65.065 Fighting evil with evil
This was Ping An's first time in a police station. His grandmother was still throwing a tantrum in front of the police. He was repeatedly pointed at and told that he was her grandson and that he was a witness that she hadn't stolen anything from his family. It was also the day he heard his mother's name the most.
"It was my grandson who gave it to me; he's a good son-in-law." The old policeman quelled Granny Liu's arrogance. Seeing her heartless son-in-law insisting on accusing her of robbery, she rushed over and hugged Ping An, shouting, "It was my grandson who's a good son-in-law! Is it illegal for a grandson to be a good son-in-law to his grandmother?"
"No, I didn't give it to her. I didn't know she came to my house to steal things." Ping An used all his strength to push away the person who was holding him tightly. He didn't stop in time and fell hard on his buttocks on the cement floor. Ignoring his numb buttocks, he crawled away in a few steps. After getting away from his grandmother, he stood up and looked at his father, saying, "I didn't let her come to my house to steal things. I just opened the door for her."
"You even helped Grandma stop the dog! Ping An, don't talk nonsense. I definitely wouldn't have been able to get into your house without you." Granny Liu frowned and scolded him. She then said to the policeman, "It really wasn't me who went to steal. My grandson said he eats rice and flour at home every day. I was thinking that we couldn't even cook at home, so I went and took some. My grandson didn't object when I took it. How can this be considered stealing? Besides, I haven't even eaten it yet. At worst, I can just let my heartless son-in-law take it away."
"I stopped you, and I even knocked on the door. I called you out," Ping An hurriedly explained.
Ning Jin glanced at him, walked over and stopped Grandma Ping An from waving her hand, and said to Ping An and Xiao Yuan, "You two go out first, don't come in."
The two most easily provoked children were gone, and only Granny Liu's wailing could be heard in the hall. The police officer handling the case beckoned Ning Jin to talk to him over, and as he took out a cigarette, he asked him, "Want one?"
"If you don't like it, you can smoke it yourself."
The old policeman took out a matchbox, struck a match, exhaled a puff of white smoke, pointed inside, and said, "You see, she's vehemently denying it and making things more complicated. With your son and maternal grandparents involved, this matter won't be resolved cleanly. At most, you can take your things away. It'll be difficult to detain her for a few days. We also have to follow the rules."
Ning Jin nodded in understanding, saying, "But if we don't lock her up for a few days and let her go out peacefully, she won't learn her lesson and will dare to rob my house again next time."
The old policeman sighed, rubbed the cigarette ash that had fallen from his fingers, and said in a low voice, "It depends on how you resolve this privately. I don't recommend that you go through all the trouble of locking her up for three or five days. Your son is not young anymore. Do you want him to join the army in the future? If he does, having a mother who has been arrested for robbery might have some impact."
Ning Jin remained silent, listening to the old woman's nonsense inside. He let out a long breath and said, "Fine, I'll listen to you. Let's settle this privately."
In the end, the matter ended in a family dispute. Old Mrs. Liu felt no triumph whatsoever. She figured Ning Jin wasn't home, and his new wife wouldn't be back until evening. She planned to hide everything carefully; the rice and flour weren't anything special, and she could just deny everything. If it worked, she'd do it again. Who knew that bastard would suddenly return, get caught red-handed by the police, and after several days of searching, she hadn't gotten a penny and was exhausted.
"Damn it." She coughed up phlegm and spat it toward Ningjin.
Ning Jin avoided the question, then stopped and asked, "Officer, is it true that all conflicts between relatives are treated as family matters?"
Why are you asking this?
"I just want to know, if I had a fight with my former brother-in-law and we're both still alive and well, does that mean we made up in private?"
What can one say about this? It's just a fight, a very common thing, and they're all relatives, so it's definitely best to reconcile privately first.
"Talk things out calmly, don't resort to fighting all the time," the policeman advised dryly.
"Okay, I understand." Ning Jin walked out of the police station first and waited outside for Ping An's grandmother to come out. She said bluntly, "You think you're too old to cause trouble and no one can do anything to you, and you even dragged Ping An into it. You've heard about it yourself, so I can only follow your example and tell Ping An's uncles not to take shortcuts, lest I find an opening and beat them up."
"You dare!" Granny Liu glared at him. "If you dare hit them, I'll come to your house and make a scene every day."
"Let them make a scene. If they dare to make a scene, I dare to hit them. Let's see if they can take the beating."
Ning Jin finished speaking and left, picking up the rice and flour next to the two children and walking home without saying a word.
Ping An stole glances at his face, her mind a complete mess of panic. The oil can she was holding was covered in grease under her fingernails. The closer she got to home, the more frightened she became.
"I have something to do and will be back late tonight. Xiao Yuan, tell your mom to save some dinner for me." Ning Jin put everything back in its place, ignored Ping An, and went out.
He left and immediately burst into tears in the courtyard. Xiao Yuan ignored him, but Xiao Hei would occasionally bark. He squinted and walked to the doghouse, sat on the straw where Xiao Hei was lying, and continued to cry while holding Xiao Hei's head.
