Chapter 2 Chapter 2 The little dumb boy is pitiful, the little dumb boy is pretending...
Everyone was waiting for the village chief to come.
Qin Xiong stood in front of Tian Ge, motionless as a mountain, staring at Li Xiufen and her son not far away, expressionless and silent.
Yu Guangzhong, the mute boy who was falsely accused, seemed to be doing something.
After a long while, the rustling noise behind me did not stop.
Qin Xiong slightly turned sideways.
Tian Ge was busy on the road. He broke off a dead branch at his feet and bent it into the length of a brush.
The land along the river was full of large rocks and covered with lush weeds.
Tian Ge reached out to pull out the weeds, pushed aside the stones, and made a square space.
The hunter had good eyesight, and Qin Xiong observed silently.
After seeing the mute boy digging the soil, the cracks between his clean nails were quickly filled with black and yellow soil.
A thin layer of sweat seeped out of the tip of the nose, and there was a small red mole in the middle of the nose bridge, which was moistened by the sweat.
The mute boy was thin, but his hair was extremely dark and thick, and was completely soaked by the river water when he fell into the water just now.
The water droplets gather at the ends of the hair, gradually making it fuller and rounder.
Then drop by drop it falls to the ground, making the color of the yellow soil deeper.
Tian Ge squatted on the ground, using a dead branch as a pen and the soil as paper, writing stroke by stroke.
He was born without speech.
When I was a child, my mother was still alive and my father was in good health, and our family was not as poor as we are now.
His family felt sorry for him because he was born with a disease and couldn't speak with his mouth, so he used his hands to learn to recognize words and speak with words.
They sent Tian Ge to the home of an old student in the village, and gave him copper coins, vegetables and meat. After begging him several times, the old student finally accepted Tian Ge as his son and let him study for two full years.
Neither of the two older brothers in the family received such treatment, only the younger brother Tian Ge had it.
Tian Ge is the only boy in Qingshui Village who can read and write.
Qin Xiong discovered that this mute boy could write, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
His handwriting is quite good, beautiful and neat, with the tip of the brush hidden at the beginning and the tip of the brush returned at the end.
If there were real writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone, it would surely be more pleasing to the eye.
Look at what is written there.
Qin Xiong frowned and looked away.
Tian Ge saw from afar that the village chief Wang Tianshi was walking towards them.
Wang Tianshi is over fifty years old. He has been a kind-hearted man since he was young and has helped everyone a lot. As he grows older, he is highly respected in the village.
After the previous village chief passed away, Wang Tianshi was elected as the new village chief by the villagers.
Unfortunately, the Wang family had few descendants. Wang Tianshi's two daughters and one son had already married.
Wang Tianshi himself had a brother, but he fell off a cliff and died when he was young, leaving Wang Zhu, a fool.
Wang Zhu is Wang Tianshi's nephew.
It can be said that Wang Zhu is the only man in his Wang family.
Even a fool has the responsibility of carrying on the family line.
But marrying a man means providing food and clothing, and no good family would want to marry their daughter or son to a fool who cannot take care of himself.
Tian Ge watched as the village chief was talking to Li Xiufen.
He stood up slowly. His calves were numb from squatting for too long.
"Brother, you have to stand up for us. A mute can bully us orphans and widows."
"He, Tian Ge, didn't have eyes and fell into the water. I felt sorry for him because he had his body seen and lost his innocence. I kindly gave him clothes. I kindly fed him to the dogs, but he, he..."
Li Xiufen cried so hard that she could hardly catch her breath.
"He's an unmarried young man, and he teamed up with that foreign hunter to kick our pillar into the river. This is going to kill my son! This is going to kill me! If my son is gone, I will die too!"
"God has eyes! Born by a mother but not taught by her, she seduces men before she even gets married, and even turns the tables and accuses my son. God, my son is such a poor man that he wouldn't even step on an ant on the road. What else do you want from us? Give us a chance to live."
Li Xiufen was also expressing her true feelings. Life for an orphan and a widow was indeed difficult. She slapped her thigh and shed tears.
