“What?” Li Tianci turned around quickly and asked anxiously, “What happened to Dad?”
Normally, his father often stayed late at school grading papers and sometimes gave extra tutoring to the senior students preparing for the college entrance exam.
Those students, unable to leave in time, would simply bunk in the teachers’ office.
With the exam approaching, Li Jianye frequently tutored until eight or nine in the evening before returning to the village.
That was why Li Jianye wasn’t at the dinner table earlier, and the family hadn’t thought much of it.
“Something terrible happened!” The uncle who came running was out of breath, gasping several times, making Li Tianci more frantic in his questioning.
“Tonight, your dad took the mountain path and was robbed by some petty thieves! They beat him so badly he’s got a busted head!
If it weren’t for someone passing by who found him, he probably would have passed out in the mountains!” the uncle shouted.
Li Tianci let out a shocked “Ah!” and hurriedly went back to the Li household to spread the news.
At that moment, Shi Meilan was sitting at the dining table eating.
Upon hearing the news, she slowly raised her head.
Her bright, full-moon-like face carried a hint of ridicule and disdain.
Raising her voice, she asked, “Petty thieves? Are there petty thieves in Li family village?”
The current village chief of Li family village, Li Mao, was known for his fiery temper and was a relative from the main Li family branch.
Li Jianye had to call him Brother Li Mao.
Li Mao was a man of brutal methods.
When several villages fought over land, after the old Li family patriarch retired due to a leg injury, Li Mao grabbed a hoe and charged in, single-handedly beating his way into the village chief position.
Such a man later guarded the largest lands in Li family village, intimidating the surrounding areas.
Though nowadays it was supposed to be a society ruled by law, “rule of law” felt worlds away from them.
Born and raised in the mountains and streams, they developed their own rural code.
Where the law couldn’t reach, village regulations ruled.
Where the police couldn’t come, the village chief came daily.
The more backward the place, the more they revered violence.
Indeed, petty thieves did roam around committing crimes, making the era unsafe.
But Li Mao was ruthless—when he caught someone, he beat them badly and made the thieves’ families bring money for ransom.
Otherwise, they were locked up until starvation.
Over time, those petty thieves dared not come to Li family village.
Those petty thieves, if caught by Li Mao, were in a worse state than if they’d been caught by the town police.
“Yes! Some petty thief beat up my dad! Who knows where they came from!” Li Tianci was frantic. “Mom, we have to go find Dad!”
Li Tianfu also hurriedly stood up.
Only Shi Meilan calmly put down her bowl and chopsticks and said slowly, “Go ahead.”
The three of them—two anxious, one composed—pushed their way through the crowd and left the house.
Just as the three stepped out, the neighboring Li Old Family’s door opened.
Zhao Erjie, who had just gone to town with Shi Meilan and returned early, heard the commotion.
Holding her bowl, she came out to see what was happening.
Upon hearing Li Jianye was robbed by petty thieves, she immediately cried out and ran back inside.
Within seconds, the elderly Mrs. Li hurried out anxiously behind her.
Mrs. Li, Li Jianye’s biological mother, Shi Meilan and Zhao Erjie’s mother-in-law, was even more difficult to deal with than Zhao Erjie.
Zhao Erjie had many faults: boastful, greedy for small gains, lazy, always bossing others around, fond of gossip, sometimes revealing a beastly side. But mostly, she was human.
Shi Meilan understood why Zhao Erjie would flip out and where her limits were.
But Shi Meilan could never figure out what Mrs. Li was thinking.
Mrs. Li had an especially strong possessiveness over her two sons.
The eldest son was often away driving trucks, gone more than half the month.
All her possessiveness thus focused on the younger son, Li Jianye.
It was said that before Li Jianye got married, Mrs. Li would always sleep beside him at night.
Later, when Shi Meilan had just married Li Jianye, as soon as they came home at night, Mrs. Li would find an excuse to enter, knocking every ten minutes or so.
Sometimes she would even listen outside the door, and if she heard any noise, she would cough outside.
Early in the morning, when Shi Meilan and Li Jianye were still asleep, Mrs. Li would push the door open herself, saying she wanted to call Li Jianye out to eat.
