Chapter 22: Killing the Chicken to Frighten the Monkey 2
◎Jinjiang exclusive◎
"Huh? Come quickly and take a look, isn't this thief Zhou Wangye?!"
An old man shouted in surprise while holding a torch and shining it on the thief who was curled up like a shrimp and screaming on the ground.
"Huh? It's true!" another person shouted, and then wondered, "Isn't Zhou Wangye Zheng's great uncle? How could he be a thief?"
"Oh my! Isn't this Wangye's wife? Is she fainted or dead?!" A woman pointed at Qian who had fainted and shouted, then fanned her nose and dodged, "Hey, why does it stink so bad?!"
"Ah! This is Zhou Wangzu!" The woman had just finished speaking when someone else pointed at the man under Zhou Jin's feet and shouted, "Hey, Jin brother, you're stepping on your uncle!"
"Huh?! How is that possible!" Zhou Jin finally let out a cry of surprise, pointing at the man who was speaking and shouting, "Don't talk nonsense! The person I stepped on was clearly a thief, how could it be my uncle?"
The man kindly reminded Zhou Jin but was scolded for nothing. He was very dissatisfied and immediately replied:
"How dare you talk like that, kid? You couldn't see clearly in the dark and you're blaming others?! Look carefully, who else could that be but your uncle Zhou Wangzu?!"
Zhou Jin then pretended to be incredulous and looked carefully at the person under his feet, and then,
"Ouch! Uncle?! Why is it you!!"
A look of shock!
"Mom! It's really my second uncle and second aunt!"
Zhou Yu also joined in at the right time, pinching his thigh hard to force out tears, and pointed at Zhou Wangye who was closest to him and Qian who had fainted, crying:
"Look, mother! What on earth is going on?!? Wuwu... Mother, why are Second Uncle and Second Aunt the thieves? Why are they trying to harm us?! Wuwu..."
Zhou Jin...
Looking at Zhou Yu, who was filled with fear, grievance, and disbelief, his expressions were changing, and his eyes were filled with tears...
I have to admit that his sister's acting skills are better than his!
If Zhou Jin and his sister were pretending to be shocked, Zheng was truly shocked!
Although she also knew that their third branch had already broken off relations with the first and second branches,
But in Zheng's mind, they are the flesh and blood of her husband and children. Even if she often makes things difficult for them in various trivial matters, there is no reason for her to really take their lives!
But they didn't expect that they would actually harm them. Thinking about what happened just now, if it weren't for Jin Ge'er's alertness, the fate of their family would be very different now!
So Zheng was shocked and angry at the moment. She was so angry that she was shaking all over and couldn't speak a complete sentence. She just gritted her teeth and pointed at the arm-thick sticks thrown on the ground by Zhou Wangye and others, and said fearfully:
"You! You...you! How...how...dare...?"
Seeing Zheng like this, the people around him were confused and immediately shouted out their speculations...
"So it really is the first and second wives teaming up to take over the third wife! Tsk! This, this is truly a family feud!"
"Isn't it? It seems like the Third House had no idea the thieves were actually family members!... Look how angry Zheng is!"
Gossip is like a drug, refreshing and invigorating throughout history. Even during this exile, when people were struggling to protect themselves, hearing about the Zhou family's drama, their eyes lit up, and their gossipy spirit surged...
"Who wouldn't be angry?! If it was an outsider it would be fine, but family members stealing from each other? Tsk..." someone sighed.
"They're not just stealing... Didn't Jin Ge say these thieves also want to hurt people? Look at the sticks they're carrying, they're as thick as my arms. If they just wanted to steal, why would they use such thick sticks..."
"Speaking of the Zheng family, they are truly pitiful. They have only a few orphans and a widow, and instead of helping them, their family members even bully them. Last time, when Zheng was kidnapped by bandits, wasn't it Jin Ge'er who rescued her on his own? I heard that the first and second wives just stood by and watched, not even offering a helping hand..."
A middle-aged man thought of what happened to Zheng Shi a while ago and couldn't help but sympathize with her. Unexpectedly, this immediately caused dissatisfaction from his wife next to him.
"Tsk, you're still an orphan and a widow? Look at yourself first. The Zheng family at least raised a capable son who can bring food to the family, but what about you?! Your own wife and children are almost starving to death, and you still have time to care about others!!"
That man..., then wisely shut up.
