"
Old Mrs. Shen laughed, as if she was laughing in anger: "It's true that these three acres of paddy fields were given to you, but the rice on them was planted by our Shen family this year. Logically speaking, it belongs to our Shen family. We can harvest it if we want, and destroy it if we want, so what?"
They could have waited until harvest time, but Old Lady Shen felt she couldn't compete with the Qiao family, so she simply cut everything down to end it all and vent her anger.
Madam Feng said, "If you really thought the rice belonged to your family, you should have brought it up in front of Zhao Lizheng and the villagers the day before yesterday. But you didn't bring it up at all, which means you tacitly agreed that the rice also belonged to our Qiao family. Now the paddy fields belong to the Qiao family, and you have no right to deal with the rice in the fields."
Liu shouted, "Where did you get this nonsense from? We planted the rice in the spring, when the paddy fields hadn't yet belonged to the Qiao family. We were careless and didn't mention it the day before yesterday, and now it's become your excuse?"
"You all know why you didn't mention it," Old Man Qiao sneered.
Shen Xiu: "Explain yourself clearly, what do you mean by 'for what'?"
Qiao Lian'er: "At that time, you never intended to really compensate our Qiao family with these three acres of paddy fields. Even though you gave us the land deeds, you wanted my sister Xi'er to be Shen Liang's concubine. But you couldn't bring it up in front of the villagers because that idea was shameless and filthy. You talked to our Qiao family about this in private. If we agreed, you could then rightfully take the paddy fields back."
"But you didn't succeed. The paddy fields can't be returned, so you want to destroy all the rice, otherwise you think you're letting the Qiao family off easy."
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