In the evening, when Zhang Tieshan returned home, it was already dark. He thought his mother had gone to bed, but he didn't expect that she was sitting in the main room, staring at him.
"Mom, why don't you rest at this late hour?"
"It's so late? You still know it's late! You run around helping people every day and you must have forgotten the time."
Hearing his mother's tone, Zhang Tieshan roughly guessed that his mother knew about it, but let her know. She would know it sooner or later anyway, and he wanted to marry her, so he couldn't hide it from his mother.
Zhang Tieshan sat down at the table and looked at Zhang Linshi. "Mom, just say whatever you want to say."
Zhang Lin looked at Zhang Tieshan with a look of disappointment, "Tieshan, I heard that you go to the town every day to help that woman, is this true?"
Zhang Tieshan nodded without hesitation, "Yes, it's true!"
Zhang Lin was so angry that she pounded the table, "What are you trying to do! Do you know that you have already divorced that woman? What do you mean now? Do you want to marry that woman again? Have you forgotten what that woman did?"
Zhang Tieshan listened to his mother quietly before he said, "Mom, she is different now. She is completely different now. She is doing well now. My son likes her very much and wants to marry her."
Zhang Lin's eyes went dark, and she almost fainted. It took her a long while to recover. She pointed at Zhang Tieshan with a trembling hand, "You...you are really crazy. I tolerated you sending my grandson to that woman, but now you want to marry her! Don't you remember how she treated your mother, your brother, and your son? You were deceived by her and you don't even care about your mother and brother, right? Tieshan, why are you so confused?"
Zhang Tieshan frowned slightly and sighed in his heart. He couldn't tell others that she was no longer the same Li Hehua. He could only let his mother believe that she had completely changed.
"Mom, believe me, she is different now, and she will treat you very well in the future."
Zhang Lin slammed the table again, "I think you are bewitched by that woman! What's so good about that woman? I tell you, I won't agree anyway! You said you don't want to marry Wu Meizi, well, forget it, I'll find another one for you, but Li Hehua is definitely not an option. If she wants to enter our Zhang family again, she has to go through me!"
Zhang Tieshan pinched his brows. Even if he wanted to marry her now, she might not necessarily marry him.
"Mom! I will only marry her, and I hope you can bless me. Even if you don't bless me, I will still marry her."
Zhang Lin was so angry that she fell backwards and pointed at Zhang Tieshan, unable to speak.
"Also, mother, don't help me find a woman anymore. I won't agree. If you insist on not listening to me, don't blame me if you lose face later."
"You evil son~ Why is my life so miserable? Your father passed away early, leaving us an orphan and a widow. I raised you with great difficulty, but you make me so angry. Why is my life so miserable? I think I'd rather not live~" Zhang Lin slapped her thigh and cried.
Zhang Tieshan was helpless. His mother had not used this trick for a long time, but he didn't expect it to come back again.
Zhang Tieshan stood up and went straight to the room. "Okay, mother, you should go to bed quickly. It's not good for your health to stay up late when you are old. I will go to bed first." After that, he closed the door, leaving Zhang Linshi looking at him with her mouth open. She could not cry anymore, so she had to go to bed angrily.
Zhang Lin's words did not have any effect on Zhang Tieshan. He still went out before dawn. However, today he did not go directly to the town to find Li Hehua, but went to the mountain with a bow and arrow. He wanted to hunt some prey and bring it over to nourish her and Shulin, especially her. Shulin was getting fatter and fatter, but she was getting thinner and thinner. In fact, he thought she looked good when she was a little fatter. There was no need to lose weight. It was still most important to eat and drink well.
It was almost noon when Zhang Tieshan came down from the mountain with his prey. He left a pheasant at home and took the rest to the town. He sold half to a restaurant and took the other half to Li Hehua.
Fearing that Li Hehua was too busy, Zhang Tieshan hurried to the stall as fast as the wind. However, before he reached the stall, he saw from afar that there were many people surrounding the stall, accompanied by the sound of men shouting angrily.
Zhang Tieshan was startled and walked forward quickly. Without thinking, he pushed through the crowd and squeezed in. What he saw was a mess on the ground. The bowls and chopsticks were broken all over the floor, and the table was overturned. Several scoundrels were standing in the middle. One of them was pointing at Li Hehua and said, "I'm telling you, if you don't apologize to me today, I'm going to smash your stall! You can't do business anymore."
Li Hehua looked very unhappy, but he did not show any weakness. "Don't even think about it! I've already told you that there is nothing wrong with my stuff. Don't even think about framing me!"
