The broken wooden door of the cowshed was pushed open with a loud creak, and the rustling sounds inside instantly stopped.
"Who's there?" a woman cried out in a panicked voice.
A sliver of dim moonlight filtered in through the doorway, shining on the two people inside.
Zhou Zhijun could see them clearly at a glance. The man was Baldy Zhang, the village's old bachelor and notorious scoundrel, and the woman was exactly the person he was looking for—Zhou Zhaodi.
Zhou Zhaodi's floral padded jacket was pulled askew, and her dry, yellowish hair stuck messily to her sweat-drenched forehead.
Hearing the sound, the two of them froze simultaneously.
Baldy Zhang whipped his head around, his dead-fish eyes bulging. Upon seeing Zhou Zhijun at the door, the lecherous smile frozen on his face looked uglier than if he were crying.
He hurriedly tried to pull up his pants, which were tangled around one leg, but unexpectedly, the bulky Zhou Zhaodi gave him a fierce shove. Baldy Zhang fell to the ground with a heavy thud, landing squarely on a pile of cow dung and urine mixed with dry hay.
"Ouch, what the hell are you doing?" he yelped. Ignoring the filth smudged on his body, he scrambled up on all fours to pull up his pants.
Zhou Zhaodi's dark, plump face turned a bruised purple, her facial muscles twitching, and her triangular eyes were filled with panic.
She let out a shriek and tried to burrow into the pile of dry hay, but when she looked up and realized the intruder was Zhou Zhijun, she stopped trying to hide.
She frantically pulled her clothes together, gritting her teeth as she yelled at him, "Zhou Zhijun, get out of here! You shameless bastard, peeping on our private business!"
Zhou Zhijun's tall figure blocked the doorway. His gaze, as cold as ice blades, swept over the two of them before finally fixing on Zhou Zhaodi's face.
His Adam's apple bobbed as he took a step forward. The stench inside made his stomach churn.
Forcing down his nausea, he spoke in a low, cold, and hard voice, every word striking like a hammer against Zhou Zhaodi's heart. "The gossip in the village—was that your doing?"
At these words, Zhou Zhaodi's face instantly drained of color. But she quickly stiffened her neck and retorted stubbornly, her eyes full of mockery. "What? Did I hit the nail on the head?
You dug that hole in the wheat straw stack yourself. Other than you and that slut Li Chuntao, who else would crawl into such a filthy place?"
"Shut up!" The chilling glare in Zhou Zhijun's eyes deepened. "Li Chuntao and I are completely innocent. Don't you dare spout your venom here!"
"Innocent?" Zhou Zhaodi acted as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world, laughing until tears streamed down her face. "Haha! Zhou Zhijun, no one dares to dig a hole in your family's straw stack except you!
That day when my second uncle and the others went to the east ditch to look for someone, you and Li Chuntao were fooling around down there, and you still won't admit it!
Then at dusk, Li Chuntao came back wearing your clothes! Anyone with eyes can see that you two hooked up a long time ago!
Your mother even took Li Chuntao in as her goddaughter, just to cover up for the two of you..."
Li Chuntao was Zhou Zhijun's absolute sore spot. No one was allowed to say a single bad word about her.
Zhou Zhijun's fists clenched tightly, his teeth grinding audibly. In one stride, he closed the distance between them, grabbed Zhou Zhaodi by the collar, and hoisted her up. "Zhou Zhaodi, say that again!"
Hoisted into the air so suddenly, Zhou Zhaodi screamed in terror, her plump body thrashing wildly. "Zhou Zhijun, let me go!"
Zhou Zhijun released his grip, and she crashed to the ground with a heavy, muffled thud.
"Ouch! Zhou Zhijun, you son of a bitch!" she grimaced in pain, but still yelled stubbornly with her neck stiffened.
Meanwhile, Baldy Zhang tightened his belt, grabbed a nearby shovel, and tried to slip away. But Zhou Zhijun simply stretched out his long leg to trip him.
With a yelp, he fell flat on his face, his mouth landing squarely on a piece of dried dung.
"Ah, ptui, ptui! Damn it, who took a shit here?" Baldy Zhang spat out the filth from his mouth.
He was a man in his fifties with only himself to feed and no family tying him down. As a shameless scoundrel who had nothing to lose, he usually feared no one. But even he felt a deep chill when facing Zhou Zhijun, who was like a living Grim Reaper.
He quickly tossed the shovel aside, desperate to wash his hands of the situation. "Brother Zhijun, you can take your time settling your grudges with Zhou Zhaodi. I gotta head back to sleep!"
Saying this, he tried to slink away again, but Zhou Zhijun barked, "Stop right there!"
Baldy Zhang's footsteps faltered, and he asked sheepishly, "Brother Zhijun, is there something else?"
