Someone called out "Village Chief!" and Lu Qiqi turned around to see the village chief looking at Li Nianzi lying on the ground with a worried expression.
The village chief turned his gaze to Lu Qiqi and said, "Girl, I heard from Qingshan that Nianzi almost killed Dahai with a hoe. Is that true?"
Lu Qiqi pursed her lips, unsure whether the village chief truly didn't know or was pretending not to.
Before Lu Qiqi could speak, Li Changlong said, "Just this evening, Nianzi took a hoe and started hitting my father. If my father hadn't reacted quickly and dodged, he would have been dead. He is still lying in bed unconscious. We beg the village chief to do us justice and send Li Nianzi to the authorities."
After hearing the truth of the matter, Huang quickly got up, grabbed the village chief's sleeve, and said in a sad voice, "Village chief, they want to give the millstone to the officials. You can't give it to the officials! The old man's lineage only has this one son. You can't!"
The village chief was pulled by Huang's sleeve and almost lost his balance, but fortunately Li Shoutian caught him quickly.
The village chief forcefully shook off Huang's hand and said, "Sister-in-law, look at what Nianzi is doing! He's pointing the blade at his own people. When has Dahai ever offended him?"
The millstone lay twisted on the ground, its forehead buried in the mud, and said fiercely, "If it weren't for them, my mother wouldn't have been divorced. It's good that she's dead; she deserved to die."
Huang tried to cover Li Nianzi's mouth but couldn't get it open; at this critical moment, he still dared to say such nonsense.
The village chief was startled by Li Nianzi's unrepentant hatred and shocked by his words. He did not expect that after Qian Shi was divorced, Nianzi would blame all the mistakes on Lu Qiqi and her family.
Upon hearing Nianzi's words, Li Changlong kicked Li Nianzi in the stomach again, causing Li Nianzi to be in pain and unable to speak.
When Huang saw her beloved grandson being kicked, she screamed and said, "Village chief, do you remember that you and Nianzi are of the same clan? Are you just going to stand by and watch someone from another clan bully Nianzi like this?"
The village chief's face was already pale, but now it turned as dark as could be.
Lu Qiqi watched Huang Shi from the side, knowing that Nianzi was in the wrong but still protecting her own. She sneered and said, "Outsiders? It was me, an outsider, who led people to save your family, and you tried to kill my third uncle with a hoe. In Li Family Village, my third uncle and I are outsiders, but this is Veterans Village. In the end, we are all outsiders. Does that mean you are also surnamed Li, or that Veterans Village has been renamed Li Family Village?"
Lu Qiqi spoke softly, but her words struck the hearts of those around her with a heavy weight. The villagers all knew that Nianzi had done something wrong, but Huang Shi didn't think about how to resolve it. Instead, she wanted the village chief to use their clan name to suppress the other party. This was simply shameless. All the good impression the old man had left him vanished instantly.
Lu Qiqi's gaze swept over Huang Shi and finally settled on the village chief's face. She said, "Village chief, as the head of the village, what do you think we should do about this today?"
The village chief searched for a long time but couldn't find Li Gou Dan. He sent people out to look for him, but they were nowhere to be found.
He sighed and said, "This matter..."
"Send him to the authorities!" Before the village chief could finish speaking, he was interrupted. He turned his head and saw Li Gou Dan running back with his trousers rolled up.
Huang thought Li Gou Dan had returned to save Nianzi, but she never expected that his words would cost her precious grandson his life. She immediately pounced on Li Gou Dan and punched him, saying, "Are you trying to kill me? This is your own son, the only son of the Li family. If you're going to hand him over to the authorities, you might as well take a knife and kill me first."
Li Gou Dan held his elderly mother's hands and said, "It is the father's fault for not teaching his son properly. It is my fault for not teaching him well, but this mistake cannot continue. I cannot leave this scourge to harm the villagers."
Li Gou Dan closed his eyes and sighed, "Ever since my father died, this family has become more and more chaotic. Qian Shi is greedy for small gains; she'd even try to take a needle from her own family. Because of this, I've never been able to show my face at my brother-in-law's house. You love your grandson and bring everything home because of him. You get all the benefits but say nothing, and you've let her do many wrong things and made excuses for her many mistakes. Now, Nianzi is going to kill someone for his own family's sake, and you're still protecting him. Aren't you afraid my father will come to me in a dream and blame you?"
Huang was speechless after Li Gou Dan's words. She was really afraid that the old man would blame her. The old man was a man of principle and his word was law. When he was alive, she would never have dared to make a scene in public. She glanced at her eldest grandson on the ground and immediately deflated.
Seeing that Huang had stopped making a fuss, Li Gou Dan released her and said, "Village chief, let's send her to the authorities. Let the government decide what to do."
The village chief nodded and said, "Lock him up with me tonight, and I'll personally take him to the county town to report to the authorities tomorrow."
The village chief made the final decision, ending the campaign.
Li Nianzi was being led away by the villagers, cursing Li Gou Dan under his breath, "You old bastard, wait until my mother comes back and makes trouble for you. Send me to the authorities, and I'll make sure you have no descendants."
Li Gou Dan didn't want to look at him anymore, and turned to Li Changlong, saying, "This is Nianzi's fault, and it's also my fault. Tomorrow I will go to Dahai's door to apologize."
Li Changlong said, “My father is still unconscious. Even if you apologize on behalf of Nianzi, he won’t see it. After you send him to the authorities, Nianzi will be punished by the government and the law, and that will be the end of it. But we will never forgive him for hurting my father. From today onwards, our family will not hold a grudge against your family, but we will also never be on good terms with each other. So there’s no need for you to come to our door.”
Li Gou Dan stood there in astonishment as Li Changlong left with his men.
Lu Qiqi followed behind Li Changlong. It was the first time he felt that this young man, who was not yet twenty years old, was very charming in his ability to stand on his own.
Lu Qiqi and the others returned to their tent in triumph, but none of them looked happy. Lu Dahai not only didn't wake up, but also developed a high fever.
Lu Qiqi quickly lifted the thick blanket covering Lu Dahai and took a dry cloth to wipe his sweat.
Li's eyes were swollen from crying, and her voice was hoarse and unpleasant. She said, "Qiqi, what if you catch a cold if you pull off the blanket?"
Lu Qiqi said, "Third Uncle has a high fever. If he's covered up with a blanket, he'll either burn to death or become mentally impaired. Second Brother, get a bowl and a dry cloth. Third Aunt, quickly strip Third Uncle naked!"
Lu Qiqi spoke in a hurry, and the two of them didn't ask any more questions and quickly did as she said.
Lu Qiqi took the large bowl and took out a small jar of wine from under the bed. She poured the wine into the bowl, soaked a dry cloth in it, wrung out a little wine, and handed it to Li Changlong, saying, "Use the wine to rub Uncle San's forehead, palms, armpits, backs of knees, elbows, and soles of his feet. Rub it every three hours. After rubbing, cover him with a thin blanket. Tonight, Second Brother has been working hard to take care of Uncle San. It's normal for the fever to subside and then recur. If the fever doesn't subside after rubbing the wine, come find me."
"good."
Li Changlong took the dry cloth and did as instructed. Lu Qiqi felt uncomfortable staying there, so she went to get paper and pen and wrote down a prescription, asking Zhu Zi to go to the city to get the medicine the next day.
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