Aunt Zhou's pupils shrank suddenly, and the firewood stick in her hand dropped to the ground with a clatter.
She had just tried to step back, but she tripped over a stone behind her and stumbled. She was about to fall, but fortunately, Zhou Hongxia and Wang Xiaohong caught her.
Liu Cuilan's cow was a bull. It was only one year old when it was bought for eighty yuan. That eighty yuan was borrowed from Zhou Zhijun.
This cow had a very bad temper. Zhou Zhijun had been using it for the past few years, and he was the only one who could tame it.
The cow ran out of the yard, charging around randomly. The Wang Haichao brothers were afraid of being hit, so they only dared to follow it from a distance.
Liu Cuilan took the cowhide whip from the wall and chased out, shouting as she ran, "Stop right there!"
Zhou Dana walked out of his house with a middle-aged man in a washed-out tunic suit, and the cow rushed straight towards them.
Zhou Dana quickly pulled the man to hide, but they couldn't outrun the cow. The man was hit by the cow's shoulder and fell to the ground on his butt.
"Ouch!" Zhou Dana's face instantly turned pale, and he quickly helped the man up. "Cadre Liu! Are you okay?"
This man was from the commune's family planning office. He had come to the village to carry out family planning work during the New Year, but he hadn't expected to be hit by Liu Cuilan's cow.
Zhou Dana was both angry and afraid, and he roared at the Wang Haichao brothers in the distance, "What are you doing? Catch the cow quickly!"
Cadre Liu was hit hard, and his face was pale. If anything happened to him, Zhou Dana wouldn't be able to bear the responsibility.
Zhou Dana quickly helped Cadre Liu into the house, and then asked Zhou Pandi to call Zhao Qingjiang to examine him. Fortunately, it was just a scrape.
The bull ran all the way to the back of the village and stopped in Chuntao's yard, slowly chewing bean stalks in the woodshed.
Zhou Zhijun had just finished repairing the bed and walked out when he saw the cow. He was about to pull it when Wang Haichao, Liu Cuilan, and the others chased over, panting.
"This is my cow!" Liu Cuilan said, reaching out to pull the reins. Unexpectedly, the cow seemed to understand human nature, and its hind hooves suddenly kicked out, almost hitting her in the face.
Wang Haichao and his brothers slowly approached the cow together, trying to grab the reins. However, the bull suddenly jumped up, scaring them into retreating again and again.
Zhou Hongxia and Wang Xiaohong helped Aunt Zhou over. Aunt Zhou shouted from afar, "Zhijun, hold the cow! This cow should belong to our family!"
Wang Haichao and his group were too scared to step forward, but Zhou Zhijun stepped forward and grabbed the reins, pulling it straight towards his own yard.
"Zhou Zhijun, that's my cow, put it down!" Wang Haichao shouted anxiously.
"My family spent eighty yuan to buy this cow. Not to mention how many years it has worked for Liu Cuilan, just the wages alone would offset hundreds of yuan, right?"
Aunt Zhou glanced at them and said, "If you make trouble again, I'll go to the village secretary to judge. It just so happens that the commune cadre is also here, let him uphold justice for me!"
Liu Cuilan was already panicking because her cow had hit a commune cadre. Hearing Aunt Zhou's words, she was even more afraid that the commune cadre would take the opportunity to make trouble for her family. Her heart was in her throat.
Just as she was thinking about it, Zhou Dana rushed over angrily.
Liu Cuilan rolled her eyes, gritted her teeth, and said, "Consider me unlucky. I'll give you this cow, and the accounts between our two families will be settled!"
Saying that, she reached out to grab the account book from Aunt Zhou's hand. Zhou Hongxia quickly stopped her. "What are you doing!"
"It's almost the New Year, what are you arguing about? Aren't you afraid of humiliating our Wang Family Village?"
Zhou Dana shouted, turned his head, and glared at Liu Cuilan, his eyes blazing. "Liu Cuilan, what are you trying to do? Seeing that your cow hit Cadre Liu, you must pay the medical expenses!"
"Secretary, this cow now belongs to Zhou Zhijun's family. If anyone has to pay, it should be him! If you want me to pay, I have to take this cow away!" Liu Cuilan quickly defended herself.
Zhou Dana frowned and looked at Zhou Zhijun and Aunt Zhou. "What exactly is going on?"
Aunt Zhou snorted coldly. "Liu Cuilan owes me more than four hundred yuan. I went to ask for the money today, and she wanted to renege on her debt because she didn't have the money. She also let the cow run away, which is why it hit the cadre from the township! It is perfectly justified for Liu Cuilan to pay the medical expenses!"
