"Hey, isn't this Jiang Yuwei? Feeling comfortable now? Riding in an oxcart, huh?"
Niu Da jumped onto the oxcart with a roguish grin on his face.
Niu Er, standing nearby, quickly stepped forward and blocked the oxcart's path, shouting to Ning Huaizhi:
"We have something to say to Jiang Yuwei, so you better stop the oxcart first!"
Ning Huaizhi frowned slightly and said in a deep voice:
"Honey, do you know these two thugs?"
Jiang Yuwei looked coldly at Niu Da and said to Ning Huaizhi:
"Knowing him is my enemy."
Upon hearing Ning Huaizhi call himself a hoodlum, Niu Er immediately spat on the ground:
"Pah! You little brat, are you out of your mind? Go ask around in Ping'an Town and see how famous I, Niu Da and Niu Er, are! Everyone calls us 'Master Niu'! You dare call me a thug!"
Niu Da then looked Ning Huaizhi up and down before speaking:
"Oh, Jiang Yuwei, you've really gotten yourself into trouble. I haven't even slept with you yet, and you've already found a cripple to be your husband? He's practically disabled; how can he possibly serve you?"
Upon hearing Niu Da's filthy words, Jiang Yuwei slapped him across the face.
"Looks like you guys had a good time in jail. Now that you've just been released, you want to go back in?"
Niu Da covered his slapped face, instantly enraged. He kicked Jiang Yuwei in the stomach, then jumped off the oxcart and said to Niu Er:
"That bitch is so ungrateful, daring to hit me! Second brother, grab your weapons and let's get her! I'm going to sleep with that bitch today! It'll make our time in jail worthwhile!"
Upon hearing his boss's words, Niu Er picked up a thick stick from the roadside and swung it at Ning Huaizhi's head. Ning Huaizhi reacted quickly, using his whip to wrap around the stick and pull it forward. Niu Er, still holding the stick, stumbled forward and slid to his knees, landing perfectly in front of the oxcart. The stick slipped from his hand.
Ning Huaizhi swung the whip again and struck Niu Er on the back. Two sharp cracks left two bloody welts on Niu Er's back. When Niu Da saw this, he stepped forward to snatch the whip from Ning Huaizhi's hand. Jiang Yuwei had already taken out the chili water and prepared it. She then poured it into Niu Da's eyes cleanly and efficiently.
Niu Da suddenly felt a sharp pain, and could see nothing ahead. He could only cover his eyes and wail in agony:
"You bitch, you tried to ambush me again! If you dare, fight me head-on, or I'll beat you to death, you slut."
When Ning Huaizhi saw Niu Da cursing his wife incessantly, his face darkened. He raised the whip and lashed Niu Da's mangled flesh with all his might, leaving Niu Da unsure whether to cover his eyes or his groin. Seeing his elder brother hopping in pain, Niu Er disregarded his own back injury and rushed to help Niu Da.
Niu Da covered his eyes with one hand, unaware of who the newcomer was. He instinctively retaliated, punching Niu Er squarely in the nose. Perhaps Niu Da used all his strength in that punch, for Niu Er immediately cried out, his face covered in blood:
"Big brother, it's me! Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me!"
Seeing the two of them looking so awkward, Jiang Yuwei couldn't help but burst out laughing. Ning Huaizhi turned around and saw the afterglow of the setting sun shining on Jiang Yuwei's smiling face. Ning Huaizhi covered his heart, which was pounding wildly, and subconsciously smiled as well.
Jiang Yuwei looked up and met Ning Huaizhi's deep, handsome eyes. Her face immediately turned red to the tips of her ears, and she could only lower her head and cough a few times.
"Ahem, well, let's hurry up and go. I don't want to travel in the dark."
Ning Huaizhi smiled and nodded, saying:
"Okay, I'll do whatever my wife says!"
Having said that, he drove off in the oxcart without looking back. The two brothers, still crying out in pain, stared intently at the departing oxcart, muttering to themselves:
"I will not let you get away with this!"
Ning Huaizhi quickly drove the oxcart to Ningjia Village. As the two were hurrying towards the courtyard, they ran into Ning Chunlin and Chen Guixiang, who were on their way to deliver paper mulberry bark. Jiang Yuwei, seeing that he was indeed honest enough to peel bark to pay off his debt, said to him:
"Move the things onto the oxcart and come with me to the courtyard to weigh them. I'll pay you for the extra weight."
Ning Chunlin had been harboring resentment towards Jiang Yuwei and Ning Huaizhi because he had been constantly searching for paper mulberry trees and peeling their bark on the mountain. However, when he heard Jiang Yuwei say that she would give him money for the extra weight, he happily loaded all the bark onto the oxcart, then helped Chen Guixiang onto it before climbing onto the oxcart himself.
Seeing that everyone was seated, Ning Huaizhi continued driving. Chen Guixiang felt an urge to retaliate whenever she saw Jiang Yuwei's face, and turned to Ning Huaizhi, saying:
“Hey, eldest son, everyone in the village says you’re a filial son. But do you know that this is the first time your mother has ever ridden in your oxcart since your family bought it? It’s not easy! There’s an old saying that goes, ‘Once you marry a wife, you forget your mother.’ I think that’s absolutely true. Don’t you agree, eldest son?”
Jiang Yuwei was too lazy to listen to Chen Guixiang's sarcastic provocations, so she simply turned her body to the side and went to look at the scenery by the roadside.
Ning Huaizhi, upon hearing Chen Guixiang's words, didn't know how to respond and simply smiled and said:
"Mother, don't worry. No matter what, you will always be my mother. The second son is more filial than me. You have always doted on the second son since he was a child. I have seen that his family has taken very good care of you and Father. Now that we have separated our family, we will naturally live our own lives. We live a little far away, so please don't blame your son for not being able to take care of the places we can. Mother, do you still remember the day we separated our family? You personally chose this land and house for us."
Upon hearing Ning Huaizhi's words, Chen Guixiang felt somewhat embarrassed. She had specifically chosen two barren plots of land that had been abandoned for many years to house her eldest son's family. The house was uninhabitable and quite far from her own home.
But she never expected that her eldest son's family would become so prosperous so quickly, and even build a large brick house on that piece of land. Now, whenever she thinks about it, she regrets it deeply. So she never gives Jiang Yuwei and Ning Huaizhi a friendly look.
Jiang Yuwei, who was standing to the side, heard everything Ning Huaizhi had said clearly. Her resentment towards Ning Huaizhi lessened a bit. Now it seemed that he was aware of everything, but he couldn't sever the bond of blood ties and was caught in the middle, feeling somewhat conflicted.
Thinking about it this way, Jiang Yuwei felt she could understand him. After all, in her previous life, wasn't she just like Ning Huaizhi? She was devoured and drained of her blood by her so-called blood relatives, and even at the last moment of her death, she was still fantasizing about family and kinship.
Jiang Yuwei looked at Ning Huaizhi's back and couldn't help but feel sorry for him. In this life, she would definitely not let Ning Huaizhi repeat the mistakes she made in her previous life. The Ning family should not think about gaining a single penny from her.
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