CH 8

Su Jin turned towards her youngest sibling of the Su family, Su Nian1TL note: the same person as Su Sanlang. The author really likes to omit names, maybe in an attempt to reflect the lack of education for the family who lives at the village. The three sons, Dalang ‘大郎’ , Erlang ‘二郎’, Sanlang ‘三郎’ are generic terms to refer to the child. the “lang” or ‘郎’ refers to a male child, while “da” or ‘大’, “er” or ‘二’ and “san” or ‘三’ refers to biggest, second and third respectively. The same “naming” convention has been used for their father, “Daniu” or ‘大牛’ and their father’s younger brother, “Ernui” or ‘二牛’, which refers to biggest ‘bull’ and second ‘bull’. Bulls or cow work in the fields as well., who was leaning against the door and peeping through the cracks, and beckoned him.

The 10-year-old boy froze in place. When he realized that she was calling him, he hurried forward and asked stiffly, “I.. Is there anything you need me to do?”

Although his elder sister had now become a force to be reckoned with, Su Nian still took it to heart that she had despised the family’s financial status and ran away, which broke their mother’s heart.

“Can you make a trip to the village head’s house? Along the way, invite the people from the second Su family branch to come over as well. If they want to know the reason, just say that Su Liang is going to be killed and his body will be waiting for them.”

Su Nian was stunned by her request, but he quickly recovered from the shock. He nodded hastily and left in a hurry.

“Shut his mouth.” Since there would be plenty of opportunity for Su Liang to cry later, his energy could be conserved for the time being.

Although Su Jin did not specifically direct the words to anyone in particular, Sanye and his underlings reacted quickly and fanatically gagged Su Liang’s mouth. Deep down, they hoped that as long as they proved to be useful, there could be a chance of them being forgiven.

As the autumn wind blew, the fallen leaves and branches could be heard rustling on the front porch of the Su family’s house. In sharp contrast, the yard was dead silent. Not a single sound could be heard.

Su Jin stood silently, arms crossed as she stared at the sky. No one could figure out what was going through in her mind.

After a while, noises in the distance approached gradually.

The first voice that could be heard was a furious scream from a woman. “This old lady2TL note: 老娘 – Old Lady. Another self-conceited way of referring to oneself. will see for myself who the black-hearted people that dares to lay their hands on my son are.”

Upon hearing his mother’s voice, Su Liang’s eyes widened in astonishment. He struggled to stand up, but failed as Sanye trampled on him.

Sanye glared at him in rage. If not for the bastard’s deception, he would not have been in this current predicament. He wished he could chop that mongrel to pieces on the spot.

As soon as Wang Shi stepped into the gates, she was startled by the sight of Su Jin. She gave a sinister smile and mocked her.

“Heh…… finally gave up and crawled back home? From the looks of it, I guess you couldn’t manage to cling onto a respectable family, eh? Get out of my way, you harbinger of misfortune. Don’t block this old lady’s path. I have no time for……”

Wang Shi tried to shoulder past Su Jin. However, Su Jin did not budge at all. Instead, she felt herself forced to retreat by a few steps.

Thanks to her broader vision now, she was able to catch sight of her son being trampled on the ground and gagged. A shriek escaped from her mouth as she rushed over.

“My son, what happened to you? You guys… Who are you people? Release my son. If there’s any problem, let’s talk it through in a civil manner.”

Although Wang Shi was anxious to get her son out of this situation, she is only a married woman who had never seen the outside world. Her haughty attitude that she had previously displayed towards Su Jin had disappeared in the face of intimidating pressure from the men.

Shortly after Wang Shi had arrived, the village chief, the members of the second Su family branch and a crowd of curious villagers swarmed at the gates of the Su family.

The Su family had split up in the previous generation back when Su Jin’s father, Su Daniu, was still alive. Su Daniu’s parents doted on their younger son and looked down on the eldest son who only knew to work in silence. In the end, they gave him a shabby hut and unofficially drove him out of the Su family.

Fortunately, Qin Shi’s natal family had been blessed with plenty of male offspring. Therefore, she had many opportunities to interact with men of her generation, and could stand on her grounds when dealing with the opposite gender. After she got married to Su Daniu, she managed to put him under leash, and with some assistance from her family, they were able to get on with a humble life.

During those days, the second house of the Su family would often visit them and request for all kinds of things under the guise of the demand of their elders. On some days, they would take a bag of grain, while on other days, they would ask for a basket of vegetables.

Qin Shi was angered by their obvious exploitation, but she could not go against the pressure of paying filial piety. This situation lasted for many years, until the elders of the Su family finally passed away. From then on, they broke free completely and severed all contacts with the second house of the Su family.

However, the happy days of her liberation from oppression did not last long. Shortly after, Su Daniu unexpectedly met his demise from an accident where a stray mountain boulder fell on him.

