"Get off here! Look at you, as a father, what kind of example are you setting for your three children? If you lead my three good grandchildren astray, I will break your legs and kick you out of the house."
Ma Jin took a few deep breaths, and after calming down a little, he pointed at Ma Yaoxiang who was climbing on the wall and cursed.
He had long been accustomed to Ma Jin's beatings and scoldings. He was now like an old green bean - incapable of any attention. He treated Ma Jin's beatings and scoldings as commonplace and did not take them to heart at all. He crawled back into the house as if nothing had happened.
Ma Jin rushed into the building, picked up a feather blanket and rushed upstairs. He hurriedly used the key to open Ma Yaoxiang's door, and as soon as he entered the room, he chased Ma Yaoxiang and beat him up.
"Dad, what are you doing? The kids are here!"
Seeing his three sons all there, Ma Yaoxiang felt a little embarrassed. He jumped on his feet to avoid the chicken feather blanket and spoke with an embarrassed expression.
"I'll beat you to death, you useless bastard. Now you know how to save face. Look at your behavior. How can you be a boss? You really should learn from Xiaofu and let him teach you how to behave."
Ma Jin gasped for air, pointed a feather blanket at his nose and cursed. Ma Jin hid on the windowsill like a turtle.
"How can a father learn how to be a good man from his son?" Ma Yaoxiang muttered in a low voice.
"Tell me! You want to sneak out and meet your idiot friends again, don't you?"
"No, how could that be? I'm going to seek justice. They swallowed my money, robbed my woman, and beat me up like this. I have to teach them a lesson."
Ma Yaoxiang became more and more excited as he spoke, with an expression as if he wanted to eat someone, and a terrifying murderous look in his eyes.
"Don't go. Don't mess with them again. They're barefoot, so what do you think they're afraid of? If something really happens, they'll suffer the most, but what about us? If your misbehavior affects the future of my precious grandchildren, I won't let you go. Let's just treat the Kang family incident as a lesson. From now on, no one in our Ma family is allowed to have anything to do with the Kang family. This matter ends here."
Ma Zhengfu helped Ma Jin sit on the stool in the room, and Ma Yaoxiang began to persuade his descendants earnestly.
"Bah! That couple got off easy."
Ma Yaoxiang spat on the ground indignantly, with a ferocious expression, as if his wife had really been slept with by someone else.
"Grandpa, you shouldn't blame Dad too much. Anyone would be angry if this happened. As the saying goes, the hatred of having your wife stolen is unforgivable, right?"
"Yes, yes, Xiaofu is right. He is worthy of being my son." It was rare for his son to get along so well with him. Ma Yaoxiang was a little excited and excitedly catered to Ma Zhengfu.
"Dad, just listen to Grandpa! Don't provoke those mountain people again."
"Alright, I swear I'll never have anything to do with that bastard couple again. Not only me, but you too, and my Ma family, for generations to come, will never have anything to do with them again. If you break this oath, I'll make my Ma family extinct. Is that all right?"
“You…you…humph!”
Hearing Ma Yaoxiang curse the Ma family like this, Ma Jin was furious. Although he was not superstitious, he still felt very uncomfortable. He complained in his heart more than once, wondering what sins he had committed in his past life to give birth to such a prodigal son who brought disgrace to the family. He was considered a well-known person in the town, but because of such a son, he could not hold his head up high.
"Okay! It's past six o'clock, almost time for dinner, Grandpa, let's go downstairs to eat!"
In order to prevent the two of them from continuing to stalemate, Ma Zhengfu helped Ma Jin out of the door while he was having dinner.
The timid second son, Ma Zhenglu, held his younger brother, Ma Zhengshou, standing at the door, silent the entire time. Ma Zhengshou clamored to go inside to see his father, but he refused to let him in. Only after Ma Jin and the others came out did he carry his younger brother and follow them downstairs.
Ma Yaoxiang had just jumped down from the windowsill, brushed off the dust on his leather jacket, and hurried out the door, muttering to himself, "That's good now. I don't have to climb through the window and can go out openly."
Ji Zong still went out early and came back late every day, working hard to earn that meager salary in the brick factory. Shu Mei also went out early and came back late, trying her best to do what she should do and try her best to be a good daughter-in-law and a good wife.
Although life was a little hard, Shumei still tasted the taste of happiness. Shumei could have continued to live an ordinary life, but God played a big joke on her.
Autumn turned to spring, flowers bloomed and withered, and in the blink of an eye, half a year had passed, and Shumei's belly was still not moving. As a woman, as a wife, the greatest mission is to bear children, but for Shumei, this natural thing seemed to be an extremely difficult task.
At first, Shumei didn't take it seriously. She thought it was like shooting an arrow; how could you always hit the target? She just had to let things take their course. Even when her uncle's new daughter-in-law, who had only been married for two months, announced she was pregnant, she remained calm and composed, believing it was just a matter of luck.
Time slipped away silently, like sand held between two fingers, never to return. A year had flown by, a year that had been the most fulfilling and happiest in Shumei's twenty-plus years.
Before, Wu Ju had only hinted at the pregnancy, and there were some rumors in the village, but they were all downplayed and not too harsh. But when she heard that her uncle's daughter-in-law, Bao Cuicui, had given birth to a big, fat boy, everything changed. Wu Ju's long-held anger finally erupted.
"Shumei, I heard Cuicui gave birth. Please pick up twenty eggs and send them over to her." Wu Ju shouted to Shumei who was washing dishes in the kitchen while feeding the chickens in the yard.
"Okay, I'll go after I finish washing the dishes."
"You're a chicken that doesn't lay eggs. What's the point of raising you? You're wasting my food. You're such a useless beast. I'd feel guilty even if I killed you. What's the point of being pretty? It's not important to look good on an embroidered pillow. If you don't lay eggs, I'll sell you off someday."
Wu Ju, who had just been calmly feeding the chickens, suddenly flew into a rage, chasing the old hen, which was almost retired, with a stick, cursing non-stop. From time to time, she would look back at Shu Mei, who was standing there with a bewildered look on her face. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that she was making indirect accusations.
Shumei wasn't stupid; how could she not understand the hidden meaning behind her words? Seriously, if you want to scold someone, just come at me. Why bother with a chicken?
Shumei knew she was in the wrong and didn't want to argue with Wu Ju. She just felt sorry for the old hen. She took off her apron, picked up twenty eggs in a basket, and prepared to go out.
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