Chapter 52: Retribution

In the Xiang household, Mrs. Zhou, the second wife, was carrying a wooden basin of water to pour out. As darkness fell, she tripped over something in the dark, and with a stumble, the basin crashed to the ground with a loud “clank,” spilling water everywhere. She fell to the ground, reaching out, only to touch something—instantly, she was horrified. She let out a sharp scream: “Ah—!” Everyone in the house lit their lamps and rushed out to see what had happened.

Xiang Laotou, holding an oil lamp, peered down. Xiang Sanlang, with sharp eyes, immediately noticed the swollen face, almost unrecognizable, and gasped, “It’s Big Brother!”

Everyone gathered around and confirmed it: the person lying on the ground was indeed Xiang Dalang.

Mrs. Zhou, as if the sky had fallen, collapsed onto the ground, wailing loudly, “Poor Dalang! Who could be so heartless to do this to you—”Xiang Laoer quickly checked for a pulse. “He’s still breathing—” he sighed in relief.

Xiang Laotou slapped his hand away impatiently. “What do you need to check for? His body is warm, he can’t be dead. Look at his injuries, are they serious? If necessary, we’ll have to carry him to the town to see a doctor.”

Everyone snapped out of their dazed state and began to examine Xiang Dalang’s wounds. When they saw his body covered in bruises and cuts, they collectively gasped. While the injuries weren’t life-threatening, they were certainly severe. His entire head was swollen, and it was impossible to recognize his original features without a close look.

Hearing Xiang Laotou mention taking him to the town, the group fell silent. It was easier said than done. Not only would the doctor’s office be closed at night, but even if it were open, who would treat him without money?

At that moment, Xiang Dalang’s wife, Shi Xiuxiu, yawned and emerged from the house.

Mrs. Zhou immediately scolded her, “You lazy thing! Your husband is lying here beaten to this state, and you’re only now getting up. What kind of wife are you?”

Shi Xiuxiu looked at her husband lying on the ground with a blank expression. “I told him not to go out, but he wouldn’t listen. He insisted on running off to fool around with the widow from the village. Now he’s been beaten—who can he blame?”

“You slut! Who told you he went to fool around? You’re just spouting nonsense! You don’t even feel sorry for him, you just wish for your own husband to get beaten, don’t you? What kind of heart do you have?”

“Oh? Then how was he beaten?”

“Why are you asking me? He’s your husband, you should go find out who did this to him!”

Shi Xiuxiu only gave a cold glance at the man on the ground and nonchalantly said, “I’ve only been in the family for a few months and don’t know anyone in the village. How am I supposed to ask? And by the way, I’m pregnant now. It’s pitch dark outside. Don’t you worry that I might fall and hurt your grandchild?”

Mrs. Zhou was left speechless. This daughter-in-law was “exchanged” with her own daughter, Hehua. Just thinking about it made her furious. Moreover, ever since Shi Xiuxiu entered the household, she had been lazy, never doing farm work, and never helping with housework, or respecting her elders. The Shi family wasn’t easy to deal with either, and Mrs. Zhou couldn’t do anything about her. The two women just never got along, and every time they clashed, it led to scolding. Mrs. Zhou was both resentful and angry with her daughter-in-law.

Shi Xiuxiu, seeing her mother-in-law at a loss for words, flashed a smug look in her eyes and coolly said, “It’s not like my parents have been in the village for decades. Instead of sitting here crying, maybe they should go ask around.”

“You— you slut—”

“Enough—”

Xiang Laotou interrupted, his voice stern. “Stop arguing. Quickly, help Dalang into the house.”No one dared to speak further. Xiang Laoer couldn’t lift him by himself, so he glanced around and saw Xiang Sanlang just hammering his own leg, showing no signs of helping. Xiang Youcai just stood with his arms crossed, observing coldly, as if this had nothing to do with him.

Mrs. Zhou had no choice but to crawl over to help lift Xiang Dalang’s legs. Together, they exerted all their strength to get him onto the bed.

She then instructed her daughter-in-law to check his condition, but Shi Xiuxiu, pretending to be disgusted, immediately went to the outhouse, making it clear she wasn’t going to help. Mrs. Zhou was furious, gritting her teeth.

“Father, look, his clothes on the back are torn. It seems like he was dragged all the way back,” Xiang Laoer said, flipping his son over to reveal his torn clothes and scraped skin.

