“Second Brother!”
Zhou Zhimin spun around. His face instantly went deathly pale, and he called out timidly, “Why’d you come back from the riverbank?”
Zhou Zhijun spent every day at the riverbank, busy from dawn to dusk, but he had still heard about the time Zhou Xiaomei had put on an old-badger face to scare Nuannuan.
Chuntao and the two children were his whole world, the treasures of his heart. There was no way he could let it go after his own little girl had been frightened into a fever.
Nuannuan had been running a fever for several days. Her little face had turned waxy and pinched, and whenever Zhou Zhijun looked at her, it felt as though needles were stabbing his heart.
Huang Meili had never been a decent woman. She was sharp-tongued, miserly, and full of schemes, and she had raised the children to be just like her. They did nothing useful all day and only thought of ways to cause trouble for others.
The more Zhou Zhijun thought about it, the angrier he became. After scattering feed for the fish fry, he patted the dirt from his hands and hurried toward Zhou Zhimin’s house with a bellyful of rage.
He could hear Huang Meili’s shrill cursing from far away. His face, already dark as the bottom of a pot, grew even darker, and his footsteps grew heavier.
“Huang Meili, if you don’t want people to know, then don’t do shameful things! You did something vile, and now you’re afraid of people talking?”
After scaring Nuannuan, Zhou Xiaomei had gone home and bragged about it to Huang Meili. Not only had Huang Meili failed to scold her, she had been delighted and praised her daughter for being clever.
Now that Zhou Zhijun had come knocking, Huang Meili felt guilty and did not dare raise her eyes. She lowered her head and muttered, “What vile thing did I do? Don’t go slandering me without a shred of proof!”
“You know perfectly well what you did!”
Huang Meili’s earlier tirade had already drawn a crowd of half-grown children. Now several women came over as well, pointing and whispering from a distance.
Zhou Zhijun had never been afraid of other people watching his family’s troubles. He protected his wife and children without hesitation. He swept a cold gaze over the crowd, then fixed his fierce eyes on Zhou Zhimin and Huang Meili.
Zhou Zhimin cared most about his reputation. Seeing several women approach, his face flushed bright red. He hurried over and tugged at Zhou Zhijun.
Putting on an ingratiating smile, he lowered his voice and said, “Second Brother, let’s go inside and talk. Don’t make a scene at the door. It’ll be embarrassing if outsiders see the Zhou family making a spectacle of itself.”
Zhou Zhijun flung his hand away and glared at him as though his eyes were knives.
“Now you’re worried about being laughed at? Where was that concern before?
“Your daughter is precious and untouchable, but my Nuannuan deserved to be frightened into a fever?
“Tell me—when Nuannuan was sick those few days, did you really not know, or were you pretending not to?”
Zhou Zhimin was rendered speechless. His face shifted from red to white. “They’re all family, and they’re just children fooling around. There’s no real grudge between them. Second Brother, calm down and come inside to talk.”
“Fooling around? Is that what you call fooling around?”
“Like father, like daughter!”
“Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes. Rats are born knowing how to dig holes—there’s nothing truer!”
The women chimed in one after another.
Zhou Zhimin stood there awkwardly, with nowhere to put his hands, yet he still pretended not to understand. “Second Brother, what happened? You have to explain it to me.”
“What happened?” Zhou Zhijun had barely begun when a child in the crowd shouted, “Zhou Xiaomei put on an old-badger face to scare Nuannuan!”
“I saw it too! Nuannuan cried and cried!” another child immediately called out.
The women began criticizing her from all sides.
“Nuannuan is such a sweet little girl, and she’s Xiaomei’s own cousin. How could she do that to her?”
“That poor little girl was scared out of her wits! She had to take medicine and even have her soul called back before she recovered. What a terrible thing to do!”
“You mustn’t scare children like that. If they’re frightened out of their minds, it can affect them for life!”
As Zhou Zhimin listened, his heart pounded wildly, and he did not dare even breathe too loudly.
Huang Meili still refused to back down. “Stop spreading nonsense! Did any of you see it with your own eyes? Don’t slander an innocent person without proof!”
After shouting that, she slipped into the main room and slammed the door shut, hiding inside and not daring to show her face.
Zhou Zhijun said coldly, “What Xiaomei did to Nuannuan cannot simply be forgotten. We’re going to get to the bottom of it!”
“Second Brother, Xiaomei is already a teenager. She knows right from wrong. She couldn’t possibly have deliberately frightened a child. Someone must be trying to sow discord between us brothers and spread rumors!”
Zhou Zhimin had already guessed that Xiaomei was responsible, but with so many people watching, he stubbornly insisted on protecting his daughter.
“Rumors? Fine, then. Call Xiaomei out and let me ask her face-to-face. I, Zhou Zhijun, believe in calling things what they are. I won’t wrong an innocent person. If she didn’t do it, I’ll apologize to her myself!”
Zhou Zhimin’s heart pounded, but he continued to put up a brave front. “Second Brother, I’ll question her properly when she gets back. If she really did it, I’ll leave her to you.”