Zhang Tieshan took a quick look at the scene and immediately understood what had happened. Someone was here to cause trouble!
Zhang Tieshan's eyes darkened, and he quickly walked to Li Hehua's side, his eyes wandering over her worriedly, "Are you okay?"
When he saw Zhang Tieshan, somehow, the tension in Li Hehua's heart suddenly relaxed, and the fear hidden under his calm face also diminished a lot.
"They came to eat, and then they said that the food I cooked was not clean and had bugs in it. They wanted me to apologize and pay twenty taels of silver, or they would come to smash my stall every day."
Li Hehua knew that these people came to cause trouble on purpose, but she didn't know why. Did she offend someone invisibly?
Zhang Tieshan heard this, a dark light flashed in his eyes, and he gently stroked Li Hehua's arm, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."
This sentence instantly made Li Hehua feel relieved, and her eyes turned red. In modern times, she was just a young girl who had just graduated. Everyone in her family doted on her, and her brother would help her with everything. But she came here for no reason, and had to shoulder everything by herself, forcing herself to be strong, because no one helped her, and she had to do everything by herself. Now that someone suddenly came out to help her, her heart was instantly sour.
Zhang Tieshan looked at Li Hehua's red eyes, and a surge of anger surged from his heart. The look he gave the men who were causing trouble was chilling.
The men on the opposite side were shocked by Zhang Tieshan's gaze, and the next moment they felt very confused. Isn't the other party just one person? They are several people, what are they afraid of! So, they became more unscrupulous, pointing at Zhang Tieshan and saying, "I tell you, don't meddle in other people's business! Otherwise, if something happens, don't regret it!"
Zhang Tieshan had a blank expression on his face and asked the person opposite him, "So what do you want to do to make it over?"
Several people thought that Zhang Tieshan had given in, and they couldn't help but smile smugly. They pointed at the man who had just spoken to Li Hehua and said, "The food in this house is not clean, and there are bugs in it. Who knows if we have eaten anything bad! If she apologizes to us and compensates us with 20 taels of silver for medical expenses, we will pretend that this never happened. Otherwise..."
Although he didn't say the rest of the words, Zhang Tieshan understood what he meant. His eyes became even colder and he said, "But the things on our stall are always clean. We have been doing this for so long and no one has noticed that it is dirty. How come you are the only one who discovered it?" It was obvious that he was saying that they were framing him.
Several people couldn't help but feel angry. They thought this man was more sensible than that fat woman, but it turned out that he was just as unwilling to admit defeat!
Seeing that Zhang Tieshan was unwilling to pay, one of the men said angrily: "I think these two are black-hearted bosses who specialize in cheating people like us with the surname of Boss. Since they are unwilling to compensate us, then let's not be polite. Just smash it!" As he said that, he started to move and picked up the bench on the ground without saying a word and continued to smash it.
Zhang Tieshan's eyes became fierce, he stepped forward quickly and kicked the man with such speed that it was invisible to the public. In an instant, the man who had been so arrogant just now was kicked back several steps and fell to the ground. The bench in his hand also fell down, knocking him down and making him scream.
The onlookers cried out in surprise, and the other men on the opposite side were also startled. After they realized what was happening, they became angry and rushed up to attack Zhang Tieshan.
"Ah--" Li Hehua screamed and watched Zhang Tieshan being attacked by several men at the same time. His heart skipped a beat.
Zhang Tieshan looked at the man who rushed up, his eyes sharpened, and he stretched out his leg and kicked the first person who rushed up, kicking the man back a long distance. He fell to the ground with a "thump" and wailed. At the same time, he grabbed the bench lying at his feet at an invisible speed, swung his arms, and hit the people who were besieging him. In a blink of an eye, several people were all hit, holding their arms and legs and crying in pain.
However, a few people refused to admit defeat. After wailing for a while, they rolled their eyes and picked up the bench on the ground and hit Zhang Tieshan again.
Zhang Tieshan's brows did not move at all. He swung the bench in his hand again, but this time the force was much stronger. Not only did he knock the bench off the opponent's hand, but he also kicked them to the ground one by one. This time, they could never get up again.
It was truly an overwhelming victory.
Li Hehua's heart instantly relaxed. She was really worried that Zhang Tieshan would be beaten, but she didn't expect that he could knock down the group of people with just a few hits. However, she was still worried, so she hurried forward and asked, "Zhang Tieshan, are you okay?"
Zhang Tieshan shook his head calmly, "I'm fine, don't worry."
