Chapter 57: How Could a Person Give Birth to a Beast?

Dahuaishu Village is located to the west of Dawai Village, and it takes less than half an hour on foot to reach it.

Hu Zhaodi and her group were not in a hurry. Their pace was neither fast nor slow, and they chatted along the way.

“Sister Chunhua, has your husband and that evil mother-in-law of yours been abusing the two children?” Hu Zhaodi asked.

Ji Chunhua’s expression darkened. “How could they not abuse the two children? If they were boys, they might treat them like treasures. But since they’re both girls, they don’t have a good life at all. The eldest daughter is barely eight, and the youngest isn’t even five. They’re often beaten, and they’ve already been forced to work.

Sigh! It’s all my fault, I couldn’t even protect my own children.”

Hu Zhaodi responded, “Sister Chunhua, don’t blame yourself. Yesterday, you said that after giving birth to your eldest daughter, you were forced to live in the woodshed. Did your husband live there with you?”

Ji Chunhua’s face flushed slightly. “No, he only… only…”

“Only came to the room to satisfy himself and left after?” Hu Zhaodi filled in the uncomfortable words for her.

Ji Chunhua nodded. “That’s right. Even when I was pregnant again, my mother-in-law still didn’t let me move back. She said it would disturb her son’s rest.”

“Didn’t your husband speak up for you?”

“He couldn’t care less about me. He’s just happy to have us sleep in separate rooms. He said I woke up too often at night, which disturbed his sleep.”

Hu Zhaodi rolled her eyes. “This family is a mess. If they’re so worried about rest, then why even marry in the first place?”

Han Dongsheng agreed. “Exactly! It would be much quieter if they never married. People like this should remain bachelors for life.”

Third Brother Ji, with a serious face, spoke up, “I know a few people in Dahuaishu Village. I’ll have them spread all the dirty secrets of this family. Let’s see how he manages to find a wife in the future in these parts.”

Hu Zhaodi shook her head. “Third Brother Ji, there’s no need for that. Tonight, I’ll take care of that scoundrel. Afterward, he won’t just be unable to have a son; I’ll make sure he can’t have a daughter either, cutting off his descendants completely.”

Wu Yinghai gave her a thumbs up. “Brilliant, Zhaodi! Anyway, the two children Sister Chunhua has are coming with us. From now on, they’ll have nothing to do with that scoundrel.”

“Exactly.”

Ji Chunhua looked deeply moved. “Zhaodi, thank you. Thank you all.”

By the time they arrived at Dahuaishu Village, the sky was already turning to dusk.

Under Ji Chunhua’s guidance, Hu Zhaodi and her group headed straight to her in-laws’ house.

Ji Chunhua’s eldest daughter was chopping firewood in the yard, while the youngest carried the chopped wood into the woodshed.

Her husband and the wicked mother-in-law were sitting in the main room, chatting.

Ji Chunhua’s husband, Zhang Gousheng, was the only son of the Zhang family.

Her mother-in-law, Li Erxia, was a sharp-tongued, mean-spirited woman. Her husband had passed away early, and she had raised Zhang Gousheng alone.

Li Erxia said, “Gousheng, tomorrow you still need to go pick up that worthless woman, Chunhua. There’s so much work to do around the house. If it’s just the two of us, with those two good-for-nothing girls, we’ll be dead from exhaustion!”

Zhang Gousheng nodded. “I know, Mother. I’ll go get her first thing tomorrow.”

“Good. She doesn’t deserve to live a good life. Since she married into our family, she’s got to work like a beast here.”

“But Mother, she came back covered in wounds this time. Won’t her brothers beat me if I go pick her up?”

Li Erxia rolled her eyes and snapped, “You fool. Once she’s married, she belongs to her husband’s family. Her family won’t want to take care of her. These days, everyone is struggling to make ends meet. Who would be willing to take in a married daughter?”

Hu Zhaodi gestured for Ji Chunhua to call the two children over.

Ji Chunhua softly called out to her daughters, “Da Ya, Er Ya.”

The two girls turned around upon hearing their mother’s voice and nearly cried out in surprise.

Fortunately, Hu Zhaodi quickly raised her right index finger, signaling them to stay quiet. “Shh! Don’t make a sound, come over quickly.”

The two girls rushed over and threw themselves into Ji Chunhua’s arms, sobbing quietly.

From the main room, Zhang Gousheng’s voice could be heard. “But Mother, that wench Chunhua has an older brother and two younger brothers. What if they decide to beat me up to avenge her?”

Li Erxia replied, “Then you threaten her family by divorcing that wench. I don’t believe they’ll stand up to the shame and gossip from everyone in the ten-mile radius. Besides, if you really divorce her, will she have the face to live on? No one would want a woman like her.”

Hu Zhaodi couldn’t stand listening any longer. She looked at Ji Chunhua and her daughters and shouted, “Old witch, my family isn’t someone you can just bully and threaten at will. If you dare to hurt my Sister Chunhua, you and your son will pay the price. Come out here!”

Hearing someone insulting them outside, Li Erxia and her son stormed out of the main room in a fury.

Hu Zhaodi stood with her hands on her hips, her gaze cold as she stared at them.

When Li Erxia and Zhang Gousheng saw the five angry men behind Hu Zhaodi, they froze, too afraid to step forward.

Hu Zhaodi sized them up. Li Erxia had high cheekbones, sharp triangular eyes, and lips as thick as two sausages.

Wu Yinghai sneered and muttered, “Zhaodi, no wonder your Sister Chunhua was bullied. Just look at her mother-in-law—her face screams ‘mean and sharp.’ And you know the old saying, right? ‘A woman with high cheekbones doesn’t need a knife to kill her husband.’ She’s got the typical ‘husband-killer’ face.”

Zhang Gousheng didn’t look much like his mother, but his lips were identical.

Hu Zhaodi asked, “Sister Chunhua, what’s your husband’s name?”

Ji Chunhua replied, “His name is Zhang Gousheng.”

“Ah? Zhang Gousheng?” Hu Zhaodi asked in disbelief.

“Yes.” Ji Chunhua nodded.

“Ha ha ha ha…” Hu Zhaodi, Han Dongsheng, and Wu Yinghai burst into laughter.

“Ha ha ha… Oh my god, someone really named him that? Oi, this is too funny! Ha ha…” Han Dongsheng laughed.

Hu Zhaodi laughed so hard that tears streamed down her face as she bent over, clutching her stomach. “Ha ha… Brother Han, don’t you think the name is quite fit? Ha ha… ‘Gousheng,’ ha ha…”

Wu Yinghai added, “Yes, it’s too fitting. How could a person give birth to such a beast? Ha ha ha…”

Li Erxia and her son’s faces turned a mix of green and white with rage. While people had joked about the name Zhang Gousheng before, they had never been laughed at so wildly as they were now.

There were few literate people in the village, and the older generation always said that “unfortunate names are easy to live with.”

Zhang Gousheng’s father was illiterate, and the day Li Erxia gave birth to him, the neighbor’s dog had just given birth to a litter of puppies. Zhang Gousheng’s father decided to name his son after the dog’s litter, hence “Zhang Gousheng.”

Li Erxia’s face turned red from embarrassment. “What are you laughing at? It’s just a name, what’s so funny? Unfortunate names are easy to raise, don’t you know that?”

Hu Zhaodi continued laughing, bent over and clutching her stomach. “Ha ha… I really didn’t know.”