Chapter 17

Zhou Jing was extravagant and willing to spend a couple of silver coins to get things done, so the paperwork was quickly taken care of.

He told the Village Chief and Wang Gui that he had some matters to attend to in town and asked them to wait a moment. In reality, he secretly went to the market, where he found a few carpenters and arranged for them to come the next day. After paying a deposit, he hurried back.

It was not that he did not intend to hire people from the village; rather, he had some modern ideas. He knew that relying solely on himself and the villagers would not produce the results he wanted.

When Zhou Jing returned home, he finally dared to show his excitement on his face. He happily entered the house, only to find it completely empty.

Shen Mo knew he had gone to town for important business, and it was only natural that he would be waiting at home, likely even more excited than Zhou Jing himself.

Moreover, it was already noon, and the rice in the pot hadn’t been cooked yet. Shen Mo should have been back from the mountain by now.

Zhou Jing’s heart sank suddenly, realizing that something must be wrong. He hurriedly ran outside.

Since it was mealtime, there weren’t many villagers around, so he grabbed someone at random to ask.

“Aunt, have you seen my wife, Shen Mo?” The woman he stopped was Wang Fen, Zhang Ju’s mother, and she did not have a good opinion of Zhou Jing.

She scolded him directly, “Who do you think you’re asking? Who’s watching your wife? Did you give me any silver? He’s just a ger, and you treat him like a treasure. What a narrow-minded view!”

If it had been any other time, Zhou Jing might have lost his temper, but now he was too anxious to care. He moved on to the next person.

This time, the woman he asked was Shen Wen, Wang Baichuan’s aunt, who had previously spoken with Shen Lin.

Although he was a ger herself, she looked down on others of the same status. She believed that gers had difficulty conceiving and giving birth; even if they did manage to become pregnant, they often bore only more gers.

In farmers, sons were valued for carrying on the family line, so she would never allow her own son to marry a ger.

Zhou Jing was viewed as a good-for-nothing, a sort of local thug. Shen Lin was Zhou Jing’s brother-in-law, and he knew a bit about Wang Baichuan’s feelings toward him, which made him resentful not just of Shen Lin but of his entire family.

As Zhou Jing continued to ask around, the woman simply rolled her eyes and replied, “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him.”

He questioned several more villagers, but either they were extremely unfriendly or hurriedly tried to avoid him.

Just when Zhou Jing was at his wit’s end, a young man ran back from outside the village. He was about seventeen or eighteen, and while he wasn’t as tall as Zhou Jing, he was sturdy.

Upon seeing Zhou Jing, the young man urgently exclaimed, “Zhou Jing, your wife, and your brother-in-law are about to be beaten to death at their family’s house! Aren’t you going to check?” His expression showed even more concern than Zhou Jing himself.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jing felt his head spin.

“I don’t know the way to my father-in-law’s house. Can I ask you to help guide me? I’ll pay you 10 copper coins for bothering you.”

“No need!” The young man was as frantic as Zhou Jing, and the two of them didn’t walk—they ran at full speed toward the destination.

The Shen family had a relatively good situation in the village, living in a bright, spacious earthen house, with three new rooms built at the back that added to their wealth.

At that moment, even though the main door of the Shen house was tightly shut, a crowd had gathered outside, eager to watch. They could clearly hear the sounds of shouting and fighting coming from inside the house.

In farming communities, people were straightforward and traditional.

Whenever a family had a couple of “good” news, word spread throughout several villages.

When Wang Chunhua married Shen Mo to Zhou Jing, it became a topic of gossip in the village, so everyone recognized him.

As he arrived, some of the more cautious villagers quickly stepped aside. Even those who were usually troublemakers dared not approach him.

Zhou Jing paid no attention to anyone else and rushed straight to the wooden door of the Shen house.

He raised his foot and kicked the door, but it was locked tightly, and after five or six kicks, it still wouldn’t budge. Without hesitation, he picked up a large stone from in front of the door and began smashing it against the wood.

The young man who had come with him also helped to smash the door. They didn’t know whose efforts were more effective, but in no time, they had created a large hole.

Zhou Jing reached through the hole, pulled the wooden bolt free, and hurriedly dashed inside.

Zhou Jing burst into the room and saw Old Man Shen striking his wife with a hoe. Shen Mo, trying to protect her younger brother Shen Lin, was thrown to the ground by a blow, a piece of cloth torn away, instantly soaking her clothes in blood.

The blood-stained Shen Mo’s clothes further stained Zhou Jing’s eyes with rage.

He let out a beast-like roar, charged at Old Man Shen, and kicked him to the ground.

He grabbed the hoe,  prepared to smack it down on Old Man Shen.

That figure was too fierce, just like a bare-naked murderer with blood in his eyes. Wang Chunhua was so frightened that she let out a piercing scream, and Shen Cheng retreated repeatedly in fear.

The first to react was the man who had come with Zhou Jing. He grabbed the hoe that Zhou Jing was about to smack down, reducing its force by a third, which gave Father Shen the chance to roll and crawl away from under the hoe, causing it to miss its target.

The man shouted, “Think of your wife! He is your wife’s own father. If you kill him, not only will you lose your head, but your wife will also be implicated!”

“Zhou Jing, no!” Shen Mo’s voice called out just in time.

Zhou Jing whose eyes were bloodshot, instinctively turned toward Shen Mo’s voice.

It was as if he didn’t recognize him, he stared blankly at Shen Mo for a moment before he finally reacted.

He threw aside the hoe and rushed over to help Shen Mo up, roughly checking her wounds before bending down to pick her up and head outside. At that moment, Shen Mo tugged at his sleeve and said timidly, “Brother Jing, they want to sell Shen Lin. We can’t let them sell Shen Lin.”

