Chapter 62

If Zhou Yanfeng dared to say no, Tang Yunling would surely follow up with, “Then don’t come to my house for meals anymore.” 

Could he refuse? 

Zhou Yanfeng abandoned his carrying pole and buckets, jogging after her. 

“Fine, fine, fine! Miss Tang, I’ll go, alright?” 

“Wait for me…” 

When Lu Jiaojiao injured her head, the brigade clinic was bustling yesterday, but neither Lu Jianguo nor Liu Chunhua showed up. 

People in the brigade had been gossiping behind their backs, calling the couple cold-hearted and speculating they didn’t want to pay for the medical expenses. 

Now that Lu Jianguo was leading Liu Chunhua toward the Yin family with great momentum, the smell of drama was in the air, and the villagers were instantly intrigued. 

Someone familiar with Liu Chunhua stopped her to ask, “Chunhua, are you heading to the Yin family to check on Jiaojiao?” 

“Of course I am! My poor Jiaojiao!” 

Liu Chunhua immediately put on a show, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “That black-hearted Shen Guixiang and Yin Zhihe! I sent my good daughter into the Yin family, and now those two beat her up every other day.” 

“This time, my Jiaojiao is even more pitiful. Those two actually smashed her head open!” 

What?! 

Jiaojiao’s blood-covered face from yesterday wasn’t from a fall? 

Shen Guixiang and Yin Zhihe beat her?! 

This revelation from Liu Chunhua shocked the entire brigade. 

“How ruthless can they be to beat someone like that?” 

The woman who had stopped Liu Chunhua asked doubtfully, “Chunhua, are you sure? Could this really be true?” 

“Shen Guixiang is known for being trouble, but I’ve never heard of her hitting anyone.” 

“Yin Zhihe, too—he looks like such an honest, mild-mannered man.” 

Lu Jianguo spat angrily. “Pah! Yin Zhihe, honest and mild-mannered? What a joke!” 

“My poor Jiaojiao fell for his lies.” 

“That man is brutal! Jiaojiao gets beaten all the time. Just a while ago, she came home crying in the middle of the night.” 

“Shen Guixiang then dragged Yin Zhihe to our house to apologize, promising they’d never hit her again and would live a good life together. Chunhua and I felt sorry for them and let Jiaojiao go back.” 

“And now? It hasn’t even been that long, and he smashed Jiaojiao’s head open again!” 

Clutching his chest as if in anguish, Lu Jianguo continued, “I even asked Weiwei at the clinic. Jiaojiao’s injury is serious! If she’s not taken to the commune hospital soon, she’s sure to end up a fool!” 

At the mention of her daughter possibly becoming a fool, Liu Chunhua burst into tears with a loud wail.  When Lu Jianguo told Liu Chunhua that their daughter, Lu Jiaojiao, might become a fool, Liu Chunhua suddenly burst into tears.

“My Jiaojiao was such a good girl, and now look at the suffering she’s gone through after marrying into the Yin family!”

“When I heard yesterday that Jiaojiao’s head had been smashed again, I was filled with regret, wishing I had been more ruthless. Last time, I believed in Yin Zhihe’s lies. I panicked so much that I fainted.”

“Today, my old man went to the clinic to get some medicine and is finally feeling better. He managed to drag himself up, and now there’s no way I’m letting this go. I have to go to the Yin family and stand up for Jiaojiao!”

“If Shen Guixiang and Yin Zhihe don’t take my Jiaojiao to the commune hospital, I’ll file a complaint at the commune. I’ll accuse those two of being violent. And I’ll go to the Women’s Federation in the county to report Yin Zhihe!”

Now it made sense why Lu Jiaojiao hadn’t been seen at the clinic with Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua yesterday.

It wasn’t because Jiaojiao had just fainted after injuring her head—it was because she had been beaten!

It was no wonder Liu Chunhua had collapsed from shock.

The woman who had stopped Liu Chunhua to talk now looked at the couple with pity. She offered to go with them to the Yin family to help persuade Shen Guixiang and Yin Zhihe to take Jiaojiao to the commune hospital right away.

However, many others were merely watching, content to join in the gossip.

But this wasn’t good enough.

The two sides had to clash!

