After Chun Mian left, the Gao family descended into absolute chaos.
The neighborhood aunts felt that Old Mrs. Gao was completely out of line, so none of them were willing to stay behind and help. In the end, Old Mrs. Gao had to pick herself up from the ground. Cradling Gao Anna in her arms, she spent half the day cooing over the girl, calling her her precious darling and her sweet little treasure.
As for Gao Jianmin, who had been lying on the ground for ages before finally scrambling to his feet? He didn't matter. No one cared. He was entirely invisible.
Gao Jianmin didn't mind this at all. Or rather, he was so used to this blatant favoritism that he didn't see anything wrong with Old Mrs. Gao's behavior.
The family hadn't even eaten lunch yet, and Old Mrs. Gao certainly wasn't about to cook. Wei Shumei usually handled the kitchen duties, but now that Chun Mian had run off, Old Mrs. Gao ordered Gao Jianmin to prepare the meal.
Enduring the aches in his body, Gao Jianmin obediently went to cook. His two younger brothers were still out helping with work and wouldn't be back for lunch, leaving only the three of them at home.
On the dining table sat a small bowl of dough drop soup made from pure white flour. This was strictly for Gao Anna; even Old Mrs. Gao couldn't bear to eat any herself. Meanwhile, Gao Jianmin sat to the side, gnawing on wild vegetable cornbread and slurping coarse grain porridge.
Once the family finished their meal, it was time to get back to the afternoon's fieldwork.
Old Mrs. Gao didn't work in the fields. She had to stay home and watch the child. Gao Anna was still young and couldn't be left alone, which gave her the perfect excuse to avoid manual labor.
Gao Jianmin dutifully headed to the fields. He hadn't been working long when a group of people from the Wei Family in Xiao Wo Village arrived.
It was quite an imposing scene. After all, nearly ten burly men had shown up at once. Who wouldn't panic at such a sight?
"Jianmin, isn't that Shumei's dad? And her older brother?" Someone spotted them and ran over to give Gao Jianmin a heads-up.
The neighboring aunts had loose lips. The incident that had occurred at the Gao family's home at noon had already spread to every man, woman, and child in the village within just half an hour of returning to the fields!
Seeing that the Wei Family was clearly here to cause trouble, everyone's eyes lit up with excitement, eager to watch the drama unfold.
Gao Jianmin took a look from afar. It really was them, and Chun Mian was right there in the middle of the group! Judging by their direction, they were heading straight for his house.
Worried about his elderly mother and younger sister at home, Gao Jianmin didn't even bother grabbing his tools. He tossed them into the field and bolted toward his house. He ran so fast that it aggravated his earlier injuries, but he couldn't care less about the pain.
By the time Gao Jianmin arrived, the Wei Family entourage had already entered the courtyard of the Gao family. Old Mrs. Gao was usually quick to throw a tantrum and act shamelessly, but she was selective about her targets. Faced with this row of intimidating men, she shivered in fear. She didn't dare make a peep, opting to sit quietly beneath the window with Gao Anna tightly in her arms.
"Jianmin, you're back just in time!" Gao Jianmin had shouted loudly as he returned, and upon seeing him, Old Man Wei quickly beckoned him over.
Still worried about Old Mrs. Gao, Gao Jianmin kept his eyes fixed on his mother, but his body instinctively walked toward Old Man Wei. He called out in a rather displeased tone, "Dad."
Immediately after, he couldn't help but complain, "Dad, you really need to keep Shumei in line. What does it look like, running back to her parents' home over every little thing? On top of that, she argued with my mom and talked back to her. What kind of daughter-in-law acts like that..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Old Man Wei slapped him so hard he was sent flying.
BAM! The loud thud gave Old Mrs. Gao a terrible fright.
Once she recovered her wits, Old Mrs. Gao screamed at the top of her lungs, "Ahhh! We're being bullied! The people from Xiao Wo Village have come to bully us! Is anyone going to do anything about this? Oh, heavens above, open your eyes and look at us poor, defenseless women! We're being bullied to death!"
