Chapter 40 The Power of the Spatula and Their Departure
Zhu Yingning clearly hadn't anticipated this unfolding. Xu Sirui found her frozen in place, her mouth open in a perfect O-shape, like a cartoon character. To prevent her from being smacked to death by Zhou Li's father's broom, he quickly grabbed her. Then, due to the reactionary force of physics, as Zhu Yingning fell backward, his body uncontrollably lurched forward. Before anyone—including himself—could react, Zhou Li's father's broom tragically and accurately struck him in the crotch.
“I…fuck…”
Xu Sirui uttered a few muffled curse words through his teeth, trying to maintain his dignity, but a few seconds later, pain spread rapidly from some unspeakable part of his body, and he couldn't help but let out an earth-shattering howl on the spot.
Zhu Yingning was startled by him and hurried forward to check: "Are you okay, Xu Sirui..."
"Get out of here!" He covered his penis and used his elbow to forcefully push her away, his face pale as he refused to let her see his face. What was this? Losing everything? The thought of being hit in the balls in front of a girl made him want to commit suicide.
But who was Zhu Yingning? A champion of justice, a model of morality.
Before anyone else—including Xu Sirui herself—could react, she stepped forward, glared at Zhou Li's father, and shouted, "You've gone too far, Uncle Zhou! What if you make him infertile in the future?! Your behavior is extremely evil and unjust!"
"Damn it, Zhu Yingning, you're poisonous..." Xu Sirui felt a mouthful of blood well up in his chest, and he almost vomited blood and died on the spot. His face turned green, and he reached out to pull her. "Why are you emphasizing this matter again? Don't you think I'm embarrassed enough?"
But Zhu Yingning didn't understand what he meant at all. She patted the back of his hand soothingly and whispered, "Don't worry, I will seek justice for you." Then, without thinking twice, she grabbed the broom in Zhou Li's father's hand and pulled it hard.
Zhou Li's father was still immersed in the shock of wanting to hit Zhu Yingning but hitting Xu Sirui instead. He was caught off guard and was pulled by her, and the broom slipped out of his hand and was transferred to Zhu Yingning's hand.
"Please apologize to him." She said seriously.
How could Zhou Li's father, a rough, uncouth farmer, possibly apologize to a junior? His face darkened as he recovered from his shock, feeling deeply offended by his authority as an elder. He flew into a rage, "You ignorant, yellow-haired girl! How dare you snatch my broom! Give it to me! I'll beat you to death, you bitch!" He lunged at her to grab it.
She dodged nimbly and repeated calmly, "Please apologize."
"I apologize to your mother!" He staggered a few steps, turned around and continued to pounce on her.
Zhu Yingning asked again: "You really don't want to apologize?"
Zhou Li's father was nearly driven crazy by her, feeling that this man simply didn't understand human language, was irrational, and unrepentant! His eyes bulged, his nostrils dilated, his face flushed, like a rampaging Bull Demon King. He glanced around, trying to find another weapon to beat her out of the house. Seeing this, Zhu Yingning frowned and muttered under his breath, "Three chances is enough. I've already given you three chances, and you didn't cherish them." Then he placed the broom horizontally, grasped the sweeping end with his fingers, and with a speed so fast and precise that it was difficult to see with the naked eye, he swung the broom handle towards Zhou Li's father's legs.
The stick made no sound as it touched the soft flesh.
Even though no sound was made, Zhou Li's father, a burly farmer in his forties, instantly clamped his legs together, covered his penis like a man in a hurry to pee, and said "oh" in a distorted tone. His face turned from the red of rage to the gray of pain, and cold sweat dripped down his forehead.
Xu Sirui was stunned watching from the side.
The atmosphere at the scene was actually very tense, and this tension suppressed his laughter, but he firmly believed that when he reviewed this experience later, he would burst into laughter and spit out the food he had eaten before he was born.
Oh my God...what's wrong with her brain?! Sometimes he really wanted to open her brain and see what structure inside was different from that of a normal person.
Just as Zhou Li's father was clutching his penis, writhing and groaning, Zhou Li's mother suddenly rushed out of the house, a cooking spatula in hand to support her husband. Her voice was as resounding as a bell, and her momentum was magnificent: "Who! Who dares to cause trouble?! Who?!"
Zhu Yingning quickly said, "Auntie, we came here to advise you that life in the city is really not as easy as you think. Zhou Li..."
Before she could finish her words, Zhou Li's mother swung a spatula and smashed it against her back, making loud bangs as she yelled, "You just can't stand our Zhou Li living a good life! Bitch! Bitch!! I knew you had bad intentions. Every day you encourage our Zhou Li to study that crap book. What kind of book is it for a girl to study? The right thing to do is to get out and earn money and get married early! You just want to kill our Zhou Li. You want to kill both of us! Neighbors, come and see! This little brat who kidnapped someone else's daughter is now bullying us!"
Unlike Zhou Li's father, Zhou Li's mother wasn't just formidable in combat; she was also skilled in verbal combat. Zhu Yingning's speeches on socialist core values were no match for her street-swearing and tantrums. Especially since Zhou Li's mother had unleashed the powerful middle-aged woman's trick, summoning the neighbors to watch the fun. Everyone was talking at once, pointing and arguing, and they couldn't even get a word in. Xu Sirui tried to help, but ended up getting smacked with a spatula himself. He and Zhu Yingning were like two dusty rats, beaten so hard by Zhou Li's mother that they fled in panic.
