TIPS – Chapter 23

By the time this gossip reached Song Jingwei, he and his team had just finished work and were heading home.

As they walked, they saw a thin, panicked-looking man in his thirties rush past them.

Villagers whispered, “That’s Wu Fu—Wu Xi’s older brother!”

“What exactly happened?” Song Jingwei asked.

He had only caught snippets about someone going mad and killing someone.

Someone nearby clarified, “They say Wu Xi went crazy and hacked Sun Zheng to death.”

Another quickly corrected, “No, no, Sun Zheng isn’t dead—he’s at the village chief’s house seeing a doctor. I heard his neck got cut pretty bad, though.”

“Tsk tsk, poor Wu Xi. Even if he doesn’t die, he’s gonna suffer for this,” Li Tiezhu muttered.

He had been bullied by Sun Zheng before and knew all too well what kind of person he was.

“Yeah, going against Sun Zheng? Wu Xi is as good as dead.” Others chimed in.

Hearing all this, Song Jingwei frowned.

Was no one even asking what actually happened?

From the way everyone described the Wu brothers, they were known for being honest.

And an honest man wouldn’t just attack someone for no reason.

Which meant—

Whatever had pushed Wu Xi to fight back must have been truly unbearable.

Back at home, the family was also discussing Wu Xi’s predicament.

Shen Dongming sighed, “The Wu brothers are in serious trouble now. They’ve gotten themselves into a huge mess.”

Yang Shi, who was soft-hearted, looked extremely worried. “What do we do? Someone like Sun Zheng will never let him off the hook.”

“Who knows? We can’t help anyway,” Shen Dongming exhaled a puff of smoke and sighed. “I heard they’re all at the village chief’s house. Sun Laizi will definitely cause trouble—it just depends on whether he wants money or blood.”

At this, Song Jingwei interjected, “It was just an injury. Paying for medical expenses is reasonable, but demanding a life? That’s far too extreme. That won’t happen.”

“Why not?” Shen Dongming retorted. “Daughter-in-law, you don’t understand. Out here in the countryside, human lives aren’t worth much. Even if Sun Zheng really beats Wu Xi to death, so what? Sun Laizi and the village chief are in cahoots. As long as the chief doesn’t report it, who’s going to notice if our village loses one person?”

“What about his brother? If the village chief doesn’t report it, his family still could.” Song Jingwei frowned. Wu Xi wasn’t alone—he still had his older brother.

Shen Dongming snorted dismissively, “Hah! That coward Wu Fu? He’ll probably just hide and pretend nothing happened.”

Shen Dongming clearly looked down on Wu Fu. “That guy took all of Wu Xi’s hard-earned money just to get himself a wife, and he won’t even let his own brother live with him. Outsiders think he’s honest, but we know better.”

“There’s really someone like that?” Song Jingwei recalled the thin, timid-looking man he had seen earlier and his impression of him immediately soured.

“He used to be decent before he got married. Ha! You know the old saying—‘A man forgets his mother after he gets a wife’? Well, Wu Fu forgot his brother instead.” Shen Dongming let out a humorless laugh. “Wu Xi’s a pitiful one. If Sun Laizi wants to kill him quickly, that’s one thing —but if they decide to torture him instead, that’d be worse.”

Seeing how much concern Shen Dongming had for the situation, Song Jingwei suggested, “If you’re so worried, why don’t we go take a look?”

From what he had heard, Wu Xi seemed like a decent person and didn’t deserve this.

“What? Us? What’s the point?” Shen Dongming looked shocked, then shook his head. “It’s useless. It’s not that I’m afraid to step in, but this isn’t something we can change.”

“That’s alright. Maybe we can still help somehow.”

At the very least, they could figure out what really happened—and confirm whether Wu Xi had acted in self-defense.

Hearing this, Shen Dongming suddenly had a realization—his daughter-in-law wasn’t an ordinary person. Maybe they really could do something.

His mood immediately lifted. “You know what? You’re right. Let’s go.”

Seeing his father and wife about to leave, Shen Junxi, who had been silently sitting on the side, stood up and followed them at a distance.

“You’re coming too?” Song Jingwei asked casually when he noticed him.

“Mm.” Shen Junxi nodded with a gentle smile.

Hearing what had happened to Wu Xi, he had felt sympathy for the man.

As he had sat there quietly, he couldn’t help but wonder—would his wife care about this kind of thing?

When he heard him suggest going to check on Wu Xi, a subtle warmth filled his heart.

His wife was kind—far softer than he appeared on the surface.

And if he was soft-hearted, that meant he wouldn’t abandon him easily.

“Alright, let’s go.”

After spending the past few days peacefully coexisting with the young man, Song Jingwei felt that this current state of things was just fine.

So, the three of them set off together for the village chief’s house.

When they arrived, the scene wasn’t as chaotic as expected.

Inside, only Sun Laizi, Sun Zheng, the Wu brothers, and the village chief, Li Zhangguang, were present.

Seeing three men from the Shen family suddenly walk in, Li Zhangguang looked surprised. “What brings you all here?”

Song Jingwei spoke calmly, “I heard that one of my tenants was involved in a serious incident. I came to see what’s going on.”

As a landlord, his words left Li Zhangguang with nothing to say in response.

Looking around, Song Jingwei took in the scene—

• Sun Zheng was indeed injured, his neck and shoulder covered in blood. However, his energetic demeanor suggested that the wounds weren’t serious.
• Meanwhile, the Wu brothers were in far worse shape—bruises and cuts on their faces, clear signs of being beaten.
• Wu Xi, in particular, looked terrible—his lip was split, and his clothes were disheveled, as if he had been struggling against someone.

Song Jingwei narrowed his eyes.

“What’s going on? I heard you killed someone. Who did you kill?”

His gaze flicked to Sun Zheng’s injury.

“Was it him? But he looks perfectly alive to me. Give it two days and some medicine, and he’ll be fine.”

Li Zhangguang opened his mouth to explain, but Song Jingwei cut him off.

“Village chief, hold on. I want to speak with Wu Xi first.”

Hearing this, Wu Xi looked shocked.

He had never expected this rumored ‘Young Master Song’ to personally intervene.

But then it hit him—Sun Laizi and Sun Zheng had been making trouble for Song Jingwei lately.

Maybe this wasn’t about helping him, but about dealing with Sun Laizi.

Still, Wu Xi hesitated. The truth was shameful and hard to speak of.

After a moment, he took a deep breath and forced himself to explain:

“Young Master Song, here’s what happened…”

“I was chopping firewood in my yard when Sun Zheng suddenly barged into my house. He tried to force himself on me. I panicked and fought back—accidentally injuring him. I swear, I didn’t mean to hurt him. I was just… scared.”

His voice trembled slightly. He was afraid.

Afraid of what Sun Laizi would do.

Afraid that no one would believe him.

And most of all—afraid that he had no way out.

“Nonsense! You’re lying! You were the one who threatened to kill me for no reason!” Sun Zheng vehemently denied the accusation, pointing at Wu Xi and cursing angrily.

“You claim I tried to assault you? Pah! Who do you think you are? Some rare treasure? Do you have no shame?”

Wu Xi desperately tried to defend himself. “That’s not true! He really did try to… That’s why I fought back with the hatchet and injured him. Young Master Song, you have to believe me!”

At this moment, Song Jingwei was the only one who could save him.

“Pah! Why should he believe you? Just because you have a halfway decent face—”

Before Sun Zheng could finish, Song Jingwei suddenly stepped forward and, in full view of everyone, slapped him across the face.

Smack!