Tang Yunling grabbed Zhou Yanfeng, joining the crowd heading toward the Yin family. As they walked, she overheard some people still questioning Liu Chunhua about whether it was really Yin Zhihe and Shen Guixiang who had beaten Lu Jiaojiao. She nudged Zhou Yanfeng with her elbow.

Zhou Yanfeng, threatened by Tang Yunling’s glare, realized he had no choice but to stir things up.

“Yin Zhihe really did beat her. Lu Jiaojiao came back to our youth point and had a fight with He Yan. He Yan asked if the injury on her face was from Shen Guixiang and Yin Zhihe, and Jiaojiao was so terrified she ran away shaking,” Zhou Yanfeng revealed.

His words were quickly echoed by other youths who had come along to watch the drama unfold.

“She’s clearly scared of her husband and mother-in-law.”

“I also heard from He Yan that Jiaojiao is really afraid of Yin Zhihe.”

“They say Yin Zhihe’s impotent, that’s why he beats Lu Jiaojiao so often.”

As the youths chatted, the gossip spread like wildfire among the villagers.

All the discussion centered around the idea that Yin Zhihe’s frustration about his inability in certain areas led him to take out his anger by beating Lu Jiaojiao.

Lu Jianguo and Liu Chunhua, walking ahead, were stunned. They hadn’t expected Zhou Yanfeng and the other youths to speak up in defense of Jiaojiao.

But none of that mattered now.

Liu Chunhua had found her new angle: Yin Zhihe was impotent.

So when they reached the Yin family, besides insisting that Lu Jiaojiao had been beaten by Shen Guixiang and Yin Zhihe, Liu Chunhua started loudly accusing Yin Zhihe of being unable to perform in bed, tricking Jiaojiao into marrying him, and then beating her afterward.

How could Shen Guixiang stand to hear her son criticized like this?

When Liu Chunhua began criticizing her son-in-law, Shen Guixiang couldn’t stand it.

She rushed forward and scratched Liu Chunhua’s face.

In the blink of an eye, the two women were rolling on the ground, pulling at each other’s hair and tearing at each other’s clothes.

They scratched and tore at each other so much that their clothes were ripped off and blood marks were left on their skin. It was truly a chaotic scene.

The entire Yin family was surrounded by a crowd of onlookers, with people fighting and others trying to break up the fight. It was a very lively scene.

Having stirred the pot, Tang Yunling stepped aside, waving her hand to dismiss Zhou Yanfeng.

“Xiaofeng, go home.”

Zhou Yanfeng finally realized what Tang Yunling’s real intention was in dragging him along to watch the drama unfold.

“Tang Yunling, so I’m just your summoned tool, aren’t I?”

Zhou Yanfeng frowned. “I used to be the star of the capital’s elite circles, and now I’m here in the countryside as a youth volunteer. You’ve turned me into your errand boy, dealing with this gossip all day long. How hard is that for me?”

“Last time, He Ting took a blow for you, and you promised to have his back no matter what. Now you’re asking me to help out your husband’s wife with her business, and you’re complaining?”

“Go on, say it—what’s wrong with me using you?”

Tang Yunling kicked him, unsatisfied. “You were born to be used by me.”

Ahem!

What kind of fierce words were those?

Zhou Yanfeng’s face turned red instantly.

He didn’t even respond when Tang Yunling’s kick made him hurt.

He weakly muttered, “You’re a tiger, who would dare marry you?”

“What did you say?”

Tang Yunling put her hands in her pockets, silently challenging him to repeat himself.

Zhou Yanfeng immediately backed down. “Ah, nothing….”

Shen Guixiang stubbornly refused to pay to take Lu Jiaojiao to the commune hospital, and Liu Chunhua and Lu Jianguo kept making a scene at the Yin family, day after day.

In the end, Liu Chunhua brought her brothers-in-law and others to make a big fuss at the Yin family, and that’s how it finally ended.

Tang Yunling, after enjoying the drama of the situation, had been busy with her gossip instead of helping Lu Baiwei with her sewing. She hadn’t seen anyone for days, always working hard in the world of gossip.

Finally, when Lu Jiaojiao was taken to the commune hospital, Tang Yunling had the time to pay a visit.