Xiang Laotou was shaking with anger. He slammed his hand on the table and shouted, “Who has the audacity to hurt someone from the Xiang family?! Laoer, go find out where he went tonight!”

Xiang Sanlang, gleeful at the situation, interjected, “Where else would he go? He went to fool around with Zhang Chunqing.”

“Then go to Zhang Chunqing’s house and get to the bottom of it. At least we can get the medical fees back.”

Xiang Laoer had no choice but to go out with a torch, trying to find out where his son had been.

He returned shortly, reporting that Zhang Chunqing had already gone to bed and refused to open the door or answer. He had no idea what was going on.

Xiang Laotou, seeing that there was no result, cursed him for being an idiot and sent him to ask the village head.

Not long after, Xiang Laoer came back again, saying that the village head was also asleep and wouldn’t answer the door. Other households were the same nothing made sense.

Xiang Laotou, now understanding the situation, darkened his face. “This troublemaker must have done something outrageous and gotten beaten up by the villagers. No one will help us now. It’s too late to do anything tonight. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning.”

Normally, Mrs. Xiang would have caused an uproar, especially since her beloved grandson had been beaten. She would have shouted all through the village at this hour. But tonight, she was unusually quiet, not uttering a word.

As they lay down, Xiang Laotou said, “Tomorrow morning, you go to the other women in the village and ask around. Women gossip; they’ll be able to find out something. We can’t let our grandson suffer in vain.”

Mrs. Xiang said impatiently, “I’m not going. Let the second daughter-in-law go.”

“The second daughter-in-law won’t be able to get anything out of them,” Xiang Laotou said irritably.”I’m almost buried in the ground, I don’t want to worry about this anymore.”

“Each one of them is either your son or your grandson, if you don’t worry, who will?”

Now, Mrs. Xiang was truly upset. “Why don’t you worry then? It sounds like they’re not your sons or grandsons. Back when we were both in prison, there was clearly twenty taels of silver in the house, but in the end, only ten taels were taken, and the other ten were given to the second branch, leaving me to wait for death in prison. Now, when trouble comes, don’t expect me to do anything.”

Xiang Laotou, hearing this, turned around helplessly and said, “I knew you still had this grudge. I did say I would find money to get you out when I got out. But you were released a few days later, and the family didn’t need to raise money anymore. Besides, you’re fine now. What more do you want?”

Mrs. Xiang snorted, “If the prison head hadn’t thought I was wasting food, would I have gotten out? When I came back, what were you all doing? Lying around like the second master, while I was forgotten!”

“You’re such a cold-hearted woman! These children came out of your belly. Can you really watch them fail like this?”

“If you can, why can’t I?” Mrs. Xiang retorted.

Xiang Laotou was enraged and slapped her.

The slap was loud and crisp.

Mrs. Xiang shut her mouth, no longer speaking, covering her face as she got up and took the wooden pillow to the hall.

Xiang Laotou was full of anger with nowhere to vent. He swept everything off the bedside cabinet, making a terrible clatter.

The other rooms remained quiet, no one coming out to intervene.

The next morning, the second son and his wife got up early and went door to door asking about what happened last night, who had beaten their son. Everyone shook their heads, saying they didn’t know or see anything.

The couple returned home, feeling defeated.

By noon, when Xiang Dalang woke up, everyone learned that it was Pear Blossom who had struck him.

Zhou was so furious that her head seemed to explode. She rolled up her sleeves and was about to head to the foot of East Mountain to settle scores with Dagen’s family.

But before she could leave, an unexpected guest arrived at the door. The person immediately started cursing, accusing Xiang Dalang of being a scoundrel, trying to abduct his granddaughter to sell her.It was none other than Mrs. Zeng.

Zhou, already furious, was further enraged by Mrs. Zeng’s appearance. She pointed at her nose and cursed, “You old hag! My son’s lying in bed, unable to move, and you say I’ve been abducting your granddaughter? Get back home and stop spewing nonsense in front of my door!”

Mrs. Zeng clapped her hands and said, “See? This is karma! Heaven has eyes! It’d be best if he never gets out of bed again, and dies! If he dies, I’ll buy firecrackers and celebrate tomorrow!”

Zhou was shaking with rage. “You shameless old woman! Your heart’s blacker than a pot bottom! How dare you curse someone’s child to die! You’re the one who won’t have a good end!”