The village chief of Beigang Village had already been on edge because of the sheer number of people from Xiao Wo Village. Being Gao Jianmin's Uncle Hongyang, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing when things were looking grim.
When he arrived, Gao Jianmin had just been slapped away, lying motionless on the ground for quite a while.
"Oh my, this..." Village Chief Gao Hongyang slapped his thigh in shock upon seeing the scene. Then, forcing a smile, he said, "I say, Old Wei, we're all in-laws here. If you have something to say, let's talk it out peacefully. Is there really a need to get physical?"
"Village Chief, you're here just in time. I actually have a few words I'd like to say to my son-in-law's family, and I need a witness." Old Man Wei didn't consider himself an unreasonable person; it was just that Gao Jianmin's words had been too infuriating, and he hadn't been able to hold back.
Having vented his anger with that slap, Old Man Wei figured he could try reasoning first. If that didn't work, he'd just hit him again!
"Yes, yes, exactly. We're all one family. Any misunderstandings can be resolved by talking it out," Gao Hongyang replied. He only had a rough idea of what had happened at the Gao family's home, so hearing Old Man Wei's words made him feel a bit uneasy.
"My daughter, Shumei, wasn't careful a few days ago. She took a fall and lost her baby, which wasn't even three months along yet. I imagine everyone in your village knows about this by now. Yesterday, my wife brought over a basket of eggs, a bag of brown sugar, and two boxes of walnut cookies, naturally to help her recover. As you well know, Village Chief, if a woman doesn't nourish her body properly after going through something like this, it could affect her ability to have children in the future. But why don't you ask my wonderful in-law here what she did?" As Old Man Wei spoke, he jabbed a finger squarely at Old Mrs. Gao, who was cowering by the window.
Everyone's gaze instantly swiveled to focus on her.
Old Mrs. Gao shrank back sharply, tightening her grip on Gao Anna. Stiffening her neck, she retorted, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Old Mrs. Gao was completely shameless. She figured that since she was in the wrong anyway, she might as well just deny it outright. No one had seen it, and no one from their family would speak up. If Chun Mian was the only one saying it, who would believe her?
Seeing this, Chun Mian's gaze turned a few degrees colder, though her voice remained as gentle as ever. "It's fine if Mom doesn't admit it. But a child wouldn't lie, right? Let's ask Anna. Maybe she can..."
Before Chun Mian could finish her sentence, Old Mrs. Gao shrieked at the top of her lungs, "Yes, fine! I tried to take your eggs! But I didn't actually get them, did I?"
Old Mrs. Gao was terrified that these people would interrogate Gao Anna and frighten her precious little darling.
"You didn't manage to take them this time, but what about all the times before?" Chun Mian sneered, continuing, "When I first married into this family last year, my mom gave me fifty yuan to keep at the bottom of my dowry chest. A few days later, it was gone. I thought a thief had broken in and was about to report it to the police, but then you said the family urgently needed money and had taken it. I never saw a single cent of it returned.
"And shortly after I got married, my mom got her hands on a nice piece of fabric and brought it over so I could make a new dress. Less than half a month later, that fabric magically turned into a little skirt being worn by Gao Anna. And then there was..."
Chun Mian dragged out every old grievance she could find in Wei Shumei's memories, listing them one by one.
In just one year of marriage, this family had wrung a considerable amount of things out of Wei Shumei's hands. Adding all the odds and ends together, it amounted to at least a hundred yuan.
Now, listening to Chun Mian lay it all bare, Old Mrs. Gao showed absolutely zero remorse. The knocked-down Gao Jianmin felt even less like he had done anything wrong. Managing to resiliently scramble to his feet, he said, "We're all family here! Anna has a weak constitution; couldn't you be a little more accommodating to her? So what if we used a bit of your money and a few pieces of fabric? Did you really have to be so petty as to hold onto this grudge for so long?"
Just listen to that! Was that something a human being would even say?
Was it really just "a bit of money and a few pieces of fabric"?
In this day and age, a family of several people wouldn't even spend a hundred yuan over the course of half a year. Could this really be dismissed as "just a bit of money"?
But the real problem wasn't the money or the items themselves. It was the principle of the matter—it was absolutely sickening!