Chapter Sixty-Three: Am I stirring up trouble?
Wang Anguo was trembling with anger, panting heavily as he wiped the sweat from his brow, his shoes leaving a patch of mud beneath them. He had just been shouting about divorcing his wife, but now, with the crowd growing larger, he knew he had lost all face.
Secretary Li from the brigade headquarters stepped forward, his dark red face taut like a saw blade. He slapped his thigh and raised his voice eight octaves: "That's enough! Wang Anguo, have you lost your mind? Even if your wife did something wrong, what kind of man are you, coming to her parents' house to beat her up?"
"Do you know our village is currently striving to be an advanced village? Your actions have ruined our reputation!"
Wang Anguo's lips twitched, and he muttered softly, "It's not like I haven't been mistreated... I was just..."
"What is that? Sister Chunxue had dinner with Secretary Song, and your wife started spreading rumors and causing trouble. You believed everything you heard and brought your gang of brothers to beat people up? Why don't you go to the police station and report your wife for cheating? Go ahead and report it! Do you dare?"
Secretary Li made his point crystal clear, and Wang Anguo's face turned pale upon hearing it. His vest was instantly soaked with sweat, and his mouth hung open, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.
Several village officials nearby chimed in, "If Secretary Song really had something going on with your wife, would she still be standing here alive? Everyone knows what kind of person Secretary Song is, and you, as a man, can't stand the rumors and come here to slap him. You're really something."
Village chief Zhong Aiguo came out, his voice not loud but very deep: "Don't just think about what happened to others. Take a good look at your wife. You hit a woman, a woman who has been with you for more than ten years."
"Your eldest son is almost getting married, and your daughter is in middle school now. In a few years, you might be a grandfather. At this age, you beat an old woman up like a pig's head over a mere verbal argument. Don't you feel ashamed?"
Zhong Jingui sat on the ground, clutching her head. Her face was swollen, blood was still dripping from the corner of her mouth, and her nose was crooked. She was in excruciating pain, but her mind was preoccupied with something else entirely.
After being rejected by Song Xingzhi, she was quite depressed for a while, but she did not give up and still secretly looked at Song Xingzhi until she was warned by him. Only then did she give up and accept her family's arrangement to go on a blind date and get married.
But over the years, she has never forgotten Song Xingzhi.
Now that she's been beaten like this, and Song Xingzhi is there too, he heard her cry out in pain and saw how pitifully her nose was bleeding. Why didn't he say a word?
Does that mean that all her unwavering devotion over the past decade is worth nothing to him?
She couldn't help but look up in Song Xingzhi's direction, a pitiful glimmer of hope still clinging to her heart. Even a simple greeting, or just a "Are you alright?" would be enough.
But Song Xingzhi just stood there, looking down at the ground, his hands behind his back, without saying a word or making the slightest movement.
Zhong Jingui's heart skipped a beat, a chill ran down her spine, and the snot and tears she had just suppressed suddenly flowed out again. With a "whoosh," she burst into tears.
Standing to the side, Zhang Chunxue found this scene utterly absurd.
She held back for a long time, but finally couldn't help but sneer: "So you mean you think your man didn't beat you hard enough? Then let's just give you a couple more hits and not waste this crying."
"Just now in front of the supply and marketing cooperative, you were cursing me for having a grandson and dressed up like a vixen. Now, with your own children about to become parents, you're still crying and acting like a lovesick woman in the street? Who are you trying to move?"
She paused for a moment, then continued with her sarcastic remark: "If you think that getting married means becoming a haggard housewife, then you should just stay home and stay put."
"Secretary Song hasn't even given you a second glance, hasn't said a word to you. You think you can win her favor with just this 'unforgettable old flame' act? Aren't you dreaming?"
Her voice grew increasingly sarcastic: "Besides, according to Zhong Jingui, having a grandson turns you into an old hag, and it would be best if you just snapped and died. After all, she didn't hold back in mocking me, this old woman who has a grandson, today!"
"Or, Zhong Jingui, why don't you just hang yourself at your doorstep the day your daughter-in-law gives birth to your grandson?"
As soon as he said that, everyone around him fell silent.
Who among us doesn't have children? Zhang Chunxue's words were harsh, but also true.
Who hasn't grown old? Who wasn't raised by their children?
Zhong Jingui curled up into a ball, burying her head even lower, her shoulders shaking as she cried.
She truly never expected that her outburst today would result in her being riddled with holes.
Several women in the crowd who usually gossiped with her dared not speak, and just lowered their heads and picked at their fingers.
At this moment, Song Xingzhi suddenly spoke up. His voice wasn't loud, but it was more effective than anything else.
"Sister Chunxue, you don't look old."
One sentence left the entire audience stunned once again.
Zhang Chunxue, who had been wearing a sarcastic smile, paused for a second upon hearing this, as if she had been struck by lightning, and didn't retort.
Zhong Jingui was crying, but upon hearing this, her tears burst forth like a burst dam, and she cried even harder with a "waaaaa".
She never expected that Song Xingzhi, who had been silent for so long, would suddenly speak up, and even more unexpectedly, his words were in defense of Zhang Chunxue.
She looked up at Song Xingzhi, her expression resembling that of a woman about to jump into a well, and then her cries grew even louder.
Zhang Chunxue wasn't going to let Zhong Jingui off so easily. She immediately snorted coldly, "Oh, Secretary Song just said one sentence for me. You're crying like this. If he really marries me, you'll be crying your heart out, won't you?"
"I'm not trying to be mean, but you cry over a single word from Secretary Song. If he were to offer me some comforting words, would you faint on the spot?"
She shrugged: "Who doesn't say that you, Zhong Jingui, are the most devoted lover in the world?"
Wang Anguo's face turned green. He clenched his fists, the veins on his arms bulging, and he glared at Zhong Jingui as if he wanted to shove her straight into a pigsty.
But he still didn't dare to make a move; the muscles in his face twitched intermittently, like someone who was holding in a fart but couldn't let it out.
Village chief Zhong Aiguo couldn't stand it anymore and his face darkened: "Chunxue, stop stirring things up. The couple is already having a big fight, and if you add fuel to the fire, the whole family will be torn apart."
After all, they share the same surname, Zhong, so they are at least somewhat related.
Zhang Chunxue curled her lip and sneered, "Me, stirring up trouble?"
“I went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy something today, and she stopped me as I was walking. She scolded me in public, saying that I, an old woman with a grandson, was not indecent for wearing new clothes.”
She said I make a living by seducing men, that men would not be faithful to me after I die, and that I am shameless in life.
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