“I’m not like you and your mother-in-law, taking other people’s daughters to the streets to sell! Heaven won’t punish me! But you Xiang family have done so many bad things, just wait for Heaven to take care of you!”

Zhou was hit in a sore spot, and couldn’t say anything. Everyone now knew about the incident when Pear Blossom was sold, and what made it even worse was that after the ten taels of silver were taken back, those human traffickers swindled them out of another twenty. Every time Zhou thought about it, she ground her teeth in hatred.

Unable to argue with Mrs. Zeng, Zhou turned her anger on her daughter-in-law. “They’ve come to our doorstep to curse your husband, and you’ve been quiet like a mute! Are you waiting for others to walk all over you?”

Shi Xiuxiu rolled her eyes and said irritably, “If I speak loudly now, I feel like throwing up. How am I supposed to argue back?” As she spoke, she pretended to gag.

Zhou was even angrier. “You’re so precious! You’ve barely been pregnant for a few days, and you’re already acting like you’re going to die! As if you’re the only one who knows how to have children!”

Shi Xiuxiu didn’t bother to respond. She directly went back into the house to lie down, leaving Zhou to continue cursing with Mrs. Zeng at the door.

Mrs. Zeng had just learned early in the morning that Xiang Dalang and Zhang Chunjing had tried to harm Fubao last night, and had been fuming with anger ever since. She hadn’t even washed her face and came straight to the village head.

Zhang Chunjing, a solitary man, locked the door and didn’t dare to speak. After cursing for a while without results, Mrs. Zeng turned back home, but she wasn’t about to stop. She sat on a big stone in front of the Xiang family’s door and planned to spend the whole day there.

Following Mrs. Zeng’s curses, the Xiang family finally pieced things together. It turned out that Xiang Dalang and Zhang Chunjing had tried to use Fubao to trap Dong Yun, and Pear Blossom, who was close to Dong Yun, helped set things up, leading to Xiang Dalang getting beaten.

Zhou’s head was spinning. Her son had started trouble with others, and now, how could she fix this situation?

The tricky part was that the one who had beaten him was that vile woman, Pear Blossom, and Mrs. Zeng was just being difficult and annoying.In desperation, she went to consult with her mother-in-law for a solution. After all, the only one in Daliushu Village who could match Mrs. Zeng was her own mother-in-law.

But Mrs. Xiang was sitting at the table, lazily slurping a bowl of porridge, without even raising her eyelids. Zhou, helpless, cried out, “Mother, Dalang is your grandson, our family’s eldest grandson. You can’t just ignore him. Now they’re bullying us at our door. You need to say something!”

Mrs. Xiang, irritably picking up a piece of pickled vegetable, replied, “I’m too old to manage my grandson. I can’t even control my own son. One almost killed me by taking me to the city, another took silver and left me to rot in prison, and another even sent his own son to war. What do you expect me to do about it?”

Mrs. Zhou was instantly speechless. When they dug out twenty taels of silver from the wall, they only gave ten taels to Laoer to ransom someone. The remaining ten taels—seven were spent by their son, and the remaining three taels went into their own pockets. Now, when her mother-in-law brought it up, she truly had no words to counter.

Helpless, she turned to her father-in-law, “Father, that wicked woman Pear Blossom beat our eldest grandson so badly that he can’t get out of bed. You should at least say something! Go to Dagen and them and ask for some money for medicine. If he keeps lying down like this, Dalang might be crippled!”

Outside, Mrs. Zeng didn’t seem like she was going to stop, continuing to curse relentlessly. Xiang Laotou’s head was getting irritated by the noise, so he called his three sons over and told them to go find Dagen to talk it out and at least get three or four taels of silver to treat Xiang Dalang’s injuries.

Xiang Youcai shook his head, uninterested. “This is not my problem. Why should I help clean up a mess they made themselves? I’m not doing it. If you want to, you go yourselves.”

Xiang Laotou’s head, furious, said, “He’s your eldest nephew! Don’t think you can stay out of the Xiang family’s matters!”

“An eldest nephew is still not my eldest son. My eldest son is being forced into exile in Lingnan by his grandparents. Who knows if he’s still alive? I don’t even know what’s going on with my own son, how would I have time to care about someone else’s son?” Xiang Youcai finished speaking and turned to leave without even looking back.

