The two door knockers on Chenheng Gate are exquisitely carved and feel very solid in your hand; they must have cost a lot of money to make.
Nowadays, no one would be willing to install such a door in their home. After all, some people are so poor that they might secretly take it away at night, and who would they go to complain to?
As Su Yalong gripped the door knocker, his greed deepened.
Hearing someone knocking on the door, Bai Jiaojiao nudged Shen Heng.
The snow has been so heavy these past two days that road repairs have been suspended, and Chen Heng is so tired from lying on the kang (a heated brick bed).
He put on a big cotton-padded coat and went downstairs, thinking that the people who came to his house to knock on the door were either from Bai Jiaojiao's family or Wang Fushun. He didn't expect that they were two unfamiliar faces.
Shen Heng frowned: "Who are you? What are you doing here? Do you even know whose house this is?"
No one in Shili Village dared to knock on their door easily. Shen Heng pulled his cotton-padded coat tighter around himself, his face showing displeasure.
Su Yahu breathed a sigh of relief and didn't give Shen Heng a polite look.
Su Yalong explained his purpose: "Don't you recognize us? I'm Su Yalong. I heard from the brigade leader that Zhigao is at your house right now, isn't he?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Heng took another look at the two brothers' faces. They did match his memory of them, but now they were well-fed and well-clothed in the city, completely different from the people he remembered a few years ago.
"It's my house, so what's it to you?"
Shen Heng made a move to close the door. He had already discussed this with Bai Jiaojiao. He couldn't tolerate those two bastards coming.
"Ouch!" Su Yahu reached out as if his life depended on it and stopped Shen Heng from closing the door. Shen Heng was strong, and the door slammed shut with a "bang," causing Su Yahu to howl in pain.
"ah--"
Shen Heng reflexively let go, and Su Yahu pulled his hand back, only to find a red mark on his palm that stung painfully.
"What do you want to do? Shen Heng, are you being unreasonable?"
Su Yahu was only focused on the pain, and it was Su Yalong who sought justice for him.
Shen Heng stared at the two men and said, "Do I need your permission to close my own door? Who do you think you are? He asked for it. Let me tell you, if I weren't trying to do good deeds, he wouldn't be able to keep this hand."
Shen Heng's temper had mellowed considerably after marriage, and he felt that the two people in front of him were simply too reckless.
“We’re not here to cause you any trouble. Let Zhigao come with us. What’s the point of him staying at your house all the time? We’re his uncle after all.”
Zhu Yalong used a feigned retreat to try and make Shen Heng nervous.
But Shen Heng said, "Since you know who I am, you still want to reason with me? Let me tell you, don't even mention your nephew, even if it were your own son, if I asked him to come and stay, you dare to say no."
"You!" Zhu Yalong hadn't expected Shen Heng to react this way. His prepared explanation was like a scholar encountering a soldier when faced with someone like Shen Heng who admitted to being unreasonable.
After the initial shock of the pain subsided, Zhu Yahu felt a surge of anger and, gripping the wrist of his injured hand with his other hand, said fiercely, "Chen Heng, if you have the guts, keep raising that little brat. If we, as his uncles, call the police, you can expect to go to jail!"
"Yes, what right do you have to detain someone else's child in your house? Now that Zhigao's grandmother is dead, it's only right that we two uncles take care of him!"
Shen Heng looked at the two brothers. They were truly heartless towards others, but the two brothers were quite united.
Hearing the argument outside, Bai Jiaojiao instructed Su Zhigao and then came out: "Then go and call the police. It was the brigade that handed the child over to our family. Your Su family elders also agreed. When this was being done, we didn't even know where you two were."
Bai Jiaojiao came out in a hurry. She wasn't afraid of anything else, but she was afraid that Shen Heng's impulsiveness would cause the two of them to bleed on the spot.
Su Yalong and Su Yahu had always lived in the town and were completely unaware that Shen Heng had already married. They were somewhat taken aback when they suddenly saw such a beautiful woman walking out of Shen Heng's courtyard.
Shen Heng's face darkened further: "If you don't want to go down and keep your mother company, then get out of here right now!"
As he spoke, he closed the door again. This time, Su Yahu dared not stop him and could only watch helplessly as Shen Heng bolted the door from inside.
"If you've got the guts, then don't come out! I'm telling you, if you don't hand over Zhigao to us today, we're not leaving your doorstep!"
Shen Heng put his arm around Bai Jiaojiao and went back into the house: "Are they out of their minds? They like to freeze in front of our house, who cares?"
Bai Jiaojiao looked at Su Zhigao, knowing that she would have to face this trouble sooner or later.
"What he said isn't wrong. What if they really call the police?"
"Let them freeze to death in front of our house today, and that will be the end of it."
Shen Heng still had the mind to joke.
"Wait a while, Uncle Su will come over if he hears the news. He is, after all, their cousin. It would be great if he could get them all to leave. Even if he can't persuade them to leave, he can still give us a reason to stand up for ourselves."
Bai Jiaojiao even felt it was bad luck that the two people died at their doorstep.
Bai Jiaojiao specially stewed a pot of braising sauce in the kitchen. After about an hour, although the meat wasn't tender, the aroma of the braising sauce had already wafted out of the yard.
Su Yahu and Su Yalong were outside, their teeth chattering from the cold, but when they smelled the fragrant and warm aroma coming from Shen Heng's courtyard, their craving for warmth and food reached its peak, both in their stomachs and in their brains.
They originally wanted to wear down Shen Heng and Bai Jiaojiao, but now that they're suffering, it will become their leverage later.
The two uncles had been waiting at the door for so long in the heavy snow, and Shen Heng still wouldn't open the door. No matter where you go, it's just not right.
Who knew they couldn't hold on for even an hour?
"Every pot has its lid, and the woman in Shen Heng's house is no better than anyone else."
As Su Yahu was cursing, he saw two people walking towards them on the road.
Upon closer inspection, it was Zheng Xu and Uncle Su.
After Su Yahu and Su Yalong left, Zheng Xu was furious at home, but no matter how angry he was, the matter had to be resolved.
He first went to find Li Shiqing. Li Shiqing's son had been beaten so badly by the two brothers that he was about to bring his remaining three sons to kill them. When Zheng Xu saw this, he quickly stopped him and persuaded him for a long time before he left.
They changed course halfway and went to Uncle Su's house, thinking that he was the elder in the village who was closest to the two brothers, and that his words would be of some use.
Zheng Xu misunderstood. These two brothers didn't even care about their mother, so how could they possibly listen to their father's cousins?
Su Yahu didn't even glance at Uncle Su, but Su Yalong greeted him and then turned his face away.
"What are you doing at the door? Aren't they home?"
Zheng Xu thought he would see a tense scene when he arrived, but he didn't expect to see two brothers covered in snow sitting on the stone steps of Shen Heng's house.
The two stone steps at Shen Heng's house were made of two perfectly square rectangular stones, which looked particularly dignified. Zheng Xu couldn't help but envy them every time he saw them.
His thoughts wandered, and he didn't see that the door to the Shen family's house was locked. He frowned and asked the two brothers why.
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