VHBF -Chapter 108 Village Bully Daddy (Part 19)

Chen Qiuhua didn’t even wait for the meal to start. She hurriedly called inside, “Old man, second son’s wife, I’m going to Old Wang’s place for a bit. You eat first.”

Old Qin silently climbed down from the kang, changed his shoes, and followed her out.

Li Dilai, who had just come out of the kitchen carrying a basin: “……”

About ten minutes later, Qin Guoshu and Qin Guodong, the two brothers, came back carrying a wooden ladder. They had gone to help Grandpa Yu, the old bachelor living at the village tail, fix his roof—snowfall would crush his shabby thatched roof.

When the brothers got home and saw no one there, with food still set out on the table, they asked, “What’s going on? Where did everyone go? Where are Dad and Mom?”

Li Dilai said, “Earlier, Old Wang’s eldest son’s wife hit our Yinyin. A few kids made a fuss over it. After Third came back, he stormed out in a rage—his expression was terrifying. Dad and Mom followed him out too. They’re probably going to Old Wang’s place to start a fight.”

The two brothers froze on the spot. A fight?

Back in the day, those words wouldn’t have been unfamiliar—Third Brother had fought people every few days since childhood. But ever since he adopted his little niece and became a dad, he’d been much more steady. It had been a long time since he’d clashed with anyone. Hearing this out of the blue scared the brothers badly.

“What are you standing around for?” Li Dilai urged. “Big Brother, Dongzi, hurry up and go help! If things really get ugly and Dad and Mom get beaten, what then?”

The two brothers rushed out without even taking a sip of water. Four little tails followed behind them—the twins, burning with righteous anger, bringing Da Hua and Xiao Hua along to support their Third Uncle.

Old Wang’s house was toward the east side of the village, roughly the central area, where many families lived close together.

It was lunchtime. A crowd had gathered at Old Wang’s gate, noisy and chaotic. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Qin Yuli standing at the entrance.

Qin Yuli’s expression was truly frightening. He had grabbed Old Wang’s eldest son by the collar. Qin Yuli was tall—probably the tallest in the whole village—while this Wang fellow was the opposite, barely one-sixty-something, malnourished and skinny, practically lifted off the ground by him.

The villagers watched from the side. The younger ones didn’t dare speak, afraid of offending Qin Yuli. A few older uncles and aunties called out, telling Qin Yuli to calm down and not hit anyone.

“Oh heavens, what a sin—how did it turn into this during the New Year?”

“You young folks, why aren’t you going up to break it up? What are you staring at?”

The young people silently took a step back.

The old men and women: “……”

Meanwhile, the hooligans who usually ran with Qin Yuli were excited, rubbing their hands, eager to jump in and help him fight.

Ever since Brother Qin left the gang life to become a dad and raise a kid, it had been a long time since they’d seen such a blood-boiling scene. It really got them fired up.

“Brother Qin, we’re here to help!”

“What rotten thing did this old bastard do? Brother Qin, tell us and we’ll deal with him!”

At that moment, Chen Qiuhua arrived. She pushed through the crowd and, hearing this, snapped angrily, “His wife bullied our Yinyin!”

“Damn it, she bullied Brother Qin’s daughter? Why give them any face—beat them!”

Old Wang’s eldest daughter-in-law shuddered in fright. She didn’t dare go near them and could only cry from a distance. “I didn’t even hit her! Why are you being so unreasonable?”

Old Wang’s eldest son was being held up and publicly judged in front of so many villagers. His face, already homely to begin with, flushed bright red with humiliation. He tried to reason with Qin Yuli. “Y-you let go of me first. Whatever it is, we can talk it out…”

Qin Yuli shot him a sideways glance. He instantly didn’t dare speak anymore, flailing like a landlubber thrashing in water. The villagers around couldn’t help laughing—the scene was just too funny. How had they never noticed before how cowardly Old Wang’s eldest son was?

Qin Yuli said, “My fists are the reason. Your woman is pregnant, so I won’t hit her—otherwise, even if she’s a woman, I’d beat her all the same!”

He bared his teeth. “Your wife is yours. The sins she commits are yours to repay. If you can’t keep your wife in check and let her go out stirring trouble, then you deserve the consequences!”

Old Wang’s eldest son trembled so badly he was almost peeing himself.

Old Wang and his wife sat on the ground crying. What a sin—what kind of karma had their Old Wang family accumulated to end up with this?

The Old Qin family was just too bullying. It was broad daylight, right at lunchtime. They were about to eat when someone banged on their door. Their eldest son went to open it and got grabbed and beaten. After beating him, they still wouldn’t let him go, holding him by the collar. The old couple were scared senseless.

