Chapter 22 A Kind Reminder

Chapter 22 A Kind Reminder

What she said wasn't wrong.

While other families in the neighborhood may not be as well-off as Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang, who can eat eggs and meat every day, they at least occasionally give their families something good to eat and some oily food.

Putting aside other things, we can eat eggs, tofu, or refined grains every few days, and we can eat pancakes, cornbread, or rice at least once a day.

Unlike their family, they boil all kinds of vegetables in plain water every day, and they can't even bear to put in a little salt.

The little girl felt very wronged, and she tried her best to endure it, just like her older brothers and sisters. She endured it for a very long time.

But she really couldn't hold back anymore. She didn't want to make her mother cry, but she just couldn't control herself. ┭┮﹏┭┮

The little girl was sobbing uncontrollably, looking incredibly pitiful. But her own father, whose feelings she had hurt, became furious at her crying.

A middle-aged man who couldn't provide for his wife and children but took it for granted that they should treat him like royalty, felt humiliated in front of his neighbors after his naive young daughter tore away his veil of shame. He became furious and decided to beat his "unfilial daughter" to death.

Amidst the cacophony of onlookers' chatter, Xie Wanniang, piecing together the truth bit by bit, was utterly speechless.

If you can't afford to raise them, can't you just not have so many? He can't even get enough to eat, yet he can't control the extra two ounces of fat he gains. It serves him right that his face has been torn off and his defenses broken by this innocent little girl!

After being stopped by the men from several surrounding families, he still had the nerve to try to break through the encirclement while pointing at the trembling little girl and cursing her incessantly.

Xie Wanniang, who despised this man to the extreme, felt her fists harden when she saw the situation of the rest of his family.

The terrified little girl was held in her mother's arms by her disheveled hair. Her face was pale and she looked like a ghost. Her little body was trembling, and she could only shed tears silently.

Her two older brothers both had bruises on their faces, apparently from being beaten by their father before the neighbors arrived.

The little girl's older sister and sister-in-law both looked frightened and worried. They stayed by the little girl and her mother's side, not daring to utter a word of comfort.

Xie Wanniang's breathing became somewhat heavy. Noticing Jiang Yuan's extreme emotional fluctuations, she suddenly tightened her grip on the man's wrist.

The villagers didn't know he had practiced martial arts. When they saw him doing farm work or gathering firewood in the mountains, they all assumed he was naturally strong. The man was the same way, so after Jiang Yuan grabbed his wrist, he didn't take it too seriously and continued to dart around, trying to get past everyone to hit the little girl.

However, Jiang Yuan suddenly increased the force at this moment, which not only prevented him from breaking free from Jiang Yuan's hand, but also caused him to cry out in pain due to Jiang Yuan's sudden exertion.

"Ouch—it hurts! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" He grimaced and glared at Jiang Yuan. "You little brat, why did you hit me so hard?"

Jiang Yuan: "The village head will be here soon."

The man was slightly taken aback. "The village head?"

Jiang Yuan nodded.

The man nearly collapsed on the spot. "No, you...you..."

He suddenly remembered that the village head's second son lived at the end of the village!

The young man, inexperienced in such matters, heard him repeatedly shouting that he would beat his youngest daughter to death, and saw him even beat his son who came to stop him. Even when villagers came to persuade him, he didn't back down; instead, his attitude became even more intense. Naturally, the young man believed what he was saying.

The problem is, the man didn't really want to kill his youngest daughter. He just felt like he'd been stabbed in the back, so he planned to teach the little girl a lesson so she would remember it and be obedient and docile in front of him from now on, just like his other two daughters.

He also knew that it was problematic for him to yell at his child to beat or kill him just because the child had broken two raw eggs and drunk them.

Who didn't have a sweet tooth when they were a kid? Let alone when he was a kid, he's almost forty now, and he still curses Jiang Yuan every day because of the domineering aroma wafting from Jiang Yuan's house. He thinks Jiang Yuan has been bewitched by a woman and is a real spendthrift.

Neighbors don't want to get involved in his family affairs. Even if they try to persuade or stop him, they are very careful with their words and actions, unlike Chen Lizheng, who never holds back when scolding villagers who have made mistakes.

He panicked and tried to backtrack, saying, "Look at the mess this has made. I was just confused in a fit of anger. I didn't really mean to kill that girl."

Xie Wanniang pouted, "But she's already been scared sick by you. She's young and doesn't understand what angry words are. She thinks her own father is really going to beat her to death over two eggs."

"It's pitiful that she's so young, she hasn't enjoyed a single day of happiness or a single good meal, and she's about to be scared to death by her own father."

"You!" Xie Wanniang, the speaker, was a young woman, and the man wasn't as polite to her as he had been to Jiang Yuan and the others. He glared at her, "What right do you, an outsider, have to interfere in my family affairs? Let me tell you... Ouch—ouch! Jiang Yuan, you brat!"

Xie Wanniang raised her chin and said, "Uncle, don't bite the hand that feeds you. I'm reminding you to quickly find Doctor Chen to take a look at your little girl. Otherwise, if anything happens to her, you'll be the subject of gossip from all around."

She gestured to everyone, "Uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters, look at that little girl's face."

Hearing her say this, everyone turned to look at the little girl being held in her mother's arms.

The little girl was trembling all over, her face was pale, her eyes were glazed, and her breathing was rapid and disordered; she was indeed terrified.

The aunties and older women immediately rallied in Xie Wanniang's defense, either criticizing the man for being reckless or urging him to quickly send someone to invite Doctor Chen to his house to examine the little girl.

The men echoed the advice, but the man, clinging to a sliver of hope, dismissively said:

"Whose child hasn't been beaten or scolded by their parents? Why don't I see any other kids getting sick from being scared?"

"Just let her mother call her soul back when it gets dark. Why bother calling a doctor? Don't they even know if she has the destiny to be so precious?"

"Don't say I'm heartless. We country folk aren't like some rich girls who call a doctor every time they have a headache or fever. When we get sick, we just tough it out."

He was arguing with the villagers, one sentence at a time, when Chen Lizheng pushed through the crowd and walked in.

Like Xie Wanniang, he also felt that the little girl should be examined by a doctor, otherwise she might not live long.

However, the man still used the same excuse as before, preferring to be scolded by Chen Lizheng rather than spend money to hire a doctor for the little girl.

His wife and children came to plead with him, but he glared at them fiercely.

Xie Wanniang felt that if Chen Lizheng weren't still around, he would definitely pick up something and go back to being the abusive man he used to be.