Zhou Zhijun knew perfectly well that although Zhou Zhaodi wasn't much to look at, she had high standards and would never willingly hook up with Baldy Zhang. There had to be an ulterior motive for the two of them fooling around here tonight.
"Baldy Zhang, you slept with her, and now you think you can just walk away..."
Before he could finish, Zhou Zhaodi cut him off. "Zhou Zhijun, mind your own business! Baldy Zhang is a bachelor, and I'm a widow. We're together, and it's nobody else's concern!"
Baldy Zhang hadn't expected Zhou Zhaodi to say that, and a flash of smugness crossed his eyes. "That's right, it was completely consensual!"
"Great! Since it's consensual, I'll take the two of you to the village secretary right now. You can officially tie the knot tonight. That's a lot better than sneaking around in this filthy place!"
Zhou Zhijun grabbed Baldy Zhang's arm and began dragging him toward the door.
It was true that Baldy Zhang lusted after women, but he also knew that Zhou Zhaodi looked down on him. If they actually went to the village secretary, this woman would definitely turn around and bite him back.
He had only been seduced by Zhou Zhaodi in the first place. Now, desperate to save his own skin, he quickly yelled, "Brother Zhijun, I don't want a wife! It was Zhou Zhaodi who seduced me!
She told me to go ruin Li Chuntao! She promised that if I did it, she would sleep with me for a whole month. That's the only reason I agreed!
Li Chuntao is such a good person, yet this woman has been going around spreading rumors and framing her..."
Hearing this, Zhou Zhaodi's beady eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Baldy Zhang, you heartless old bastard! You took advantage of me, and now you're trying to pin the blame on me!"
Not to be outdone, Baldy Zhang stiffened his neck and shot back, "I'm telling nothing but the truth!"
Humiliated and enraged, Zhou Zhaodi rolled her heavy body over, struggled up from the ground, and hurled herself at Baldy Zhang, nearly knocking him off his feet.
Zhou Zhijun casually let go of Baldy Zhang, and the two of them instantly began brawling on the ground.
Although Zhou Zhaodi was fierce, she was still a woman, and ultimately no match for Baldy Zhang's strength.
Seeing that she was losing the upper hand, she opened her mouth and chomped down hard on Baldy Zhang's nose.
With a sickening tear, Baldy Zhang's nose was bitten open, and beads of blood instantly welled up.
"Ah, it hurts!" Baldy Zhang grimaced in agony and forcefully pinned Zhou Zhaodi to the ground.
The two of them grappled and rolled around on the floor covered in dry hay and animal waste, panting heavily from exhaustion, neither willing to let go.
"Enough!" Zhou Zhijun's patience had completely run out. "Get up, both of you. We're going to see the village secretary!"
He grabbed each of them by an arm and dragged them outside like he was carrying a pair of little chicks.
Zhou Zhijun possessed immense strength; his hands were like iron pincers. No matter how desperately the two struggled, they couldn't break free.
Zhou Zhaodi was terrified of the humiliation. If the villagers found out she had been fooling around with Baldy Zhang in a broken-down cowshed, she would become the laughingstock of the entire village.
She let her body go dead weight, dragging her feet as her fierce momentum completely deflated. "Zhou Zhijun, let me go! I won't go even if I die!"
"What? You don't want to officially tie the knot with Baldy Zhang tonight?"
Zhou Zhijun tightened his grip even further. "If you don't want to, then shut your filthy mouth!
From now on, if you dare to breathe a single word about Li Chuntao and ruin my sister's reputation, I'll make you pay dearly!"
Zhou Zhaodi felt as though her wrist was about to be crushed and let out a miserable shriek. "Ah! Let go... I'll say whatever I want!
"I have liked you for so many years, but you did not appreciate it at all. Instead, you fool around with that jinx! I am going to make sure the whole village knows about your filthy affair!
"You had the nerve to do such shameless things, and now you are afraid of people talking? I am going to report your scandalous affair with Li Chuntao to the commune and have you both drowned in pig cages...
"If I am miserable, do not think you two will have it easy! If I cannot have you, I will not let that slut have you either..."
Zhou Zhijun gave a cold laugh, the chill in his voice making both of them shiver.
He let go of Zhou Zhaodi's wrist, his words dropping one by one with such force that it made their eardrums tremble. "I wouldn't stoop so low as to expose the dirty secrets between the two of you. But from this day forward, if anyone dares to utter a single word of gossip about Li Chuntao, or if anyone dares to cause her trouble..."
His gaze swept over their deathly pale faces. He paused, his tone as biting as icicles in the dead of winter. "I, Zhou Zhijun, will break their leg!"
The moment his words fell, a flurry of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from outside the cowshed. Someone shouted breathlessly, "Uncle Zhijun! It is terrible! Something has happened to my sister-in-law..."