“Don’t wait. Go call her back now!” Zhou Zhijun was determined and would not yield an inch.
Zhou Zhimin continued trying to persuade him. “The two girls went to the fields to cut grass. They won’t be back until noon. I’ll take her to see you then.”
“Don’t wait until noon. Go call her back now and get the truth out, so people can stop making wild guesses.”
Just then, Zhou Xiaoying and Zhou Xiaomei were slowly making their way home with grass baskets slung over their arms. From far away, they saw a crowd gathered outside their house. Their hearts lurched, and panic seized them. They quickened their pace.
As soon as Zhou Xiaomei got close enough to see Zhou Zhijun’s icy face, she remembered scaring Nuannuan. Her whole body shuddered, and the grass basket slipped from her hands with a clatter. She turned and tried to run.
She had taken only one step when Zhou Zhijun blocked her path. His tall body blotted out the sun, casting her completely in shadow.
“Zhou Xiaomei, where do you think you’re going?” Zhou Zhijun’s voice was cold as ice. “Tell me the truth. If you dare say one lie, I’ll go straight to the township police station and have the police question you!”
“I…I didn’t do anything…” Zhou Xiaomei was so frightened that tears and snot ran down her face, and her voice trembled like a sieve.
“Were you the one who put on an old-badger face and scared Nuannuan?” Zhou Zhijun stared at her without letting up.
Zhou Zhimin hurried over and took hold of Zhou Xiaomei, forcing himself to remain calm. “Xiaomei, don’t be afraid. Tell your second uncle the truth. If you didn’t do it, you have nothing to fear.”
“I really didn’t! I swear to Heaven!” Zhou Xiaomei cried, though there was no strength behind her words.
“Fine. If you won’t tell me, then tell it to the police.” Zhou Zhijun turned as if to leave.
Over the past two years, quite a few bad people in the village had been arrested by the police. The moment Zhou Xiaomei heard the word “police,” her legs gave out. She collapsed onto the ground and burst into loud sobs.
“Second Brother! You can’t call the police! She’s just a child who didn’t know better. They were only playing around. Don’t hold it against her!”
Zhou Zhimin quickly grabbed Zhou Zhijun and pleaded bitterly. Then he turned and shouted at Xiaomei, “Stop crying! Tell the truth! Were you the one who scared her? If you won’t talk, I’m not protecting you anymore!”
Zhou Xiaomei was scared out of her wits, but she still clung to her denial.
Zhou Zhijun shook off his hand and truly started to leave. Zhou Zhimin panicked and began berating Xiaomei.
“Stop holding it in! Speak up! Have you lost your tongue?”
“It was me…it was me…” Zhou Xiaomei sobbed so hard she could barely catch her breath. In broken fragments, she said, “I only…I only wanted to scare her for fun…I didn’t mean to make her sick…”
When Zhou Zhimin saw that she had confessed, his face flushed with shame. He yanked off his cloth shoe and began striking Xiaomei with it.
“You little wretch! You refuse to learn anything good and go around doing vile things! I’ll beat some sense into you!”
Zhou Zhimin had only meant to put on a show. But not one person tried to stop him, and no one came to pull him away. The rubber sole of the shoe kept landing on Zhou Xiaomei with sharp smacks.
Zhou Xiaomei clutched her head and screamed at the top of her lungs.
Only after hitting her several times did Zhou Zhimin stop. He stood there gasping, both embarrassed and furious.
Zhou Zhijun looked at Zhou Xiaomei and said in a deep voice, “Get up and explain everything. When did you scare her, and exactly how did you do it?”
Zhou Xiaomei didn’t dare get up. She lay on the floor, sobbing. “I won’t ever do it again. Please spare me…”
“Stand up and tell us properly!” Zhou Zhijun’s tone was stern, leaving no room for argument.
Only then did Zhou Xiaomei shakily crawl to her feet. She kept her head lowered and mumbled, “That day, I saw Nuannuan playing in the village, so I pretended to make a scary face and frightened her…”
“Who taught you to do that?”
“No one. I did it myself…”
“If no one taught you, then why would you frighten her for no reason? Nuannuan’s just a little girl. How did she offend you?” Zhou Zhijun’s voice rose again, brimming with anger.
Zhou Xiaomei remained silent. Zhou Zhimin hurriedly tried to smooth things over. “Second Brother, she was just being foolish. She didn’t mean any harm. Don’t hold it against her.”
“Didn’t mean any harm? How could she frighten a child if she didn’t mean any harm?” Zhou Zhijun sneered. “If you’re angry, say it to her face. What kind of courage is it to do something so vile behind her back?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the main-room door was slammed open with a bang, and Huang Meili came rushing out with her hair disheveled.
“Zhou Zhijun, what gives you the right to bully my daughter? Nuannuan’s fever is because she’s always been weak. What does it have to do with my Xiaomei? You people have gone too far! Today, I’m going to argue this out with you once and for all…”