Sitting on the ground crying, they looked pitiful indeed.

“Oh dear, Qin Yuli, just let our eldest go. Uncle and Auntie will get you a couple of eggs later—take them back to nourish your Yinyin. It’s such a small matter!”

Seeing that Qin Yuli didn’t budge, Old Wang’s wife stretched out her legs and slapped the ground. “Our Old Wang family isn’t that easy to bully either!”

At this point, the villagers were still completely confused. What on earth had Old Wang’s eldest daughter-in-law done to provoke Qin Yuli into exploding like this?

Wasn’t Qin Yuli going too far? He’d already beaten the man black and blue and still wouldn’t let go.

After arriving, Chen Qiuhua took a look at the situation. Afraid the villagers would misunderstand her third son’s hard stance, she wiped her tears and shouted loudly, “That cursed Old Wang eldest daughter-in-law went to our Old Qin house, grabbed our Yinyin’s hand and wouldn’t let go, forcing Yinyin to say she’d give birth to a son!”

“Yinyin is only three years old—what does she know about these things? She wouldn’t do it, and that woman even laid hands on her! If it hadn’t been for the few kids playing in the yard who saw it and rushed over to stop her, my poor little Yinyin would’ve been beaten up by that heartless old hag!”

“Even though she didn’t actually get beaten, Yinyin’s wrist is still red—swollen from that wretched woman’s grip. She scared our little girl so badly she cried for ages, and now she’s lying inside asleep.”

The more Chen Qiuhua spoke, the angrier she became. She plopped down on the ground and cried even harder than Old Madam Wang, perfectly acting the part of a pitiful old woman who’d been bullied and forced to fight back.

Her third son was a grown man—if he went up against elders, he’d only lose out. So these words had to come from her, his mother. She wanted to see what other dirty tricks those immoral people still had up their sleeves!

Chen Qiuhua kept wiping her tears. “I’ve never seen such a vicious woman. Aren’t other people’s children children too? How could you treat them like that? You call our Yinyin a money-losing good? Didn’t you give birth to three ‘money-losers’ yourself? What—planning to throw them away one day?”

She spread her hands, then slapped her palms together. “Folks, come judge for yourselves—am I right or not? She came to someone else’s house to bully their daughter. As her father, wouldn’t Third Son have to stand up for his girl and demand justice? Otherwise, won’t everyone think they can bully our Yinyin, bully the people of the Old Qin family?”

“Don’t we live our lives just to keep our dignity? This matter can’t just end like this!”

“Some people really have no conscience—eat the meat and refuse to acknowledge it, then still call someone else a money-losing good. Bah!”

She cried and made a scene, but her words were clear and sharp. From the moment the onlookers heard that Old Wang’s eldest daughter-in-law had gone to bully little Yinyin, they instinctively took the Old Qin family’s side.

Yinyin was such a good child. The last two times the village got to eat meat—wasn’t that all thanks to her good fortune?

Old Wang’s family was truly shameless! Too black-hearted—black heart, black hands—to even dare lay hands on a three-and-a-half-year-old child.

Search their consciences—Qin Yinyin was a beautiful little baby, fair and delicate like carved jade, sweet-faced and sweet-mouthed. She called everyone “uncle,” “aunt,” “grandpa,” and “grandma” in her soft baby voice—hardly anyone didn’t like her.

And yet Old Wang’s daughter-in-law not only went to their house to beat her, she also called her a money-losing good, cursed her as an unwanted child.

That really enraged the villagers. Especially Old Aunt Liu, who already adored Yinyin so much she wanted to steal her home—she slapped her thigh and cursed, “Whether she’s a money-loser or not, what business is it of yours? You gave birth to three money-losers yourself and still have the face to scold others? If you ask me, you’ve done too much evil, that’s why you can’t give birth to a son!”

“This wicked woman is just fated to bear daughters. Why waste words on her? She’s always grabbing the best things—when she meets soft-spoken daughters-in-law, she takes advantage like crazy; when she meets someone tough, she shrivels up. Bullying a three-year-old—does she have no shame? Feed her to the dogs!”

A hot-tempered villager shouted, “Everyone knows what kind of person she is. Qin Third, beat him again and make Wang Eldest control his wife properly! Stop her from coming out and making people hate her!”

The situation turned completely one-sided. Wang Eldest’s wife, legs trembling, hurried back into her own yard and slammed the door shut, leaving her parents-in-law and husband outside to face the crowd.

Villagers: “…” Damn, what a heartless woman.