Wang Tianshi frowned and took a puff of welding smoke. "Alright! You know the importance of my brother and sister's innocence. I will find out what's going on."
The people who were watching the fun were originally on the small hillside, but now they followed the village chief to a closer place and watched with even more interest.
Li Xiufen burst into tears.
She was called by Wang Tianshi, and she pulled Wang Zhu, who was also sobbing, to Tian Ge.
The village chief asked the two parties to confront each other face to face.
"Village chief, Tian Ge is a mute, so whatever you say is the truth. How can this be called a face-to-face confrontation?" Someone in the crowd asked with a smile.
It's really a thought to confront a mute.
Li Xiufen didn't care. When she thought of the time her son was kicked, her heart ached and she felt hatred.
He wished he could tear the cowering mute and the hunter in front of him into pieces.
"You!" Li Xiufen stretched out her finger and pointed it at Tian Ge viciously.
Before he could utter any vicious curse, something unexpected happened.
Tian Ge couldn't control himself, his body swayed and he fell backwards.
This happened so suddenly that no one could react. They only heard a dull thud of flesh hitting the ground, and then Tian Ge fell face down in the grass by the river.
Tian Ge opened his eyes, his body was soft and he had no strength at all. He looked up at the clear blue sky and white clouds.
Everyone saw two lines of tears flowing from the corners of Tian Ge's eyes, one after another.
Tian Ge's big eyes, clearly black and white, didn't blink, lifeless and dull.
Fortunately, the grass was deep where Tian Ge fell, so he didn't hit his head.
Tian Ge began to sob. A mute crying makes no sound, only the sound of continuous gasping for air.
The tears flowed like free water, and the thin chest heaved violently.
Wang Tianshi was startled and quickly asked his wife and brother-in-law to help the man up.
"Aunt Li, you said Tian Ge forced you. How did she force you? Everyone in the village knows that Tian Ge is kind and friendly, and she smiles at everyone she sees."
The person who said this was an old woman who was watching the show.
She had just warned her new husband not to meddle in other people's business.
Now seeing Tian Ge's desperate look of being at the mercy of others, he couldn't bear it anymore.
"Aunt Li, you said it yourself. God is watching what we do. If we do something too extreme, we will be struck by lightning. You must speak with conscience."
Li Xiufen was also frightened.
Tian Ge's face was pale, his mouth was bloodless, and he was sobbing so hard that his whole body was shaking uncontrollably, as if he was about to die.
Tian Ge was supported by someone and had his Ren Zhong acupoint pinched, and his back and chest were spurred on to breathe.
He cried so hard and felt really wronged. When he swallowed, he tasted blood in his throat.
Li Xiufen was about to speak when Tian Ge's family arrived.
Tian Ge's sister-in-law, Jin Guihua, rushed into the crowd with a loose and clean dress in her hands.
He saw Tian Ge, who was dying and naked, at a glance, and hurried over to take him into his arms and quickly put clothes on him.
"It's okay, it's okay. If anyone dares to gossip, I'll tear their mouths apart for you." Jin Guihua said gritting her teeth.
My eldest brother Tian Da is busy in the fields and hasn't heard the news yet.
The second brother Tian Er came with a machete. He first glanced in the direction of Tian Ge, suppressed his anger, and walked to the village chief.
"Village Chief, our Tian family is not unreasonable. If my younger brother does something wrong, I, as his elder brother, will be the first one to not cover up for him."
Tian Er raised his voice and said, "But if anyone is blind and thinks my brother can't speak and bullies him, I will naturally seek justice!"
In addition to my second brother, several cousins from my uncle's family also came after hearing the news.
They are all men who dig for food in the soil and mountains. They are exposed to the wind and sun, and their muscles and bones are repeatedly beaten. They are stronger than each other.
Li Xiufen's face was blue and white. She looked here and there without saying a word.
Wang Tianshi had been watching secretly, and when he saw his sister-in-law's appearance, he instantly understood about 70% of what was going on, and secretly cursed her in his heart for being stupid and confused.
