When Lin Shu shouted, people in the distance immediately looked over to see what was happening.

A man suddenly burst out from behind the haystack, hurriedly pulling up his pants, and chased after Lin Shu, shouting, “Stop! Stop!”

Seeing that he was a bit far behind, he grabbed a stone and hurled it at Lin Shu with all his strength.

The stone narrowly missed her, hitting the ground with a loud thud, causing Lin Shu to run even faster than she ever had before, her heart pounding in fear.

“Help! A molester! Help!” she screamed, sprinting towards the main road.

Meanwhile, Lu Shaotang, who had just entered the village, thought he heard his wife’s voice in the distance.

He wondered if he was imagining it because he missed his wife and child so much.

He immediately quickened his pace, eventually breaking into a run.

Soon, he saw a disheveled man holding a stone, chasing someone in the distance—a petite figure running in a zigzag pattern.

It was his wife!

Without hesitation, Lu Shaotang charged forward, closing the gap in a few quick strides.

He kicked the man down to the ground and swiftly dislocated his arm.

The man’s eyes were bloodshot, his face twisted in madness, and he growled like a wild animal ready to attack.

Lu Shaotang frowned slightly and quickly dislocated the man’s jaw as well, preventing him from biting anyone.

The man lay helpless on the ground, still trying to struggle.

Lin Shu, who had been hiding behind a haystack, saw that someone had subdued the man and stopped running.

By now, the villagers, hearing the commotion, had started to gather, asking what was going on.

“That man is so tall and strong! Whose husband is he?” one of them asked.

Lin Shu, recognizing the man, hesitated before saying, “He looks like… my husband?”

Some of the villagers recognized her, and those who didn’t, seeing how beautiful she was, immediately guessed that she was the famous “beautiful military wife.”

Seeing that the danger had passed, Lin Shu quickly ran back.

Sure enough, she saw Lu Shaotang standing there, with the man lying on the ground—who turned out to be Xu Ermao.

“Lu Shaotang!” she exclaimed in delight.

Lu Shaotang smiled at her.

It really was his wife.

He reached out his hand to her, and Lin Shu quickly placed her small hand in his warm one. “Quick, there might be someone in the haystack over there…”

Understanding immediately, Lu Shaotang instructed two of the village women to check the haystack and called for the village production team leader.

Meanwhile, Lin Shu hurried to pick up the bundle she had dropped.

Soon, the two women pulled a girl, about thirteen or fourteen years old, from the haystack.

The girl had been choked so badly that her eyes were bulging, and blood was seeping from her eye sockets and nose.

“Oh no, it’s Shui Fang!” someone cried out.

In the crowd, Shui Fang’s mother spotted her daughter and rushed forward, crying and shouting, “Xu Ermao, you heartless bastard, I’m going to kill you!”

Today, everyone went to the commune to deliver pigs.

Her daughter had mentioned she wanted to visit the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some trinkets, so thinking it was fine, she let her go.

She herself had taken her sewing basket to chat and sew with a friendly family.

Little did she know that during this short time, her daughter would be harmed by that scoundrel Xu Ermao!

The villagers who ran over to see what was happening were outraged.

“That Xu Ermao, always seemed so honest and unassuming. How could he… be so vile?”

“Truly, you can’t judge a book by its cover. We had a scoundrel hiding right among us!”

“This is terrifying! Beat him to death!”

Two quick-tempered and bold women rushed over and kicked Xu Ermao twice.

Seeing someone take the lead, other women joined in, punching and kicking him, scratching his face, pulling his hair, and kicking him.

One of the women picked up a rock that Xu Ermao had dropped and smashed it hard at his most vulnerable spot.

Even with his jaw dislocated, Xu Ermao couldn’t help but let out muffled screams of pain.

The village cadres had gone to the commune to help the villagers sell their pigs, leaving only the accountant from the back village, who couldn’t intervene and could only watch as the women beat Xu Ermao.

Thanks to Lin Shu’s timely discovery, Shui Fang was not in any life-threatening danger.

However, Xu Ermao was in bad shape.

Not only was his face swollen like a pig’s head, but he had also been rendered impotent.

Xu Ermao’s mother rushed forward to protect her son. “Stop hitting him! Stop hitting us…”

Several women swung their arms and slapped her across the face. “How could you raise such a menace?”

Xu Ermao’s father squatted on the road, pleading nonstop for mercy, begging everyone to go easy on his son. “We’re all neighbors, I beg you all, please spare him. There must be some misunderstanding. Our Ermao has been a good kid since he was young. He’s never done anything wrong. This… this can’t be his doing—it must be the girl who seduced him.”

Xu Ermao’s mother echoed, “Yes, Shui Fang has been flirting with our Ermao…”

The villagers were furious.

Your son harms a young girl, and you’re saying she seduced him?

She seduced him into sneaking into a haystack and nearly being strangled to death by him?

The crowd surged forward, beating Xu Ermao’s parents as well.