Zhou Li, who was crying and wailing inside, seemed to have finally heard the noise outside. With her eyes tearing like walnut shells, she stood behind the doorframe and watched the farce. Finally, her emotions lost control. She held onto the doorframe and cried while shouting at Zhu Yingning in despair: "Go away, go away! Don't bother me anymore! Get out of here! My life is over, no one can save me!"
When Zhu Yingning was beaten by Zhou Li's mother and was running around, he heard Zhou Li's screams, and reluctantly raised his head and said to her: "Zhou Li, don't give up, I will come again."
When Zhou Li's mother heard Zhu Yingning say she wanted to come again, she immediately beat her even harder. She even took off her slippers and held them in her hands as if to throw them at her, cursing and screaming: "You dare to come again! You dare to come again! Shame on you! If I dare to come again, I will beat you again!"
Due to Zhou Li's mother's fierce firepower, Zhu Yingning was forced to drag Xu Sirui away first. As Xu Sirui was being dragged out by her, he saw her reluctantly turning back and saying "I will definitely come back" as she ran. For a moment, he had the illusion that Zhu Yingning was Wolf and he was Red Wolf, fleeing the Sheep Village in panic after the defeat. Even the classic line was exactly the same.
He hurriedly ran down the mountain road, barely escaping the piercing sound of Zhou Lima's demonic voice. Xu Sirui looked down at his greasy clothes, then at the equally embarrassed Zhu Yingning across from him. He pulled the corners of his mouth and gave a dry laugh: "This is completely different from what I expected."
In his imagination, they should be like a pair of tacit and good-looking superhero partners, working together to rescue the poor female classmate who was imprisoned, instead of being beaten out with a spatula.
Zhu Yingning was much more relaxed than him. She straightened her clothes and said, "Everything is as I expected."
"Oh? Do you have another trick up your sleeve?" Xu Sirui forced himself to cheer up and rarely showed an attitude of listening attentively.
She looked at him and shook her head. "Of course not. What I meant was that I expected failure. Mass work is such a long and arduous process with so many twists and turns. However, I believe I will find a way."
“…”
I know I can't expect too much from her.
**
The next day at school, the news that Zhu Yingning raided Zhou Li's house at night and was beaten by Zhou Li's mother spread throughout the school. Xu Sirui was very puzzled as to how these people were so well-informed, as they clearly didn't have cell phones.
Although everyone spread the news, no one was surprised by Zhu Yingning's behavior.
Zhou Tianrui said: "This is what a squad leader should be like. If she is not like this, she is not herself anymore."
Xu Sirui felt that there was some abstract philosophy in his words, but before he could figure it out, after the Chinese class in the morning, Chen Bin called him to his office.
"I haven't done anything wrong recently." Xu Sirui raised his hands and feet to show his innocence in advance.
Chen Bin sighed, "I know, alas... Xu Sirui, I called you here this time mainly to talk about Yingning." He pushed his glasses and sighed several times in a row, each sigh was very long, until Xu Sirui wanted to praise him, "Teacher, you have a really good lung capacity." Then he stopped sighing and said, "It's like this, Xu Sirui, you are from the city, and on some issues, you are actually more realistic than Yingning. You should also be able to see that Yingning is a child with a sincere heart. She is particularly stubborn about the things she believes in and goes all the way to the end. To put it nicely, she is persistent. To put it bluntly, she is a donkey, a stubborn donkey! Even ten cows can't pull her back. But, how should I put it..."
He looked at the stack of exercises on his desk. "After teaching here for so many years, the biggest truth I've learned is that everyone has their own destiny. We can only do our best and leave the rest to fate. Sometimes, no matter how well we try, fate has its way, and there's nothing we can do about it, isn't that right?"
Xu Sirui didn't know what to say and could only remain silent.
"Anyway, I think Zhou Li's fate is over. You and Yingning live close to each other, and you're the same age. You... you can help me persuade her. Yingning is my best student, and I really can't bear to see her get hurt because of something like this. Physical damage is secondary. She's a tough kid. I'm afraid I'll break a branch if I hit her with it. I'm just worried she'll get confused."
Xu Sirui felt that he shouldn't laugh, but when he heard Chen Bin describe Zhu Yingning as tough, he couldn't help but laugh briefly. Then he restrained his smile and replied, "You also said she was stubborn. How could she possibly listen to me?"
"Well...just do your best." Chen Bin patted his shoulder, and just as the bell rang, he urged him to go back to class.
**
Xu Sirui didn't try to persuade Zhu Yingning. He truly felt it was pointless to persuade her, because she was like an indestructible cockroach. She had just endured beatings and insults from Zhou Li's mother the previous night, and already today she was mulling over how to proceed with another round of lobbying. By the evening, she said she had come up with a new excuse and insisted on going to Zhou Li's house in person to test it out.
She also said to him kindly and considerately: "Xu Sirui, don't go today, so as to avoid being implicated and beaten by me."
Xu Sirui tutted, "It's good that you know I was implicated by you."
Despite saying so, he still followed her to Zhou Li's house. Xu Sirui suspected that he might have some masochistic tendency.
However, Zhu Yingning's words were destined to be of no use anymore.
When they arrived at Zhou Li's house, they found that Zhou Li had already left.
Just like Zhu Juan left that year, for one reason or another, these girls fled hastily from the mountains that raised them but also abandoned them, and were lost in the steel forest of the big city. There was no news from them in the vast world.
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