Wang Eldest’s face was completely ruined. Seeing that his wife had even shut the door, he lowered his head and shouted at his parents on the ground, “Dad! Mom! I’m divorcing her!”

“Oh come on, you can’t ‘divorce’ like that anymore—men and women are equal now. You should say ‘separate,’ got it?” a villager joked, clearly enjoying the chaos.

By the time Qin Guoshu and Qin Guodong arrived with a string of little Qin-family tagalongs, the entire situation had already swung firmly in the Old Qin family’s favor.

Someone shouted, “The captain’s here! The captain’s here!”

“The captain’s niece got bullied—who do you think the captain’s going to help?”

Qin Guoshu heard that and felt a headache coming on. He pulled his mother up from the ground, asked what had happened, and the gossiping villagers filled in the details all at once.

With a stern face, Qin Guoshu looked at the Wang family. “Today, I’m not speaking as the eldest of the Qin family. We’re in New China now—bullying the elderly, women, and children isn’t allowed. You bully a child today—tomorrow, will you bully the entire village?”

The villagers immediately stared hard at the three members of the Wang family. They all had children at home too—no way were they letting the Wang family bully them.

The Wang family was poor and lived in a small house, so they’d split households early. Wang Eldest had two younger brothers who’d moved farther away. When they heard something had happened at home, they rushed over—only to arrive just as the captain was speaking, and see their eldest brother lying on the ground like a dead fish.

Qin Guoshu glanced at them. “Good, everyone’s here. Let’s make this clear—not just for the Wang family. From now on, no one in the village is allowed to bully the elderly, women, or children. Anyone who does will have their work points and grain rations deducted!”

The Wang family incident blew up—and even resulted in this new rule. No one objected. Nobody went around beating old people or children anyway, and seeing the captain so angry, the rule passed unanimously.

After that, village behavior improved noticeably. There were far fewer cases of beating elders or children—after all, if you’re desperate for food, why beat kids for no reason?

Fewer people went to the Qin family trying to mooch off their good fortune too. The captain had said it clearly: sons and daughters are both your own children. If a three-year-old could decide what you give birth to, why bother marrying at all? Just touch the child’s hand and you’d get a baby, wouldn’t you?

After his eldest brother finished his long speech and displayed his captainly authority, Qin Yuli kicked Wang Eldest lightly and said, “If your wife dares come again, I’ll beat you every time I see you. Whatever evil your wife commits, you’ll bear it. I won’t look for anyone else—I’ll come straight for you.”

Wang Eldest was completely cowed. He’d already peed his pants, sitting frozen on the ground. Hearing this, he nodded frantically.

After the crowd dispersed, the Wang family had a massive internal blowup. Not only did Wang Eldest resent his wife, but the old couple did too—she stirred up trouble, and when things went bad, she shut the door and left her own family outside to suffer the consequences. That kind of daughter-in-law was unacceptable.

“You already only give birth to daughters—fine. But hiding when you cause trouble? What kind of behavior is that?”

Wang Eldest’s wife clutched her belly and cried. “I was doing it for the Wang family’s grandson!”

“How do you know it’s a grandson?”

“She said so! That money-losing good from the Qin family said it’d be a younger brother.”

“She said it or she didn’t? Otherwise why did you hit her?”

“She did say it—but later her grandma coaxed her into changing her words. I couldn’t stand it, so I hit her.”

Hearing this, Old Wang and his wife—and Wang Eldest, battered and bruised—were half-believing, half-doubting. In the end, they decided to wait until this baby was born. If it was a boy, they’d let the matter drop. If it was another girl, then she’d lied to them—and she’d pack her things and get back to her parents’ house.

Seeing that her parents-in-law and husband had stopped pressing the issue, Wang Eldest’s wife finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When no one was around, she muttered, “As if I was the only one who wanted to go to the Qin family. Weren’t you all desperate for a grandson? You’re the ones who made me go! Bah!”

The Old Qin family returned home like victorious roosters, swaggering all the way. The children cheered, saying Grandma and Third Uncle were amazing—and Dad hadn’t even gotten a chance to help.

“….”

Just as they stepped through the door, Second daughter-in-law Li Dilai came running over anxiously. “Dad, Mom, Third Brother—you’re finally back! Sister-in-law can’t get out of bed, and I couldn’t leave the house. Go take a look—Yinyin seems to have a fever. Her face is red, and when I touched her, she was burning hot!”

The Qin family was startled. Qin Yuli had already rushed inside, his long legs carrying him forward like the wind.

Chen Qiuhua shouted, “Bai Mian, you two brothers go call Third Great-Uncle—ask him to come take a look at our Yinyin!”