Chapter 31 – Unreasonably making a scene
Seeing Li Shu, Second Shun’s wife, Xing-niang, was just as stunned. She blankly stared at him as she straightened her posture. Hadn’t this fellow gone up the mountain this morning? Why had he come back so soon?
(T/N: Niang suffix is the equivalent of an informal version of Ms.)
Li Shu left the cart by a corner of a hut, then he turned around and walked over to Xing-niang. “What did you recently say to my wife?”
“W-who said anything?” Scared, Xing-niang kept retreating until her back touched the wall made of dried mud.
Li Shu coldly curved his lips. “Weren’t you the one that said my wife was a girl that goes out to fool around?”
“I…I…” Xing-niang was somewhat scared of Li Shu. He was infamous for short-tempered personality and would even hit women. “I wasn’t the one that said these words first. Those words have been spread widely.”
“Spread widely? Were you the one that spread this rumor?” Li Shu was prominently manifesting violent currents. He stretched his hand out and grabbed hold of her hair. It hurt so much that she yelped and said, “Let go. I just heard this from other people.”
Without any trace of politeness, Li Shu interrogated in a stern voice, “Who said this?”
Li Man and Little Five were blankly watching this from the side. They were too stunned from the beginning to say anything, especially Li Man. Her gaze was fixed on the hair that Li Shu had wrapped his hand around. Her own scalp felt a bit painful just watching this scene.
Xing-niang wanted to make an unreasonable scene. She shamelessly rubbed her body against Li Shu’s as she shouted, “Help! Save me! Li family’s third son is bullying me! He wants to take advantage of this old mother! Scoundrel! Where’s someone to uphold right and wrong…”
Li Shu let go of her hair and slapped Xing-niang. “You rotten woman. You dared to bully my wife and now you’re slandering me? Are you asking for a beating?”
With one forceful push from Li Shu, the dazed from being slapped Xing-niang fell to the ground. He raised his foot and was about to stamp down on her body.
Li Man was so scared that it felt as if her heart was shaking. She wildly ran forward and hugged him to stop him. “Stop, if you beat her to death, you’ll have pay with your life.”
With his foot still raised in the air, Li Shu froze in surprise. His wife was hugging him?
Seeing that he wasn’t moving, Li Man hurriedly tried to pull him back. She was scared that he would start kicking that woman to death at any moment.
“Aiyo, he’s trying to kill me. This old mother doesn’t want to live anymore. He took advantage of me, then he hit me.” After being slapped and pushed, Xing-niang felt very unhappy. She ripped her collar and started crying and yelling that Li Shu had bullied her and that she wanted him punished by the law.
Her crying and yelling led to the neighboring families coming over to watch the show.
Having gotten the audience that she wanted, Xing-niang looked at the spectators and pointed at herself, “Fellow villagers, you’re all witnesses. Look at how inhumane Li family’s third son is being. He’s bullying me in broad daylight, ah. Look, even my clothes had been torn open. Seeing that I wouldn’t comply with him, he even hit me, ah. Fellow villagers, you have help me and right this wrong.”
Hearing these words, Li Shu’s fury skyrocketed. “You rotten woman, how dare you tell lies.” He wanted to rush forward and beat this woman to death.
Li Man desperately clung to his waist to stop him, but it was impossible for her strength to be a match against his. She almost fell over, but fortunately, Little Five came forward and helped her. “Third brother, oldest brother said before that it’s not okay to fight.”
“That woman deserves to be beaten. I can’t let her off.” Although Li Shu was still feeling very angry, Little Five’s words had an effect. It was true that he liked to fight. But, after each satisfying brawl, he would be faced with a round of beating from his oldest brother once he returned home. It really wasn’t worth it.
Still, that woman’s rotten mouth was too maddening.
Just as the situation had reached a point where it couldn’t be peacefully resolved, Li Mo returned home with a bamboo pole and two full buckets hanging from it. Seeing that there were several people surrounding his home and Xing-niang sitting on the ground while she cursed and cried, he quickly came to a rough understanding. He asked Li Shu, “Third brother, what happened?”