The angrier everyone got, the more arrogant Zhao became. She realized that even if she spoke nicely to these fools in the village, they wouldn't stand by her side, so she might as well do whatever she wanted.
Anyway, they're all poorer than the last, so I don't expect them to be of any help. There's nothing to be afraid of if I offend them all.
At worst, we'll break off all ties, so that when we become successful, these poor bastards won't come knocking on our door to beg for our money!
Seeing Zhao's shameless attitude, Li Manying spat angrily. What bad luck! She didn't care about the reputation and face of the two children at all. What good would it do to fall out with the villagers?
He could only force a smile and say, "Aunties and grandmothers, please calm down and talk things out. Second brother, sister-in-law, what happened?"
Everyone initially thought Li Manying wasn't a good person either, as she was always sarcastic and had even sneaked into Cheng Yue's house to steal a secret recipe. However, after hearing this, and compared to Zhao Shi, she didn't seem so unlikeable.
Cheng Yue looked coldly at Zhao Shi, "What's wrong? We need to ask your mother-in-law why she came to our mountain, why she stole the children's wild vegetables, and why she could be so heartless as to push the children down the mountain!"
Li Manying's lips twitched. She had guessed right. She had told Zhao Shi several times not to provoke the second son's family, but Zhao Shi just wouldn't listen.
Now that Cheng Yue has come to interrogate her, she is truly afraid, feeling that she will lose the last two taels of silver she has left.
Zhao was not afraid of others, but she was still intimidated by Cheng Yue. She bluffed and said, "What do you mean, your mountain? That's my mountain. Why can you go but I can't?"
Those two little girls, they won't even give them a single wild vegetable. They don't understand the principle of filial piety. If their reputation for being unfilial gets out, will they ever be able to get married?
I only disciplined them a little because I meant well. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't have bothered. They were the ones who tripped and fell because their legs were weak; how could I be the one who pushed them?
Cheng Yue laughed in exasperation. She hated this kind of talk the most, like, "I'm your so-and-so, that's why I care about you." If it were a stranger, she wouldn't care about such excuses.
That's a joke! Try interfering with a stranger like that, and see if you get slapped across the face!
“We will take care of the children ourselves. You don’t need to worry about them anymore. They are still young and can’t withstand your discipline.”
"You only used a little force, and the children almost fell down the mountain. If you had been stronger, they'd probably be in court by now!"
Chen An closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were filled with coldness. His mother was truly unrepentant. She was like this when she killed her father, and now she was harming his children!
It's hateful that it took him so many years to see his mother's true colors. He even hoped to receive a little bit of maternal love before. He was so wrong!
Zhao pointed at Chen An's nose in disbelief, "You actually threatened your own mother to go to court?"
"Even if those two brats were dead, you wouldn't be able to sue your mother. If a son sues his mother, you'd be in deep trouble!"
The Great Sheng Dynasty governed the world with filial piety. A son suing his mother was considered unfilial and would be punished with a beating. How dare you threaten her like this for two worthless girls?
Chen An said, word by word, "It is only natural for parents to care for their children. If my children are bullied, I will naturally seek justice. What is there to be afraid of in court!"
"You, you!"
Zhao's eyelids twitched, and she took two steps back. She really couldn't believe that Chen An would actually go to such lengths for two worthless girls.
Upon hearing this, the villagers not only didn't feel anything was wrong, but instead felt delighted, and their breathing became much easier.
They weren't afraid that Chen An would set a precedent and their own children would follow suit. As long as they didn't mistreat their children, their children would naturally treat them well in return.
The Zhao family brought this upon themselves! They deserved it!
"Old Zhao, I treated you like an elder, and look what you've done! What did Cui Cui do to you that you grabbed her hand like this?"
As soon as Zhao Xiangxiu arrived, she squeezed to the front, grabbed Cuicui's hand, glanced at it, and then shouted at Zhao Shi, no longer even calling her "Auntie".
"Oh dear, what happened? Zhao, didn't you just say you were disciplining your granddaughter? How come you're even disciplining Cuicui now?"
Chen Tong spoke up at the right moment, her eyes filled with tears, "It was Sister Cui Cui who saw Grandma was about to push us down and came to protect us. Grandma couldn't stand it and hit Sister Cui Cui too. If Sister Cui Cui hadn't dodged quickly, her face would probably have been scratched all over!"
Cui Cui's eyes widened in surprise. Although Zhao Shi had scratched her, she hadn't scratched her face!
But seeing Chen Tong wink at her, she decided to keep quiet and keep her mouth shut.
"What? Granny Zhao, are you trying to ruin my Cui Cui's face? How could there be such a wicked person as you in Hou Shui Village!"
As Zhao Xiangxiu shouted, she rushed forward. Zhao Shi was so frightened that she trembled and hurriedly hid behind Li Manying.
Li Manying moved even faster, dodging to the side. She was already terrified of being hit and didn't want to be punched again.
Ouch!
Zhao had no way to avoid it and took a punch to the shoulder. If Zhao Xiangxiu hadn't held back her strength for fear of being extorted by Zhao, she probably would have been knocked down with one punch.
The women realized what had happened and immediately stepped forward to grab Zhao Xiangxiu, angrily saying to Zhao, "Look what you've done! If you don't apologize and compensate us, we're not going to stop her!"
"What are you pulling at? You hurt someone else's child, so she deserves to feel the pain too!"
Zhao was truly terrified now. Not only did Chen An and Cheng Yue not say anything, but Zhao Xiangxiu was actually going to attack her!
"Take these two baskets of wild vegetables back with me, consider it compensation!"
"This originally belonged to them, what kind of compensation is this?"
Zhao was speechless when questioned. Cheng Yue said, "If you don't know what compensation is, then I'll help you figure it out."
The children are injured; you'll have to pay for their medical expenses. Also, your mother-in-law stole the children's wild vegetables—didn't she say there wasn't enough pig or chicken to eat at home?
Since you can't feed it, then you can compensate us, so that your mother-in-law won't use this as an excuse to discipline the child later.
Zhao screamed, "How can that be?!" After the family split up, there was only one pig and two old hens left. Wasn't this cutting off her flesh?
"If Mother doesn't want to make amends, then let's sever ties!" Chen An said in a deep voice.
The villagers were so shocked by this turn of events that they were speechless. How could they be severing ties?
Li Manying was equally shocked. The second son really dared to say that severing ties with relatives meant there would be no more protection from the clan!
The village head had just arrived when he heard the words "severing ties" and took a few steps forward. "Chen An, you..."
"Sever ties if you will!" Zhao interrupted the village head directly. So what if ties are severed? What's there to be afraid of? They can't be relied on anyway.
That way, if Jinsun achieves fame and success, the second son's family won't swarm around him like leeches, sucking his blood.
The village head glanced at Zhao Shi, then looked at Chen An's expression. Well, things had already turned ugly when the family was divided, and now Zhao Shi was courting disaster again. It was only a matter of time before the family was severed.
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