Shi Meilan found this behavior baffling.
What exactly did her mother-in-law want?
Was it some kind of taboo for her to sleep with her own husband?
In daily life, Mrs. Li’s demands on Shi Meilan were harsh.
She expected Shi Meilan to be a good daughter-in-law who served her son diligently.
Holding the mother-in-law’s airs, she looked for every fault in Shi Meilan.
Seeing Shi Meilan affectionate with her son made her feel sick, her jealousy bubbling up from her stomach.
Because of this, she increasingly disliked Shi Meilan.
Mrs. Li loved her son that much.
She couldn’t bear to hand him over to another woman!
She had to find a perfect, obedient woman to serve him before she could rest easy!
Shi Meilan couldn’t stand this.
She and Li Jianye were husband and wife, not master and servant.
She did what a woman should—cooking and washing—but why should she accommodate Li Jianye endlessly?
In their newlywed years, when Li Jianye helped her with chores and cared for her, wasn’t that normal?
Li Jianye was willing to do it, so why did his mother have to nitpick?
So in those first few years after marriage, Shi Meilan and Mrs. Li often clashed.
When the two women fought, Li Jianye would run off to school and not come back.
Originally, the relationship between Mrs. Li and Zhao Erjie, this pair of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, was not good.
But after Shi Meilan married in, they suddenly had a common enemy, becoming inseparable and often teaming up to make things difficult for Shi Meilan.
What kind of person was Shi Meilan?
She was someone who, once bullied, couldn’t sleep for half the night and plotted revenge tenfold.
So the conflict went on relentlessly until the family split, finally bringing some peace to the old Li family.
A funny thing—when Shi Meilan and Li Jianye first moved out, Mrs. Li still often stood on bricks at the Li Old Family house peeking into Li Old Second’s courtyard.
She loved her son that much!
Now, upon hearing her son was in trouble, Mrs. Li burst out from the door. Though small and thin, when she ran, she was like a gust of wind, yelling, “My son! My son!”
The village had only one main road. Shi Meilan was walking ahead with the two boys when Mrs. Li caught up from behind.
Seeing Shi Meilan, her eyes flared with fury as she let out a sharp cry and lunged to grab Shi Meilan’s hair.
“When those petty thieves robbed my son, where were you? Eating meat at home! My son works hard for his money, and you just spend it! You heartless thing!”
Mrs. Li was always like this. No matter what happened, if her son got into trouble, it was always Shi Meilan’s fault.
Though she looked frail and old most days, crying about how both her daughters-in-law mistreated her, when it came to moments like this, she was agile as a monkey, lunging straight for Shi Meilan’s head!
Old but still fierce!
The onlookers barely had time to utter a startled sound before trying to intervene.
But at that moment, Shi Meilan seemed to have eyes at the back of her head. She nimbly dodged to the side.
Her quick move caused Mrs. Li to fall hard on her head with a painful “Ow!” and she struggled to get up for a long time.
Zhao Erjie, Li Tianci, and Li Tianfu rushed over to help. The village air filled with calls of “Mom! Grandma! Grandma!”
“Mom, what are you doing?” Shi Meilan turned back in shock, eyes wide, and said to Mrs. Li, “You blame me even when Li Jianye was robbed? Why don’t you blame yourself? If you hadn’t given birth to him, he wouldn’t be suffering now.”
Mrs. Li, hurt and angry, hunched over with her frail frame sagging, her wrinkled old face twisted. She was too dazed to reply after the fall.
Li Tianci sighed helplessly, “Mom, now’s not the time for sarcastic remarks. Let’s go find Dad—he was robbed by petty thieves! Aren’t you worried?”
Like his father, Li Tianci shrank away whenever the women of the old Li family clashed, focusing only on defusing the conflict.
Shi Meilan smirked inwardly.
Last life, she really was anxious at this moment. Even when that old woman lunged at her hair, she didn’t bother fighting back. After pulling her off, she kept moving toward the back mountain.
At that time, Li Jianye said he planned to take the school’s tuition money to town to buy books for the students. But those 200 yuan were robbed by petty thieves.
