Chapter 7 Something Strange
The woman's name was Liu Huazhi. She was from the Liu family in Huai Shu Village and was Sheng An's nominal stepsister. She was two months older than Sheng An.
Compared to Sheng An, who looked like a bean sprout, Liu Huazhi was slender and graceful, exuding a captivating charm in every gesture.
Many young men from both inside and outside the village fawned over Liu Huazhi, offering her eggs or hair ties, just to have an excuse to get close to her and talk to her.
Liu Huazhi was ambitious and determined to marry a rich man, so she naturally looked down on the poor country boy, but she didn't hesitate to accept gifts.
The women in the village often called her a vixen.
Today, Sheng'an returned to his parents' home, and Liu Huazhi specially waited for him at the village entrance.
Meeting Liu Huazhi's malicious gaze, Sheng An turned to Xu Jinnian with a smile and asked:
"Husband, did you hear the dog barking? It's strange that there's a dog in the village with such an awful bark. Doesn't it worry about scaring people and getting killed with a hoe?"
Xu Jinnian couldn't help but chuckle, not even glancing at Liu Huazhi's unpleasant expression, and nodded solemnly:
"Yeah, it sounds pretty awful. The owner didn't even leash it. It would be bad if it bit someone."
Xu Jinnian was unaware of the conflict between Sheng An and Liu Huazhi, but that didn't stop him from unconditionally standing by Sheng An's side.
Besides, it was Liu Huazhi who provoked him first, so he didn't need to get involved in the grudges.
Hearing the couple chanting in unison that she was a dog, Liu Huazhi was furious. Forgetting the purpose of her visit, she threw herself at Sheng An and began to hurl insults at him:
"You jinx, your mother died and your father is gone, don't think you can be arrogant just because you married into the city. I'll wait for the day you're abandoned, a divorced woman, and die a horrible death along with your unborn child!"
These words were truly malicious. Xu Jinnian's face darkened, and he stood in front of Sheng An, coldly rebuking, "Get out!"
"Why try to speak human language to an animal? It won't understand."
Sheng An pulled Xu Jinnian away and slapped Liu Huazhi hard across the face.
"Things that bite randomly need to be given a good beating to learn their lesson."
"ah--"
Liu Huazhi hadn't expected Sheng An to make a move. She screamed, lost her balance, and fell to the ground, clutching her swollen, numb face. She glared at Sheng An with venom and cursed him.
"You dare hit me? You jinx who deserves to die with your unborn child, how dare you hit me!"
Sheng An stepped forward without hesitation and kicked her high, protruding chest:
"I'm going to fight, why should I discuss it with you beforehand?"
Liu Huazhi was kicked to the ground, clutching her aching chest, she was furious.
"Aaaaah, you bitch, you filthy bitch who deserves to die a horrible death!"
With her hands clenched into claws, Liu Huazhi crawled on her knees and viciously lunged at Sheng An: "Die!"
She had never gotten along with Sheng An since childhood, always comparing herself to him and frequently insulting him with slang like "jinx."
In the past, Sheng An would either ignore her or pick on her sore spots to hurl insults back, but he had never laid a hand on her. Today was the first time, which made it impossible for Liu Huazhi to tolerate.
"Quick, quick! This beast has rabies! We can't let her hurt us!"
Sheng An grabbed Xu Jinnian's arm, pulled him along, and ran away without even glancing at the squeaking and crawling willow branches.
Even after the two ran into the village, they could still hear Liu Huazhi's wailing and cursing.
Sheng An was overjoyed and complained to Xu Jinnian about Liu Huazhi's eccentricities:
"She's petty and narrow-minded. Whenever someone in the village praises me, she runs up to me and belittles me, as if I've dug up the graves of her Liu family for eighteen generations..."
Liu Huazhi not only belittled and mocked the original owner, but also frequently manipulated her.
It is said that no one in the world truly likes the original owner, otherwise she wouldn't have been abandoned by her own father, who would rather marry into the Liu family and raise the Liu family's children than raise the original owner, his own daughter.
They also said that the villagers praised the original owner because they wanted to take advantage of her, to exploit her family's extinction, and to marry her without spending a penny to be treated like a slave, being exploited for life and never able to turn her life around.
Fortunately, the original owner did not fall for the trick and did not develop an inferiority complex and timid personality as Liu Huazhi had predicted.
As memories flooded back, Sheng An realized he hadn't been gentle enough; he should have beaten that woman, Liu Huazhi, to a pulp!
"Don't be angry, that kind of person isn't worth it."
Xu Jinnian lowered his eyes to comfort his agitated wife, still harboring resentment over Liu Huazhi's curse that his wife and unborn child would both die.
"I'm not angry. If she bumps into my hand again, I'll make her regret messing with me."
Sheng An couldn't be happier that Liu Huazhi continued to cause trouble, so that she would have an excuse to beat people, no, to beat up animals.
but……
There's something strange about the willow branches!
A woman who coveted someone else's fiancé and attempted to impersonate the bride on her wedding day didn't even glance at the man she had been longing for when she saw him.
Given Liu Huazhi's way of doing things, she would not give up easily. She would only try to get closer to Xu Jinnian, win his heart, and then gain entry into his inner circle.
Furthermore, Liu Huazhi's tone just now was too certain, not like a malicious curse, but more like she was certain she would be abandoned and end up losing both her child and her life.
Thinking of this, Sheng An had a vague sense of unease and looked at Xu Jinnian with a more probing gaze.
Why does my wife look at me like that?
Xu Jinnian noticed his wife's unusual behavior, grabbed her hand that had hit him, and rubbed it gently: "Is it because your husband didn't help you?"
Sheng An shook her head and withdrew her hand: "It's not like I can't beat them, why would I need you to lift a finger?"
This guy has thick eyebrows and big eyes; he doesn't seem like the type to be a heartless man.
I'm not sure, I'll think about it some more.
Looking at her empty hands, with lingering warmth in her palms, Xu Jinnian pursed her lips, a hint of barely perceptible frustration in her eyes, her heart filled with disgust for Liu Huazhi.
The Sheng family's house is located in the center of the village. Along the way, Sheng An encountered many villagers.
Faced with a series of adorable smiling faces, Sheng An greeted everyone with "Uncle, Uncle, Aunt, Auntie," pausing occasionally to exchange a few pleasantries.
It took them seven or eight minutes to walk a distance of only two or three hundred meters to reach the Sheng family's door.
Children had already run to the Sheng family to tell the elderly couple that Sheng An had entered the village.
As Sheng An turned a corner, he saw two elderly, hunched-over, weathered-looking people with silver hair standing at the gate of the courtyard.
"Grandpa, Grandma!"
Sheng An called out instinctively, her tone affectionate and loving, as if she were their own granddaughter whom they had raised.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Sheng An stopped thinking about where this overwhelming sense of familiarity came from, and left the man beside her to rush toward the two elderly people who came to greet her.
"She's back! She's back! An'an's back!"
Grandma Sheng hugged her granddaughter who had rushed into her arms, her rough hands stroking the granddaughter's face again and again, her wrinkled face overflowing with love for her granddaughter.
Grandpa Sheng looked at the old man and the child with a smile, his expression mirroring that of Grandma Sheng.
"The grandson-in-law greets his grandparents."
Xu Jinnian put down the basket containing meat strips and snacks, and bowed to Grandpa and Grandma Sheng.
"Get up, get up, we're all family, no need for formalities."
Grandpa Sheng helped his grandson-in-law up with his own hands, his smile growing even more joyful, and he became more and more satisfied with his grandson-in-law.
Good-looking, well-educated, humble and polite—no one would dislike a grandson-in-law like that.
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