Chapter 15: One by one, we'll fight.
"You shameless hussy, don't push your luck! That bamboo grove belongs to the Cheng family, when did it become yours? You dare to steal bamboo shoots? Are you tired of living?" Liu Guifen stepped forward to snatch the large basket of tender bamboo shoots from Cheng Ying's hand, cursing rudely.
Cheng Ying raised her hand and slapped Liu Guifen's hand hard, pulling the entire bamboo basket into her arms. She looked at her coldly and said, "Our second branch's house was assigned to the west wing, and the courtyard was also divided from there. Starting from the west wing's boundary, the woodshed, livestock shed, and bamboo grove to the west belong to our second branch. These bamboo shoots are mine! You've been eating and taking our second branch's bamboo shoots and firewood for free for ten years without paying a single penny. That's fine, since it's all in the past, and I won't hold it against you. But now, we've completely separated. Animals have no right to eat my bamboo shoots. If you want to eat my bamboo shoots, you have to pay double. Otherwise, it's theft, and I can arrest you as thieves and send you to the commune's public security bureau to be locked up!"
"You filthy slut, who are you calling an animal? You..." Liu Guifen was slapped with all her might, and her right wrist felt like it had been hit hard with a wooden stick. The pain was so intense that her eyes were about to burst, and her wrist immediately turned red.
Her chest heaved with anger, and upon hearing Cheng Ying's words, her head throbbed with rage. Ignoring the pain in her hands, she continued to hurl insults, venting her inner fury.
"Anyone who answers me is an animal. Animals can't speak like humans. If you keep swearing like that, see how I deal with you." Cheng Ying didn't even bother to look at her. She raised her hand and slapped her mouth hard several times, making her scream in pain. Her mouth was red and swollen, like a pig's snout. Then she kicked her hard in the stomach and walked out with the basket.
Seeing this, Huang Cuizhi was both heartbroken and frightened. She half-blocked the doorway, baring her teeth and claws, and said, "Cheng Ying! You've really grown wings! You even dare to hit and scold your elders! Don't you have any moral sense of respecting the elderly and caring for the young?! Put down the bamboo shoots! That bamboo grove was planted by our old master Cheng. What does it have to do with you, you worthless piece of trash?! If you don't put them down, don't blame me for beating you to death! You piece of shit!"
Cheng Ying glanced at her disdainfully. "Grandma, watch your words. If I'm a worthless woman, you're a worthless woman too. After all, we're both women, and I even have a third of your blood in my veins. Any insults you hurl at me will bounce back on you. That bamboo grove belongs to my family. If you have any objections, you can go to the village secretary and the commune secretary for a re-evaluation to see who the bamboo grove truly belongs to. Before this, you dared to steal bamboo shoots from my family behind our backs. I'll let it go this time, but if I find out you stealing bamboo shoots again, you can expect to go to jail and face legal trouble!"
After she finished speaking, she shoved aside Huang Cuizhi, who was blocking the doorway, and walked out the door.
Huang Cuizhi stumbled from the bump, clutching her aching shoulder. Watching the woman's retreating figure, she gritted her teeth in hatred.
Yesterday, Cheng Ying brought so many cadres from the county and even arrested Cheng Chunfu. She's so capable that no matter how the leaders of the commune and village viewed her before, after yesterday's incident, they probably wouldn't dare to offend her, and everything would be based on her opinion.
In those days, someone who could mobilize so many county officials to go to the countryside was no ordinary person. The officials in the commune and village dared not offend her, lest they suffer the consequences.
If Huang Cuizhi really made a scene with the village officials, they wouldn't stand on her side; they would only side with that brat Cheng Ying. Huang Cuizhi was furious just thinking about it.
That bamboo grove had six kinds of bamboo shoots planted, and bamboo shoots grew all year round. In previous years, Huang Cuizhi made a lot of money by digging up bamboo shoots from the bamboo grove and selling them, and exchanged them for a lot of things. Now that damned girl Cheng Ying had taken them all, she couldn't do anything to her for nothing. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and her head spun and she slumped to the side.
"Mom, are you alright?" Huang Xiaohong, who had been silently tending the fire, saw her swaying and quickly went to help her up, deliberately shouting loudly, "Cheng Ying, look what you've done! You've made your grandma faint!"
Cheng Ying acted as if she hadn't heard her and walked out of the kitchen without turning her head.
Upon hearing that his wife and mother had been bullied by Cheng Ying in the kitchen, Cheng Jianli stormed over to Cheng Ying, clenched his fists, and punched her in the face, gritting his teeth as he said, "I've put up with you for so long! I wanted to beat you up in the yard yesterday, and today you dare to come to our kitchen and hit your elders! You ungrateful, treacherous, lowly wretch! You still want me to pay you back? You're dreaming! I'll beat you to death!"
Cheng Ying dodged his attack by tilting her head, then calmly bent down and placed the bamboo basket containing bamboo shoots on the ground. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she slenderly swept her right leg fiercely towards Cheng Jianli's lower body.
Cheng Jianli was caught off guard by her sudden attack, lost his footing, and fell to the ground.
Cheng Jianli hurriedly used all his strength to steady himself, but Cheng Ying didn't give him a chance to stand up. She stretched out her right leg, hooked his left leg, and slammed it into his knee. At the same time, she reached out and pressed down on his restless arm, twisting it hard with her backhand. With a cracking sound, Cheng Jianli's right hand made a teeth-grinding sound as his right wrist was broken by Cheng Ying. Cheng Jianli let out a heart-wrenching scream, completely powerless to resist, and his body uncontrollably knelt down in front of her.