Shi Meilan had believed him wholeheartedly and hadn’t thought twice. When Li Jianye was robbed, she only worried about him and how to repay the money.
But after living through it a second time, she realized the 200 yuan never ended up in the petty thieves’ hands—it had gone straight to Widow Wang’s Store!
Today’s incident was just a play staged by Li Jianye himself. He couldn’t repay the debt and had to find a way to wash his own slate clean.
But Shi Meilan didn’t expose him. She said, “Let’s go. We need to check on your dad.”
If they didn’t hurry, they’d miss the main act. Li Jianye lost the money, so she had to play the part of the loving wife who cared for her husband.
The group headed to the back mountain in a grand procession.
By the time they arrived, night had fallen. Over a dozen people had gathered.
Li Jianye was found by a villager returning home, who spotted a figure lying on the mountain path. Looking down, it was none other than Principal Li!
Li Jianye looked pitiful.
His once pristine white shirt was covered in dust and mud, torn in a big gash. His gold-rimmed glasses were lost somewhere. A large wound on his forehead looked like it had been smashed by a stone. He lay still, making the villager panic.
Anyone who didn’t know would think Li Jianye was dead!
The villager screamed and ran to call others.
Villagers hurried over with torches to light the way—flashlights were available but too expensive, so rural folk stuck to torches. One by one, the torches lit the mountain path and shone on Li Jianye lying there.
Li Jianye had just woken up, sitting on the ground while clutching his injured head.
Everyone else crouched nearby, not touching him. The first to reach him was naturally Mrs. Li.
She flew at her son and hugged him tightly, wailing, “Son! My son! What happened to you?”
Others gathered behind, Mrs. Li holding Li Jianye, while Li Tianci and Li Tianfu helped him up. Shi Meilan stood nearby.
Once the villagers had mostly arrived, Li Jianye spoke, “Just some petty thief with a towel wrapped around his face. I didn’t see his face, and the voice didn’t sound familiar. He held a knife to me and stole the school’s tuition.”
As he spoke, Li Jianye lifted his head and instinctively scanned the crowd.
Not only the villagers came, but also his family. However, Widow Wang was nowhere to be seen.
Li Jianye felt relieved inside and continued his performance, “I don’t know where this petty thief came from.”
The crowd erupted.
“This petty thief is brazen! If he dares to rob today, tomorrow he’ll dare to rape, and the day after to kill!”
“That was 200 yuan! We have to find this guy!”
Some suggested going to find the village chief, others said to search every household. Someone asked Li Jianye if he recognized the thief’s appearance.
Li Jianye shook his head vaguely. “I didn’t see the face, it was dark, didn’t get a clear look at height or build. He hit me with a brick; I was dazed. I really can’t tell who it was.”
Of course, he didn’t recognize anyone—because no such person existed.
He just wanted to gloss over the matter and clear himself of blame.
After saying this, he looked somewhat guilty and turned to Shi Meilan, “Honey, what should we do about the money I lost?”
The crowd fell silent for a moment.
Two hundred yuan was a big hole to fill.
When money was mentioned, everyone’s eyes gleamed with a hint of calculation, even Mrs. Li, who had been crying, quieted—though she loved her son, he was married now, and it wasn’t her place to manage this.
Mrs. Li then looked at Shi Meilan with righteous insistence, “You better think of a way!”
Her son should be served by his wife! A woman taking care of her man—that’s only right and proper!
“Husband, don’t worry. As long as you’re okay, that’s what matters,” Shi Meilan said unexpectedly, showing no anger. She didn’t scold Li Jianye for losing the money, nor did she quarrel with Mrs. Li’s sharp tone.
Her thick eyebrows rose, and her words were resolute, “We’ll pay the money back together. Tomorrow, I’ll go to my mother’s house to borrow some. We absolutely won’t let the students suffer!”
The crowd murmured in admiration.
Look at the good wife Li Jianye married—she was willing to share the 200-yuan debt. That’s a good wife!
Though Shi Meilan was usually fierce with her husband, when it counted, she was dependable!
Li Jianye felt a weight lift from his heart.
After all his scheming, he finally heard those words!
At last, he’d roped Shi Meilan into the debt, too!