"Tian Er, put down your knife first. We are all from the same village. As the village chief, I will not take sides. You came at the right time. Tell me what happened on Tian Ge's behalf."
Tian Ge breathed a sigh of relief, his eyelashes stuck together by tears, blurring his vision.
He saw his eldest sister-in-law coming, his second brother coming, and even his cousin and his wife coming.
The second brother walked up to him, squatted down, and asked him slowly: "Ge'er, what happened? Use sign language with me and I will help you."
No matter what others said, Tian Ge was not that sad.
But as soon as his sister-in-law and second brother tried to comfort him, Tian Ge felt a severe pain in his chest.
Tears welled up in her eyes again, but Tian Ge held them back.
He pursed his lips, took his second brother's hand, and stood up.
No one dared to urge him, but they were all waiting for Tian Er to translate Tian Ge's sign language.
Unexpectedly, Tian Ge suddenly turned around and was about to jump towards the river with determination.
The crowd was in an uproar.
Tian Ge felt a tightness around his waist, and his whole body was lifted into the air.
He was rescued by his second brother's strong arms.
"Oh, look at what Tian Ge has become. What on earth has happened?"
Aunt Zhang from the village spoke up, "Tian Ge, if you tell us about your grievances, everyone will naturally support you. If you lose your life, you will really lose everything. Don't do anything stupid."
"Bullying a mute and making him risk his life is not a good thing. Some people should act according to their conscience."
"That's right, human life is at stake, Tian Ge should be an honest child."
......
"What do you want to do?!" Tian Er was so angry that he didn't care about the people watching the fun.
Tian Er pinched Tian Ge's thin arms and angrily scolded her face to face, "What did your parents teach you? Do you think that committing suicide will solve your problems? You dare to jump into the river in front of me? I'll deal with you when I get home."
Tian Er paused for a moment and then looked at his brother.
Tian Ge's eyes were as red as a rabbit's. She pursed her lips, and tears were always welling up in her eyes.
Her usually endearing almond-shaped eyes stared at him without blinking.
Tian Ge has been well-behaved since he was a child, because he is the son of his parents who were older in age and is much younger than him and Tian Da.
Because he was born mute and had few playmates, he always played alone.
He could squat in the corner and watch the earthworms digging in the soil for an entire afternoon without crying or making a fuss.
In the blink of an eye, he grew up and his facial features developed.
He has a straight nose, exactly like his mother's, and has grown into the most handsome young man in the village.
At least that's what Tian Er thinks. No one in the village is more handsome than his brother.
Now my younger brother was bullied and fell into the water. His hair was wet, his face was blue, his hands were cold, and he almost died.
Not only that, her innocence was insulted by that ill-intentioned widow and fool family.
After all, I suffered a great injustice.
"Ge'er, don't cry. Second brother knows you're sad. Tell me and I'll definitely get it back for you." Tian Er wiped Tian Ge's tears with the clean inside of his sleeve and lowered his voice. "Dad is still lying at home. He was so worried when he heard that something happened to you. If Dad knew about you doing this, he would be so sad, right?"
My father has been ill for some time and has been relying on medicine to stay alive. Now he can't get out of bed.
Tian Ge finally couldn't hold back the tears in his eyes, and a few drops fell to the ground. He nodded at his brother.
Then, Tian Ge took his second brother to see the "suicide note" he had written on the ground long ago.
Neither Tian Er nor the village chief can read.
The village chief took a puff of welding smoke and looked among the villagers, looking for someone who could read.
"I can read."
As soon as the unfamiliar voice came out, everyone looked at Qin Xiong who was at the edge.
Tian Ge also looked over.
He looked at Qin Xiong carefully for the second time today.
Seeing the hideous scar on Qin Xiong's face that could not be ignored and his serious expression that never smiled.
Also, those calm eyes.
Qin Xiong looked straight at him, as if he could see through him.
Tian Ge was held in his sister-in-law's arms. He turned his head and avoided Qin Xiong's sharp eyes.
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