The crowd was still shouting and arguing. Cai Shufen had her hands on her hips, trading insults with several village women, and neither side was willing to back down.
Xi Ran huddled behind the Brigade Leader, sobbing softly.
Just then, someone shouted from outside the crowd, “Make way, make way! Tiezhu is back!”
The crowd automatically parted, leaving a path.
Zhao Tiezhu was covered in wood shavings. Despite the October weather, sweat still clung to his face. It was obvious that he had hurried home.
He had been helping a family in the neighboring village build a house when his cousin came to tell him that something had happened at home. Zhao Tiezhu had dropped everything and rushed back.
As he walked through the crowd, he immediately saw the slap mark on Xi Ran’s face and the bluish-purple bruises around her arm from being pinched.
He turned and glared viciously at Cai Shufen. He said nothing, simply staring at her.
Cai Shufen felt uneasy under his gaze, but she refused to back down.
“What are you looking at? Your daughter stole something. As her stepmother, am I not allowed to discipline her? She’s stealing things already—what, is she going to steal someone’s husband when she grows up?”
“Smack!”
Zhao Tiezhu slapped Cai Shufen across the face.
Applause instantly erupted from the crowd.
“She had it coming! That woman is simply asking for a beating. Tiezhu works himself to the bone from dawn to dusk, and his own daughter can’t even get enough to eat.”
“That’s right, hit her harder! Who knows how the Cai family raised such a daughter? I’m telling you, I heard they still have a younger daughter who isn’t married. Don’t marry a girl from the Cai family, or you’ll never have peace in your own home.”
Zhao Tiezhu walked over to Xi Ran. He carefully lifted her arm and examined it, his eyes reddening despite himself.
“Does it hurt?”
The thing Zhao Tiezhu regretted most in his life was marrying Cai Shufen. He had only wanted to find someone who would take good care of Xi Ran, but instead, she had become his daughter’s nightmare.
Xi Ran looked at him. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Tears streamed down her face instead.
She wanted to tell her father that whenever he wasn’t home, her stepmother refused to give her food. Even when he was home, if Xi Ran ate an extra bite, Cai Shufen would make her younger brother hit her after their father left.
After Xi Ran had been caught eating pig feed, her stepmother began watching her whenever she fed the pigs. Xi Ran had been so hungry that she had dug up earthworms on the mountain behind the village and eaten them, but her maternal aunt had seen her.
Her aunt had started secretly bringing her food. In the past, they would meet on the mountain, eat there, and then return home. But over the past two days, Cai Shufen had forbidden Xi Ran from going outside, so her aunt had secretly brought the food to the house instead.
Xi Ran couldn’t tell anyone. She didn’t dare. Once, Cai Shufen had caught her aunt bringing her something to eat and had cursed her for several days. If Xi Ran told them now, her stepmother would surely go and insult her aunt again.
Xi Ran didn’t want her aunt to be scolded anymore.
Looking at the girl’s eyes and brows, so much like those of his former wife, Zhao Tiezhu remembered what she had said before she died.
“You and I were husband and wife once. Our child is the continuation of my life. Please protect my daughter and help her grow up safely. Use the five hundred yuan to pay for her schooling and dowry. The other five hundred is for you to marry a new wife. All I ask is that you never trade my daughter away for a bride price.”
Whenever he thought of those words, Zhao Tiezhu felt as though thousands of ants were gnawing at his heart, making it difficult even to breathe.
Cai Shufen had never expected Zhao Tiezhu to hit her in front of so many people. She stood there stunned, clutching her cheek, unable to react for a long moment.
When she finally came to her senses, she let out a shriek and lunged at him.
“Zhao Tiezhu, you son of a bitch! How dare you hit me? I gave you a son and served your whole family, cooking and cleaning for all of you, and now you’re hitting me for the sake of this little brat? I’ll fight you!”
Zhao Tiezhu didn’t dodge. He took several blows from her, but his eyes remained fixed on the injuries covering Xi Ran’s body.
Seeing his dazed, miserable expression only made Cai Shufen angrier. She clawed and bit at him.