Ning Jin went to Lao Xie's house first and asked him to run a bus for him tomorrow. He would help him run long-distance buses when he was free. Short-distance buses in exchange for long-distance buses are something everyone would be willing to do.
Old Xie also heard about his family's situation and joked, "Your family has become a regular at the police station. Your wife sent her ex-brother-in-law to jail, and now you've sent your ex-mother-in-law to jail too. The two of them even teamed up to report the police to the neighbors. Now, whenever I think of reporting to the police, your family is the first one that comes to mind." His parents refused to mention him when they were out, and if anyone asked about Xiao Wu, they would immediately shake their heads and say they didn't know.
"They're all relatives of the same kind, there's nothing I can do. I have other things to do, you keep going." Ning Jin headed south after leaving Lao Xie's house. When he arrived at the latrine factory, it wasn't time to get off work yet, so he went straight in to find his Uncle Ping An.
"What do you want? Do you have to come out and tell me?" But Zhao Ping was happy to slack off. Carrying the big vat was exhausting, and he was just about to find an excuse to sneak away when his brother-in-law arrived.
Seeing that there were few people around and the factory gate was far away, Ning Jin stopped, turned around, and started punching Zhao Ping. He hit wherever it hurt, and before Zhao Ping could recover, he punched him in the nose until it bled, then slammed his elbow into his cheek and kicked him in the back until he fell to the ground.
“This is what I promised your mom I’d beat you up for. She said you’re useless, lazy, and gluttonous, all you do is lay eggs and not raise them. She told her to go beg for food from her ten-year-old grandson, and when he couldn’t produce any, she tried to steal from him, which landed her in the police station.” Ning Jin saw him spit out a tooth and kicked his thigh again. “I also promised her that if she ever comes to my house begging for food again, I’ll come and beat up her useless son for her. Remember that, I should be coming again tomorrow.”
Zhao Ping covered his swollen face and didn't dare to speak. Although he did hard labor every day, he was a coward. He only dared to make threats in front of his mother, but he didn't dare to say a word outside. Ning Jin was a head taller and stronger than him, and he had friends. Compared to this beating, he was more afraid of tomorrow.
"I'll take good care of my mom when I get back, so please don't come again."
But he didn't understand his mother at all. Old Mrs. Liu thought that even the police couldn't control her. When she saw her eldest son's face swollen and his nose bruised, and that he was limping, she dropped her rice shovel and rushed downstairs to Ningjin's house.
"Don't worry about her. If you've eaten well, go take a shower. If you haven't eaten well, keep eating. Let her rant all she wants." Ning Jin stopped Su Yu and said, "Don't get involved in this. Don't interfere, or you'll be blamed later."
The next morning, before dawn, Ning Jin went out, munched on a cucumber, and waited downstairs at the Zhao family's building. He waited until it was time for him to go to work before seeing Zhao Lao Da and Zhao Lao Er come out. He pounced on Zhao Lao Er, grabbed him, and slammed him to the ground. He glanced at Zhao Ping, who was running back into the house in fright, and sneered. Amidst Zhao Wen's cursing, he punched him in the mouth. While pinning him down, he held his neck and kept punching him in the face, even though Zhao Wen's face was red from choking. When they were pulled away, he even kicked him.
"Let go, I'm not fighting anymore." Ning Jin spread his hands, pried off the hands of the people trying to break up the fight, took a few steps into the street, wiped the blood from his broken knuckles, and smiled at Granny Liu who had run down from the street, saying, "Auntie, are you satisfied now? You said before that your two sons were good-for-nothings, that they were sucking the blood out of this old woman, that they forced you to come to my house to cause trouble every day, and that they would steal food from my house to feed them. Even I, an outsider, get angry when I hear that. So, I'm helping you beat them up to vent your anger."
"You damned bastard, I'll fight you to the death today!" Granny Liu was so angry that her mouth was trembling.
Ning Jin avoided him and strode into the street, calling back as he went, "Brother-in-law, you see your mother is still angry with you. I'll come find you again tomorrow."
"Mom, come back." Zhao Ping immediately realized what was happening and ran over to pull his mother back.
"You two can't even beat him alone?" Granny Liu slapped her eldest son angrily, then rushed to check on her youngest son. "My son, your lip is so badly cut, how are you going to eat or drink?"
Zhao Lao Er slapped her hand away in frustration, not daring to speak or lick his lips. He could only feel the blood flowing down his chin, and every time he moved his lips, it felt like his flesh was being torn apart.
"Mom, you're not allowed to go to his house anymore. Look at us, we don't even look like human beings anymore," Zhao Ping said vaguely.
"You coward, you act like a rat in the gutter right downstairs in your own home." Granny Liu was furious just thinking about it. Her two sons went downstairs together. The younger one was being beaten like a dead dog, while the older one ran upstairs to call her. Even if he had to take a few punches and hold that damned bastard down and beat him up, that would be better than nothing.
“I’m going to call the police, you two come with me,” Granny Liu said.
Zhao Ping hesitated for a moment, but remembering what Ning Jin had just said, he went with his mother, and Zhao Lao Er followed with a gloomy face.
When the police came to Ning Jin's door, he had just seen Su Yu off. "Officer, you wanted to see me? Then let's go." His straightforwardness left the young policeman speechless. Was he practically begging to be a guest?