Xiang Laotou’s head was so angry that his chest was heaving. He had no choice but to turn to Xiang Laoer and Xiang Laosan. “You two go together!”

When Xiang Laosan saw Xiang Youcai leave, he too wasn’t going to help, muttering, “My son is serving in the army, I don’t even know what kind of hard life he’s living. Besides, this mess was caused by Dalang himself. I can’t go asking for money from others.”

With that, he also turned and left. At this point, Xiang Laotou’s head truly lost his temper. Back when Dagen was around, the second and third households of the family were united, always facing external issues together. But now that Dagen was gone, the family had fallen apart. What had happened?

Unable to get his eldest or third sons to help, he had no choice but to take Xiang Laoer out the door himself.

As they passed by Mrs. Zeng, they were cursed at again. The two didn’t dare to respond, so they just kept their heads down and walked in silence.

At the foot of East Mountain. Dagen’s family was all at home. Pear Blossom was still practicing her martial arts behind the house as usual. Today her elbow felt a little better, so after practicing the horse stance, she moved on to archery. She had barely started when Erniu came running over, panting, and said, “Big sister, Xiang Laotou and Laoer are here.”

Pear Blossom immediately put away her bow and hurried to the front.

Dagen didn’t let them into the courtyard but met them right at the door.

Xiang Laotou’s head looked at the large courtyard behind Dagen, with its several rooms and blue brick walls, feeling envious to the point of bleeding. With a grim expression, he went straight to the point. “Dagen, your daughter beat our Dalang to the point where he can’t get out of bed, and we don’t even know what kind of harm she’s done to him. You need to pay for his treatment.”

Dagen had known about the incident with Pear Blossom beating Xiang Dalang last night but hadn’t said a word to her. Instead, he praised her for doing a good job. He knew that the second and third households would definitely come to the door the next day, so he and his wife had been waiting outside since morning, and sure enough, they had arrived.

Seeing the other party as shameless as ever, Dagen sneered. “Right, Pear Blossom beat Xiang Dalang, but have you asked your eldest grandson what kind of despicable thing he did?”

Xiang Laoer glared at Dagen, furious. “Dalang just wanted to hold the little granddaughter of the Dong family, but he didn’t manage to. Pear Blossom, that little slut, beat him up without distinguishing right from wrong, and now he’s like this! Is there no law anymore?”

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Pear Blossom, who had come out just in time. She sneered. “Law? You Xiang family people think you can talk about law here? This is probably the biggest joke in the world. I can’t be bothered to argue with you. If you’re sensible, get out of here, or I’ll beat both of you!”

Her arrogant tone made Xiang Laotou’s head tremble with anger. He shouted, “Enough! Who are you, a junior, to speak like this in front of an elder?”

Pear Blossom laughed. “Xiang Dalang is the one I beat, not my father. Why are you going to find my father instead of me? Let me tell you, Xiang Laotou, don’t use your patriarchal attitude on me. We’re not the Xiang family, and we don’t fall for that.”

“You—fine! Then I won’t waste words. Since you beat Dalang for no reason, and now he can’t get out of bed and might be disabled, you need to pay for his treatment! Don’t ask for too much, just ten taels will do.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, you really haven’t changed. Still as greedy and shameless as ever. Go back and ask your precious grandson what he did before you came to me! And as for the person I beat, if you don’t like it, go report it to the officials. If the county magistrate tells me to pay, I’ll pay. But if you don’t report it, don’t even think about taking a penny from me. It won’t do you any good.”

The Xiang family had a record in the yamen. They wouldn’t dare to report it. Xiang Dalang wasn’t dead, and he hadn’t lost any limbs or broken bones. The yamen wouldn’t have time to care about such a small matter. If they went, they’d just be thrown out.

“You—you—you—” Xiang Laoer trembled with rage. “This is lawless!”

“Listening to you talk is laughable. How did the Xiang family treat us in the past, and now you can’t stand it when it’s your turn?” Pear Blossom looked at him sarcastically.

Xiang Laoer replied, “The past is the past. We’ve paid what we owed. What more do you want?”

“Your silver isn’t enough to compensate for the suffering our family has gone through! If it weren’t for your family’s dirty tricks, my father wouldn’t have to serve in the army, my mother wouldn’t have worked herself to the bone, and we wouldn’t be starved and looked down upon.

