sjar Chapter 16 Standoff: Strike First
Chapter 16 Standoff: Strike First
"Did Mother invite Aunt Yao to our house tonight because of Sun Dacheng?"
Dan Qiyu's expression turned somewhat unpleasant. She looked at her second daughter and youngest son, instinctively wanting to speak up and ask them to leave.
“There’s nothing wrong with letting them hear it,” Meng Fuqing said. “As Mother said, we should all work together.”
Dan Qiyu was taken aback, and after a long while, she let out a soft sigh, "Qingqing has grown up. I didn't originally plan to let you know these things... Sun Dacheng is a beast worse than a pig or a dog. I called your aunt over to keep an eye on him."
She felt a little embarrassed to say these things to her children.
She subconsciously explained, "My mother never really spoke a word to him before, I don't know how..."
Meng Ranran already disliked Uncle Dacheng, finding him ugly and with strange eyes. At this moment, she suddenly stood up and said, "Mom, I know this isn't your fault! Anyone who hangs out with my dad is a bastard!"
"Second Sister is right!" Meng Ali shouted. "Sun Dacheng is a bad guy. When Ali sees him next time, she'll bite him to death!"
Shan Qiyu felt both warm and amused, wondering where these two children had heard such things.
“Mother, you don’t need to explain.” Meng Fuqing smiled at her. “If anyone asks tomorrow morning, you don’t need to explain. That family, from top to bottom, are not people who listen to reason. To deal with scoundrels, you just have to be more scoundrel than them.”
Dan Qiyu's slightly uneasy heart instantly calmed down. She thought for a moment, still a little uneasy, "I've never done anything like this before..."
Seeing that Shan Qiyu had no objection to his suggestion, Meng Fuqing's smile deepened. If she was obedient, things would be easier.
The next morning, the small mountain village awoke to shouts and curses. The once pleasant scenery was no longer pleasing to the eye, and even the fresh mountain mist seemed to have become murky.
"You family of damned bastards! As soon as your husband dies, you go and seduce other men. Why don't you go to a brothel!"
"You dare to falsely accuse my son of stealing? I think it's clearly you, widow, who's been having an affair with him, and that's how my son climbed over your wall in the middle of the night!"
……
Sun's mother had a strong personality and often got into arguments when she was young. As she got older, she could say anything, which soon attracted many villagers to come out and watch the commotion.
As the crowd grew, she plopped down on the ground and began to weep. "Waaah—my son has been so cruelly harmed by you, you wicked woman! You lured him to your house, only to have him pushed into the cesspool and splashed with cold water. On such a cold day, I think you just wanted my son to die!"
Sun's mother slapped the ground with one hand, "You think that just because my son is dead, no one will know about the filthy things you've done?! Shao Yuan was such a fine young man, and your mother-in-law and father-in-law, they were both perfectly healthy when they were alive, and they died mysteriously, all because of you, you wicked woman! Now you're even going after the whole village..."
She became more and more exaggerated as she spoke, causing the onlookers to shake their heads repeatedly.
If this continues, even an innocent person will find it difficult to wash away such a stain.
That old woman is up to no good.
The villagers were all waiting for Shan Qiyu to come out and confront Sun's mother, but the small courtyard seemed to be empty, with no sound at all.
Seeing this, some people thought that Shan Qiyu was in the wrong and dared not show his face.
Meng Linlang heard the news early in the morning and rushed over to see what was going on, but even so, she could only stand at the back of the crowd.
Listening to Sun's mother's tantrum, a look of disdain appeared on her face, but when she thought that the other party was cursing her uncle's family, a secret pleasure gradually took over.
After a while, the crowd suddenly became more crowded. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw the village chief walking over with a not-so-pleasant expression.
Meng Bochang didn't sleep well last night. He heard his mother cursing and swearing all morning, and her face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
He walked straight to the gate and knocked, but there was still no response from inside. He turned his head to signal his eldest son to call out a few times, and then Yao Shanyun's voice came from behind him.
"They're here, they're right here."
Everyone looked over at the sound and saw Shan Qiyu and Qingya standing at the door of Yao Shanyun's house.
As soon as Sun's mother saw the person, she nimbly got up from the ground, pushed through the crowd, and screamed as she tried to pounce on Shan Qiyu.
"Stop them! Stop them!" Meng Bochang was furious.
Having served as village chief for so many years, he knew that Sun's mother was difficult to deal with. In the past, there had only been minor quarrels, and the villagers were not willing to argue with this family. They would usually just give a few words of advice and then disperse.
This time, he witnessed firsthand how unreasonable and irrational Sun's mother was; calling her a madwoman wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Little did Meng Bochang know that the 'truth' Sun's mother learned from her son last night had so infuriated her that she couldn't sleep a wink. She lay in bed with her eyes open until dawn, waiting to peel off Shan Qiyu's skin this morning.
Seeing the villagers stop him, he whispered to his eldest son, "Go and call the rest of the Sun family. Even if they're bedridden, bring them here!"
As the patriarch of the Meng clan, whenever conflicts arose between his own clan members and villagers with different surnames, he would more or less defend the villagers with different surnames in order to avoid being accused of favoritism.
But this family is just too noisy.
Soon after, the entire Sun family arrived.
Sun Dacheng and his wife were listless, their eyes were bloodshot, and they looked like eggplants that had been hit by frost.
As they walked along, the villagers made way for them, which made the two men's expressions even more unpleasant.
Meng Bochang led his men into Meng Fuqing's courtyard. After the two families had settled down, he cleared his throat and said, "You all know what happened last night, so I won't go into details. Now I'll ask you questions, and you can each speak slowly. Anyone who dares to cause a scene in public shouldn't blame me for being ruthless!"
His gaze swept over Sun's mother like a knife.
After her husband and son arrived, the other party seemed to have found her backbone. At this moment, she stood upright next to Sun Dacheng, occasionally glaring at Shan Qiyu and her daughter.
"Ms. Shan, tell me what exactly happened last night."
Shan Qiyu stepped forward and said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, "I originally planned to go to town early this morning to sell the handkerchiefs I've been embroidering these past few days. Last night I wanted to stay up late and work on them a little longer, but when Sister Yao heard about it, she came to my house to work with me."
“At night, we heard noises outside and thought it was a weasel or a roe deer that had run into the yard, so we went out to check. But when we went out, we saw Sun Dacheng climbing over the wall. We called out to him twice, and he fell off the wall…”
"Bullshit!" Taking advantage of a moment when no one was paying attention, Sun's mother rushed in front of Shan Qiyu and raised her hand to scratch her. Before she could touch her, something hit her on the forehead.
"what!!"
Sun's mother, clutching her swollen forehead, shouted angrily, "Who? Which bastard hit my mother?!"
Meng Fuqing played with a few pebbles in his hand, ignoring Sun's mother's clamor.
Sun's mother didn't see who did it, but Meng Bochang, who had been keeping an eye on Meng Fuqing, saw it clearly. Just as he was about to warn her, he saw the girl give him a sweet smile.
Meng Bochang: ...
What do you mean by "well-behaved"? You must have misjudged!
This interruption significantly reduced the annoyance caused by Sun's mother's fuss. However, Meng Bochang still stroked his gray beard and glared at Meng Fuqing.
"No fooling around."
After saying that, he asked Sun Shi with concern, "It was just a child's carelessness. Are you dizzy?"
He asked a few questions, but after that, he didn't care about Sun's mother's reply. He directly called two women to his side and said, "Please take her home safely. It would be bad if something happened to her."