Chapter Thirty-One: A Stab in the Back
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If Zheng Dali were allowed to keep rebelling, wouldn’t that father and son eventually end up trampling all over her and Dalong? She had to find a way to deal with them and make Zheng Dali obedient to her again, just as he used to be. And that wretched girl Su Jinyu would have to be dealt with as well!
…
As they ventured deeper into the mountains that morning, the path grew increasingly difficult to traverse. Village Headman Yang had called seven or eight strong young men to clear the way at the front of the procession. But there were simply too many dead branches and tangled shrubs, not to mention fallen tree trunks blocking the path. Huge stones weighing dozens of pounds lay scattered everywhere as well, and only the strongest men could shift them. The entire procession was forced to slow down.
Zheng Dali was one of the strongest young men in the village. Axe in hand, he was completely focused on chopping through the branches obstructing their path.
Suddenly, he heard the leaves behind him rustling violently. He turned around and saw a tree crashing sideways toward the ground.
He reacted at once, shoving Su Jinyu away with all his strength. Then he raised his arms to shield himself from the tree trunk, which weighed dozens of pounds. The force drove both his knees into the ground, and his kneecaps gave a sharp, violent crack.
The others clearing the road saw what had happened and hurried over to help lift the tree. Working together, they pulled Zheng Dali out from beneath it.
Su Jinyu’s little face turned cold as she stood over him and scolded, “Uncle Zheng, you’re a grown man, so how can you be so foolish? If the tree came down, I could have gotten out of the way myself! What if you’d been badly hurt? Your wife and son would have been heartbroken!”
Although she was angry at Zheng Dali for acting foolishly, she immediately examined him as well. Fortunately, the big, foolish man had bones as hard as iron. Apart from several bruises, he had suffered nothing more than superficial injuries. He simply needed time to recover; his knees hurt so badly that he could not stand or walk right away.
“Jinyu, that tree was enormous. I was afraid you wouldn’t get out of the way in time. Besides, I know my bones and muscles are tough enough to withstand it. But if it had landed on a little girl like you, you might have ended up crippled and never been able to marry.”
Even though pain had knotted his brows together, Zheng Dali still forced a smile and joked with her.
The whole incident had happened so quickly that the three members of the Li family, who were at the back of the procession, came running when they heard the commotion.
“Jinyu! My dear niece, are you all right? It was your uncle’s fault for letting you go ahead alone. I regret it so much! Please, don’t let anything happen to you!” Li Tianhe was the first to rush over, his voice thick with tears.
Nearly six feet three inches tall and powerfully built, he squatted there with his backside sticking out as he fussed over his niece. To outsiders, the sight was extraordinarily comical.
“Little Sister Jinyu, Big Brother’s here! Don’t be afraid!” Li Zhean was so frantic that he was nearly crying. He dropped his luggage and sprinted over, almost tripping over his own feet on the way.
His second brother, Li Chuxiu, was slower because, in his panic, he had forgotten to put down the basket on his back. Unable to run quickly while carrying several dozen pounds, he began complaining to Li Tianhe the moment he arrived.
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“It’s all your fault, Father! If we’d known this would happen, you should have let me stay with Little Sister. She wouldn’t have been hurt if you hadn’t insisted that I remain at the back to carry the luggage. What will happen when Grandmother finds out? She’ll skin us alive!”
Su Jinyu herself had suggested coming to the front to help clear the way. Wang Qiaohui’s back was aching, so she and the rest of the Li family had remained at the rear of the procession, walking along at a leisurely pace.
“Uncle, Big Brother, Second Brother, what are you panicking about? I’m fine. The one who’s hurt is Uncle Zheng. When the tree fell, he pushed me out of the way!”
A dark line appeared across Su Jinyu’s forehead, and she gave them a helpless smile.
Only then did the three members of the Li family notice that someone was lying less than three feet away. They all turned toward Zheng Dali, and Li Tianhe remembered to thank him first.
“Brother Dali, thank you for protecting our Jinyu. You’re not badly hurt, are you?”
“Thank you, Uncle Zheng, for saving my sister!”
By then, the villagers from behind had gathered around them in a cluster.
“My goodness! Zheng Dali was struck by that huge tree? Is his leg going to be crippled?”
Zheng Dali’s wife arrived as well. The moment she heard that her husband had been injured while saving Su Jinyu, she immediately began cursing.
“You deadbeat bastard! You risked your own life for someone else’s child. You’re stupider than the day is long! And if your leg is crippled now, don’t expect me to carry you! You can limp along by yourself for the rest of the journey! You brought this on yourself by being an idiot!”
“When the tree started falling, I saw it. Jinyu’s only a child—I couldn’t just stand by and let her die. Besides, she did our family a great favor. If she hadn’t saved Huzi, how could he be alive and well today? Woman, how can you be so unreasonable?”
When Liu Qionghua saw that he actually dared to argue with her, she launched into an even more vicious tirade.
Irritated, Zheng Dali turned his face away, unwilling to listen to his wife’s abuse.
Some of the villagers could not bear it any longer and spoke up for him.
“All right, Dali’s wife. Your husband was struck by a tree, and instead of showing him some concern, all you do is mock him. Every word you say is like driving a knife into his heart. That’s enough. You’ll only break his spirit.”
Liu Qionghua’s face remained utterly indifferent, and her tone was filled with contempt for Zheng Dali.
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“He’s always been a useless good-for-nothing. Marrying him was the worst misfortune of my entire life! If he can’t stand again, I’ll take Dalong and divorce him! Let that cripple fend for himself!”
Village Headman Yang hurried over. After learning the extent of Zheng Dali’s injuries, he had him sit in his ox cart so that the procession would not be delayed.
Zheng Hu helped his father onto the cart, then spoke firmly to his stepmother. “Even if Father can never stand again, I’ll take care of him for the rest of his life!”
“All right, everyone, go back and get in line!” Village Headman Yang ordered, dispersing the crowd of villagers.
Su Jinyu had felt a gaze fixed on her for some time. When she looked around, she found that Wang Dagui, one of the villagers, had been repeatedly glancing in her direction.
He was gripping the axe in his hand tightly, and a trace of murderous intent had unmistakably flashed through his eyes. Though it vanished in an instant, she still caught it.
Pretending that nothing was wrong, Su Jinyu walked over and secretly examined the section where the tree that had nearly crushed her had broken. It had not fallen naturally; someone had chopped through it. There were also plenty of splinters clinging to the blade of Wang Dagui’s axe.
So the tree had not fallen on its own.
Wang Dagui, you actually dared to ambush me from behind. I’ll make sure you learn that I’m not someone to be bullied!
She carefully searched through her memories of Wang Dagui, but found no useful clue.
Wang Dagui had once been a butcher. Only in the past two years had he changed occupations and begun farming. When he was young, he married two wives, both of whom died prematurely. He had no children, and the villagers all said that he was cursed to bring death to his wives. For many years afterward, no woman dared marry him, and he had remained a bachelor for a full decade.
She had never crossed paths with Wang Dagui in the village before. By rights, they should have had neither grievance nor enmity between them.
At present, she had no evidence. Su Jinyu decided not to alert him for the time being. She continued on with the procession, keeping a close eye on Wang Dagui’s every move along the way.
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