When Mrs. Lin started cursing, she spat furiously, especially when she cursed Mu Shuangshuang, her face was full of disdain.
At this mont, Yu Si Niang was trembling with anger, ignoring everything, she ran up to Mrs. Lin and slapped her right across the face.
"Smack!" Mrs. Lin’s face was slapped to one side by Yu Si Niang, but this wasn’t the end. The fierce wife gene from Yu Si Niang’s younger years was fully provoked by Mrs. Lin.
"You wicked woman, who gave you permission to talk about our Shuangshuang like that? You heartless monster! What did our Shuangshuang ever do to you? She’s just a child! If you have a problem, co at !"
Yu Si Niang had faced terrible bullying from Old Mrs. Mu; there’s no choice in that as she was her mother-in-law, but why should Mrs. Lin bully her? And beyond that, touch her daughter?
"You shaless trash, you plague on others."
Yu Si Niang glared at Mrs. Lin fiercely, continuing to curse, repeating all the nasty things Mrs. Lin usually said.
Mrs. Lin was also trembling with rage; ordinarily, Yu Si Niang didn’t show her any respect. Her eldest daughter-in-law basically didn’t care for family matters; her fourth daughter-in-law was essentially a doormat. Only Yu Si Niang, relying on her brash nature from her younger years, both disrespected her and dared to talk back.
"Yu Si Niang, you lousy woman, today you dared to hit , I’m going to fight you!"
Mrs. Lin then rushed forward, reaching out her hand towards Yu Si Niang. Instantly, four arms were flailing about in a heated exchange, but Yu Si Niang, having done more hard labor, soon got Mrs. Lin down to the ground.
"Smack, smack, smack!" Three slaps in a row, Yu Si Niang cursed as she struck, "You vile woman, if you ever bully my daughter again, I swear I’ll kill you."
Yu Si Niang landed slap after slap, while Mrs. Liu was so frightened she forgot to cover her belly. She stood staring blankly at Yu Si Niang, this third sister-in-law, always seed polite and well-mannered, yet her actions were unimaginable to Mrs. Liu.
For a mont, Mrs. Liu’s jaw dropped so wide you could fit an egg in her mouth.
"Oww, ah, Yu Si Niang, you wretch, let go of , I’m going to tell mom, mom..."
Mrs. Lin scread in pain, shouting and cursing, calling out for Old Mrs. Mu’s na in hope she would co to help remove the shrew in front of her.
But she didn’t realize that Old Mrs. Mu was busy in the house hiding at; the fresh at wouldn’t last long, and Old Mrs. Mu was unwilling to use more salt for curing because it was wasteful— the salt eventually washed away, like throwing at buns to dogs, it doesn’t co back.
With her own matters unresolved, Old Mrs. Mu naturally didn’t want to co out.
Mrs. Lin was completely bewildered from the beating, her head was spinning, a lock of her hair had been torn off, leaving her looking utterly disheveled.
Lu Yuanfeng had just co out from Mu Dashan’s house when he saw the scene at the kitchen door. He was quite surprised by how four-aunt, who usually seed warm and gentle, suddenly turned so fierce. He was, however, glad inside; this Mrs. Lin was indeed vile and deserved a good lesson.
Lu Yuanfeng just stood by watching, with no intention of stopping. Just then, Mu Dashan ca over with cooked dicine, and upon seeing his wife still hitting, he was startled, almost dropping the dicine bowl.
Luckily, Lu Yuanfeng helped him just in ti.
"Si Niang, what are you doing? That’s your second sister-in-law!"
As the eldest is like a father, and the eldest sister-in-law like a mother in his heart, Mu Dashan had these notions deeply rooted, if his wife hits his sister-in-law, it’s like hitting his mother, isn’t it?
He handed the dicine bowl to Lu Yuanfeng and went to pull Yu Si Niang away, while Mrs. Lin seized the chance to scratch Mu Dashan’s face, leaving a fresh red mark.
"You dared to hit my man, I..." in the middle of speaking, Yu Si Niang raised her hand again but was held back by Mu Dashan.
"Si Niang, go back to the house, check on Shuangshuang, don’t... don’t hit anymore, I’m fine... fine." Mu Dashan’s eyes were red, filled with pleading as he stared at Yu Si Niang.
In his view, Yu Si Niang’s actions were improper, violating hierarchy in the Old Mu Family.
But the person in front of him was his own wife, he couldn’t bear to see her suffer. When Old Mrs. Mu cursed his wife, he didn’t speak out to help, he felt deeply guilty, now... he couldn’t just hide anymore, nor could he let Old Mrs. Mu know about his wife hitting the second sister-in-law.
"Second sister-in-law, I’m sorry, I apologize to you, our Si Niang didn’t understand, don’t take it to heart, you can hit or scold , I..."
If Yu Si Niang’s behavior pleased Lu Yuanfeng, Mu Dashan’s was too timid; Lu Yuanfeng turned his head wanting to leave, but recalling those expressive eyes and the confident person, he surprisingly intervened.
"Fourth uncle, fourth aunt, Shuangshuang seems to have so issues, you should go and check!"
Speaking of her daughter, Yu Si Niang dragged Mu the Third and rushed out of the kitchen.
"Yu Si Niang, don’t run, wait for !" Mrs. Lin scread in anger, voice echoing around, her face now swollen like a pig’s head, all bruised and purplish, so hideous it was nauseating.
Now, in the kitchen, only Mrs. Lin and Mrs. Liu were left.
Mrs. Liu said nothing; when Yu Si Niang was hitting, she was so frightened she curled up in a corner by the stove.
Mrs. Lin, having been beaten so miserably, was filled with anger, and went over to slap Mrs. Liu.
"You wretch, gawking around, if we miss dinner, I’ll kill you."
An imdiate red handprint appeared on Mrs. Liu’s face, she started trembling even more. She didn’t have Yu Si Niang’s courage, nor her fierceness, everything she suffered alone, silently crying briefly before starting to cook.
The kitchen then resud its chopping sounds, the thumb-sized at on the cutting board chopped into fine mince, now looking even smaller.
But at is always good to have.
Lu Yuanfeng gently patted Yuanbao’s shoulder, and left the Old Mu Family.
In the pitch-black night, the village paths were occasionally punctuated by dog barking, near and far, in the distant rice fields, frogs croaked, seemingly in tune with the dog barks.
All the way back, Lu Yuanbao said nothing until they were near ho when he suddenly spoke.
"Second brother, actually, even if four-aunt hadn’t saved in the afternoon, I could have got up on my own, the ditch wasn’t deep, couldn’t drown , besides I swim pretty well, I can hold my breath for a whole incense stick’s ti."
"Yuanbao, that’s not important, important is that among so many people, only four-aunt jumped down."
That’s why Lu Yuanfeng was willing to owe Si Niang this favor.
"Alright, I got it, don’t worry, I won’t dismiss that slly girl again, she’s the sweetest slling slly girl in the world."
Lu Yuanfeng: "..."
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