Zhou Jing’s heated mind was still fixated on punishing the person who had harmed Shen Mo, but he had not completely calmed down.

The man who came with Zhou Jing supported Shen Lin as he walked up to Zhou Jing and said: “Zhou Jing, he is Shen Lin’s biological father. If he wants to sell Shen Lin, there’s nothing anyone can do! If you don’t want Shen Mo to regret it for the rest of his life, you need to calm down and think of a way!”

Shen Mo said: “Brother Jing, please save my little brother. I can’t just stand by and watch my little brother jump into the fire pit…”

Zhou Jing knew he had to calm down.

Now that Shen Mo had no way out and was at the end of his rope, he needed to be composed; he was his only support.

Zhou Jing tried to push away the chaotic thoughts in his mind, clearing his head to find a way to respond.

He focused on calming himself, seeking a solution amidst the turmoil.

While they were talking, Wang Chunhua noticed that Zhou Jing had stopped shouting and resorting to violence.

Realizing there was no longer any danger and that Father Shen still held Shen Lin’s future in his hands, she felt a surge of confidence.

With a wail, she lunged forward.

“Help! Help! My son-in-law is killing his father-in-law! Where is justice? Where is the law?”

In just that short moment, Father Shen had gone through a life-or-death experience and was completely terrified.

Although Zhou Jing was no longer being aggressive, Father Shen realized that he had wet his pants from fear.

He discreetly closed his legs, hoping no one would notice.

“Help! Help!” Wang Chunhua screamed louder and louder.

Fortunately, her usual dramatic personality made her outbursts very common to the villagers; she often shouted, she would shout how Father Shen was going to beat her or kill her.

The villagers were so accustomed to her antics that they brushed it off, thinking Wang Chunhua was just causing trouble again.

If it weren’t for that, Zhou Jing might have been forcibly dragged to the magistrate’s office by the people of Shenjia Village right then and there.

In his past life, Zhou Jing had been a big boss. He faced countless unexpected events and had an exceptionally strong ability to adapt.

This time, it was Shen Mo who made him lose his rationality, but he forced himself to regain control, even if just briefly.

He quickly thought of a solution that wasn’t really a solution.

“Xiao Mo, can you trust me? This might ruin Shen Lin’s reputation, but I promise to take Shen Lin away and completely sever ties with the Shen family from now on!”

Shen Mo immediately nodded. “I trust you, husband. As long as we can save my little brother, that’s all that matters!”

Zhou Jing then asked Shen Lin, “What about you?”

Shen Lin replied firmly, “Reputation or life, I choose life! Brother, whatever method you have, use it. Even if this means I can never marry for the rest of my life, I will never regret it!”

“Okay!” Zhou Jing replied, releasing Shen Mo and turning to stride toward Shen Cheng. With the ease of handling a child, he pinned Shen Cheng down and raised his fist to strike.

The force behind his blows seemed aimed at avenging the injuries that Father Shen had inflicted on Shen Mo.

The Shen brothers, along with the man who had come with them, were at a loss with Zhou Jing’s intentions but did not intervene.

Wang Chunhua was crying her heart out when she suddenly heard her second son calling out in distress, “Mother, help me!”

Wang Chunhua lunged toward her son, shouting, “Help! They’re going to kill someone!”

Although Zhou Jing was throwing punch after punch at Shen Cheng, his eyes were locked onto Father Shen, as if each blow was directed at him.

Father Shen winced at the sight, he was too frightened to make a sound. He shrank back, wishing desperately that Zhou Jing wouldn’t see him.

It wasn’t that Father Shen was cowardly; it was just that Zhou Jing looked incredibly terrifying at that moment as if he had crawled out of hell itself.

Not only someone as meek as Father Shen, but even a hardened criminal would surely be filled with one thought—run!

“Shut up! If you dare to scream again, I’ll make sure your son can never be a man.” After Zhou Jing said this, he pulled out a short knife that seemed to have appeared from nowhere, and pressed it against Shen Cheng’s groin.

Shen Cheng’s legs shook with fear, at least managed not to embarrass himself like his father.

Wang Chunhua, silenced as if someone had squeezed her throat, lost her voice entirely.

“You… you dare…”

Zhou Jing sneered: “You can just bet on whether I dare or not.”

“Mother, mother, this is a gamble we cannot take! I don’t want to become a eunuch; please stop shouting.”

Wang Chunhua trembled as she spoke, “Don’t forget, Shen Lin is still in my hands.”

“You should be grateful; otherwise, your son would have suffered more than just a few punches and kicks,” Zhou Jing said. “You need to go and cancel this engagement right now.”

The initial sense of intimidation that Wang Chunhua felt began to settle when she heard Zhou Jing mention Shen Lin.

She realized that Zhou Jing was making such a big fuss precisely because of Shen Lin’s marriage; he was just trying to scare them into canceling the engagement. If she refused to back down, she doubted Zhou Jing would actually do anything to her son—after all, murder was a crime.

She did not believe that Zhou Jing would risk his own life for a ger.

The reason ignorant women remained ignorant was that they often took things for granted.

Even when stark realities lay before them, they could imagine outcomes that aligned with their wishes.

Now, Wang Chunhua believed that her thoughts reflected the truth: Zhou Jing was merely trying to scare her by using her son and wouldn’t actually do anything to him.

Having completely convinced herself that Zhou Jing would not dare to harm her son and was merely trying to intimidate them, Wang Chunhua became reckless. She boldly shouted, “No way, the engagement cannot be canceled! Shen Lin is getting married! What can you do about it? I don’t believe you really dare to do anything to my son. Don’t forget, murder means losing your head!”