No one stopped them; the villagers were so outraged that they could have beaten them to death right then and there.

Xu Ermao’s uncles and cousins were all busy delivering pigs.

Even those who usually thought of him as an honest man could only concede now that he had hidden his true nature.

No one dared to persuade the crowd to stop.

Someone turned to Lu Shaotang and said, “Aren’t you in the Military? Aren’t you going to do something?”

Lu Shaotang was hiding behind the crowd, comforting his wife.

This woman sure was bold.

The ball would sometimes appear large and sometimes small.

He needed to teach her to seek help from others in similar situations in the future, rather than taking matters into her own hands.

When he heard someone ask him, he said, “Why does it matter?”

The person pointed to the crowd and said, “Someone has been killed.”

Lu Shaotang raised an eyebrow and replied, “Yes, indeed. We shouldn’t kill him. We’ll have a public trial and execute him later.”

Lin Shu also shouted, “Yes, don’t kill him. Let him kneel there in front of the entire commune and be executed!”

The cost of the bullets would have to be covered by his parents, and his parents would have to handle his body!

Out of respect for Lu Shaotang and Lin Shu, the crowd stepped back.

When Xu Ermao’s parents saw their son beaten into an unrecognizable state, they wailed and rushed over, crying in distress as if they were on the brink of collapse.

Lu Shaotang looked at the scene with disdain, lifted Xu Ermao’s coat, and put his arm and chin back in place.

“Hehe.”

As soon as Xu Ermao’s chin was back to normal, he started to provoke others.

He knew his fate was sealed.

Being caught on the spot meant no way out.

He suddenly went mad, with evil intentions rising.

His eyes darted towards Lin Shu and then focused on Lu Shaotang, with his eyes emitting a venomous and crazed light, his smile extremely sinister, “Your wife… is even more enjoyable…”

“Bang!” Lu Shaotang gave him a punch, knocking out three of his teeth.

Xu Ermao, however, seemed to feel no pain at all, displaying a mad state.

He fell to the ground, his eyes still fixed on the crazy woman, mumbling, “Shui Fang, Shui Fang.”

The mad woman, hearing him say “Shui Fang,” pushed away the others and threw herself onto him, crying out, “Shui Fang.”

Her daughter had always been sensible and obedient.

How could she suddenly elope with a man?

She couldn’t accept it.

At the time, Shui Fang was not yet 14 years old.

How could she possibly elope suddenly?

They had only one beloved daughter, and they cherished her greatly.

How could she bear to leave her parents and elope with a man?

They just didn’t want her to get involved with the town ruffians.

She was still young and should wait a couple of years before looking for a partner.

But she ran away in a fit of anger.

They went mad searching for the ruffian in town, but his family denied ever seeing her.

They said they only knew her, had invited her to eat sunflower seeds and play together, but nothing else, let alone an elopement.

In these times, you need an introduction letter and ration tickets to go anywhere. How could they elope?

But Xu Ermao said he seemed to have seen a man walking with Shui Fang towards the back.

The deranged woman let out a shrill scream and suddenly bit into Xu Ermao’s neck, causing blood to gush out.

Everyone present, whether they had known Shui Lian personally or not, was moved to tears.

That beautiful young girl, murdered by the beast Xu Ermao, was smeared by him as having run away with a man.

For years, the village gossips had spoken ill of her!

Whenever her name came up, people would always say, “That girl from the back village who ran off with a man.”

“That vixen Shui Lian, always good at seducing men.”

“That little girl who acted all flirtatious and ran off with a man at such a young age.”

…

…

By the time the militia captain from the commune rushed over with five or six gun-wielding militiamen to apprehend Xu Ermao, Lin Shu finally began to feel the fear set in.

Her legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.

Lu Shaotang, who had been watching her closely, quickly caught her just in time.

Lin Shu’s legs felt like noodles.

She wasn’t really scared, but her legs wouldn’t cooperate.

Seeing she couldn’t stand, Lu Shaotang simply picked her up.

Lin Shu cried out in surprise, “Put me down!”

Lu Shaotang replied, “You sprained your ankle. Don’t you feel the pain?”

This timid girl, usually shy as a rabbit—she wouldn’t even dare to look him in the eye on their wedding day and had avoided him in the city when they met again—now she had suddenly found the courage to confront a vicious thug.

He didn’t blame her; he was impressed and worried for her.

It was only after finding out that Xu Ermao was a murderer that Lin Shu truly felt the fear.

Strangely, at that moment, she hadn’t known fear at all—she was solely focused on saving someone.

It was only once everything was safe that the delayed terror hit her.

Xu Ermao’s rock had been inches from striking her head.

If it had hit, she would have been lucky to escape with just a bloody head; worse still, he could have caught up and silenced her for good.

Villagers, hearing that Lin Shu was injured, rushed over to check on her, expressing concern rather than mocking her for being held by a man.

Lin Shu, embarrassed and feeling ashamed, simply fainted “out of fright.”