And let’s not even mention how your children treated us. If the swap hadn’t happened, my father could have gone to school, and my two younger brothers could have learned to read and maybe even passed the exams to become scholars. How do you plan to compensate for all that?”

These harsh words left the Xiang family speechless. Xiang Laotou’s head choked and said, “The past is the past. It’s all over. This matter has nothing to do with the past. Just give the money for Dalang’s treatment, and let’s end it here.”

Pear Blossom shook her head: “No money, and even if I had it, I wouldn’t give it to you. I just said it—if you’re not happy, go report it to the authorities. If the county magistrate orders me to pay, then I’ll pay.”

Xiang Laotou was left speechless by Pear Blossom’s words, his face turning from green to pale, clearly angered. If it were anyone else, he would have argued confidently, but facing the victim of the swap incident, they were powerless.

Xiang Laoer couldn’t find a word to retort, grinding his teeth, he said, “Fine, since you say it this way, we’ll report it to the authorities and let the officials decide!” He then pulled Xiang Lao Tou and tried to leave.

But Pear Blossom was calm, smiling, “Take care; there’s no need for me to see you off. By the way, I almost forgot to tell you—back then, you could bribe the clerk to alter Daniu’s age and send him to serve in the military. So, when you report it to the authorities, I can also pay off the officials. Do you think they’ll speak for you or for me?”

At these words, the steps of the Xiang father and son immediately halted.

Pear Blossom’s words had blocked their escape completely. Looking at the large courtyard in front of them, it was clear this family was not short on money. If it came to that, how could they win?

Xiang Laoer could only grit his teeth and ask, “Then, what do you suggest we do?”

Pear Blossom looked at their frustrated expressions and felt a sense of satisfaction.

“Nothing to do. Xiang Dalang got what he deserved. If you’re not satisfied, just hold it in. And go back and tell your family not to keep doing evil. No matter what harm they cause to anyone, once I find out, I will deal with them every time. And don’t even mention the medical expenses!”

After speaking, Pear Blossom suddenly stood up straight, drew her bow, and nocked an arrow. With a flick of her finger, the arrow flew with a whoosh, cutting through the air and narrowly grazing Xiang Laotou’s ear, embedding itself in the tree behind him.

The sudden action left the Xiang father and son stunned. Xiang Laotou felt a breeze pass by his cheek, then saw a few strands of his hair fall. He turned around with trembling hands and saw the arrow embedded half an inch into the tree trunk.

As a former soldier, Xiang Laotou knew just how powerful that shot was. Looking at the cold-eyed, imposing young girl in front of him, he felt a chill down his spine.

He gritted his teeth and said to Xiang Laoer, “Let’s go home!”

Xiang Laoer, seeing his father’s back, felt a rush of anxiety but was powerless against Pear Blossom. He had no choice but to turn and follow.

“Father—Father—are we really not going to take the medical money?” Xiang Laoer’s voice was full of unwillingness, but Xiang Laotou acted as if he hadn’t heard, focusing solely on walking ahead.

Dagen and his wife looked at their retreating figures, feeling a surge of emotions.

Mrs. Xiong said, “I used to be frightened just seeing him like that, but who would have thought that today this old man would be the one scared out of his wits by us?”

Pear Blossom snorted, “Some people are just bullies, afraid of strength but think they can push you around if you’re too reasonable. Only if you’re tougher than them will they fear you.”

Just like Aunt Promegranate, last night was quite an eye-opener. If Aunt Promegranate hadn’t set the example, Pear Blossom might not have dared to beat up Xiang Dalang directly in front of others. Were the men in the village really unable to fight Promegranate? Of course not. So, sometimes, you just have to be tough!

Dagen deeply agreed, “Like Fubao’s grandma, she’s small and thin, anyone could beat her, but no one dares to provoke her.”

Mrs. Xiong nodded, “She’s so young and widowed, if she weren’t so strong, those people would have eaten her alive.”

This time, Dagen became uneasy and said with guilt, “Look at me, I’m full of strength, but I let people push me around, making you and the kids suffer. If I had known this earlier, it would have been better.”

Mrs. Xiong didn’t want to say much, since she wasn’t any different. After all, many people were like that. Most only changed after a bit of guidance or a shock. No one could be blamed.

Her daughter was no longer the naive and silly one she used to be. At some point, she had suddenly woken up and become the capable and responsible woman she was now, Mrs. Xiong thought to herself.