Adoption

The two talked for a while, and then the sun came out. It was not long since autumn began, and the weather was cold in the morning, but warm at noon. As soon as the sun came out, the fog disappeared. After he had solved his worries, Fang Zhiyuan followed his uncle to burn paper on his mother’s grave.

Fang Zhiyuan kowtowed to Fang Sheng honestly, and at the same time burned some paper for the original body, silently telling him in his heart: Li Hu, you and your mother can go with peace of mind. I will treat those who are good to you well, and I will keep an eye on what kind of retribution the two who forced you and your son to death will have in the end. Don’t worry!

Fang Zeng talked to his brother’s grave: “Brother, don’t worry, I will take good care of Huzi. He will follow me in the future, and I will not let him starve if I have a bite to eat. As for Li Fu, I want to see how the person he married with all his heart can make his life. Brother, you are too stupid. In the next life, you will be born a man, pick a virtuous ger, and live a fairy-like life.”

The two packed up and went down the mountain with their things. Fang Zeng planned to solve the problem today. He took Fang Zhiyuan back to Lin Village first. Back then, Li Fu and his brother were introduced by the old village chief of Lin Village and the village chief of Li Village. Now the village chief of Lin Village is the eldest son of the old village chief, named Lin Xin, who grew up with Fang Zeng and they have a very good relationship.

Fang Zeng also invited a midwife to come and tell Lin Xin about the matter. Lin Xin was already close to the Fang family and also watched Fang Sheng grow up. His matchmaker was his father, so he had to go there for both emotional and logical reasons. Otherwise, he could step on the married gers of Lin Village in the future.

When they came, Li Fu was at home and several big men in the village were busy moving out the old furniture in the house, and the place where mourning was posted in the main hall had been posted with the word “happiness”. Several men were preparing wedding cakes for the wedding. It was a scene of great enthusiasm.

 Fang Zeng’s arrival cooled the scene, and everyone was still for a few seconds. Li Fu felt a chill in his heart as he looked at Fang Zeng. His wounds had just healed, and he still felt some pain when he thought of being beaten like that.

He quickly put down the things in his hands, ran over with a smile. When he saw Fang Zhiyuan behind Fang Zeng, he thought he had called Fang Zeng and glared at him fiercely. He smiled and said, “Brother-in-law, why are you here? Come in and sit down.”

Fang Zeng said to Li Fu with sarcasm, “I dare not accept your call of brother-in-law. My brother has not passed for 7 days. I don’t know what you are doing? Big red wedding characters? Wedding cakes?” He picked up the dazzling red characters and asked expressionlessly.

 Li Fu didn’t know what to say for a while when asked this question. At this time, a plump ger came out from the inner door. He held his belly and looked at Fang Zeng as if he didn’t see him. Seeing that everyone stopped working, he frowned at Li Fu and said softly: “Brother Fu, what’s the matter? Tomorrow is our big day. It will be too late if we don’t hurry up.”

Li Fu just smiled awkwardly and asked others to work. Fang Zeng was so angry when he saw Feng Mei. He raised a chair and hit the big incense tray in the room. With a bang, the incense tray was smashed, and the fragments were splashed everywhere. Feng Mei screamed and covered his belly with one hand.

The people who were working stopped when they saw it. They were all from the Feng family, Feng Mei’s brothers and sisters-in-law. For tomorrow’s wedding, the villagers didn’t say anything, but they didn’t want to help because it was unlucky. As brothers, they had to help. They wanted to marry Feng Mei off earlier and get it over with earlier. Although everyone didn’t say it in their hearts, they didn’t necessarily not look down on Feng Mei’s actions. 

Fang Zeng was tall and strong, and those who wanted to stand out were stopped by the brothers beside him. They were here to cause trouble for Li Fu, why should they interfere? How could they beat such a big guy?

Li Fu hurriedly supported Feng Mei, held him in his arms, and coaxed him softly. He turned around and said to Fang Zeng viciously: “What are you doing? I tell you that this is my home, this is Li Village. Don’t think that you are great just because you know a few kung fu. I tell you, if you are shameless again, I will make sure you can’t leave Li Village.”

Fang Zeng sneered and said to Lin Xin beside him: “Brother Lin, look, Li Fu is threatening me. What’s the matter? Don’t you know what you are doing? You are not clear with a widower. Two shameless bitches made my brother angry. My brother hasn’t even passed for 7 days yet, and you are thinking about living together? It’s wishful thinking.”

When Li Fu heard this, he felt uneasy. Feng Mei refused to listen and said loudly to Fang Zeng: “How can you talk like that? Brother Fu and I love each other and it is a match made in heaven for us to get married. Your brother is unlucky, why do you blame Brother Fu? Stop making trouble here. We didn’t hurt anyone. Your brother died of illness. You can’t do anything to us no matter what you say.” 

Fang Zeng was so angry that he wanted to slap Feng Mei, but Fang Zhiyuan pulled him back.  Fang Zeng came back to his senses, looked at Feng Mei with disdain, and said to Li Fu: “It was for such a bastard that you killed my brother, and his bastard son killed half of my nephew’s life. As a father, you didn’t say a word, and you blamed my nephew?”