Zhou Dana didn't care who the cow belonged to now, he only focused on the medical expenses.
He knew that neither Aunt Zhou nor Zhou Zhijun were to be trifled with, so he could only turn his gaze back to Liu Cuilan. "Clerk Liu was hit until he was bruised all over, and he was quite frightened. Just take out twenty yuan, and we'll call it a day!"
It was almost the New Year, and Liu Cuilan didn't have a penny in her pocket. She hadn't even bought New Year's goods yet. How could she take out twenty yuan?
"Secretary, I really don't have any money..." Liu Cuilan said with a long face.
"Fine, if you don't have money, that's fine too. You can pay with grain next year!" Zhou Dana flicked his sleeves and left angrily.
Liu Cuilan stomped her feet in anger. Not only did she lose her cow, but Zhou Dana also wanted grain. With four men in her family who all ate a lot, how were they going to survive?
Zhou Zhijun pulled the cow into the east room of his house and tied it in the cowshed.
Wang Haichao and Liu Cuilan were unwilling to give up. They suddenly rushed into Chuntao's woodshed, grabbed farm tools, and swarmed into Zhou Zhijun's yard, wanting to fight him desperately.
"Zhou Zhijun, you took away my livestock, aren't you forcing me to a dead end? Today I will fight you!" Liu Cuilan held a broom head in her hand and waved it wildly.
Wang Haichao's eyes were also red. "I, the barefooted one, am not afraid of those who wear shoes. Zhou Zhijun, if you don't return the cow to me today, I will never give up!"
His three brothers, some holding wooden forks, some holding wooden shovels, and Wang Haibao, unable to find a handy weapon, actually ran to the kitchen and took out a fire stick.
Waving the things in their hands, they slowly approached the door of Zhou Zhijun's east room.
Hearing the noise, the surrounding neighbors all ran over to watch the fun, their faces showing the expression of "there's a good show to watch today."
Zhou Zhijun stood straight at the door of the east room like an iron tower.
His face was cold, and his eyes were full of hostility. Without saying a word, his gaze swept coldly over the people.
Who in the village didn't know that Zhou Zhijun had been a soldier, knew martial arts, and had killed a wild wolf with his bare hands in the mountains a few years ago?
The villagers watched excitedly, but no one dared to step forward. They only stood outside the yard waiting to watch the show.
Wang Haichao and the others slowly approached, but no one dared to strike Zhou Zhijun first.
Suddenly, Wang Haibao's eyes turned red, and he lunged forward. The fire stick in his hand poked straight at Zhou Zhijun's chest with the wind!
Zhou Zhijun's eyes turned cold, and he raised his hand to grab the middle of the fire stick.
Wang Haibao pulled back hard, his face turning red from holding his breath, but the fire stick seemed welded to Zhou Zhijun's hand, not moving at all.
"You don't know whether you live or die!" Zhou Zhijun shouted in a low voice and flicked his wrist.
"Ouch!" Wang Haibao was staggered by this brute force and flew out sideways.
With a "thud", he fell solidly on the ground, grimacing in pain.
Zhou Zhijun was still holding the fire stick in his hand. He didn't even frown. He tightened his five fingers, and with a "crack", he abruptly bent the fire stick, causing the villagers to gasp.
Wang Haichao, Liu Cuilan, and the others were so scared that they didn't dare to step forward anymore. Instead, they all took a few steps back together.
Wang Haichao knew very well that a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him, but with so many people watching, backing down like this would be far too humiliating.
He had no choice but to put down the wooden pitchfork in his hand and go pull Wang Haibao up. "Get up, quick!" he said, supporting the limping Wang Haibao as they headed out.
He muttered under his breath as they left, "I am the bigger person here, so I will not stoop to the level of an idiot like you!"
Seeing Wang Haichao slip away, the other men dropped their farm tools and ran after him, cursing as they went.
Aunt Zhou had finally collected the debt, and she felt much more at ease.
For dinner, she made a pot of dough drop soup with scallions and pan-fried two oily flatbreads. The family of three sat in the kitchen, chatting as they ate.
After finishing her soup and feeding the pigs, Wang Xiaohong went over to Zhou Hongxia's house. Wang Xiaoming also crawled into bed early.
Chuntao had chilblains on her hands and feet. She boiled a basin of water with chili peppers, closed the kitchen door tightly, and sat inside to soak her feet.
She reached out and felt the small mirror in her inner pocket, wondering how she should deal with the item.
Suddenly, the kitchen door was pushed open, and Zhou Zhijun quickly slipped inside.
