Chapter 71: How Shameless

However, as luck would have it, his mother stepped right onto the teacup. The eldest daughter-in-law of Old Madam Wang had just managed to break free and was about to rush out to call for her husband to help, when she unexpectedly slipped on something underfoot and fell heavily to the ground, chipping a front tooth and filling her mouth with blood.

Bai Xi’s gently swinging foot paused for a moment. Was this a case of a mischievous child bringing misfortune to his own mother?

Seeing that he had gotten his own mother into trouble, the little boy was frightened and hurried out, which Bai Xi guessed was to fetch help.

Upon realizing she had lost a tooth in the fall, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Wang family began to cry and wail loudly, her voice drowning out all others in an instant.

Soon, attracted by the commotion, people arrived and pulled apart the crowd that had gotten into a scuffle inside the house. Despite the chaotic brawl, the people from Niuluo Village had hardly suffered at all, their clothes only slightly disheveled at most.

In contrast, Old Madam Wang and her three daughters-in-law were a mess, their hair in disarray. Though their faces weren’t bruised, their bodies were mottled with blue and purple bruises.

They had come to take advantage of the occasion, hoping to get a free meal, but before the banquet even began, they’d been beaten. Old Madam Wang could not swallow such a humiliation. She slapped her thigh, sat on the ground, and began to howl.

“Heavens, is there no justice left in this world? I came to my daughter and son-in-law’s home to celebrate my grandson’s one-month banquet, and I get beaten up…”

“Is there anywhere in the world where a mother-in-law brings people to beat her own in-law?”

“My body is covered in injuries, my head aches, my waist aches, my legs ache—everywhere hurts from your beating…”

“I’m telling you, if I don’t get an explanation today, I’m not leaving. You have to compensate me!”

Old Madam Wang’s three sons crowded around her, none bothering to help her up, hands on their hips as they shouted at the people of Niuluo Village.

“It’s against the law to hit people! If you don’t pay for our medical expenses, we’ll never let this go…”

“That’s right, Niuluo Village bullies people too much!”

“Look at my wife, she lost a tooth because of you…”

“We’re not finished with this today!”

Madam Li and the others who had fought back were far from intimidated. After all, they were in their own village—how could they let outsiders push them around? They raised their voices in retort.

“Bah! So what if we bullied you? You deserved it!”

“Afraid of you? Go ahead, report us if you dare…” Anyone could talk big; the authorities in town hardly had time for such trivial nonsense.

“If you keep running your mouths, we’ll hit you again—believe it or not?!”

“What’s going on here?” Chen Daliu arrived upon hearing the commotion, his brows knitting as he surveyed the chaos. He looked at Madam Li. “Aren’t you celebrating your two grandsons’ one-month banquet today? How did this turn into a fight?”

Before Madam Li could speak, Old Madam Wang began to shout.

“What else could it be? The people of Niuluo Village are unreasonable, bullying us because they outnumber us. Look at what they’ve done to me…”

Seeing her mother-in-law pull up her sleeve to show her bruises, Li Jia’s eldest sister-in-law also let go of her bleeding mouth, demanding compensation for her tooth.

Who would have thought that coming with her mother-in-law for a free, hearty meal would result in this? Without a front tooth, she would whistle every time she spoke from now on—surely people would laugh at her. The shame and anger filled her with regret, and she wished she could drag the person responsible for her fall and knock out a few of their teeth in revenge.

The little boy standing behind his parents had no idea what his mother was thinking; he was busy furtively clutching two eggs in his pocket—his loot from the chaos—sure that his grandmother would praise him once they got home.

“With this kind of behavior, who would dare maintain good relations with your family in the future? Who would dare marry their daughter to you? Beating your in-law’s mother is a laughingstock!”

This was Old Madam Wang shouting at Madam Li.

“Let them laugh!” Madam Li was not one to back down. She cursed fiercely, “To have in-laws like you is the worst luck for eight generations. Why should I care about being laughed at?”

“Village chief, you don’t know how shameless Old Madam Wang is.” The pretense of civility was gone after the fight, and Madam Li would no longer call her in-law. “She dared to speak ill of Ancestor Bai.”

“What!” The other villagers of Niuluo Village were stunned, and the next second they glared furiously at the Wang family.

At this moment, if anyone gave the word, the people of Niuluo Village would have rushed forward and given the Wang family a real beating—perhaps even to the point of serious injury.

Though Niuluo Village wasn’t large, with one or two hundred households, none of the neighboring villages dared provoke them lightly.

After all, those with nothing to lose are fearless, and even those with something to lose, if they’re tough and principled, are not to be trifled with.

“And that’s not all!” Madam Li’s cousin, a woman in her thirties married to a man in the neighboring town, had come back especially to attend her cousin’s grandsons’ banquet. Though married out, she still considered herself a member of Niuluo Village, its rules etched into her bones. Now, she said indignantly, “She insulted the Ancestor, saying she was poorly raised and had no parents to teach her.”

“And more—she called her just a worthless girl, a burdensome mouth to feed…”

“She said even worse things…”

Inside the house, Bai Xi quietly rubbed her nose, thinking the villagers’ memories were indeed sharp. In a rural brawl, anything could be said, especially by women from the countryside, who had no filter. To say Bai Xi had no parents was mild.

With Madam Li and the others recounting the insults, the faces of the Niuluo villagers grew dark.

“Too much!”

“Outrageous!”

“She deserved a beating!” Some rolled up their sleeves, itching to rush forward at the slightest provocation.

Ever since the Ancestor’s accident, it had remained a sore point for Niuluo Village. Everyone avoided mentioning it for fear of causing her pain, never bringing it up in her presence.

Yet the Wang family had dared to insult her, even speaking ill of the Ancestor. Those who had tried to break up the fight now regretted it; they should have taken the opportunity to land a few more blows.

Old Madam Wang’s eldest son, seeing the situation turn, swallowed nervously and stepped back, still trying to sound tough: “What do you want to do? Don’t try anything! Hitting people is against the law—you’ll be arrested!”

Chen Daliu glared at the Wang family, suppressing the urge to curse them out. He said sternly, “You come to our Niuluo Village to make trouble—do you really think we’re easy to bully?”

“Get out of Niuluo Village! And don’t ever set foot here again, or don’t blame us for what happens!”

Since it was their own villagers who had done the beating, if the Wang family reported it, things could get messy. Chen Daliu decided to simply drive them out and forbid them from entering again.

With his words, the villagers became even harsher, shouting at the Wang family.

“That’s right, get out!”

“Go! You’re not welcome here!”

“Hurry up and leave!”

Someone even threatened, “You’d better watch yourselves—if I see you again, I’ll beat you again!”

(I’ve seen all your sweet messages of comfort, and my heart is instantly filled with happiness. Once I recover tomorrow, I’ll give you all extra updates. Sending love!)