Lu Mingcai narrowed his eyes as he thought about Zhao Dayong's unusual behavior today.
There must be someone instigating this.
Otherwise, how could that coward Zhao Dayong dare to talk back to him to his face?
"In short, you all better behave yourselves for the time being. If you dare to cause trouble again, get out of this house!"
Aunt Zhang shrank back, while Lu Xiaolan looked displeased.
Lu Mingcai glanced at Lu Xiaolan, "Where's Zhao Mingzhe? Wasn't he with you?"
Lu Xiaolan then realized she had forgotten about Zhao Mingzhe and hurriedly went to look for him.
Aunt Zhang frowned: "What's wrong with Zhao Mingzhe? His wife has been beaten up like this, and he just stands by and does nothing?"
He's not even a man!
Lu Xiaolan: "Mom, how can you blame Mingzhe?"
How could a scholar fight like a shrew?
Aunt Zhang felt a surge of anger. "You've been beaten up like this, and you're still protecting him!"
She's completely bewitched by that pretty boy!
Lu Mingcai was too lazy to deal with these trivial matters. He instructed Aunt Zhang to take ten eggs and a pound of meat to Zhao Dayong's house to appease him.
Aunt Zhang felt heartbroken when she heard that another pound of meat was going to be given away: "Then Zhao Dayong's family is not worth giving so many good things. A few eggs will suffice as a token."
If the head of the household hadn't spoken up, she wouldn't have even wanted to give them a few eggs.
Look at what Zhao Lingdang did to Da Hua's face!
Lu Mingcai glared at Aunt Zhang, "Go now!"
Aunt Zhang had no choice but to go and make the trip.
As a result, the items were returned in the same way they were taken there.
Zhao Dayong's family refused to accept it.
Lu Mingcai looked at the contents of the basket and lit a cigarette.
Aunt Zhang cursed, "They're shameless! I think Zhao Dayong's family is going to take advantage of us! Next year..."
Lu Mingcai snapped irritably, "Shut up!"
They won't even accept gifts; someone must have promised them even greater benefits beforehand.
Lu Mingcai paced around the house twice, feeling increasingly uneasy, and smoked half a pack of cigarettes that afternoon.
That night, after everyone in Lu Mingcai's family had fallen asleep, he quietly went out alone and made his way to Widow Liu's house at the east end of the village.
There were only three people in Widow Liu's family: her hard-of-hearing mother-in-law and her son who was studying in town.
Widow Liu was startled when she heard the pre-arranged code between the two men, thinking she had misheard. It wasn't until Lu Mingcai knocked three times that she finally came down to open the door.
"Why are you here at this hour?" Widow Liu asked nervously, looking at Lu Mingcai outside the door.
The two of them were very careful about this matter. Lu Mingcai never gave her a second glance in front of outsiders. Even her son and mother-in-law did not know that the two of them were having an affair.
Whenever he needed to run errands, he would do so when no one was home or when he went to the village's grain warehouse.
This is the first time someone has come looking for us so suddenly.
Lu Mingcai glanced at Widow Liu, then turned and walked towards the granary.
Widow Liu hesitated for a moment, then locked the door and followed.
She had been with Lu Mingcai for four or five years and knew his temper well. She could tell from his expression that he was in a bad mood, so it was best to go along with him.
Perfect timing, the Lunar New Year is just around the corner, it's time to buy some new things for the house.
The two entered the village's granary with practiced ease, and soon after, intimate sounds could be heard coming from inside.
Just as they were getting into the swing of things, the door to the granary was kicked open, and the two were caught red-handed!
Lu Mingcai never expected that he would fall so easily!
He came to see Widow Liu in the middle of the night not only to vent his anger, but more importantly, because Widow Liu's family lived closest to Zhao Dayong's house. He wanted to ask Widow Liu if there had been anything unusual about Zhao Dayong's family these past few days, and who they had been in contact with, so that he could find out who was doing bad things behind his back.
Wu Dayou and several young militiamen from the village kept an eye on the two men, and then sent someone to fetch the village chief Lu Mingfa and the militia captain Sun Changshun.
Lu Mingfa was woken up from his bed in the middle of the night. When he heard the reason, he was so angry that he almost fainted.
His younger brother Lu Mingcai's actions once again shattered his understanding of the world.
He never imagined that his second brother would even dare to get involved in something like this!
They've gotten so arrogant they don't even know their own name anymore; they're tired of living!
Aunt Li was so angry that she couldn't help but curse on the spot: "These bastards, they never have a moment of peace! Now look what they've done, they've brought this upon themselves!"
It's one thing for her to bring this upon herself, but she shouldn't drag her husband down with her!
After hearing what had happened, Aunt Zhang rushed into the granary without even putting on her coat. She then pounced on Widow Liu, grabbing her hair and tearing and scratching at her while yelling, "You shameless slut, I'll teach you to seduce my man! I'll beat you to death, you shameless whore! I'll beat you to death!"
At first, Widow Liu didn't dare to fight back, but when she saw that Aunt Zhang was becoming more and more outrageous and even wanted to strip her naked and throw her out for the whole village to see, she was so angry that she kicked Aunt Zhang away, straddled her, and slapped her several times.
“You shameless bastard! I was forced into this by your man! You scoundrels! Village Chief! Captain Sun, I'm innocent! I want to report Brigade Leader Lu Mingcai for abusing his power, raping me, and forcing me into prostitution. I was forced into this by him! He said if I didn't submit to him, he would make sure my whole family couldn't survive in the village... Waaah... I'm innocent…”
"Don't you dare spout nonsense, you surnamed Liu!"
When Lu Mingcai heard Widow Liu pinning all the blame on him, he immediately became agitated and hurriedly defended himself, "Don't listen to her nonsense! She seduced me first, and she's the one who's used this to pressure me into constantly asking for favors! If I hadn't secretly helped them all these years, how could their whole family have survived with enough to eat and wear..."
Both sides stuck to their own versions of events, and in an attempt to exonerate themselves, they exposed each other's shortcomings, providing plenty of gossip and amusement for the audience.
Ultimately, the matter wasn't reported to the police out of consideration for the village chief, Lu Mingfa; it was handled privately within the village.
Lu Mingcai was naturally stripped of his position as brigade leader and was tied up in the small square by the villagers to make a self-criticism to the whole village.
Many villagers who had previously been targeted and bullied by Lu Mingcai's family felt very relieved to see him like this. They cursed him incessantly, some even spitting on him and throwing stones. Lu Mingcai, who always cared about his reputation, was utterly humiliated!
After writing his self-criticism, Lu Mingcai fell seriously ill and was bedridden, almost unable to get up.
Lu Mingcai's son and daughter-in-law were so angry that they refused to care about him, and Lu Xiaolan never visited again after the incident.
Finally, Aunt Zhang, fearing something might happen to Lu Mingcai, went to the village chief's house and begged him to lend her the village's oxcart so she could take him to the town hospital. He stayed there for more than half a month before recovering, and he didn't even spend the New Year at home.
That's a story for another time.
After discussion among several village officials and respected elders, Zhao Dabao's father, Zhao Hongyuan, was chosen to serve as the brigade leader.
By the time everything had settled down, it was already the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month.
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