The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 134: Shedding the Golden Cicada’s Shell
"You beastly creature."
"I’ll beat you to death, you swine-dog!"
Tong Huaqiong rushed to the threshing field with a pitchfork and saw Xu Si ripping at Chen Sufen’s clothes. She drove the pitchfork right at Xu Si.
Chen Sufen was terrified to the point of being stunned, her mind blank when she saw her mother-in-law.
"Sufen, run! Run back home and don’t come out," Tong Huaqiong decisively shouted at Chen Sufen.
Chen Sufen snapped out of it from Tong Huaqiong’s shout. Though she didn’t understand why her mother-in-law told her to go home, she never dared to disobey, and fear clouded her thoughts. She hastily pulled her clothes together and stumbled back home.
Xu Si was knocked to the ground by Tong Huaqiong’s pitchfork, remaining dazed for a long while.
To dare bully Chen Sufen is to deserve death!
Tong Huaqiong’s rage flared, and she thrust the pitchfork down towards Xu Si’s groin.
Xu Si let out a blood-curdling scream.
That scream hardly sounded human.
Tong Huaqiong kicked Xu Si several times, bending his legs and feet with her kicks.
Still unsatisfied, she clawed ferociously at his face with her nails, then slapped him repeatedly with all her might.
In no time, Xu Si’s face was swollen like a pig’s head.
Xu Si clutched his groin, curling up like a shrimp, unable to resist.
Estimating that Chen Sufen had already made it home.
Tong Huaqiong deliberately messed up her hair, tugged at her clothes, and plopped onto a pile of straw, wailing.
"Xu Si, you little bastard!"
"I could be old enough to be your mother."
"You filthy spawn, shameless bastard, only someone like Yan Pozi could raise such a wretched creature. Old Gu, you dead old man, come take this lightning-struck wretch away."
She cursed, cried, and clapped at the same time, her voice drowning out the wails of Xu Si beside her.
By now, people had arrived at the threshing field and on the riverbank, hearing Tong Huaqiong’s cries and rushing in to watch the spectacle.
Liu Xiuxiu was a very clever and shrewd girl. Although terrified of Xu Si, she managed to stay composed.
She followed Tong Huaqiong to the threshing field, witnessed Tong Huaqiong sending Chen Sufen home and beating Xu Si, then dashed back to her own fields to call for help.
As she ran, she shouted, "Uncle, something terrible has happened, Xu Si bullied Grandma Tong."
"It’s in the threshing field..."
Though she didn’t know why Tong Huaqiong sent Man Er’s mother home, her cleverness told her what needed to be done.
Quickly, the people in the fields were drawn by Liu Xiuxiu’s shouting.
Gu Dashu, Gu Dahuan, Gu Jingzhe, and Gu Taohua heard that Xu Si bullied Tong Huaqiong and grabbed their sickles, charging towards the threshing field.
Liu Tiechui, Lu Zhaozhao, and others followed behind, all running to the threshing field.
"You bastard!"
Gu Dashu, arriving at the threshing field, saw Xu Si lying beside Tong Huaqiong and immediately kicked him.
Gu Taohua rolled up her sleeves and punched Xu Si’s scratched-up face a few times, knocking out several of his teeth with force.
Gu Dahuan and Gu Jingzhe, eyes red, joined in pounding on Xu Si.
Xu Si’s legs and feet were eventually broken by the beating.
"I can’t live anymore!"
"Just because I’m a widow without a man, do I deserve to be bullied? First Yan Pozi said I’m seducing men, then Xu Si came after me."
"Xu Si that beast blocked me at the threshing field, how can I face anyone now, I might as well be dead."
"Though he didn’t succeed, the word spreading will be terrible for me, my reputation is ruined."
Tong Huaqiong joined the fray of beating Xu Si with a few bad bamboos while sitting on the ground wailing and cursing.
A crowd gathered around Tong Huaqiong and Xu Si, quickly piecing together what had happened.
Xu Si, driven by insatiable lust, had ambushed Widow Tong at the threshing field.
Despite the disheveled state of Widow Tong, with messy hair and torn clothes, it didn’t appear as if she had endured being taken advantage of.
Instead, it was Xu Si lying on the ground clutching his groin, with blood seeping from his pants, his legs and feet broken from the assault, face swollen like a pig’s head.
Nonetheless, the villagers sympathized with Tong Huaqiong; though not wholly victimized, she was still affronted, and if not for her fighting spirit, who knows what might have happened.
