Mo Dakui was quick-witted and imdiately understood his old man’s intention. Hastily fetching a chair, he helped Elder Mo to sit before he, along with Mo Dali and Mo Dayong, lifted Elder Mo, crying out as they carried him, "Village Chief! Village Chief, save us, my father is vomiting blood!"
After finishing, he pointed to the corners of Elder Mo’s mouth and the hem of his garnt for all to see the bloodstains.
Seeing this, the villagers exclaid, "Oh, is he really vomiting blood?"
Upon seeing this, Village Chief He’s face changed, thinking that if Elder Mo were truly vomiting blood due to anger caused by Mo Qinzi, then the matter would be tricky to handle.
Gu Jinli, holding Brother Cheng’s hand and each enjoying a roasted duck leg, noticed the situation. She nudged Brother Cheng and whispered, "Go find Mo Xiangming, tell him to inform the village chief that having blood in one’s mouth doesn’t necessarily an it’s vomited out—it could be from biting one’s lip."
Given Elder Mo’s history of fainting and severe illness, if he were truly vomiting blood, he would surely be in shock by now and not capable of opening his eyes pitifully for everyone to see.
"Alright." Brother Cheng, being small, quickly weaved through the curious crowd and slipped beside Mo Xiangming, tugging at his hem to relay Gu Jinli’s words before smartly adding, "Don’t say my sister told you this."
Third Grandma said Elder Mo’s family was like a plaster that sticks closely to people, and he didn’t want his family getting involved with Elder Mo’s family.
Mo Xiangming was anxious, and upon hearing this, his eyes brightened, "Thank you, I’ll go tell the village chief now."
Mo Xiangming hurried to the village chief, shouting loudly, "Village Chief Grandpa, it wasn’t my sister that made uncle so angry that he vomited blood; he bit his own mouth to bleed. If you don’t believe it, just check his mouth for wounds!"
Village Chief He, taken aback, imdiately commanded, "Dazhuang, Da Miao, Tieshu, go open old Mo’s mouth. I want to see how long he can keep up this act!"
"Okay!" He Dazhuang and the others responded, imdiately rushing forward to pry Elder Mo’s mouth open.
Mo Dali and his brothers hurriedly intervened, "Stop, what are you doing? My father is nearly sixty, how can you younger ones be so rough with him?"
He Dazhuang snorted, "What elder or younger one? Your father shows no respect for age, and yet you expect us to respect him? Dream on! Move aside or I’ll hit you."
"Er Miao, San Miao, help out," He Damiao, seeing them blocked by Mo Dali and his brothers, imdiately called over his brothers.
Upon hearing this, He Ermao and He Sanmiao quickly rushed to Elder Mo’s side, caught him as he was trying to flee, pinched his chin, and pried his mouth open.
San Miao, with a keen eye, imdiately spotted a small chunk of flesh bitten off from the inside of Elder Mo’s left cheek, and quickly shouted, "Village Chief, there’s a wound in Elder Mo’s mouth, a chunk of his inner cheek is bitten off, and there’s a small hole still oozing blood."
Seeing his deception unveiled, Elder Mo felt utterly humiliated and imdiately feigned fainting.
"What? It can be like this?" The villagers present were all shocked, appalled that Elder Mo would bite off his own cheek flesh just to fra the young girl Mo Qinzi, showing incredibly cruel intentions.
"Such a malicious heart, such a person must be expelled from the village." The villagers, originally only there for the spectacle, were chilled by Elder Mo’s actions, thinking if Elder Mo ever targeted them with such a tactic, what would happen then?
"The village cannot keep such people around; drive their entire family out of the village."
The villagers were incensed, all demanding the village chief to expel Elder Mo’s family.
Village Chief He was thrilled, Elder Mo had brought this upon himself by his misdeeds.
He looked at Elder Mo, who had his eyes tightly shut, and sneered: "Mr. Mo, stop pretending, gather your things and leave the village now. I don’t care where you settle down or how you survive, just that you can no longer stay in Da Feng Village."
Worried that Elder Mo’s family would refuse to leave, he said to He Dazhuang and the others: "Go inside, move all their belongings out, lock the house, and don’t let them live here anymore."
"Alright!" He Dazhuang and others hurriedly shook off Mo Dali and his brothers, and stord into the Mo’s house to move things out.
"Stop, stop it right now, you robbers, don’t touch my family’s belongings!" Old Mrs. Mo finally snapped back to reality, and with a few daughters-in-law, tried to stop He Dazhuang and his group.
He Dazhuang’s wife, Mrs. He Yang, rolled up her sleeves and said to He Tugou’s wife: "Let’s go, don’t let these Mo won run wild in our village."
"Alright." He Tugou’s wife and He Tieshu’s wife rushed up and started grappling with the won from the Mo family.
Old Mrs. Mo, being poor and having fled from famine, was physically weak and no match for Mrs. He Yang and the others; in no ti, the mother-in-law and daughters-in-law were subdued neatly.
Mo Qiuyue and Mo Xiangnan, among others, dared not help, seeing He Dazhuang’s group moving things inside the house, they imdiately ran to hide in the kitchen.
Seeing they were losing, Old Mrs. Mo could only run to call Elder Mo: "Old man, wake up, our family is being driven out!"
Gu Jinli was nibbling on a roast duck leg, leisurely enjoying the show; Elder Mo was really playing possum, not waking up yet?
Elder Mo struggled for a bit more, then could no longer ’maintain his unconsciousness’ and turned to Village Chief He: "Village chief, our family has settled in Da Feng Village, we are villagers here, and have the right to stay. You can’t drive us out; it would require the county governnt’s agreent to do so!"
Village Chief He sneered: "You needn’t worry about that; I’ll visit the county governnt tomorrow to report the trouble your family has caused in the village and have your household registration struck off!"
Did he really think that he had no way to handle them?
"Rember, as disaster victims, if you dare cause trouble in the village where you’re resettled, just a joint report from the village chief and the local chief, verified as true, can strike off your registration and make you holess!"
Elder Mo panicked upon hearing this: "You can’t drive us out; we belong to Da Feng Village..."
Village Chief He cut him off: "This is a situation your Mo family has brought upon yourselves. I’ve long warned you to behave properly, not cause any trouble; but you wouldn’t listen. You even went as far as to claim Mo Qinzi wanted to harm you over a re wage dispute, saring our entire village’s reputation. Such harm to the village cannot be overlooked, and as village chief, I have no choice but to expel you!"
Village Chief He was determined to expel Mo family. After He Dazhuang and others had moved out the belongings of the Mo family, he had the villagers drag each of the Mo family mbers out of the courtyard, finally locking all house and yard doors.
Old Mrs. Mo was wailing desperately, kneeling with her family and crying: "Village chief, dear brother village chief, please spare us this once. We are too poor to even have food, that’s why we thought of borrowing so silver from Kui Zi... The talk of harming others wasn’t intentional, it was just the old lady’s slip of the tongue. Please let us go."
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