He kept his mouth shut, but his words reminded others of Zhou Jin's deeds of rescuing his mother from the bandits.
"Speaking of bandits, I have a feeling that the bandit must have been killed by Zhou Jin. Ever since he rescued his mother, he's completely changed. Look at how Zhou Wangzu and the others got beaten up by him? If he hadn't killed anyone, how could he have become so ruthless?!"
Another middle-aged man at the side couldn't help but bring up the speculation in the exile team that Zhou Jin had killed bandits.
"That's right! I think we should avoid messing with this guy in the future. Look at Zhou Wangye, his hand was pierced through by this guy... He's really cruel!"
Everyone was talking about it, and some curious people saw that Mr. Zhou and his wife were not among the crowd, so they hurried to call them...
After a while, not only Old Man Zhou, but also Song the yamen runner with several officers, and Lord Zhou and his son, as well as several elders from the clan, all rushed over!
"Everyone, disperse! Go back to where you live!"
"Hurry back! If you dare to gather and cause trouble, beware of our whips!"
When the yamen runners arrived, they first dispersed the crowd. Although most of these prisoners were pampered cowards and were shackled, and were not to be feared, they were numerous after all, and the yamen runners did not dare to take it lightly.
When the prisoners saw the officers coming and whipping them, they immediately became intimidated and scattered, running back to their own straw mats and beddings to sit quietly, with only their ears perked up and their eyes darting in this direction...
On Zhou Jin's side, only his family was left: the yamen runner Song and a few of his subordinates, the Zhou elders and their sons, and a few clan elders. Then there were the Zhou elders and his wife who had been called over, and Zhou Wangzu and the others lying on the ground in a mess...
Looking at his sons and grandsons who were either fainting or screaming on the ground, Mr. Zhou regretted it so much that his intestines turned green! You know, these guys are so useless, no matter what he said, he would not let them come over!
But it was too late to say anything now. All I could do was sit there with a blank face and think of a solution...
Zhou Jin then told the Zhou Ge Lao and the others what had happened...
"Because we got some food last time, there have been people hanging around our house these days. The house is full of women and children. I dare not take it lightly, so I secretly asked Brother Song to borrow a hatchet and a dagger from him.
I thought that if anything really happened, I could protect my mother and my siblings..."
Zhou Jin spoke first, explaining that the weapon in his hand was something Zhou Jin looked at differently. Zhou Ge Lao and the others all knew about it, and after hearing what Song Yayi said, they nodded and motioned Zhou Jin to continue.
"I slept lightly at night, and these thieves, no, uncle and the others were wearing shackles, so they inevitably made noises.
So the boy woke up when they came over, but seeing that there were several of them, he was afraid that he could not handle them alone, so he did not dare to move. He thought that if they were just stealing some food, he would just let them go.
Who knew they would come straight to the straw mat where the kid was sleeping, raise their sticks and smash it on his head, looking like they wanted to kill him. If the kid hadn't been awake, he would have died by now with his brains splattered!"
Zhou Jin looked frightened and imitated Zhou Yu by secretly twisting his thigh. His eyes immediately turned red from the pain and he thought to himself, this move his sister taught him is so damn painful!
But in the eyes of people around him, he looked like a stubborn young man who had mustered up the courage to subdue the thief, but now he was afraid and looked aggrieved!
"I had no choice. For the sake of my mother and my brothers and sisters, I had no choice but to fight them to the death. Luckily, I learned some martial arts from my two uncles before being exiled, and I had weapons. Plus, my uncle and the others didn't know I was awake, so they let their guard down, and I was lucky enough to be subdued..."
"So you didn't recognize them as your uncle from the beginning to the end?"
Lord Zhou's elder brother, Zhou Ruiquan, the current patriarch of the Zhou family, asked after hearing this.
"Kid, I was so nervous at the time. It was late at night, and they didn't make a sound. How could I possibly know who they were? And how, how could I have expected that they were..."
"If the people around me hadn't reminded me and confirmed it again and again... I still wouldn't believe... that my uncles... would do this to us..."
As Zhou Jin spoke, he began to sob again and questioned Old Man Zhou with an excited look on his face. He would not believe it even if he was beaten to death if he said that his grandfather did not know about this.
"Grandfather! Please tell me, my grandson, why did my uncle and his men come to rob us and even want to kill me? Why is this happening?..."
Mr. Zhou...
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