Li Hehua looked him up and down, and made sure that he had no injuries on his body, then he breathed a sigh of relief. However, at this moment, a low cry suddenly sounded around him, and before Li Hehua could react, his body was turned and instantly surrounded by Zhang Tieshan's broad chest.
Before Li Hehua could react to what was happening, he heard a crash and a muffled groan from Zhang Tieshan. The next second, he heard the sound of porcelain breaking.
Li Hehua's heart skipped a beat, "Zhang Tieshan, what happened to you?" He turned around to look at his back. It must have been the porcelain bowl that hit his back.
Zhang Tieshan held Li Hehua back and said, "It's okay, it's nothing." He turned around and looked at the people still lying on the ground, and asked word by word, "Who smashed it just now?"
Several people were frightened by Zhang Tieshan, and they all shook their heads slightly, indicating that they didn't do it. What a joke, this is not the time to be tough, they have finally hit a wall today, they thought it was a good job, but unexpectedly they were beaten up, they must ask that person for more money when they go back, today's matter is too bad!
One of them shook his head a beat late because he was the one who smashed it.
Zhang Tieshan looked at the man with eyes like a ferocious beast. He walked towards him step by step, lifted him up from the ground with one hand, and lifted his feet off the ground.
The man was strangled to the point of having difficulty breathing. He was so frightened that he instantly forgot his initial dignity and screamed, "Please spare my life! I will never dare to do it again, never again, please spare me!"
However, Zhang Tieshan lifted him higher and higher, as if he wanted to throw him to the ground, which frightened the man so much that he begged for mercy even louder.
Seeing that the man was about to give up, Zhang Tieshan spoke in a cold voice, "Do you want me to spare you?"
The man nodded vigorously, "Please forgive me... Please forgive me..."
Zhang Tieshan said: "I can spare you, but you are the one who smashed the stall, you must compensate for the loss, otherwise..."
Several people shuddered with fear at the same time, and the one in Zhang Tieshan's hand was the first to shout: "Compensation! We will compensate!" If he didn't compensate, he would die.
Zhang Tieshan did not loosen his grip, "Then take out the money now, three taels of silver."
When they heard that three taels of silver were required, they all wanted to say that this was extortion, but they did not dare to say it out loud. If they did not pay the money today, their lives would probably be over.
Several people looked at each other and finally decided to give it. Anyway, they had to ask the person who hired them for the money, and it couldn't be counted as their own.
A few people trembled as they took out their money and gathered it together. When they had three taels of silver, they put it on the ground and said, "Good man, here is the silver, please let us go."
Zhang Tieshan glanced at the silver, threw the man in his hand, and said sternly: "Get lost! If you dare to come here and make trouble again, it won't be so easy!"
Several people didn't dare to say a word. They endured the pain, got up and ran away. They disappeared in an instant.
Zhang Tieshan picked up the silver on the ground and handed it to Li Hehua, "Here, this money is enough for you to buy new things, don't be sad."
Seeing that he was only worried about her being upset because her stall was smashed, Li Hehua felt very upset and couldn't help but said, "It's already this time and you're still worried about this. How's your back? The bowl just smashed your back pretty hard."
How could she be fine after the bowl was thrown at her from so far away? If Zhang Tieshan hadn't blocked it for her, she would have been bleeding profusely by now.
Seeing how worried she was about him, Zhang Tieshan felt the burning sensation on his back disappear instantly. He just felt relieved. "I'm fine. I have thick skin. I'm really fine."
Li Hehua didn't believe what he said and immediately decided to close his stall and go back to find a doctor for him.
Until this time, Cao Simei, Cao Daya and Dahe, who had been hiding nearby out of fear, dared to come forward.
Cao Simei asked, "Sister, are you okay?"
Li Hehua shook his head, "I'm fine."
Cao Simei bit her lower lip, embarrassment flashed in her eyes. Just now, some people came to mess up the place. They were all tall and strong, and very fierce. She was really scared and didn't dare to go forward. At the same time, she subconsciously pulled Dahe who wanted to go forward to help and didn't let him go up to help. This group of people was so fierce, and Dahe was still a child. With such a thin body, it would be useless to go up, and he might be seriously injured. If Dahe got into trouble, she would not be able to explain to her ancestors.
But Sister Lotus was so kind to their family, but she...
"Girl, I just..."
Li Hehua knew what Cao Simei wanted to say and interrupted her in advance, "Sister, let's not talk anymore. Zhang Tieshan is injured. Let's close the stall first. I need to find a doctor for him."
