Chapter 51: Jiao Jiao Loses Her Temper (Part 2)

Ye Zi had been secretly helping Sun Meili. When she saw everyone crowding around, asking what was going on, she took the opportunity to repeat the things Zhou Xue had said to insult Sun Meili, and then went on to spill all the dirty deeds the Zhou family had done, one by one, in front of the crowd. With so many people—men and women alike—gathered and gossiping, it didn’t take long for the whole story to spread, both openly and in whispers. What was even more surprising was that when Sun Meili started beating up Zhou Xue, not a single person in the village stepped forward to break up the fight. After all, Sun Meili had several brothers, and she’d grown up in this very village. Seeing that she wasn’t getting the worst of it, even her brothers and sisters-in-law didn’t intervene; in fact, they subtly blocked Zhou Xue’s father-in-law and his brothers from stepping in.

Sun Meili’s eldest sister-in-law was famously fierce. Ever since Sun Meili married in, she’d treated her as her own little sister. When she heard what Zhou Xue had said at the start, she was so furious she started cursing her out, yelling about how her own sister-in-law ended up naked, and how even when she returned to her mother’s house, she was still being bossed around by outsiders. “What kind of daughter-in-law meddles this much? Stirring up trouble and sowing discord—someone should rip her mouth off!”

So, no one wanted to break up the fight, nor did anyone try to get people to leave. Instead, everyone stood around, gossiping and watching. Old Wang, the production team leader, was so anxious he was pacing in circles. His wife, who always relied on her status as the team leader’s wife to get away with things, had gone to the county town early that morning and wasn’t home. The other daughters-in-law in the family had long been at odds with Zhou Xue, and when they heard Sun Meili’s sister-in-law cursing, they made themselves scarce. Old Wang shouted for everyone to stop, but it was useless. The crowd, intentionally or not, blocked him from intervening.

After a while, the village simpleton wandered over, laughing and saying he wanted to see what kind of dowry Zhou Xue had snatched from Jinwa (Golden Doll). That was all it took for the onlookers to get even more excited, egging each other on to go watch. Some people, out of respect for Old Wang’s position as team leader, stayed put and didn’t get too close, but they still stood around watching and snickering.

Sun Meili had been working in the fields for work points since she was a child, and she was a hard worker at home too—she wasn’t lacking in strength. Zhou Xue, on the other hand, had grown up pampered, even more so than Zhou Jiao. She was doted on by her grandfather and spoiled by her mother, had never worked a day in the fields, and couldn’t even tell wheat from chives. She might be tall and sturdy, but she was no match for Sun Meili, who had her pinned and was taking the opportunity to vent all her pent-up anger, pinching her in places no one could see and cursing her out non-stop.

Sun Meili didn’t hold back, listing all the Zhou family’s dirty secrets as she hit her. For example, she shouted that all the army mail was secretly collected by Zhou Xue’s father, who kept it from Jinwa. The whole family was heartless, eating and using Zhou Jiao’s things while bullying her because she had no father, shamelessly bragging everywhere without fear of retribution. And that was just the past—this year alone, there had been 28 parcels, and Jinwa hadn’t received a single one. Even the cotton-padded clothes and woolens Jinwa’s grandmother made for her child ended up on Zhou Xue’s son, as if that wouldn’t make him just as heartless. They were so shameless, it was like they wanted to suck the marrow from Jinwa’s bones to support their whole family. Zhou Xue’s mother, Huang Zhaodi, had hidden away all the valuable things from Jinwa’s family—bicycles, sewing machines, watches. The whole family was worse than bandits, and they even lied to Jinwa, saying only her grandmother had sent money and there had been no parcels. For seventeen years, all the parcels had been secretly taken by this heartless family. Her mother’s brothers were shameless too, wearing the watches given by Jinwa’s grandmother and helping to hide things. Not a single good person in that family! Even the things Jinwa’s aunt sent her were taken by her mother’s sisters-in-law. There wasn’t a decent person in the whole lot.

Ye Zi stood by, explaining everything in detail to the crowd. Every time Sun Meili cursed, Ye Zi would elaborate for everyone’s benefit. By now, everyone who was at home or working in their private plots had come out to watch. As the crowd grew, Zhou Xue realized that after all this time, not a single person had stepped in to help her. She started to panic, her whole body aching from the beating. She blamed everything on Zhou Jiao—if she hadn’t talked, who would have known about all this? She wouldn’t have lost face like this. Cursing Zhou Jiao in her heart, she swore she’d skin her alive. That’s right—she’d go find that wretch and make her pay.

Having made up her mind to go after Zhou Jiao, Zhou Xue shoved Sun Meili aside with all her strength, ignoring her own son and not even taking him when someone tried to hand him over. She stormed out of the village, shouting at the top of her lungs, “Zhou Jiao, you bitch, I’m going to kill you!” Her voice was so loud that people looked at her with even more contempt, and some of the more mischievous villagers started shouting along, “Zhou Xue’s going to kill Jinwa! Zhou Xue’s going to kill Jinwa! Hurry, run to Zhangjia Village, something big is about to happen—someone’s going to die!”

Zhou Xue was in so much pain from the beating that she couldn’t walk fast, so plenty of villagers followed to see what would happen. Despite her shouting, everyone knew Jinwa’s husband was Zhang Guoqing—who in the area didn’t know him? There was no way he’d let his wife get beaten up. It was almost funny. Sensing a big showdown coming, everyone hurried to follow. Over the years, people had heard bits and pieces about the Zhou family’s scandals, and now they were eager to see if the usually gentle Jinwa would finally explode. No one cared about the Zhou family anymore—they were all waiting to see what would happen next. Secretly, they all thought the Zhou family deserved it. Everyone had seen how arrogant they were, always looking down on others, and many people had long been fed up with them.

Along the way, people chatted about the facts, some intentionally, some not. Now that farm work was done and it was the slack season, with so many people joining in, everyone figured there was safety in numbers. As the crowd passed through three villages, it grew larger and larger, with even more men joining in to watch.

Some villagers who had witnessed everything from the start eagerly recounted the details to curious friends. As the crowd swelled, the noise grew, and more and more villages joined in. Jinwa was famous, and she’d married the well-liked Zhang Guoqing—there wasn’t a soul in the area who didn’t know this couple, not even in the county town.

In just half an hour, word had spread to nearby villages, and people came running to see the commotion. No one bothered going back to work; men and women alike joined the growing crowd.

Before they even reached Zhangjia Village, someone had already run ahead to notify the Zhang family. Strangely, though, no one went to Zhoujia Village across the river to spread the news. It was as if everyone tacitly agreed not to tell the Zhou family—just goes to show how unpopular they were. Only Zhou Xue, that fool, would go looking for a fight without first calling for backup from her own family. Where did she get the nerve to go straight to Zhangjia Village to find Zhou Jiao?

Zhangjia Village, backed by the big green mountain, had been home to hunters for generations. Every member of the old Zhang family knew how to fight. Zhang Guoqing had been a local legend since he was young—no hooligan in ten miles dared mess with him. He was so strong he could lift a 500-jin millstone with one hand. With him around, nobody would dare come to Zhangjia Village looking for trouble."