Damn Xu Si tried even against a widow who’s already a grandmother.
If it happened to anyone else, wouldn’t they jump into the river, having lost their innocence?
"I can’t live anymore!"
"I’m going to find Old Gu..."
Tong Huaqiong clapped and cried, rubbing her eyes with a hand full of wheat straw, tears rolling down as her eyes were irritated.
"Sister," Mrs. Zhao, Liu Yue Er’s mother, removed her outer garment, draping it over Tong Huaqiong and crying with her.
Who could have imagined such a thing happening to the matriarch, damn you Xu Si, why couldn’t you just die?
To lose one’s innocence can be a matter of life or death, even if the matriarch is a widow, she doesn’t deserve to be bullied easily.
Mrs. Zhao feared Tong Huaqiong might not be able to cope.
"Mom, you mustn’t think this way." Liu Yue Er, together with her mother, held onto Tong Huaqiong.
She hated Xu Si to the core.
Her mother-in-law had just led the family into a decent life, and if Xu Si destroyed her mother-in-law, she’d urge Gu Dashu to cut Xu Si down.
"Aunt Tong," Lu Zhaozhao crouched beside Tong Huaqiong, her eyes brimming with tears.
She’d heard her maid say, in the countryside, a woman who loses her virtue has only one way out.
She was terrified that Aunt Tong might really jump into the river or hang herself.
Lu Zhaozhao stood up, wiping her tears, kicked Xu Si, the despicable one responsible for all this.
It seemed it was time to call on her cousin for help.
Being the local official of Pingchuan County, he must handle such scoundrels properly.
Who should she send to deliver the message to her cousin? Lu Zhaozhao looked at Gu Jingzhe.
Gu Jingzhe’s eyes were red, and at that moment, he wanted to kill Xu Si.
Gu Dahuan, Gu Dashu, and Gu Jingzhe all shared the same thought.
With this in mind, the three of them picked up their pitchforks and sickles to strike at Xu Si.
But were stopped by Liu Tiechui and his son Liu Shan.
"Father, we brothers must seek justice for my mother," Gu Dashu said with reddened eyes to his father-in-law.
"Dashu, we will certainly seek justice for your mother, Xu Si deserves punishment, but we mustn’t kill him," Liu Tiechui expressed understanding, addressing his son-in-law, Gu Dashu.
"Dashu, your father-in-law is right," spoke Liu Tielian, Liu Yue Er’s uncle.
Liu Tielian was the clan leader of the second-largest Liu family clan in Qinghe Bay. Once he spoke, Liu family members gathered around.
"One of you go call the Xu Family Patriarch and the village chief," Liu Tielian instructed his family members.
Someone went off to summon the patriarch and village chief from the Xu family.
Xu Zaohua, hidden within the crowd, was filled with anxiety.
She wished Gu Dashu would just kill Xu Si; she was terribly worried that Xu Si might implicate her.
After all, last night she had incited Xu Si to approach Lu Zhaozhao, even suggesting he "seal the deal".
But she couldn’t understand why Xu Si, who was supposed to target Lu Zhaozhao from the city, instead turned on Widow Tong.
She only thought Xu Si was useless.
Most likely, he was exposed while tailing Lu Zhaozhao and was caught by Widow Tong.
Xu Zaohua looked at Lu Zhaozhao, standing next to Gu Jingzhe, her nails dug into her palms, filled with resentment.
"Xu Si is a bastard in the usual sense, but I didn’t expect him to be this bad, even blocking Widow Tong."
"His behavior is unchecked by his mother. What wouldn’t he dare do?"
"Well, now it’s come to this, Widow Tong is tenacious, let’s see, Dashu and his brothers won’t let the Xu family off easily."
"Thankfully, Widow Tong is not easily bullied; otherwise, it would be a loss in silence. Take Gu Xiaocao’s example, placed there."
The crowd murmured softly, but most sided with Tong Huaqiong.
"Xu Si’s been clutching his groin; could it be broken?" someone dared to move forward for a look, then shook their head, saying, "Seems like the Xu family’s fourth son might not sire any children."
This comment caused the onlookers to suppress laughter.
Serves Xu Si right!
His end was overdue.
Indeed, Widow Tong might have done a public service.
Watching Tong Huaqiong, the crowd’s gaze now carried an added touch of admiration, mixed with sympathy.