Li Fu’s father was angry at Fang Zhiyuan who complained to Fang Zeng. Seeing the chaos in front of him, he got angry at Fang Zhiyuan, but he could only say to Fang Zeng: “It’s normal for children to fight. He fell into the river by himself and accused others. Besides, Ah Mei has already taught Guizi a lesson. Who told him to cause trouble? He got himself into trouble.”

Fang Zeng despised Li Fu to the core. At this time, the door of Li’s house was full of villagers who came to watch the excitement. The rice had not been harvested yet, and every household was still idle. Therefore, when they saw that there was excitement to watch, most of the villagers came.

 Li Ren, the village head, also came late. He entered the house and saw the mess. He looked at Fang Zeng, Lin Xin and a stranger. He greeted Lin Xin first, then greeted Fang Zeng: “Nephew, what’s wrong with you? If you have something to say, please talk to me.” 

Fang Zeng said: “Uncle, you were the one who introduced my brother back then. Now he has died tragically. Have you ever come out and said a fair word? Also, you, Li Village, bullied my brother because he was from another family and always sided with the people of Li Village. What can I say?” Li Ren has been the village head for more than ten or twenty years. He was praised everywhere. Now he was pushed to this point by a young man. He felt uncomfortable. Although what Li Fu did was indeed not nice, he was his nephew after all. Should he kill his nephew for an outsider?

However, when Fang Zeng came to his house, he could not say that, so he had to say: “Nephew, what you said is not right. No one harmed your brother. He was in poor health and sick. It is not reasonable for you to blame us like this.”

Fang Zeng also knew the nature of the people in Li Village, and did not say anything on this topic. Yes, his brother was angered to death, but no one was willing to testify. If his nephew came out to testify, no matter what, the nephew’s reputation would be gone.

He nodded to Lin Xin, and Lin Xin said: “Uncle Li, we have another thing to do today. I am not sure. If there is an adulterer in the village who does not keep the husband’s code of conduct, how should your village deal with it?”

Li Ren had a bad feeling in his heart, but in front of everyone, he had to say: “Of course, beat him up first and then drive him out of the village.” He knew about Feng Mei’s situation, so he said it lightly.

 Lin Xin smiled: “The people of Li Village are really kind. If it was in our Lin Village, such a fickle ger would have been put into the pig cage long ago.”

Li Ren did not respond, but just smiled to smooth things over. Lin Xin changed the subject and pointed at Feng Mei, saying loudly: “Now in my Lin Village, Fang Zeng asked me to ask a question. His brother-in-law was seduced by a fickle ger, and the two of them had a shameless affair. Uncle Li, what do you think should be done with Feng Mei?”

Before Li Ren spoke, Li Fu spoke first and shouted at Lin Xin: “Nonsense, don’t talk nonsense. I know Fang Zeng is resentful of his brother’s death and wants to throw dirty water on me and Ah Mei. Although Ah Mei and I are going to get married, it was decided after his brother’s death. If you want to frame us, you look down on our Li Village too much. “

Li Ren also nodded and said, “Yes, nephew Lin, do you think there is any misunderstanding? Don’t believe everything you hear.”

Lin Xin just smiled and said loudly to everyone, “Uncle Li, I am afraid of wrongly accusing a good person, so I invited the most famous midwife in our village to see if Feng Mei is pregnant. If not, then our Lin Village will naturally offer him three livestock and six animals to apologize. If yes, please Uncle Li, deal with it according to the customs of Li Village. It will also clear the atmosphere and correct people’s hearts. “

As soon as these words came out, Feng Mei and Li Fu turned pale and looked at Li Ren in panic.

Everyone in Li Village knew that they had an affair, but they didn’t know that they had a child.  Li Ren looked at Li Fu fiercely, but no matter how bad Li Fu was, Feng Mei was pregnant with his Li family’s child. If the truth was found out, it would be fine if the child died, but the reputation of Li Village would be ruined. Who would dare to marry a ger into their village in the future? Who would be willing to marry a ger from their village?

Li Ren’s face turned cold at this time, and he said to Lin Xin in a cold voice: “Lin Xin, this is Li Village. We decide the affairs of our village ourselves, and it is not your turn to speak.”

Lin Xin still smiled in a good-tempered manner, but then his face turned cold. He pulled Fang Zhiyuan out and said to Li Ren: “Okay, then Huzi, this child, is the child of the elder brother of the Li Village was bullied by a child of a different surname. He lost half his life but no one helped him. As soon as his mother left, someone took advantage of his mother’s money to bully him. Children without a mother are weeds. You people in Li Village don’t care about them, but we in Lin Village do. “

Fang Zeng took over the conversation and said to Li Fu: “Huzi will be adopted as my son in the future, and he will take my surname Fang. My brother’s child should not be ruined by a heartless person like you.”

Fang Zhiyuan is his first child. After so many years, Li Fu still has some feelings for him. Moreover, Fang Zhiyuan is a man, and he is so old. He will be a labor force. Li Fu is still reluctant to let go. Besides, it would be embarrassing for him to let others raise his son.

 Before he could say anything, Li Ren spoke up: “No, Li Hu is the blood of our Li Village. How can he follow your Fang family? He has a father and uncles. Letting you raise him would be a slap in the face of all of us in Li Village. Don’t even think about it.”

Li Ren was firm and refused.