Cheng Jianli sensed something was wrong. Ignoring the pain, he struggled to keep his balance so as not to kneel before her, and squatted down in front of Cheng Ying like a dummy.
As soon as he regained his balance, Cheng Ying reached out and pressed his head down, forcing him to kneel upright in front of her. She then smiled slightly at him and said, "Uncle, what are you doing? It's so early in the morning, kneeling down for a few bamboo shoots. It's not worth it. If you want some bamboo shoots, just tell me. If I'm in a good mood, I might give you a couple."
After saying that, she seemed to remember something, "Oh, I forgot, Uncle, you used to beat my sister and me a lot, making us kneel in front of you and admit our mistakes. If we didn't admit our mistakes, you would make us kneel until our legs couldn't take it anymore and we passed out. In all these years, this is the first time you've knelt down and admitted your mistakes to me. It's a pity, I won't forgive you."
Cheng Jianli was so angry that his face turned pale and then red. He had never expected that Cheng Ying would be so agile and skilled in combat. Her attacks were fast, accurate, and ruthless, and her strength was ridiculously great, giving him no chance to retaliate at all.
Cheng Jianli was one of the main laborers in the Cheng family who did farm work. Because of years of heavy labor in the fields, he was very strong and his body was all muscles. When he hit someone, it hurt a lot, and no one in the village dared to fight him.
Even though Cheng Jianli is now about fifty years old, he is still very healthy. The women and children in his family do not dare to argue with him or take the blame for him. They do not dare to provoke him. He feels that he is still in his prime. No matter how arrogant Cheng Ying is or how much she has served in the army, she does not dare to lay a hand on him because he is confident that he can beat anyone.
But now, in his brief encounter with Cheng Ying, he was completely overwhelmed and beaten by her. Only then did he realize that Cheng Ying's strength and fighting skills were far beyond what he, a rough and unruly country bumpkin, could match.
Consider that Cheng Ying was able to rise to the position of platoon leader in just four years in the army. She must be either outstanding or ruthless to stand out among so many female soldiers and become a junior officer.
If it weren't for Cheng Jiantong's incident, and Cheng Ying's return to her hometown after her military service to seek justice, given her ruthlessness, she would likely have achieved greater success and a higher military rank in the army.
For a moment, Cheng Jianli looked at Cheng Ying with fear and trepidation. He realized that his niece was no longer the same girl he used to be, who could be bullied and scolded at will.
He hurriedly stood up from the ground, clutching his fractured right hand with his left, his face covered in cold sweat from the pain. He retorted defiantly, "Shut up! Is this how you treat your elders?! You unfilial descendant, daring to hit your elders, aren't you afraid of being condemned?"
“You bully your sister-in-law and abuse your niece, aren’t you afraid of being criticized? I’m just giving you a taste of your own medicine, an eye for an eye. What do I have to fear about being criticized?”
Cheng Ying picked up the bamboo basket from the ground, flicked off imaginary dirt from her clothes, and looked at Cheng Jianli, whose face was flushed red like a pig's liver, saying, "Uncle, you have two days to raise the money. If you don't come up with the three hundred yuan to compensate my father for medical and emotional distress within two days, you and Aunt can prepare to go to jail. After you go to jail, your second son, Cheng Chungui, will continue to repay the money you owe. If he doesn't pay..."
She paused, looked up towards the east of the county town, and said lightly, "I heard that the mines east of the county town can earn fifty yuan for selling an illegal worker there. If you can't pay it back, why don't you sell your whole family there to work as illegal workers? With the remaining money, you can sell Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle and Aunt, and Gou Dan and the others. Maybe that will make enough money."
Upon hearing her words, the Cheng family's expressions changed. Cheng Yiguo couldn't help but rebuke her: "You really think you're something special? You want to sell our whole family into illegal labor? Who gave you the guts?! Aren't you afraid...?"
"What am I afraid of?" Before he could finish speaking, Cheng Ying interrupted, "If I dared to sell you all to work illegally, I naturally have connections to secretly manipulate things so no one knows about it. I'll make sure you're stuck in the mines for life, never to rise again! I've always been a vengeful person, holding grudges and remembering every single thing you did to me when I was a child. You'd better stay home obediently and not think about doing anything naughty. Pay your debts on time and live peacefully from now on. Don't spend your days thinking about how to deal with our second branch of the family. If you refuse to be honest and behave yourselves, and if you anger me, I'm capable of anything! I won't spare your entire family, adults and children alike. Those who deserve to die, die!"
When she said this, her eyes were cold and terrifying, like a sharp knife, stabbing into the hearts of all the Cheng family members present.
She was quite pretty, but her expression was filled with murderous intent. The way she looked at Lao Cheng's family members was as if she were looking at corpses.
All of the Cheng family members were terrified by her terrifying gaze and dared not meet her eyes, because they knew that Cheng Ying had been a madwoman capable of anything since she was a child!
She always kept her word, which was why Huang Cuizhi and Cheng Yiguo disliked her. Her personality was too similar to that of the young Cheng Yiguo—particularly fierce and rebellious. When she went crazy, she didn't care about anything, and Huang Cuizhi was afraid of her.
After saying that, Cheng Ying stopped arguing with them and went back to the kitchen of the second shed with the bamboo basket in her hand.
A note from the author:
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