The autumn sun still shone brightly in the courtyard, and the rice was spread out to dry, but it was no longer as evenly spread as in the morning; the golden layer on the ground was now a mess.
The greedy chickens were nowhere to be seen. Chen Chongming's wheelchair was overturned on the rice paddies, and he himself fell to the ground. His childish face was scraped and bleeding, but he still had a stubborn look on his face.
Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn't cry out...
"Chongming".
Chen Chongshan rushed in from outside. Seeing the scene in the yard, he shouted and ran to Chen Chongming to help him up. Ah Huang also ran over and licked Chen Chongming's scraped knee with his tongue, comforting his little master.
"Chongming, what happened? Who did this?"
Chen Chongshan looked around the courtyard, then, while checking his younger brother's body with concern, asked a question.
"Yellow-haired San just arrived."
Chen Chongming replied calmly, and although he tried his best to remain calm, Chen Chongshan could still hear the gritted teeth in his voice.
"Yellow-haired Third!"
Upon hearing this name, Chen Chongshan's expression darkened.
Chongming's body was not seriously injured, but there were still traces of punches and kicks. The blood seeping from the scraped skin on the ground further stimulated Chen Chongshan's senses.
All of this felt like a knife to Chen Chongshan's heart. The people at the courtyard gate had not yet dispersed and were still gathered there, discussing the matter.
Chen Chongshan looked at the group of people and felt a strange sense of disgust. He shouted at them, "What are you looking at? Haven't you seen enough? Is it fun to watch a disabled person being bullied by a bunch of thugs? Is it exciting?"
"Hey, Chongshan, that's not how you talk."
As soon as Chen Chongshan finished speaking, a middle-aged woman at the door interrupted him, clearly extremely dissatisfied with Chen Chongshan's tone: "You know that Huang Mao San is a street thug. We dare not mess with them."
"Can't you even help Chongming up? If I hadn't come back, would Chongming have been lying on the ground all day?" Chen Chongshan replied, his eyes reddening.
“Chongshan, it’s not that we don’t want to help Chongming, but we can’t afford to. Those hooligans won’t listen to reason. What if we help them and they take their anger out on us?”
"Yes, Chongming wasn't injured either; we all saw it."
"If you ask me, you should just give them the dog that Huang Mao wants. It's troublesome for you to cause trouble every now and then, but it makes us uneasy."
"That's right! Last time they came, they took away our guard goose. I haven't even settled the score with you yet. If it weren't for the fact that you two brothers have it tough, you would have to pay me back for the goose!"
The onlookers began to give their own reasons, each one so self-righteous and without a trace of remorse.
Looking at his neighbors who had lived in the same village for over a decade, Chen Chongshan couldn't understand what had happened to the world, why even the most basic human kindness had vanished.
This cold and desolate humanity sent a chill down his spine. He suddenly thought of a saying circulating online: "Helping you is a favor, not helping is your right."
Chen Chongshan felt a pang of sadness and a desire to laugh. They were merely fulfilling their duties, as if he were asking for too much, going too far.
The crowd began to disperse one by one, still muttering as they left, as if they had suffered a great injustice and a great loss.
Chen Chongshan silently pushed Chen Chongming towards the room. Chen Chongming seemed to see through his brother's thoughts and said, "Brother, I'm fine. There's no need to blame them. Didn't I say yesterday that Dad taught us that we don't need anyone's charity?"
Chen Chongming's words startled Chen Chongshan.
He realized for the first time that his younger brother seemed to be even stronger than him, though he rarely showed it. Their father, Chen Fulin, had set a good example for the two brothers; he was also a strong-willed man.
After his mother passed away, he raised his two sons, Chen Chongshan and Chen Fulin, on his own, acting as both father and mother. The family lived in abject poverty, but Chen Fulin never asked the village or town for any hardship subsidies.
Whenever there was a village meeting and Chen Fulin saw those from well-off families arguing heatedly over a couple of hardship allowances or poverty alleviation quotas, he would always tell his two brothers that if they had hands and feet, they should rely on themselves to live, and that a little hardship allowance would not make their lives better.
Chen Chongshan remained silent, went back to the room, found some safflower oil, and rubbed it on Chongming's bruises. He then fetched water to wash and disinfect the scrapes, and after carrying Chongming to bed, he left the room, went outside to the yard, and started his motorcycle...
Chen Chongshan was going to find Huang Maosan, one of the notorious gang leaders in Meishan County.
Normally, Chen Chongshan would hardly have any dealings with such thugs, but this blond-haired guy had a different hobby than other thug leaders.
Other gang leaders indulge in drinking, gambling, and whoring, and Huang Mao San also indulges in these vices. However, his gambling is not done at the card table with those people; Huang Mao San gambles in the dogfighting arena.
Huang Mao San loves dogs. He plays with fighting dogs and keeps dozens of fighting dogs at home, including Pit Bulls, Cane Corsos, Canary Mastiffs, and Tosa Inu.
Dog fighting has its pros and cons, and dog gambling has its wins and losses, which makes Huang Mao San immersed in this hobby and enjoy it immensely.
Once, Chen Chongshan returned from hunting in the mountains and brought some pheasants and rabbits to deliver to Lao Qin. In the county, he ran into Huang Mao San.
Huang Mao had been playing with dogs for years, and his eye for talent was indeed very sharp. He immediately recognized Ah Huang's extraordinary qualities and wanted to take Ah Huang back to train him as a dog to keep order.
He could tell that Ah Huang was still quite young, just over a year old, and had a lot of potential for development.
But Ah Huang was the family's support and their brother, so how could Chen Chongshan possibly transfer Ah Huang to Huang Mao San?
Huang Mao San, who was rejected, was not willing to give up. He was a hooligan and a gang leader.
He will do anything to get what he wants; the rule of law is worthless in his eyes.
In Meishan County, none of the women he set his sights on could escape him, let alone a dog, even though this dog might be much more important to him than a woman.
He understood that if trained properly, this dog could bring him countless riches, and that riches could bring him countless beautiful women.
Chen Chongshan refused, so Huang Maosan started leading people to Chen Chongshan's house to cause trouble.
Chen Chongshan was rarely home during the day, as he was busy making a living. Huang Maosan was initially reluctant to harm the disabled child.
Each time he went over, he would just threaten the child and put some pressure on him, but seeing that it had no effect after repeated attempts, his patience wore thin, and this time he resorted to violence.
Chen Chongshan rode his motorcycle towards the county town, and Ah Huang quickly followed. Although it didn't know where its master was going, it could tell that its master had something to do, and it had to follow along, perhaps it could lend its master a helping hand at a crucial moment.
Chen Chongshan rode his motorcycle in the area where Huang Maosan often frequented, searching for his whereabouts. After several rounds, he finally spotted a Honda Accord that Huang Maosan often drove in front of a supermarket.
Chen Chongshan found a wooden stick and waited quietly behind the car.
Chen Chongshan was not originally an impulsive person, but today Huang Mao provokes Chen Chongming, which is Chen Chongshan's Achilles' heel.
As he massaged Chongming's wounds, his heart was practically bleeding. He couldn't understand how such a heartless person could lay a hand on a disabled child.
Chen Chongshan's heart was almost filled with hatred, and his mind was filled with nothing but revenge.
He was, after all, just an eighteen-year-old boy, a hot-blooded youth, who wouldn't think about so much...
About ten minutes later, Huang Mao San emerged from the supermarket with a henchman and a woman. Chen Chongshan stared at Huang Mao San with the same eyes he had on prey, then gripped the wooden stick in his hand, gritted his teeth, and suddenly rushed out when Huang Mao San wasn't paying attention...
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