The second house of the Su family pounced on the opportunity to denounce her and spread ill-intentioned rumours about Qin Shi, calling her a jinx who brought misfortune to her husband.

Given the history between these two families, it is an understatement to describe their relationship as merely incompatible.

And today, the two families will be colliding once again under such circumstances. With a slightly hunched back, Su Erniu stepped into the doors of the eldest Su family’s home accompanied by the village chief.

At the sight of the scene in the yard, they felt their heartbeat escalating.

Even the village chief could not maintain his confident upright posture when he saw the bunch of intimidating men.

People of common status like the village chief were usually afraid of dealing with two types of adversaries – the nobles who held authority and power, and the thugs who could not be reasoned with and were tough to stand up against.

Alas… it seems that the problem cannot be easily solved.

He stepped forward with a smile and inquired, “Great warrior, we don’t know what crime Su Liang from our village had committed. But, may I suggest a peaceful talk to resolve the matter?”

Sanye is an extremely perceptive person. Seeing that Su Jin had maintained silence while observing the developments, he understood her intentions of leaving the matter to him.

He had to put up a good show.

With a threatening look, he gave a firm answer to the village chief. “This imbecile is quite impressive, to have managed to pull the wool over our eyes and made a fool out of my brothers and I. Your village may be small, but it had produced a high quality scum. Here imbecile, explain in detail what you did with your own mouth!

As he said that, Sanye swung his leg fiercely at Su Liang.

System#2250 enjoyed the performance with great interest as it brushed its chin while commenting. “Somehow, this Sanye suddenly became much more pleasing to the eye. As expected, it was more satisfying to watch one scum being handled by another.”

Su Jin snickered as well. “Under the right circumstances, even a lowlife garbage could shine if there is an opportunity.”

With bruises all over his body, Su liang cried for mercy as he looked at his parents with expectant eyes.

“Yes, I am an imbecile. I am a scum. Please let me go. I have learnt my lesson. My parents will pay off the gambling debt. Ask them for money!”

Murmurs began to spread among the villagers who were crowded at the doors of the Su family. “Not long ago, Su Dalang had his leg broken because of a gambling debt. Now, even Su Liang is facing troubles from gambling debt. It seems the Su family is infested with gambling addicts.”

The gossip among the crowd gradually developed into ridicule and gloating.

“This Su Liang usually behaves in an unsightly manner, but I had no idea he was that horrible. Heh!”

“What should I say… Even Su Dalang, who has always been a serious and down to earth person, got into trouble because of gambling and had his leg broken…”

“Oh, have you noticed? The daughter of the Su family has returned. Didn’t she run away from home? Who would believe that she went to visit her relatives? She probably crawled back home because she couldn’t survive outside.”

“I think it would be difficult for her to get married in the future. After this, who would dare to marry her? Previously, there were rumours that the Xu family was interested in initiating a marriage proposal, but I guess even that has gone up in flames……”

“The son of the Xu family is a scholar. Let’s wait and watch Su Jin regret down the road.”

There were all kinds of statements circulating among the people. System#2250 paid no heed to the contents, and relayed them word by word to Su Jin.

Su Jin: “……” (Keep these reports to yourself)

Back to Su Liang, he was already in a miserable state. Feeling that time was almost ripe, Su Jin stepped forward while shoving aside the people in her path.

“There is some important information which has been left out. Su Liang might be ashamed to say it, so I shall reveal it for him. The purpose of inviting everyone here today is to ask everyone present to be a witness to the truth.

My brother, Su Dalang, had his leg broken because of a gambling debt some time ago. But in fact, the debt was owed by Su Liang. He took advantage of his physical resemblance to Su Dalang, got him drunk and tricked him into signing the IOU, which led to today’s situation.”

Su Jin spoke without any emotions and her tone was flat. But the contents of her words shocked the crowd like a storm.

Wang Shi immediately screamed and rushed forward, staring at Su Jin maliciously.

“Stop lying, you wretched wench!  Who told you to spread such nonsense? I’ll beat you to death, you bitch!”

But before she could even lay a finger on Su Jin’s clothes, she was kicked by Su Jin and her knees landed hard on the ground.

Having just recovered from the shocking claim, Su Erniu witnessed his wife being struck. He took a deep breath, clenched his fists and rushed towards Su Jin. A bastard child dared to be violent to her elders. He must teach her a lesson on respect.

Su Jin kept a leisurely expression as her opponents approached endlessly one after another. If this had happened in her previous life, she would have thrown them to feed some giant beast. Feeling that her patience was starting to run out, she moved her feet and knocked out all her opponents at once.

“What a bunch of brainless idiots. If you feel that your shoulders are overwhelmed by the weight of your head, I can help you unload the burden and give you a rest3eternally!”

As they watched the scene unfold, the spectators gasped in fear.

Even the village chief, who was about to come forward to stop her, halted his feet.