Cao Simei couldn't say what she wanted to say, so she had to lower her head and help Li Hehua clean up the stall.
Li Hehua lowered his head, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes.
She knew that the situation just now was very dangerous, and she would be beaten if she was not careful. She could understand Cao Simei's behavior, it was human nature. But emotionally, she was disappointed. She really regarded Cao Simei as her own elder sister, and she really cared for her children, but at her most dangerous moment, they hid away, leaving her alone to face the danger. If it weren't for Zhang Tieshan, she would probably be in danger today.
But she would not blame them for anything. Everyone has closeness and distance in their hearts, which is normal. She has the same feeling. For her, Shulin is the first in her heart. Originally, under Shulin were the Cao family, but after today, under Shulin was Zhang Tieshan. He was her savior and she would never forget him for the rest of her life.
Li Hehua asked Cao Simei and the others to go home first and come back the day after tomorrow, while she went back to the courtyard with Zhang Tieshan.
Looking at the backs of the two people, Cao Simei's family of three felt upset, and Gu Dafeng, who was standing in the crowd, also clenched his fists in annoyance.
After returning home, Li Hehua immediately pulled Zhang Tieshan to sit down, and without any distinction between men and women, he reached out to pull Zhang Tieshan's belt.
Zhang Tieshan's pupils shrank, and he subconsciously grabbed Li Hehua's hand and asked softly, "What are you doing?"
Li Hehua frowned, "Take off your shirt and let me see it. Your back must be injured."
Zhang Tieshan's face froze for a moment, his hands clenched into fists, and his breathing quickened for a moment, but under Li Hehua's clear and clean gaze, he slowly loosened his hands and allowed Li Hehua to untie his belt, then take off his shirt, then his underwear, until he was bare-chested.
It was not before that he had gone shirtless when taking a shower while working, but at this moment, Zhang Tieshan felt uncomfortable all over, as if he was on fire, and he dared not move.
Li Hehua had no idea of Zhang Tieshan's current torment, nor did she have any other thoughts. She just wanted to see his injuries.
Zhang Tieshan was indeed seriously injured. There was a large purple patch on his back with red blood streaks. It looked horrible and you could tell at a glance how much pain it was, but he didn't show it at all.
Li Hehua felt even more grateful, but also felt guilty, because it was because of her that he was hurt.
"Zhang Tieshan, wait here, I'll go get a doctor for you." As he said this, he was about to hurry out.
Zhang Tieshan grabbed her and said, "Just rub some medicinal wine on this wound. You don't need to call a doctor. Even if you call a doctor, he will ask you to rub it with medicinal wine. Believe me, I have experience."
Li Hehua remembered that Zhang Tieshan often went hunting and guessed that he was really experienced. It should be right to listen to him, so he quickly went back to the room to get the medicinal wine he had bought earlier.
"I'll massage it for you, but I'm not very good at it and I may not do it well," said Li Hehua.
Zhang Tieshan turned his back to Li Hehua, and curled his lips, "It's okay, just use a little force to rub it open."
Li Hehua nodded, poured some medicinal wine on his hands, rubbed it to warm it up, and rubbed it on Zhang Tieshan's back. Zhang Tieshan's body stiffened only for a moment at the beginning, and then he had no reaction at all, as if it didn't hurt at all.
Li Hehua knew that rubbing the medicinal wine was actually very painful, so in order to reduce the pain, she began to talk to him, "Zhang Tieshan, you just beat those people so badly, aren't you afraid that they will report to the police? If they bite me to death for eating unclean food, I might have to pay compensation, right?"
Zhang Tieshan smiled and asked, "Did they say they were going to report to the police?"
Li Hehua thought about it and it seemed that there really wasn't any.
Zhang Tieshan continued, "They didn't dare to report it to the authorities. Those guys are just hooligans in the town. Everyone in the government knows them. They also get paid to do the job. How dare they report it to the authorities?"
So that's how it is.
Li Hehua suddenly realized, but then she thought of the person behind the scenes. Who on earth bribed these people to cause trouble for her?
Li Hehua thought about it and felt that the most likely person was a colleague. He was probably jealous of her family's good business and wanted to cause trouble for her. It would be best if she could not continue her job.
Apart from this speculation, she really couldn't think of anything else.
Zhang Tieshan obviously thought of this, his eyes darkened, and after a while he said, "Don't worry, I will be here from now on, don't be afraid."
Li Hehua's breathing slowed down, and he lowered his head to continue what he was doing, as if he didn't hear what he said.
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