Even though Zhao Ping and Zhao Wen stood in the police station with injured faces, and Granny Liu was cursing them with spittle flying everywhere, Ning Jin insisted that he couldn't stand his two brothers-in-law's disrespect for their former mother-in-law, and that he was there to teach his two brothers a lesson on behalf of his deceased wife.
“He’s talking nonsense. He’s just taking revenge. He can’t do anything to me, so he’s bullying my son.”
“I know I have a bad temper, but my intentions are good. I just can’t stand seeing this old lady being ripped off by her whole family at her age, forced to steal and rob. Auntie, I know what you mean. You’re afraid your son will beat you if you don’t scold me. Don’t be afraid. If he dares to lay a finger on you, come to my door and yell at me. I’ll know what you mean as soon as you open your mouth. I’ll back you up.” Ning Jin spoke sincerely, while staring angrily at the Zhao brothers, almost as if to say, “You just wait.”
In the end, Ning Jin paid three cents for the medicine and went out first. He ran away as soon as he left, and by the time Granny Liu left, he was nowhere to be found.
Zhao Wen's lips were swollen and a piece of skin had peeled off. He went straight home to lie down after returning from the police station. Only Zhao Ping went to work with a swollen face.
Ning Jin waited for him on his way home at noon and beat him up again, but this time he hit him in places where he couldn't see, so badly that he couldn't get up. Ning Jin squatted down and tugged at his arm, muttering to himself, "Not bad, your arms and legs are fine, you can still go to work."
"Didn't you say you'd come to see me again tomorrow?" Zhao Wen asked, panting. He hadn't been on guard today because Ning Jin had said he'd come again tomorrow.
"Oh, I suddenly had nothing to do at noon today, so I came over."
"Stop hitting her, you're not children anymore, let's talk this out." Zhao Ping sat up against the wall and said, "You did marry my little sister, she should be returned to you..."
"Stop." Ning Jin stood up to leave. "Your mother has said all this the same old thing. If you want to keep talking about these things, then there's no need to continue."
"Wait, I won't say anymore." Zhao Ping had never seen such a heartless person. His younger sister had been married to him for two years and had given birth to a son, yet this person couldn't even bear to listen to her. Forget it, there was no way he could expect to make any money off him.
"I'll make sure my mom doesn't go to your house anymore, and you don't suddenly come and fight with us for no reason. Let's just leave it at that."
“You can’t control her. I remember warning you more than a year ago, but obviously, none of you took it seriously. I only learned your lesson when I punched you.” Ning Jin said without any mercy.
Zhao Ping choked, and was annoyed by what he said. He got angry and threatened, "You only have one son, Ping An. My second son and I have five or six sons in total. You should leave yourself some leeway so you won't get beaten up when you're old."
"I love hearing that." Ning Jin squatted down and punched him a few more times, one of which landed squarely on his chest, making it impossible for him to stand up.
"Don't come near me again, and don't ever step into my house again. Don't try to find me in secret, or I'll cripple your father before your sons grow up." He stepped on Zhao Ping's leg bone.
“Sever ties with relatives. Ping’an will have no uncles or grandmothers anymore, and we will not have any contact.” Zhao Ping was not easily provoked, nor could he bear the pain, so he immediately agreed.
"I hope so. Go back and talk to your mother. If I run into her at my door again, or see her looking for peace, I'll help her teach her son a lesson."
A while after Ning Jin left, Zhao Ping clutched his chest and got up. When he got home, he saw that his family had already started eating. He slammed the table over and cursed, "You bastards! I'm being bullied outside, and all you do is fill your stomachs!"
"What's wrong? Who bullied you? Was it Ning Jin again? Didn't he say he'd come back tomorrow..." Before Granny Liu could finish speaking, she was pushed to the ground, landing on a pile of soup, and immediately shut up.
"Shut up, all you do is yell. Look at the mess you've made. You didn't even get a feather in your mouth, but I'm covered in bruises. Don't ever go near their house again. Just pretend you only had one daughter. Ping An has nothing to do with you. Our two families are done."
"But……"
“What a joke! Does he look like he’d give us anything? That little brat Ping’an is an ingrate too. He’s lived in our house for so long, but he never comes to visit. He was like this when he was a kid. What good will he do for the family when he grows up?” Zhao Ping made the decision immediately, pointing at his wife and saying, “If I get beaten up again, I’ll come back and beat you up.”
Ningjin stayed home all afternoon but didn't see Grandma Ping'an come over, and she didn't come the next day either, so it was clear that Zhao Ping had worked. Sure enough, Granny Liu was domineering outside, but she loved her son and was also afraid of him.
That's karma.
"Ping An, our family is no longer in contact with your maternal grandparents' family. Don't go to their house anymore, not even for the New Year." This was the first time Ning Jin had spoken to Ping An in the past few days. Upon hearing his name, Ping An immediately looked up at him and nodded in agreement before he had even finished speaking.
"Come to the main room after you've finished your bath; I need to talk to you."
Ping An tensed up again, her chest heaving noticeably, and she whispered, "I know."
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