Zhang Cheng's voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.
"Junyi's death has absolutely nothing to do with me, Zhang Cheng."
"Okay, okay!"
Li Houcheng was instantly enraged, his forehead veins bulging and his whole body trembling.
He laughed in fury: "Zhang Ergou! My son died, and I've already admitted defeat and am willing to let this go! And you're still not happy?!"
He stared intently at Zhang Cheng, his eyes filled with a desire to devour him alive.
"My son died! Is it too much to ask you to compensate me with some grain?! Huh?!"
His knuckles turned white from gripping the machete so tightly, his chest heaved violently, he was breathing heavily, and his eyes were filled with terrifying bloodshot veins.
Seeing this situation, the old village chief knew in his heart that things were about to get completely out of control!
He quickly stepped in front of Li Houcheng, urgently urging, "Houcheng! Houcheng! Calm down! You can't fight! This is a society governed by law; fighting will land you in jail!"
"A society governed by the rule of law?!"
Li Houcheng shoved the old village chief aside, spitting out his own words.
"What kind of rule of law society is this?! My son is dead! So I'm right! Even the Heavenly King himself can't change that!"
"Sincere!"
Seeing that Li Houcheng was about to completely lose control, his bloodshot eyes were fixed on Zhang Cheng, as if he was about to pounce on him and perish together.
The old village chief's heart pounded wildly. In his desperation, he almost instinctively shouted, "If Er Gouzi won't pay, you can ask Lao Fu for it!"
These words were like a boulder thrown into a frozen lake, instantly creating ripples in the deathly silent courtyard!
Standing at the very back of the crowd, Old Zhang and his family, who had been craning their necks to watch the spectacle, were stunned as if struck by lightning.
What is that?
Should I seek compensation from Lao Fu?
You want us to compensate you?!
Didn't we separate from that little beast a long time ago?!
Li Houcheng was also taken aback, but his bloodshot eyes darted around rapidly, and his chapped lips moved.
The old saying goes, "The son pays for the father's debts, and the father pays for the son's debts..." It seems... it seems to make sense.
He suddenly turned his head, his gaze like that of a wolf that had been starving for three days, fixed on Zhang Youfu's family trembling under the eaves!
The crowd that had been watching, whether they were surnamed Zhang or Li, instinctively moved aside, making way for a passage to the main house of the Zhang family.
"Village Chief!" Old Fu's face flushed crimson, veins bulging on his neck, his voice trembling. "We separated from Er Gouzi a long time ago! The paperwork is all done! This has absolutely nothing to do with us! Why should we pay compensation?!"
The old woman, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, pierced the cold wind with her sharp voice: "That's right! The grievances have their source and the debtors their culprits! Whoever caused the trouble should take responsibility! Go find that ingrate! Don't try to blame us!"
"Sister-in-law, what you're saying is unreasonable." The old village chief's face darkened, his wrinkles crinkling together, his expression stern. "Er Gouzi did separate from Zhang An and live independently, but he didn't publish a statement in the newspaper, nor did he sever his father-son and mother-son relationship with you two, did he?"
"In name only, he is still the son of your Zhang family!"
"What?!" Old Zhang was so angry that he trembled all over, his finger shaking as he pointed at the old village chief. "Village chief, you...you can't be so biased and unreasonable!"
"How am I being unreasonable?" the old village chief retorted, spitting as he spoke. "Isn't Er Gouzi your biological son? Did he only separate from Zhang An, and isn't he still officially registered as separate from you two on the household registration?"
"That's what I said..." Old Zhang was speechless, but still stubbornly argued, "But...but we already agreed that we'd rely on our eldest son for our old age! We won't get involved in Er Gouzi's affairs at all!"
"Old Fu!" The old village chief's tone softened, carrying a hypocritical earnestness, "Er Gouzi and Anzi, they are both flesh and blood of yours, the palm and the back of your hand are both flesh and blood!"
"Are you just going to stand by and watch Er Gouzi fight the Li family to the death? And watch this matter escalate and become uncontrollable?"
"We don't care! We just don't care!" The old woman was completely desperate, jumping up and down like a shrew, spitting as she spoke. "Let whoever wants to care, care! Anyway, we don't have any grain to compensate!"
Li Houcheng watched coldly from the sidelines, his mind racing.
His sinister gaze swept over Zhang Cheng, who still stood holding his gun, his eyes as cold as a thousand-year-old glacier.
A head-on clash? He outnumbered his opponent, but that gun on the other side was no joke. The undisguised killing intent he'd just witnessed was still making him break out in a cold sweat.
This kid really dares to shoot and kill!
But the Zhang family... humph! They're easy targets!
Li Houcheng's eyes suddenly flashed with ferocity. He abruptly raised his rusty woodcutter's knife high and let out a beast-like roar at the group of Li clan members behind him who had been unable to contain themselves any longer:
"It is only natural that a father should pay for his son's debts!"
"If Zhang Ergou won't pay, he'll rob his father!"
"All of you, get to it! Rob it!!!"
"Awooo—!"
Like a pack of wolves that have received a signal to attack, at Li Houcheng's command, the twenty or thirty villagers surnamed Li behind him, their eyes bloodshot, roared and charged wildly toward the fragile main house in the front yard like a flood bursting its banks!
The situation instantly spiraled completely out of control!
"You dare!"
Old Zhang was both shocked and furious. He instinctively spread his withered arms, trying in vain to stop the crowd surging like a tide, while uttering weak curses.
But how could his frail, old body stop these strong men blinded by hatred and greed?
Almost instantly, he was knocked around by the raging crowd and swept away like a fallen leaf.
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