"It's just chicken, right?" Du Huihuang said with a smile. "We have some at home! If we don't, I'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy you some roast chicken!"
Seeing the Du family members' angry but silent demeanor made Liu Nian slightly twitch the corners of her mouth.
At night, a group of women pulled Xiuxiu to sleep, and there was a large kang (heated brick bed) where everyone could lie down.
Li Caiyan, who was still hoping to let her son and daughter-in-law get intimate, immediately turned pale.
"What are they trying to do?" Li Caiyan looked at the chicken feathers scattered all over the yard with heartache. "Those are laying hens!"
In the parlance of the farmers, this family is incredibly frugal; to put it bluntly, they're extremely stingy.
Du Jianguo picked up a bone from the table and gnawed on it. There was still meat on it. He was heartbroken that the Liu family was eating so carelessly.
"If they stay a few more days, they'll eat our family out of house and home." Li Caiyan picked up the oil bowl and licked it clean inside and out.
Watching the Liu family eat and drink, they couldn't bear to eat even a single extra bite. Sigh, when will this ever end?
The next morning, Liu Nian asked Liu Hua and Zhou Hongyi to watch over Xiu Xiu while she took Zhang Suzhen to chat with the old women at the village entrance.
“Auntie, let me tell you, Du Jianguo has a mental illness, did you know that?” Zhang Suzhen stood in the crowd and began to speak. “When he has an episode, he’s like a madman!”
The old woman was sewing shoe soles when she suddenly paused, holding a needle and awl, and exclaimed, "What? Mentally ill? Crazy?"
Someone clicked their tongue and pondered, "Li Caiyan said her son just likes to drink and then gets drunk and acts crazy. Everyone in the village knows about this, so how come he's still considered mentally ill?"
"How could it be fake?" Liu Nian said, supporting her back. "My friend works at the hospital, and I've seen his medical records."
A group of elderly women suddenly realized, "It seems their family was prepared all along, afraid that if we found out their son was mentally ill, they would just say he was drunk and acting crazy when he had an episode!"
“I was wondering before, if a drunkard is a drunkard, so be it, there are plenty of others in the village, why is it that his family is spreading the word about their son’s drunken antics everywhere?”
Liu Nian nodded, raising an eyebrow. "This is because we might discover the truth!"
Zhang Suzhen immediately added, "Du Jianguo had the disease before he got married and kept it a secret all along. How immoral is that!"
Liu Nian and Zhang Suzhen exchanged a glance. Liu Nian thought to herself, "It's a done deal. In a few days, everyone in the surrounding villages will know that Du Jianguo is mentally ill and that he committed marriage fraud."
Now, whenever the Du family goes out, people point and whisper. Du Jianguo was already suspicious, and now he's even more afraid to go out and see people.
That wasn't enough. Liu Nian then had Liu Qiang and Liu Dayong use Du Huihuang's name to get credit from the supply and marketing cooperative, and they got a bunch of food and drinks on credit.
The Liu family members sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), cracking melon seeds and drinking tea. When they ran out, they would order Li Caiyan to bring them tea and water, treating Li Caiyan like a maid.
Finally, Li Caiyan couldn't take it anymore and tentatively asked, "Father-in-law, you've been here for so many days, the house can't just stay empty all the time, can it?"
Zhou Hongyi waved her hand and said, "It's alright, I just want to stay at my daughter's house for a few more days. You don't need to worry about things at home!"
"Wait a minute, I'll have my nephew bring me some clean clothes." Zhou Hongyi said with a forced smile, "Have you gotten tired of staying at your house for so many days?"
Just as Li Caiyan was about to say something, she suddenly heard a pig squeal coming from the pigpen.
"Oh dear, they're slaughtering a pig again! I only have one left!" Li Caiyan rushed out.
Du Jianguo was already blocking the entrance to the pigsty, holding a knife, and refusing to let Liu Dayong and Liu Qiang in.
"What are you doing!" Liu Dayong's face darkened, and he angrily shouted, "Your father-in-law is not as good as a pig, is he? Get out of my way!"
As a result, Du Jianguo went berserk, shouting, "You've come to harm me! You're all bad people! You're devils!"
The group exchanged glances. Was this a relapse?
"Jianguo, is he having a relapse?" Liu Dayong waved his hand and shouted anxiously, "Get him to the mental hospital right away!"
Before the Du family could react, the Liu family had already tied him up with the ropes they had prepared and forcibly sent him to the hospital.
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