“You hit me for this bastard child? Is her mother still haunting your soul? I’m telling you, her mother is dead! Xia Zhiqiu is dead! No matter how beautiful she was, she was still a short-lived wretch.”
The moment the words “short-lived wretch” left her mouth, Zhao Tiezhu suddenly raised his head. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and even his lips trembled.
The look in his eyes made Cai Shufen instinctively retreat half a step.
Although she felt a chill run through her, she still stubbornly pressed on.
“W-What are you looking at? Did I say anything wrong? What else could she be but a short-lived wretch? She died in her early twenties, leaving behind a burden, and made me suffer because of her.”
Zhou Xiaomei had just pushed her way through the crowd when she heard Cai Shufen’s words and saw Xi Ran covered in injuries.
Something inside her snapped.
She rushed forward, grabbed Cai Shufen by the hair, and yanked her backward with all her strength.
Before Cai Shufen could even let out a full scream, Zhou Xiaomei had already forced her to the ground.
“You poisonous woman! I’ll teach you a lesson for abusing Xi Ran! I’m going to beat you to death, you shameless bitch!”
Straddling Cai Shufen, Zhou Xiaomei hit her while cursing. Her palms went numb from the force of the slaps. Cai Shufen tried to fight back, but Zhou Xiaomei attacked with such desperation that no one could withstand her.
The crowd erupted.
“Hit her! Pinch her! That’s right, beat that vile woman harder!”
“Harder! Ruin her face! It’s not as if she has any shame to lose!”
“Zhou Xiaomei, you filthy—ah! Help me!”
Cai Shufen barely had a chance to curse before another blow landed.
Xi Ran stood off to the side, stamping her feet and crying.
The Brigade Leader decided that things had gone far enough. “Granny Wang, hurry and get people to pull Cai Shufen away.”
Granny Wang understood the order. Several people rushed forward and pinned down Cai Shufen’s flailing legs.
Zhou Xiaomei’s broad palms continued to land with force.
Several of the women pretending to break up the fight took the opportunity to pinch Cai Shufen a few more times.
They pinched wherever there was the most flesh.
Once Cai Shufen had finally been dragged away, Xi Ran ran straight into Zhou Xiaomei’s arms and spoke the first words she had said that evening.
“Auntie, take me away with you.”
Zhao Tiezhu’s heart felt as though an invisible hand had clenched around it, squeezing so tightly that he could barely breathe.
Cai Shufen felt pain all over from the pinching. Her breasts were uneven, one higher than the other, and her face had been scratched until it looked like a bloody mess.
She was in a miserable state, yet she still wouldn’t stop spewing insults.
“You shameless slut! You divorced little whore! I knew that vegetable pancake was something you brought. You’re sucking up to this good-for-nothing because you want to seduce Zhao Tiezhu into divorcing me, aren’t you?”
The Brigade Leader shook his head. Pointing at Cai Shufen, he gritted his teeth.
“You really are impossible to deal with.”
Zhou Xiaomei was about to charge at her again when the Brigade Leader grabbed her and gave her a look that clearly said, Enough is enough.
Zhou Xiaomei took a deep breath and forced down her anger. She crouched and carefully examined the injuries on the child’s body, feeling as though a heavy stone had been placed on her chest.
She was just about to ask Xi Ran where else she was hurting when she looked up and saw Zhao Tiezhu standing there with his head lowered, silent and utterly defeated.
Zhou Xiaomei truly couldn’t hold herself back any longer. She rushed over and slapped Zhao Tiezhu across the face.
“Shame on you, you useless coward! You’re not worthy of everything Sister Zhiqiu did for you.”
“You two shameless pieces of trash are still living in the house Sister Zhiqiu built, while your daughter was forced by this woman to eat pig feed. Later, she wasn’t even allowed to eat that, so the child had to go into the mountains and dig up earthworms to eat. Earthworms covered in dirt! You go ahead and eat one yourself!”
The moment those words were spoken, the crowd fell silent.
Some of the village women covered their mouths and turned away, wiping tears from their eyes.
The Brigade Leader cursed under his breath.
“Damn it…”
